Saint Petersburg
Location: Russia
Winter Palace with the Alexander Column, St Petersburg, Russia
by Leonard G, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:WinterPalaceAndAC.jpg, used under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0
St Petersburg Tourist Attractions
The following are some of the sights that you can visit while in St Petersburg:
- Admiralty Building
- Bronze Horseman Statue
- Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge
- Mariinsky Theatre
- St Isaac's Cathedral
- State Hermitage Museum
Saint Petersburg (also written as St. Petersburg and Sankt Peterburg, informally as Piter, and known under different previous administrations as Petrograd, 1914-1912, and Leningrad, 1924-1991), in Russia, is one of the most elegant cities in Europe. With a population of 4.8 million people within its metropolitan area, Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia after Moscow, and the most important Russian port on the Baltic. Saint Petersburg is the largest cities in the world with a population exceeding one million. With an area of 1439 sq km, it is also the second largest city in Europe in size after London (1579 sq km).
The historical section of Saint Petersburg is the first heritage site in Russian to receive Unesco inscription as a World Heritage Site. The area is crisscrossed by numerous canals, giving Saint Petersburg the title of "Venice of the North", with the river Neva flowing through it.
History of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg was founded by the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great on 27 May, 1703 (or 16 May according to the Julian calendar). It was formerly marshland, and was part of the Swedish dominion of Ingria. The river Neva was known in Swedish as Nyen, and the Swedish had a fortress built there called Nyenschantz. The town of Nyen grew around the fortress, but was demolished in 1702 to prevent it from becoming a threat to the fortress in case the Russians invade. And the Russians did invade the very next year. On 1 May, 1703, Peter the Great took over Nyenschantz, and renamed it Schlotburg, meaning "lock town", to correspond to "key town", Schlüsselburg (transcribed as Shlisselburg), 45km away on the other end of the Neva River. Schlotburg functioned for a while until Peter built another fortress, the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first citadel of Saint Petersburg.
The city of Saint Petersburg was practically forced onto the map by Peter the Great. As the area around it was sparsely populated, he conscripted forced labour to build his city. Each town in Russian had to send a yearly quota of peasants to construct the city. The number demanded was 40,000 but Peter seldom received more than half that number, as a great number escaped despite harsh punishment.
Peter, who had lived and studied in the Netherlands, had envisioned a city similar to Amsterdam. There would be lots of canals, the primary mode of transportation would be by boat, and all the bridges should be drawable for boats to pass through. He expected the primary mode of transport to be by boats in summer, and by sledge in winter.
Places of Interest in Saint Petersburg
As late as 1850, no permanent bridge was allowed in Saint Petersburg. All that had come to pass, and today, Saint Petersburg has many permanent bridges, includes several beautiful ones. They are all creatively named, after geographical locations (English Bridge, Italian Bridge, etc.), famous people (Alexander Nevsky Bridge, Peter the Great Bridge, etc.), place functions (Post Office Bridge, Theatre Bridge, etc.), and even colours (Red Bridge, Blue Bridge, etc.) There are still eight draw bridges across the Nova. The drawing of these bridges, which happens around 2:00am to 4:30am during the navigational period from May to late October, has drawn quite a crowd of viewers.
In addition to its bridges, Saint Petersburg is also famous for its many palaces. The most illustrious section of Saint Petersburg is the Palace Embankment, a street along the Neva River. This is where the State Hermitage Museum is located. The State Hermitage Museum is the largest museum in the world. It occupies six magnificent buildings along the embankment of the River Neva. The State Hermitage Museum was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764, and was given the name by her, because only a select few had a chance to view her collection. She once mentioned in a letter that "only the mice and I can admire all this." Not so anymore. Now visitors from all parts of the world get to admire the collection. The State Hermitage Museum has even expanded by planting branches in Amsterdam (Hermitage on the Amstel), London (Hermitage Room at Somerset House) and Las Vegas (Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, in collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation).
The Winter Palace is the main building within the State Hermitage Museum complex. It was the official residence of Russian tsars. This immense rococo-style palace is painted green and white. It was designed by Bartholomeo Rastrelli, and built between 1754 and 1762. It has 1057 rooms, 1786 doors and 1945 windows. The other buildings within the Hermiatage Musuem include the Hermitage Theatre, the Marble Palace and the Summer Garden. Adjacent to the Summer Garden is the Summer Palace, a rather humble structure compared to its neighbours.
Saint Petersburg underwent a few name change in its long history. In 1914, at the height of World War I, its name was changed to Petrograd by Tsar Nicholas II, who felt that Saint Petersburg sounded too German. Following the Russion Revolution of 1917, it was renamed again to Leningrad on 24 January 1924, in honour of Vladimir Lenin, who died just three days earlier. After the Soviet Union collapsed, a referendum was passed through a slim majority of 54% to change the name back to Saint Petersburg. Another popular vote kept the province in which Saint Petersburg is the capital as Leningrad Oblast, or Leningrad province.
Accommodation
Looking for a hotel room in St Petersburg? Try St Petersburg Hotels
For budget accommodation in hostels and guesthouses, try Budget Accommodation Guide.
Where in the world is Saint Petersburg?
How to go to Saint Petersburg?
Pulkovo Airport (LED) is the main gateway by flight. It has two terminals, which Terminal 2 for international flights. Taxis to Saint Petersburg costs 50 euros. Alternatively, take a minibus to the Moskovskaya metro station, and from there you can take the metro to anywhere in Saint Petersburg, all for 15 rubles.
Upon arrival, you need to fill in the migration card, which unfortunately is often available in Cyrillic only (translations in English and German available if you fly by Lufthansa or Aeroflot). Losing it will result in a fine and a delay.
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