St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is a city with a special "mentality," unique architecture, and a difficult fate. Young by Russian standards, the Northern Capital has undergone many changes, crises and tragedies over three centuries, but it has remained one of the most impressive and appealing cities in Russia.

On May 16, 1703, the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress began at the behest of Peter the Great. According to the tsar's plan, St. Petersburg was to become the political and cultural capital of the country, a true "new Rome. The city was literally a "child of war": Peter and Paul Fortress was created to control the Neva and Bolshaya Nevka. Since 1700, Russia participated in the Northern War with Sweden, and these rivers were of great strategic importance.

Russia recaptured the Neva valley from Sweden, and soon the city was laid here, and the "newborn" Russian Empire received a coveted access to the Baltic Sea - a real "window to Europe. St. Petersburg became a key link in trade with neighboring countries and became the main location of the Russian navy.

In 1712 St. Petersburg was officially named the capital. The main organs of government and the tsar's court were moved here from Moscow. This was followed by significant changes in the social, political, and cultural life of the country - the Russian Empire "turned" toward the Western world and made an important step toward debunking the myths about the "savagery of life and manners" of the Russian people.

In 1914, at the insistence of Nicholas II, the name of the city was changed: St. Petersburg is renamed Petrograd. The reason for this step was the First World War, during which the country developed a strong anti-German attitude. For example, in Petrograd itself, the German embassy was vandalized by a violent mob, and all German store windows were smashed. The anger of the inhabitants also fell on the empress because of her German origin.

At the same time anti-war demonstrations and "strikes" began in the city. Thus in 1915 no less than 125 city "strikes" were organized with the participation of about 130,000 people. The country's weariness with autocracy was becoming more and more evident, and in 1916 soldiers began to join the demonstrations.

A chain of tragic events and the competent propaganda work of the Bolsheviks led the country to the February Revolution of 1917. Nicholas II abdicated the throne, and Bolshevik power was established in Petrograd. Here, as in a number of other cities, the authority of the proletariat and peasants became the Soviets. Later it was Petrograd that would become the center of the young Russian Soviet Republic.

On January 26, 1924, the city was renamed Leningrad in honor of the leader of the Bolshevik movement, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Lenin himself passed away five days before this date.

World War II shook the city even more: from September 8, 1941 Leningrad was struggling for life, being in conditions of military blockade. For 872 days residents of Leningrad existed in conditions of a terrible shortage of food and basic necessities. Hundreds of thousands of city dwellers died of shelling, cold and hunger. Even more - continued to work in factories and hope for liberation.

Annually, the day of the lifting of the siege is celebrated on January 27. For the heroism shown by the valiant defenders of the siege of Leningrad, May 8, 1965 the city was solemnly awarded the status of Hero-City.

In the post-war years the city was to undergo a large-scale renewal. Already in September 1945, a new school year and concert season in the Leningrad Philharmonic began. Five years later, Kirov Stadium began its work. Lenin and Kalinin squares, Engels and Stachek avenues, Primorsky and Sredneokhtinsky avenues were rebuilt. In 1955, the Leningrad Metro was opened.

In 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The city reverted to its historical name (although even now the older generation habitually calls it "Leningrad", and the region is still officially called Leningradskaya).

Today St. Petersburg is a true European megalopolis with many buildings of striking sophistication and scale, free of prejudice and open to the new trends of the time. This is the city of mystics and romantics, the city of sailors, fighters and dreamers. Be sure to visit it to learn more about Russia and, perhaps, about yourself.