Day of St. Petersburg

The city of St. Petersburg was founded by Peter I in 1703. City Day is celebrated on May 27.
From 1712 to 1918 the city was the capital of the Russian Empire.
It was in St. Petersburg that the first museum (Kunstkamera) and the first university (Academic University) were opened. The city is now called the cultural capital of Russia.

Title

Peter I named the city in honor of the Apostle Peter on the Hare Island (now the Peter and Paul Fortress is located on this place).
In 1914, Nicholas II renamed the city Petrograd. And already in 1924 the city was named Leningrad.
On September 6, 1991, the city was returned to its historical name St. Petersburg. But many people still give the city different names - Leningrad, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg and others.

Sights

The most famous places in St. Petersburg are located along the Nevsky Prospekt street or not far from it. Of course, these are the Winter Palace on Palace Square, the Admiralty, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Vasilyevsky Island across the Palace Bridge.
There are over 200 museums in the city. The most famous: the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, the Kunstkamera, museums of Russian writers and poets (Pushkin, Dostoevsky and others).
But the city center itself is also a kind of open-air museum, which can be viewed from the rivers and canals of the city.

Symbols

The official symbols of the city are the coat of arms (a red shield with anchors and a golden scepter with an imperial crown), a flag (similar to the coat of arms, the same attributes only without the shield) and the anthem from the Bronze Horseman ballet.


The unofficial symbols of the city are its attractions:
- a monument to Peter I "The Bronze Horseman" behind St. Isaac's Cathedral;

- a boat on the spire of the Admiralty;
- an angel on the spire of the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress;
- rostral columns on the Exchange Square in front of the Exchange building on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island;

- raised bridges (the most famous is the Palace Bridge near the Hermitage);
- Pillar of Alexandria on Palace Square;
- the cruiser "Aurora", which stands on the Neva River and now works as a museum.

Interesting Facts

• For a very long time, the inhabitants of St. Petersburg thought that the city was located on 101 islands. But there are currently 42 islands left. Rivers and canals were buried near some islands, and some islands were washed out and disappeared.
• It takes a very long time to build in St. Petersburg. The last long construction was the Zenit football stadium. But the longest construction was the Smolny Monastery, it took 87 years to build.
• The deepest subway in the world is located in St. Petersburg.
• There are many cities of the namesakes of St. Petersburg (that is, cities with the same name) in the world. For example, in the USA there are 15 cities with the name Petersburg.
• St. Petersburg is the largest tourist center of the Russian Federation.
• St. Petersburg ranks second in Russia in terms of population. But in St. Petersburg there are 3 times less people than in Moscow.
• Every year the city hosts the most beautiful graduation ceremony "Scarlet Sails". First, the city's graduates listen to a concert on Palace Square, and then look at the ships with scarlet sails that sail along the Neva.
• The Hermitage, one of the most famous museums in the world, has over 3 million exhibits. If you want to look at each exhibit for only 1 minute, then for a complete inspection of the entire collection you need 8 years of life.

Pictures from: pexels.com, yandex.ru.

👉 Russian