Saint Petersburg is a
city and a federal subject located in Northwestern Federal
District of Russia on the delta of the Neva River at the east end
of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. It was founded by Tsar
Peter the Great on May 27, 1703 as a "window to Europe",
it served as the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two
hundred years. St. Petersburg ceased being the capital when the
government moved to Moscow after the Russian Revolution of 1917.
With about 4.8 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, Saint
Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city, Europe's eleventh
largest metropolitan area, a major European cultural center, and
the most important Russian port on the Baltic.
The city has a total area of 1439
square km, which makes it the second biggest city in terms of area
among cities with over a million inhabitants in Europe, after
London.Among cities of the world having populations of over one
million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The city
center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Russia's political and
cultural center for 200 years, the city is impressive even today,
and is sometimes referred to in Russia as "the Northern
Capital". It is the administrative center of Leningrad Oblast
(itself a separate region) and of the Northwestern Federal
District.
Palase
Church of the Savior on Blood
The majestic appearance of St. Petersburg is achieved through a
variety of architectural details including long, straight
boulevards, vast spaces, gardens and parks, decorative
wrought-iron fences, monuments and decorative sculptures. The Neva
River itself, together with its many canals and their granite
embankments and bridges gives the city a unique and striking
ambience. These bodies of water led to St. Petersburg being given
the name of "Venice of the North".The historical center
of St. Petersburg, sometimes called the outdoor museum of
Architecture, was the first Russian patrimony inscribed on the
UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
St. Petersburg has been known as the city of palaces. One of the
earliest of these is the Summer Palace, a modest house built for
Peter I in the Summer Garden (1710–1714). Probably the most
illustrious of imperial palaces is the baroque Winter Palace
(1754–1762), a huge building with dazzlingly luxurious
interiors, now housing the Hermitage Museum. The largest church in
the city is St Isaac's Cathedral (1818–1858), one of the biggest
domed buildings in the world, constructed for 40 years under
supervision of its architect, Auguste de Montferrand. Another
magnificent church in the Empire style is the Kazan Cathedral
(1801–1811), situated on the Nevsky Prospekt and modeled after
St Peter's, Vatican. The Church of the Savior on Blood
(1883–1907), is a monument in the old Russian style.
