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{{Short description|Federal city in Russia}}
{{About|the Russian city|the American city|St. Petersburg, Florida|other uses}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|Leningrad|Petrograd|other uses|Leningrad (disambiguation)|and|Petrograd (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Saint Petersburg
| native_name = Санкт-Петербург
| native_name_lang = ru
| settlement_type = [[Federal cities of Russia|Federal city]]
| image_skyline = {{multiple image
|perrow = 1/2/2/1
|border = infobox
|total_width = 275
|image1 = Winter Palace Panorama 3.jpg
|caption1 = [[Winter Palace]]
|image2 = Palace Bridge SPB (img2).jpg
|caption2 = [[Palace Bridge]]
|image3 = RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Peter and Paul Cathedral.jpg
|caption3 = [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]]
|image4 = Saint Isaacs cathedral Southern facade.jpg
|caption4 = [[Saint Isaac's Cathedral]]
|image5 = Western Military District buildings Saint Petersburg arch.jpg
|caption5 = [[General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg)|General Staff Building]]
|image6 = 4A7A3069 Moika, Saint Petersburg (35468573803).jpg
|caption6 = [[Moyka]] River from the [[Pevchesky Bridge]] to the [[Red Bridge (Saint Petersburg)|Red Bridge]]
}}
| image_flag = Flag of Saint Petersburg (large).svg
| flag_link = Flag of Saint Petersburg
| image_shield = Coat of Arms of Saint Petersburg (2003).svg
| shield_link = Coat of Arms of Saint Petersburg
| anthem = "[[Anthem of Saint Petersburg]]"<br />{{Center|[[File:Гимн Санкт-Петербурга.ogg]]}}
| image_map = {{Maplink|from=Russia/Saint_Petersburg.map|frame=yes|plain=yes|zoom=8}}
| image_map1 =
| mapsize1 =
| map_alt1 =
| map_caption1 =
| pushpin_map = European Russia#Russia#Europe
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in European Russia##Location in Russia##Location in Europe
| coordinates = {{Coord|59|56|15|N|30|18|31|E|type:adm1st_region:RU-SPE|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = [[Russia]]
| subdivision_type1 = [[Federal districts of Russia|Federal district]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Northwestern Federal District|Northwestern]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[Economic regions of Russia|Economic region]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Northwestern Economic Region|Northwestern]]
| established_title = Founded
| established_date = {{Start date and age|1703|05|27|df=yes}}<ref name="Dates">Official website of St. Petersburg. [http://eng.gov.spb.ru/figures St. Petersburg in Figures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219033509/http://eng.gov.spb.ru/figures |date=19 February 2009}}</ref>
| named_for = [[Saint Peter]]
| parts_type = City raions
| parts = [[#Administrative divisions|See list]]
| governing_body = [[Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg|Legislative Assembly]]
| leader_party = [[United Russia|UR]]
| leader_title = [[Governor of Saint Petersburg|Governor]]
| leader_name = [[Alexander Beglov]]<ref name="governor">{{Cite web |date=15 March 2023 |title=Putin appointed an official from the "LPR" as the head of Chukotka |url=https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/03/15/putin-naznachil-chinovnika-iz-lnr-glavoi-chukotki-news |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315211509/https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/03/15/putin-naznachil-chinovnika-iz-lnr-glavoi-chukotki-news |archive-date=15 March 2023 |access-date=15 March 2023 |website=Novaya Gazeta Europe |language=ru}}</ref>
| area_total_km2 = 1439
| elevation_m = 3
| population_footnotes = <ref name="2021Census">{{Cite web |title=Оценка численности постоянного населения по субъектам Российской Федерации |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/tab-5_VPN-2020.xlsx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901194902/https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/tab-5_VPN-2020.xlsx |archive-date=1 September 2022 |access-date=1 September 2022 |publisher=[[Federal State Statistics Service]]}}</ref>
| population_as_of = [[Russian Census (2021)|2021]]
| population_total = {{IncreaseNeutral}} 5,601,911
| population_rank = [[List of European cities by population within city limits|4th]] in Europe<br />[[List of cities and towns in Russia by population|2nd]] in Russia
| population_density_km2 = 3992.81
| population_metro = {{IncreaseNeutral}} 6,421,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Численность населения регионов и городских агломераций {{!}} Институт экономики города |url=https://www.urbaneconomics.ru/sites/default/files/perepis_aglomeracii.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329200433/https://www.urbaneconomics.ru/sites/default/files/perepis_aglomeracii.pdf |archive-date=29 March 2023 |access-date=18 March 2023 |website=www.urbaneconomics.ru}}</ref>{{Efn|Including parts of [[Leningrad Oblast]]}}
| population_density_metro_km2 = auto
| population_demonym = Petersburgian
| timezone1 = [[Moscow Time|MSK]]<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=ru:"Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации |url=http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&prevDoc=102483854&backlink=1&&nd=102148085 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622151333/http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&prevDoc=102483854&backlink=1&&nd=102148085 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |access-date=19 January 2019 |language=ru}}</ref>
| utc_offset1 = +3
| postal_code_type = Postal code
| postal_code = 190000—199406
| area_code_type = [[Telephone numbers in Russia|Area code]]
| area_code = 812
| iso_code = RU-SPE
| registration_plate_type = [[Vehicle registration plates of Russia|Vehicle registration]]
| registration_plate = 78, 98, 178, 198
| blank_name_sec1 = [[OKATO]] ID
| blank_info_sec1 = 40
| blank1_name_sec1 = [[OKTMO]] ID
| blank1_info_sec1 = 40000000
| demographics_type2 = GDP
| demographics2_footnotes = <ref name="GDP">{{Citation |title=Валовой региональный продукт по субъектам Российской Федерации в 2016-2022 гг. |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/VRP_s_1998.xlsx |publisher=rosstat.gov.ru}}</ref>
| demographics2_title1 = [[Federal cities of Russia|Federal city]]
| demographics2_info1 = [[Russian ruble|₽]]{{FXConvert|RUS|11166|b|lk=on}} (2022)
| demographics2_title2 = Per capita
| demographics2_info2 = ₽{{FXConvert|RUS|1992592|lk=on}} (2022)
| blank3_name_sec1 = Official language
| blank3_info_sec1 = [[Russian language|Russian]]{{Efn|name="Russian"|Official throughout the Russian Federation according to Article 68.1 of the [[Constitution of Russia]].}}
| website = {{URL|gov.spb.ru}}
| flag_size = 120px
| shield_size = 75px
| mapsize = 295px
}}
'''Saint Petersburg''',{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|iː|t|ər|z|b|ɜːr|ɡ|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Saint Petersburg.wav}} {{Respell|PEE|tərz|burg}};<ref>{{Cite web |title=Petersburg |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304154712/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/petersburg |archive-date=4 March 2018 |access-date=16 March 2023 |website=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]]}}</ref> {{Langx|ru|links=no|Санкт-Петербург|Sankt-Peterburg}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk|pron|Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg}}, often abbreviated locally as '''SPb''' ({{lang|ru|СПб|italic=no}})}} formerly known as '''Petrograd''' and later '''Leningrad''',{{Efn|Petrograd (1914–1924), Leningrad (1924–1991), see the [[#Toponymy|§Toponymy]] section for details}} is the [[List of cities and towns in Russia by population|second-largest city in Russia]] after [[Moscow]]. It is situated on the [[River Neva]], at the head of the [[Gulf of Finland]] on the [[Baltic Sea]]. With an area of
1,439 sq km (556 sq mi), Saint Petersburg is the smallest administrative division of Russia by area. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021,<ref name=2021Census/> with more than 6.4 million people living in the [[Saint Petersburg metropolitan area|metropolitan area]]. Saint Petersburg is the [[List of European cities by population within city limits|fourth-most populous city]] in Europe, the [[List of cities and towns around the Baltic Sea|most populous city]] on the Baltic Sea, and the world's [[List of northernmost items#Cities and settlements|northernmost city]] of more than 1 million residents. As the former capital of the [[Russian Empire]], and a [[Ports of the Baltic Sea|historically strategic port]], it is governed as a [[Federal cities of Russia|federal city]].
The city was founded by Tsar [[Peter the Great]] on 27 May 1703 on the site of a [[Nyenschantz|captured Swedish fortress]], and was named after the apostle [[Saint Peter]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shevchenko |first=Elizaveta |date=11 October 2021 |title=The Five Names of St. Petersburg |url=https://news.itmo.ru/en/features/experience_saint_petersburg/news/12166 |access-date=28 October 2023 |website=news.itmo.ru |language=ru}}</ref> In Russia, Saint Petersburg is historically and culturally associated with the birth of the Russian Empire and Russia's entry into modern history as a European [[great power]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sobchak |first=Anatoly |url=http://sobchak.org/rus/books/izlen/2.html |title=Город четырех революций – Дух преобразования... <!-- |work=Фонд Анатолия Собчака--> |language=ru |access-date=23 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208034039/http://sobchak.org/rus/books/izlen/2.html |archive-date=8 February 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It served as a capital of the [[Tsardom of Russia]], and the subsequent Russian Empire, from 1712 to 1918 (being replaced by Moscow for a short period between 1728 and 1730).<ref>{{Cite web |title=18th Century in the Russian history |url=https://rusmania.com/history-of-russia/18th-century |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319083640/https://rusmania.com/history-of-russia/18th-century |archive-date=19 March 2022 |access-date=3 December 2020 |website=Rusmania}}</ref> After the [[October Revolution]] in 1917, the [[Bolsheviks]] moved their government to Moscow.<ref name="McColl">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJgnebGbAB8C&pg=PA633 |title=Encyclopedia of world geography |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8160-5786-3 |editor-last=McColl, R.W. |volume=1 |___location=New York |pages=633–634 |access-date=9 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073349/https://books.google.com/books?id=DJgnebGbAB8C&pg=PA633 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The city was renamed Leningrad after Lenin's death in 1924. It was the site of the [[siege of Leningrad]] during [[World War II]], the most lethal siege in history.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Hanson |first=Victor Davis |author-link=Victor Davis Hanson |title=The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won |publisher=Basic Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-5416-7410-3 |edition=Reprint |___location=New York |pages=3, 308 |language=en}}</ref> In June 1991, only a few months before the [[Belovezha Accords]] and the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], voters in [[1991 Leningrad municipal election|a city-wide referendum]] supported restoring the city's original name.<ref name="referendum">{{Cite news |last=Nelsson |first=Richard |date=1 September 2021 |title=Leningrad becomes St Petersburg – archive, 1991 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2021/sep/01/leningrad-becomes-st-petersburg-1991 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713072758/https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2021/sep/01/leningrad-becomes-st-petersburg-1991 |archive-date=13 July 2023 |access-date=14 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
As Russia's cultural centre,<ref>V. Morozov. ''[https://books.google.com/books/?id=gY_yGwAACAAJ The Discourses of Saint Petersburg and the Shaping of a Wider Europe]'', [[Copenhagen Peace Research Institute]], 2002. {{ISSN|1397-0895}}</ref> Saint Petersburg received over 15 million tourists in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Petersburg Tourism – A Look At The Growth of Tourism in Russia's Northern Capital |url=https://www.st-petersburg-essentialguide.com/st-petersburg-tourism.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811064015/https://www.st-petersburg-essentialguide.com/st-petersburg-tourism.html |archive-date=11 August 2020 |access-date=12 August 2020 |publisher=St Petersburg Essential Guide}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fes |first=Nick |date=4 February 2019 |title=Saint Petersburg: Number Of Tourists Increased As Well As The Black Market |url=https://www.tourism-review.com/number-of-tourists-in-saint-petersburg-went-up-news10930 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929213322/https://www.tourism-review.com/number-of-tourists-in-saint-petersburg-went-up-news10930 |archive-date=29 September 2020 |access-date=12 August 2020 |publisher=TourismReview}}</ref> It is considered an important economic, scientific, and tourism centre of Russia and Europe. In modern times, the city has the nickname of being "the Northern Capital of Russia" and is home to notable [[Government of Russia|federal government]] bodies such as the [[Constitutional Court of Russia]] and the [[Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation]]. It is also a seat for the [[National Library of Russia]] and a planned ___location for the [[Supreme Court of Russia]], as well as the home to the headquarters of the [[Russian Navy]], and the [[Leningrad Military District]] of the [[Russian Armed Forces]]. The [[Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments]] constitute a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]. Saint Petersburg is home to the [[Hermitage Museum|Hermitage]], one of the largest [[art museum]]s in the world, the [[Lakhta Center]], the [[List of tallest buildings in Europe|tallest skyscraper in Europe]], and was one of the host cities of the [[2018 FIFA World Cup]] and the [[UEFA Euro 2020]].
==Toponymy==
{{Stack|[[File:Peter der-Grosse 1838.jpg|upright|thumb|While not originally named for Tsar [[Peter the Great]], during World War I the city was changed from the Germanic "Petersburg" to "Petrograd" in his honour.]]}}
The [[name day]] of [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] falls on 29 June,<!--https://www.ualberta.ca/~pogosjan/peter/paragraf1_2_3.html--> when the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] observes the memory of [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]]. The consecration of the small wooden church in their names (its construction began at the same time as the citadel) made them the heavenly patrons of the [[Peter and Paul Fortress]], while Saint Peter at the same time became the [[eponym]] of the whole city. When in June 1703 [[Peter the Great]] renamed the site after Saint Peter, he did not issue a naming act that established an official spelling; even in his own letters he used diverse spellings, such as {{lang|ru|Санктьпетерсьбурк|italic=no}} (''Sanktpetersburk''), emulating German {{lang|de|Sankt Petersburg}}, and {{lang|ru|Сантпитербурх|italic=no}} (''Santpiterburkh''), emulating Dutch {{lang|nl|Sint-Pietersburgh}}, as Peter was multilingual and a Hollandophile. The name was later normalized and [[russified]] to {{lang|ru|Санкт-Петербург|italic=no}} (''Sankt-Peterburg'').<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 June 1991 |title=Leningrad, Petersburg and the Great Name Debate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/13/world/leningrad-petersburg-and-the-great-name-debate.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123091001/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/13/world/leningrad-petersburg-and-the-great-name-debate.html |archive-date=23 January 2018 |access-date=29 January 2018 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Masters |first1=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeJzBgAAQBAJ&q=saint+petersburg+named+after+dutch&pg=PT395 |title=Lonely Planet St Petersburg |last2=Richmond |first2=Simon |date=2015 |publisher=[[Lonely Planet]] |isbn=978-1-7436-0503-5 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073409/https://books.google.com/books?id=HeJzBgAAQBAJ&q=saint+petersburg+named+after+dutch&pg=PT395 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Pospelow">{{Cite book |last=E. M. Pospelow |title=Имена городов: вчера и сегодня (1917—1992): Топонимический словарь |publisher=Русские словари |year=1993 |___location=Moscow |page=128 |trans-title=City names: yesterday and today (1917–1992): Toponymic dictionary}}</ref>
A former spelling of the city's name in English was ''Saint Petersburgh''. This spelling survives in the name of a [[St. Petersburgh Place|street]] in the [[Bayswater]] district of London, near [[Saint Sophia Cathedral, London|St Sophia's Cathedral]], named after a visit by the Tsar to London in 1814.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bonavia |first=Michael |title=London Before I Forget |date=1990 |publisher=The Self-Publishing Association Ltd |isbn=1-8542-1082-3 |page=72}}</ref>
A 14 to 15-letter-long name, composed of the three [[word root|roots]], proved too cumbersome, and many shortened versions were used. The first General Governor of the city [[Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov|Menshikov]] is maybe also the author of the first nickname of Petersburg, which he called {{lang|ru|Петри|italic=no}} (''Petri''). It took some years until the known Russian spelling of this name finally settled. In 1740s [[Mikhail Lomonosov]] uses a derivative of {{Langx|el|link=no|Πετρόπολις}} (Петрополис, ''Petropolis'') in a Russified form {{lang|ru-latn|Petropol{{'}}}} ({{lang|ru|Петрополь|italic=no}}). A combo ''Piterpol'' ({{lang|ru|Питерпол|italic=no}}) also appears at this time.<ref name="nester">Nesterov, V. ''Знаешь ли ты свой город'' ("Do you know your city?"). Leningrad, 1958, p. 58.</ref> In any case, eventually the usage of the prefix "''Sankt-''" ceased except for the formal official documents, where a three-letter abbreviation "{{lang|ru|СПб|italic=no}}" ({{lang|ru-latn|SPb}}) was very widely used as well.
[[File:St Petersburg port entrance cropped.jpg|left|thumb|From 1924 to 1991 the city was known as 'Leningrad'. This is a picture of the Saint Petersburg port entrance with an old '{{lang|ru|Ленинград|italic=no}}' (Leningrad) sign.]]
In the 1830s [[Alexander Pushkin]] translated the "foreign" city name of "Saint Petersburg" to the more Russian ''Petrograd'' ({{Lang-rus|links=no|Петроград|p=pʲɪtrɐˈgrat}}){{Efn|name=orth|In the [[Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution reform|pre-1918 Russian orthography]], these names were spelled {{Lang|ru|Санктпетербург'''ъ'''}} and {{Lang|ru|Петроград'''ъ'''}} with a trailing [[hard sign]].}} in one of his poems. However, it was only on {{OldStyleDate|31 August|1914|18 August}}, after [[World War I|the war]] with Germany had begun, that Tsar [[Nicholas II]] renamed the city Petrograd in order to expunge the German words {{Wikt-lang|de|Sankt}} and {{Wikt-lang|de|Burg}}.<ref name="vokrugsveta.ru">{{Cite web |title=Петроград – Энциклопедия "Вокруг света" |url=http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/encyclopedia/?title=%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301190326/https://www.vokrugsveta.ru/encyclopedia/?title=%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |access-date=23 April 2017 |website=Vokrugsveta.ru}}</ref> Since the prefix "Saint" was omitted,<ref>{{Cite web |title=31 August 1914 St.Petersburg renamed to Petrograd |url=http://radiokarnaval.ru/news/show/3042?radio=bd09712698pcpirbfrg1bjne86 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825131522/http://radiokarnaval.ru/news/show/3042?radio=bd09712698pcpirbfrg1bjne86 |archive-date=25 August 2011 |access-date=14 January 2011 |language=ru}}</ref> this act also changed the [[eponym]] and the "patron" of the city from Saint Peter to Peter the Great, its founder.<ref name="Pospelow"/> On 26 January 1924, shortly after the death of [[Vladimir Lenin]], it was renamed to ''Leningrad'' ({{Lang-rus|links=no|Ленинград|p=lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat}}), meaning 'Lenin City'. On 6 September 1991, the original name, ''Sankt-Peterburg'', was returned by citywide referendum. Today, in English, the city is known as ''Saint Petersburg''. Residents often refer to the city by its shortened nickname, ''Piter'' ({{Lang-rus|links=no|Питер|p=ˈpʲitʲɪr}}).
[[File:Admiralty Embankment of Neva River in Saint Petersburg during the White nightsIMG 4236.JPG|thumb |Embankment of the [[Neva]] at 23:11, 22 June 2013]]
After the [[October Revolution]], the name ''Red Petrograd'' ({{lang|ru|Красный Петроград|italic=no}}, {{lang|ru-latn|Krasny Petrograd}}) was often used in newspapers and other prints until the city was renamed ''Leningrad'' in January 1924.
The referendum on restoring the historic name was held on 12 June 1991, with 55% of voters supporting "''Saint Petersburg''" and 43% supporting "''Leningrad''".<ref name="referendum"/> Renaming the city ''Petrograd'' was not an option. This change officially took effect on 6 September 1991.<ref name="Orttung">{{Cite book |last=Orttung |first=Robert W. |title=From Leningrad to Saint Petersburg |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-3121-2080-1 |___location=London and New York |pages=273–277 |chapter=Chronology of Major Events |access-date=15 October 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjbaxYyS2MYC&q=From+Leningrad+to+Saint+Petersburg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073310/https://books.google.com/books?id=UjbaxYyS2MYC&q=From+Leningrad+to+Saint+Petersburg |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Meanwhile, the oblast which surrounds Saint Petersburg is still named [[Leningrad Oblast|Leningrad]].
Having passed the role of capital to Petersburg, Moscow never relinquished the title of "capital", being called ''pervoprestolnaya'' ('first throned') for 200 years. An equivalent name for Petersburg, the "Northern Capital", has re-entered usage today since several federal institutions were recently moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. Solemn descriptive names like "the city of three revolutions" and "the cradle of the [[October Revolution]]" used in the Soviet era are reminders of the pivotal events in national history that occurred here. ''Petropolis'' is a translation of a city name to Greek, and is also a kind of descriptive name: {{ill|Πέτρ-|el|Πέτρωμα}} is a Greek root for 'stone', so the "city from stone" emphasizes the material that had been forcibly made obligatory for construction from the first years of the city<ref name="nester"/> (a modern Greek translation is Αγία Πετρούπολη, ''Agia Petroupoli'').<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 December 2020 |title=Some non-official names of Saint Petersburg |url=https://www.ruslinguaschool.com/post/saint-petersburg |website=ruslinguaschool.com |access-date=2025-04-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210616171405/https://www.ruslinguaschool.com/post/saint-petersburg |archive-date=2021-06-16}}</ref>
Saint Petersburg has been traditionally called the "Window to Europe" and the "Window to the West" by the Russians.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 June 2022 |title=Russia won't close Tsar Peter's 'window to Europe', Kremlin says |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-does-not-plan-close-window-europe-kremlin-says-2022-06-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707140918/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-does-not-plan-close-window-europe-kremlin-says-2022-06-02 |archive-date=7 July 2022 |access-date=7 July 2022 |website=[[Reuters]] |quote=Peter, who ruled from 1682 to 1725, oversaw Russia's transformation into a major European power and founded the city of Saint Petersburg, dubbed Russia's "window to Europe".}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Glancey |first=Jonathan |date=24 May 2003 |title=Window on the west |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/may/24/architecture.artsfeatures |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707140916/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/may/24/architecture.artsfeatures |archive-date=7 July 2022 |access-date=7 July 2022 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The city is the [[list of northernmost items|northernmost metropolis with more than 1 million people]] in the world, and is also often described as the "[[Venice]] of the North" or the "Russian Venice" due to its many water corridors, as the city is built on swamp and water. Furthermore, it has strongly Western European-inspired architecture and [[culture]], which is combined with the city's Russian heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Petersburg |url=http://www.ecstudyabroad.net/stpetersburg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415205546/http://www.ecstudyabroad.net/stpetersburg |archive-date=15 April 2019 |access-date=15 April 2019 |publisher=European Council}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Reise nach St. Petersburg – 6 Tage | Gruppen- und maßgeschneiderte Touren | Pauschalreisen nach Russland |url=https://www.russlanderleben.de/de/display_tour/discover_the_beauty_of_the_russian_venice.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415205546/https://www.russlanderleben.de/de/display_tour/discover_the_beauty_of_the_russian_venice.html |archive-date=15 April 2019 |access-date=15 April 2019 |website=Russlanderleben.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Winter in St. Petersburg |url=https://www.autentic-distribution.com/68/pid/255/Winter-in-St-Petersburg.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505161650/https://www.autentic-distribution.com/68/pid/255/Winter-in-St-Petersburg.htm |archive-date=5 May 2021 |access-date=18 April 2019 |website=Autentic-distribution.com}}</ref> Another nickname of Saint Petersburg is "The City of the White Nights" because of a natural phenomenon which arises due to the closeness to the [[polar region]] and ensures that in summer the night skies of the city do not get completely dark for a month.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doka, Konstantin Afanasʹevich |title=Saint Petersburg : the city of the white nights |date=1997 |publisher=P-2 Art Publishers |others=Doka, Natalʹi︠a︡ Aleksandrovna., Vesnin, Sergeĭ., Williams, Paul |isbn=5-8909-1031-0 |___location=St. Petersburg |oclc=644640534}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=31 July 2018 |title=The City of White Nights – Saint Petersburg |url=https://designcollector.net/likes/the-city-of-white-nights-saint-petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718174859/https://designcollector.net/likes/the-city-of-white-nights-saint-petersburg |archive-date=18 July 2019 |access-date=13 June 2019 |website=Designcollector}}</ref> The city is also often called the "Northern [[Palmyra]]", due to its extravagant architecture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Olivia |first=Griese |date=January 2005 |title="Palmyra des Nordens": St. Petersburg – eine nordosteuropäische Metropole? |journal=Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas |publisher=[[Franz Steiner Verlag]] |volume=53 |pages=349–362 |jstor=41051447 |number=3}}</ref>
{{Clear|left}}
==History==
{{Main|History of Saint Petersburg}}
{{For timeline}}
===Imperial era (1703–1917)===
[[File:Kungsboken-karta-sankt-petersburg.jpg|thumb|upright|Map of the Peter and Paul Fortress, 1722]]
[[File:Map spb 1744 high.jpg|right|thumb|Map of Saint Petersburg, 1744]]
[[File:SPB Nevsky Prospekt from Police Bridge to City Duma, photochrome 1896-1897.jpg|thumb|Nevsky Prospekt from restaurant Lejeune in the late 19th century]]
Swedish colonists built [[Nyenskans]], a fortress at the mouth of the [[Neva]] River in 1611, which was later called [[Ingermanland]]. The small town of Nyen grew up around the fort. Before the 17th century, this area was inhabited by [[Baltic Finnic peoples|Finnic]] [[Izhorians]] and [[Votians]]. The [[Ingrian Finns]] moved to the region from the provinces of [[Karelia (historical province of Finland)|Karelia]] and [[Savonia (historical province)|Savonia]] during the Swedish rule. There was also some [[Estonians|Estonian]], [[Karelians|Karelian]], [[Russians|Russian]] and [[Germans|German]] population in the area.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inkerinmaa |url=https://inkerilaiset.finlit.fi/inkerinmaan-historia/inkerinmaa |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=Inkeriläiset |publisher=Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Inkerikot ja vatjalaiset |trans-title=Izhorians and Votians |url=https://inkerilaiset.finlit.fi/inkerinmaan-historia/inkerikot-ja-vatjalaiset |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=Inkeriläiset |publisher=Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura}}</ref>
[[File:Bronze Horseman 02.jpg|right|thumb|The ''[[Bronze Horseman]]'', monument to Peter the Great]]
At the end of the 17th century, Peter the Great, who was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, wanted Russia to gain a seaport to trade with the rest of Europe.<ref name="wilson82">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Derek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N-K6Fp445CIC&q=maritime&pg=PA150 |title=Peter the Great |date=2010 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4299-6467-8 |page=82 |access-date=25 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073301/https://books.google.com/books?id=N-K6Fp445CIC&q=maritime&pg=PA150 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> He needed a better seaport than the country's main one at the time, [[Arkhangelsk]], which was on the [[White Sea]] in the far north and closed to shipping during the winter.
On {{OldStyleDate|12 May|1703|1 May}}, during the [[Great Northern War]], [[Peter the Great]] captured Nyenskans and soon replaced the fortress.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Harold |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UMJoAAAAMAAJ |title=Russia of the Russians |publisher=Pitman & Sons |year=1914 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UMJoAAAAMAAJ/page/n45 33] |access-date=12 February 2016}}</ref> On {{OldStyleDate|27 May|1703|16 May}},<ref name="hughes66">{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Lindsey |title=Peter the Great: a Biography |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-3001-0300-7 |page=66}}</ref> closer to the [[estuary]] ({{Convert|5|km|0|abbr=on}} inland from the [[Gulf of Finland|gulf]]), on [[Hare Island (Saint Petersburg)|Zayachy (Hare) Island]], he laid down the [[Peter and Paul Fortress]], which became the first brick and stone building of the new city.<ref name="spenc">{{Cite web |title=Peter and Paul Fortress |url=http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/peter-paul-fortress.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720042332/http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/peter-paul-fortress.asp |archive-date=20 July 2008 |access-date=19 June 2009 |publisher=Saint Petersburg.com}}</ref>
The city was built by [[Serfdom|conscripted peasants]] from all over Russia; in some years several Swedish [[prisoners of war]] were also involved under the supervision of [[Alexander Danilovich Menshikov|Alexander Menshikov]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 October 2005 |title=Consulate General of Sweden – Sweden and Saint Petersburg |url=http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____41937.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108171800/http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____41937.aspx |archive-date=8 January 2009 |access-date=6 January 2009 |publisher=Swedenabroad.com}}</ref> Tens of thousands of serfs died while building the city.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 January 2012 |title=St Petersburg: Paris of the North or City of Bones? – Europe – World – The Independent |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/st-petersburg-paris-of-the-north-or-city-of-bones-407069.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120215411/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/st-petersburg-paris-of-the-north-or-city-of-bones-407069.html |archive-date=20 January 2012 |access-date=2 July 2022 |website=[[Independent.co.uk]]}}</ref> Later, the city became the centre of the [[Saint Petersburg Governorate]]. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712, nine years before the [[Treaty of Nystad]] of 1721 ended the war. He referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital (or seat of government) as early as 1704.<ref name="wilson82"/>
During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the right bank of the Neva, near the Peter and Paul Fortress. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan. By 1716, the [[Swiss Italian]] [[Domenico Trezzini]] had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be on [[Vasilyevsky Island]] and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed but is evident in the layout of the streets. In 1716, Peter the Great appointed Frenchman [[Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond]] as the [[Architecture|chief architect]] of Saint Petersburg.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jean-Baptiste Le Blond, architect in St. Petersburg, Russia |url=http://www.saint-petersburg.com/famous-people/jean-baptiste-le-blond |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816161240/http://www.saint-petersburg.com/famous-people/jean-baptiste-le-blond |archive-date=16 August 2016 |access-date=1 July 2016 |publisher=saint-petersburg.com}}</ref>
The style of [[Petrine Baroque]], developed by Trezzini and other architects and exemplified by such buildings as the [[Menshikov Palace]], [[Kunstkamera]], [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]], [[Twelve Collegia]], became prominent in the city architecture of the early 18th century. In 1724, the [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences]], [[Saint Petersburg State University|University]], and the Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great.
In 1725, Peter died at age fifty-two. His endeavors to modernize Russia had been opposed by the [[Russian nobility]]. There were several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his son.<ref>Matthew S. Anderson, ''Peter the Great'' (London: [[Thames & Hudson]], 1978)</ref> In 1728, [[Peter II of Russia]] moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, in 1732, under Empress [[Anna of Russia]], Saint Petersburg was again designated as the capital of the [[Russian Empire]]. It remained the seat of the [[Romanov dynasty]] and the Imperial Court of the [[List of Russian monarchs|Russian tsars]], as well as the seat of the Russian government, for another 186 years until the [[Russian Revolution|communist revolution of 1917]].
In 1736–1737, the city suffered from catastrophic fires. To rebuild the damaged boroughs, a committee under [[Burkhard Christoph von Münnich]] commissioned a new plan in 1737. The city was divided into five boroughs, and the city centre was moved to the Admiralty borough, on the east bank between the Neva and [[Fontanka]].
[[File:Дворцовая_площадь_Санкт-Петербурга._Вид_из_Эрмитажа..JPG|thumb|[[Palace Square]] backed by the [[General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg)|General staff arch and building]]. As the main square of the Russian Empire, it was the setting of many events of historic significance.]]
It developed along three radial streets, which meet at the [[Admiralty, Saint Petersburg|Admiralty building]] and are now known as [[Nevsky Prospect]] (which is considered the main street of the city), [[Gorokhovaya Street]], and [[Voznesensky Avenue]]. [[Baroque architecture]] became dominant in the city during the first sixty years, culminating in the Elizabethan Baroque, represented most notably by Italian [[Bartolomeo Rastrelli]] with such buildings as the [[Winter Palace]]. In the 1760s, Baroque architecture was succeeded by [[neoclassical architecture]].
Established in 1762, the Commission of Stone Buildings of Moscow and Saint Petersburg ruled that no structure in the city could be higher than the Winter Palace and prohibited spacing between buildings. During the reign of [[Catherine the Great]] in the 1760s–1780s, the banks of the Neva were lined with [[granite]] embankments.
However, it was not until 1850 that the first permanent bridge across the Neva, [[Annunciation Bridge]], was allowed to open. Before that, only [[pontoon bridge]]s were allowed. [[Obvodny Canal]] (dug in 1769–1833) became the southern limit of the city.
The most prominent neoclassical and [[Empire style|Empire-style]] architects in Saint Petersburg included:
* [[Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe]] ([[Imperial Academy of Arts]], [[Small Hermitage]], [[Great Gostiny Dvor|Gostiny Dvor]], [[New Holland Arch]], [[Church of St. Catherine (Saint Petersburg)|Catholic Church of St. Catherine]])
* [[Antonio Rinaldi (architect)|Antonio Rinaldi]] ([[Marble Palace]])
* [[Yury Felten]] ([[Hermitage Museum|Old Hermitage]], [[Chesme Church]])
* [[Giacomo Quarenghi]] (Academy of Sciences, [[Hermitage Theatre]], [[Moika Palace|Yusupov Palace]])
* [[Andrey Voronikhin]] ([[Saint Petersburg Mining University|Mining Institute]], [[Kazan Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Kazan Cathedral]])
* [[Andreyan Zakharov]] ([[Admiralty, Saint Petersburg|Admiralty building]])
* [[Jean-François Thomas de Thomon]] ([[Spit of Vasilievsky Island]])
* [[Carlo Rossi (architect)|Carlo Rossi]] ([[Yelagin Palace]], [[Russian Museum|Mikhailovsky Palace]], [[Alexandrine Theatre]], [[Senate and Synod Building]]s, [[General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg)|General staff Building]], design of many streets and squares)
* [[Vasily Stasov]] ([[Moscow Triumphal Gate]], [[Trinity Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Trinity Cathedral]])
* [[Auguste de Montferrand]] ([[Saint Isaac's Cathedral]], [[Alexander Column]])
[[File:Georg Wilhelm Timm - Dekabristen-Aufstand.jpg|thumb|[[Decembrist revolt]] at the [[Senate Square (Saint Petersburg)|Senate Square]], 26 December 1825]]
In 1810, [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] established the first engineering [[higher education]], the [[Military Engineering-Technical University|Saint Petersburg Main military engineering School]] in Saint Petersburg. Many monuments commemorate the Russian victory over [[Napoleonic France]] in the [[Patriotic War of 1812]], including the [[Alexander Column]] by Montferrand, erected in 1834, and the [[Narva Triumphal Arch]].
In 1825, the suppressed [[Decembrist revolt]] against [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] took place on the [[Senate Square (Saint Petersburg)|Senate Square]] in the city, a day after Nicholas assumed the throne.
[[File:Admiralty Chart No 2239 Bay and City of Petrograd, Published 1854, Large Corrections 1908.jpg|thumb|Petrograd in 1916, from an Admiralty chart]]
By the 1840s, neoclassical architecture had given way to various romanticist styles, which dominated until the 1890s, represented by such architects as [[Andrei Stackenschneider]] ([[Mariinsky Palace]], [[Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace]], [[Nicholas Palace]], [[Andrei Stackenschneider|New Michael Palace]]) and [[Konstantin Thon]] ([[Moskovsky railway station (Saint Petersburg)|Moskovsky railway station]]).
With the [[Emancipation reform of 1861|emancipation of the serfs]] undertaken by [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] in 1861 and an [[Industrial Revolution]], the influx of former peasants into the capital increased greatly. Poor boroughs spontaneously developed on the outskirts of the city. Saint Petersburg surpassed Moscow in population and industrial growth; it became one of the largest industrial cities in Europe, with a major naval base (in [[Kronstadt]]), the Neva River, and a seaport on the Baltic.
The names of Saints [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]], bestowed upon the [[Peter and Paul Fortress|original city's citadel]] and its [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|cathedral]] (from 1725 – a [[Burial vault (tomb)|burial vault]] of Russian emperors) coincidentally were the names of the first two assassinated Russian emperors, [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]] (1762, supposedly killed in a conspiracy led by his wife, [[Catherine the Great]]) and [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]] (1801, [[Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov]] and other conspirators who brought to power [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]], the son of their victim). The third emperor's assassination took place in Saint Petersburg in 1881 when [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] was murdered by [[Narodnaya Volya|terrorists]] (see the [[Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood]]).
The [[Revolution of 1905]] began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces.
On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial government renamed the city ''Petrograd'',<ref name="vokrugsveta.ru"/> meaning "Peter's City", to remove the German words ''[[wikt:Sankt#German|Sankt]]'' and ''[[wikt:Burg#German|Burg]]''.
===Revolution and Soviet era (1917–1941)===
In March 1917, during the [[February Revolution]] Nicholas II abdicated for himself and on behalf of his son, ending the Russian monarchy and over three hundred years of [[Romanov]] [[dynastic rule]].
[[File:Desfile-uno-mayo-II--rusia--russianbolshevik00rossuoft.png|thumb|left|[[Bolsheviks]] celebrating [[International Workers' Day|1 May]] near the [[Winter Palace]] half a year after [[October Revolution|taking power]], 1918]]On {{OldStyleDate|7 November|1917|25 October}}, the [[Bolshevik]]s, led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], stormed the [[Winter Palace]] in an event known thereafter as the [[October Revolution]], which led to the end of the social-democratic [[Russian Provisional Government|provisional government]], the transfer of all political power to the [[Worker's council|Soviets]], and the rise of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wade |first=Rex A. |title=The Russian Revolution, 1917 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-5218-4155-0}}{{Page needed|date=November 2019}}</ref> After that the city acquired a new descriptive name, "the city of three revolutions",<ref name="russia-travel">{{Cite web |year=2005–2008 |title=The common characteristic of Saint Petersburg |url=http://www.russia-travel.ws/regions/The_common_characteristic |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127203423/http://www.russia-travel.ws/regions/The_common_characteristic |archive-date=27 November 2010 |access-date=9 February 2011 |publisher=russia-travel.ws}}</ref> referring to the three major developments in the political history of Russia of the early 20th century.
In September and October 1917, German troops [[Operation Albion|invaded]] the [[West Estonian archipelago]] and threatened Petrograd with bombardment and invasion. On 12 March 1918, Lenin transferred the government of [[Soviet Russia]] to Moscow, to keep it away from the state border. During the [[Russian Civil War]], in mid-1919, [[White movement|Russian anti-communist forces]] with the help of [[Estonian Land Forces|Estonians]] attempted to capture the city, but [[Leon Trotsky]] mobilized the army and forced them to retreat to [[Estonia]].
[[File:Eirik Sundvor. Leningrad. Savior-on-the-Blood (1935).jpg|thumb|left|Leningrad in 1935]]
On 26 January 1924, five days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed ''Leningrad''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Jonathan |url=http://archive.org/details/stalintimeforjud00lewi |title=Stalin : a time for judgment |last2=Whitehead |first2=Phillip |date=1990 |publisher=New York : Pantheon Books |others= |isbn=978-0-394-58058-6 |pages=56}}</ref> Later many streets and other [[wikt:toponym|toponyms]] were renamed accordingly, with names in honour of communist figures replacing historic names given centuries before. The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin. Some of them were turned into museums,<ref name="Kann">{{Cite book |last=Kann, Pavel Yakovlevich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TIaAAAAIAAJ&q=Lenin%20places%20in%20Leningrad |title=Leningrad: A Short Guide |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |year=1963 |___location=Moscow |pages=132–133 |access-date=9 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073301/https://books.google.com/books?id=7TIaAAAAIAAJ&q=Lenin%20places%20in%20Leningrad |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> including the [[Russian cruiser Aurora|cruiser ''Aurora'']]– a symbol of the October Revolution and the oldest ship in the [[Russian Navy]].
In the 1920s and 1930s, the poor outskirts were reconstructed into [[Urban planning in Russia|regularly planned boroughs]]. [[Constructivist architecture]] flourished around that time. Housing became a government-provided [[social utility|amenity]]; many "bourgeois" apartments were so large that numerous families were assigned to what were called "communal" apartments (''[[kommunal apartment|kommunalkas]]''). By the 1930s, 68% of the population lived in such housing under very poor conditions. In 1935, a new general plan was outlined, whereby the city should expand to the south. Constructivism was rejected in favour of a more pompous [[Stalinist architecture]]. Moving the city centre further from the border with Finland, [[Stalin]] adopted a plan to build a new city hall with a huge adjacent square at the southern end of [[Moskovsky Prospekt]], designated as the new main street of Leningrad. After the [[Winter War|Winter (Soviet-Finnish) war]] in 1939–1940, the Soviet–Finnish border moved northwards. Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Square maintained the functions and the role of a city centre.
In December 1931, Leningrad was administratively separated from [[Leningrad Oblast]]. At that time, it included the Leningrad Suburban District, some parts of which were transferred back to Leningrad Oblast in 1936 and turned into [[Vsevolozhsky District]], [[Krasnoselsky District, Saint Petersburg|Krasnoselsky District]], Pargolovsky District and Slutsky District (renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944).<ref name="autogenerated2">{{Cite web |title=Ленинградская область в целом: Административно-территориальное деление Ленинградской области |url=http://lenobltrans.narod.ru/adm1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608000817/http://lenobltrans.narod.ru/adm1.html |archive-date=8 June 2009 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Lenobltrans.narod.ru}}</ref>
[[File:Sennaia-1900.jpg|thumb|The [[Saviour Church on Sennaya Square]] (pre-1917 photo) in Leningrad was one of many notable church buildings destroyed during [[Khrushchev Thaw|The Thaw]].]]
During the Soviet era, many historic architectural monuments of the previous centuries were destroyed by the new regime for ideological reasons. While that mainly concerned churches and cathedrals, some other buildings were also demolished.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Как советская власть уничтожала наследие русской истории |url=https://vz.ru/society/2021/12/5/1131552.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127210955/https://vz.ru/society/2021/12/5/1131552.html |archive-date=27 January 2023 |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=ВЗГЛЯД.РУ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ленинские, сталинские и хрущевские гонения на Церковь. Церковный ответ на гонения – читать, скачать |url=https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Istorija_Tserkvi/leninskie-stalinskie-i-hrushevskie-gonenija-na-tserkov-tserkovnyj-otvet-na-gonenija |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528131827/https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Istorija_Tserkvi/leninskie-stalinskie-i-hrushevskie-gonenija-na-tserkov-tserkovnyj-otvet-na-gonenija |archive-date=28 May 2023 |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=azbyka.ru |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=15 July 2013 |title=Жизнь без веры: утраченные церкви Петербурга |url=https://ria.ru/20130715/949759028.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531061757/https://ria.ru/20130715/949759028.html |archive-date=31 May 2023 |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=РИА Новости |language=ru}}</ref>
On 1 December 1934, [[Sergey Kirov]], the Bolshevik leader of Leningrad, was assassinated under suspicious circumstances, which became the pretext for the [[Great Purge]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Stalin's Terror: High Politics and Mass Repression in the Soviet Union |date=2002 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |editor-last=McLoughlin |editor-first=Barry |page=6 |editor-last2=McDermott |editor-first2=Kevin}}</ref> In Leningrad, approximately 40,000 were executed during Stalin's purges.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 January 2018 |title=The Russian historian giving Stalin's victims back their identity |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20180129-russian-historian-giving-stalins-victims-back-identity |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401200001/https://www.france24.com/en/20180129-russian-historian-giving-stalins-victims-back-identity |archive-date=1 April 2019 |access-date=1 April 2019 |work=France 24}}</ref>
===World War II (1941–1945)===
{{Main|Siege of Leningrad}}
[[File:RIAN archive 907 Leningradians queueing up for water.jpg|left|thumb|Citizens of Leningrad during the 872-day [[siege of Leningrad|siege]], in which more than one million civilians died, mostly from starvation, [[Nevsky Prospect]] (then known as the ''25 October Prospekt'')]]
During World War II, [[Nazi Germany|German forces]] besieged Leningrad following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web |date=1 September 2023 |title=Siege of Leningrad {{!}} Nazi Germany, World War II, Blockade |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Leningrad |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418084523/https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Leningrad |archive-date=18 April 2023 |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=Britannica}}</ref> The siege lasted 872 days, or almost two and a half years,<ref name="autogenerated1"/> from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944.<ref>Baldack, Richard H. "Leningrad, Siege of", ''[[World Book Encyclopedia]]'', Chicago, 2002, vol. 12, p. 195.{{ISBN missing}}</ref>
The [[Siege of Leningrad]] proved one of the longest, most destructive, and [[Most lethal battles in world history#Sieges and urban combat|most lethal sieges]] of a major city in [[modern history]]. It isolated the city from food supplies except those provided through the [[Road of Life]] across [[Lake Ladoga]], which could not make it through until the lake froze. More than one million civilians were killed, mainly from starvation. There were incidents of cannibalism, with around 2,000 residents arrested for eating other people.<ref>{{Cite news |last=TROUILLARD |first=Stéphanie |date=8 August 2021 |title='An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe': The siege of Leningrad, 80 years on |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210908-an-unprecedented-humanitarian-catastrophe-the-siege-of-leningrad-80-years-on |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410070812/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210908-an-unprecedented-humanitarian-catastrophe-the-siege-of-leningrad-80-years-on |archive-date=10 April 2023 |access-date=10 April 2023 |agency=France24}}</ref> Many others escaped or were evacuated, so the city became largely depopulated.
On 1 May 1945, [[Joseph Stalin]], in his Supreme Commander Order No. 20, named Leningrad, alongside [[Stalingrad]], [[Sevastopol]], and [[Odesa]], [[Hero City (Soviet Union)|hero cities]] of the war. A law acknowledging the honorary title of "Hero City" passed on 8 May 1965 (the 20th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War), during the [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev era]]. The [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]] of the USSR awarded Leningrad as a Hero City the [[Order of Lenin]] and the [[Gold Star medal]] "for the heroic resistance of the city and tenacity of the survivors of the Siege". The [[Hero-City Obelisk]] bearing the [[Gold Star medal|Gold Star sign]] was installed in April 1985.
===Post-war Soviet era (1945–1991)===
[[File:Hammond Slides Leningrad 04.jpg|thumb|View of Lermontovski Prospekt, [[Egyptian Bridge]] and the [[Fontanka River]], 1972]]
In October 1946 some territories along the northern coast of the [[Gulf of Finland]], which had been annexed into the USSR from Finland in 1940 under the [[Moscow Peace Treaty|peace treaty]] following the [[Winter War]], were transferred from Leningrad Oblast to Leningrad and divided into [[Sestroretsk|Sestroretsky District]] and [[Kurortny District]]. These included the town of [[Terijoki]] (renamed [[Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg|Zelenogorsk]] in 1948).<ref name="autogenerated2"/> Leningrad and many of its suburbs were rebuilt over the post-war decades, partially according to pre-war plans. The 1948 general plan for Leningrad featured radial [[urban development]] in the north as well as in the south. In 1953, Pavlovsky District in Leningrad Oblast was abolished, and parts of its territory, including Pavlovsk, merged with Leningrad. In 1954, the settlements [[Levashovo, Saint Petersburg|Levashovo]], [[Pargolovo]] and [[Pesochny, Russia|Pesochny]] merged with Leningrad.<ref name="autogenerated2"/>
[[File:Leningrad 1991 (4387699303).jpg|thumb|left|[[Griboedov Canal]] and the [[Church of the Saviour on Blood]], 1991]]
Leningrad gave its name to the [[Leningrad Affair]] (1949–1952), a notable event in the postwar political struggle in the [[USSR]]. It was a product of rivalry between Stalin's potential successors where one side was represented by the leaders of the city [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] organization – the second most significant one in the country after Moscow. The entire elite leadership of Leningrad was destroyed, including the former mayor [[Alexey Kuznetsov|Kuznetsov]], the acting mayor Pyotr Sergeevich Popkov, and all their deputies; overall, 23 leaders were sentenced to the death penalty, 181 to prison or exile (rehabilitated in 1954). About 2,000 ranking officials across the USSR were expelled from the party and the Komsomol and removed from leadership positions.<ref name="Zubkova">{{Cite book |last=Zubkova, Elena Yurievna |title=Russia after the war: hopes, illusions, and disappointments, 1945–1957 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc. |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7656-0227-5 |editor-last=Ragsdale |editor-first=Hugh |___location=New York |pages=132–133 |chapter=Chronology of Major Events |access-date=15 October 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IsNPwrLwmIcC&q=leningrad+affair&pg=PA132 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073311/https://books.google.com/books?id=IsNPwrLwmIcC&q=leningrad+affair&pg=PA132 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The [[Leningrad Metro]] underground [[rapid transit system]], designed before the war, opened in 1955 with its first eight stations decorated with [[marble]] and [[bronze]]. However, after Stalin died in 1953, the perceived ornamental excesses of the Stalinist architecture were abandoned. From the 1960s to the 1980s, many new residential boroughs were built on the outskirts; while the [[functionalism (architecture)|functionalist]] apartment blocks were nearly identical to each other, many families moved there from ''kommunalkas'' in the city centre to live in separate apartments.
===Contemporary era (1991–present)===
[[File:Spb Views from Isaac Cathedral May2012 09.jpg|thumb|View of the city from the [[Saint Isaac's Cathedral]]]]
[[1991 Leningrad elections|On 12 June 1991]], simultaneously with the [[1991 Russian presidential election|first Russian SFSR presidential elections]], the city authorities arranged for the mayoral elections and a referendum on the city's name, when the original name ''Saint Petersburg'' was restored. 66% of the total count of votes went to [[Anatoly Sobchak]], who became the first directly elected [[list of heads of Saint Petersburg government|mayor of the city]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Как выбирали в 1991-м |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3008944 |website=[[Kommersant]] |access-date=18 March 2025 |language=ru |date=11 June 2016}}</ref>
Meanwhile, economic conditions started to deteriorate as the country's people tried to adapt to major changes. For the first time since the 1940s, food [[rationing]] was introduced, and the city received humanitarian [[World Food Programme|food aid]] from abroad.<ref name="Orttung"/> This dramatic time was depicted in photographic series of Russian photographer [[Alexey Titarenko]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ollman |first=Leah |date=3 August 2001 |title=Russian Photos Trace Images of Mortality and Memory |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-aug-03-ca-30027-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711230630/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/aug/03/entertainment/ca-30027 |archive-date=11 July 2018 |access-date=25 August 2018 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunne |first=Aiden |author-link=Aidan Dunne |date=17 May 2007 |title=Camera in a City of Shadows |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/camera-in-a-city-of-shadows-1.1206242 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323082702/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/camera-in-a-city-of-shadows-1.1206242 |archive-date=23 March 2019 |access-date=25 August 2018 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |___location=Dublin}}</ref> Economic conditions began to improve only at the beginning of the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CАНКТ ПЕТЕРБУРГ ВАЛОВОЙ РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ПРОДУКТ в 1998–2003 гг |url=http://petrostat.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_ts/petrostat/resources/58cc7e804f0a97d5bbddbb22524f7e0f/SPB15.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127125929/http://petrostat.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_ts/petrostat/resources/58cc7e804f0a97d5bbddbb22524f7e0f/SPB15.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2018 |access-date=13 November 2018 |website=Petrostat.gks.ru |language=ru}}</ref> In 1995, a northern section of the [[Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line]] of the [[Saint Petersburg Metro]] was cut off by underground flooding, creating a major obstacle to the city development for almost ten years. On 13 June 1996, Saint Petersburg, alongside Leningrad Oblast and [[Tver Oblast]], signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy.<ref name="newsline">{{Cite web |date=14 June 1996 |title=Newsline – June 14, 1996 Yeltsin Signs More Power-Sharing Agreements |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1141193.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503023624/https://www.rferl.org/a/1141193.html |archive-date=3 May 2019 |access-date=2 May 2019 |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref> This agreement was abolished on 4 April 2002.<ref name="demokratiztsiya">{{Cite journal |last=Chuman |first=Mizuki |title=The Rise and Fall of Power-Sharing Treaties Between Center and Regions in Post-Soviet Russia |url=http://demokratizatsiya.pub/archives/19_2_L7H017206G216817.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Demokratizatsiya |pages=146 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308002915/http://demokratizatsiya.pub/archives/19_2_L7H017206G216817.pdf |archive-date=8 March 2019 |access-date=6 May 2019}}</ref>
In 1996, [[Vladimir Anatolyevich Yakovlev|Vladimir Yakovlev]] defeated [[Anatoly Sobchak]] in the elections for the head of the [[Saint Petersburg City Administration|city administration]]. The title of the city head was changed from "mayor" to "governor".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shogren |first1=Elizabeth |title=St. Petersburg Mayor Loses Reelection Bid to Ex-Deputy |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-04-mn-11631-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=18 March 2025 |date=4 June 1996}}</ref> In 2000, Yakovlev won re-election.<ref>{{cite web |title=Loser in St. Petersburg Election to Contest Results in Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/16/world/loser-in-st-petersburg-election-to-contest-results-in-court.html |website=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527140731/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/16/world/loser-in-st-petersburg-election-to-contest-results-in-court.html |archive-date=27 May 2015 |date=16 May 2000 |url-status=dead}}</ref> His second term expired in 2004; the long-awaited restoration of the broken subway connection was expected to finish by that time. But in 2003, Yakovlev suddenly resigned, leaving the governor's office to [[Valentina Matviyenko]].
[[File:4A7A3069 Moika, Saint Petersburg (35468573803).jpg|left|thumb|[[Moyka|Moyka River]], flowing through [[Central Saint Petersburg]]]]
[[File:Troitskiy Bridge - panoramio.jpg|right|thumb|[[Trinity Bridge, Saint Petersburg|The Trinity Bridge]] is a landmark of Art Nouveau design.]]
[[File:Saint Petersburg, Russia (47944909056).jpg|thumb|People walking on the main street of Saint Petersburg, [[Nevsky Prospekt]]]]
The law on the election of the City Governor was changed, breaking the tradition of democratic election by universal suffrage that started in 1991. In 2006, the [[Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg|city legislature]] re-approved Matviyenko as governor. Residential building had intensified again; [[real estate pricing|real-estate prices]] inflated greatly, which caused many new problems for the preservation of the historical part of the city.
Although the central part of the city has a [[UNESCO]] designation (there are about 8,000 architectural monuments in Petersburg), the preservation of its historical and architectural environment became controversial.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zagraevsky |first=Sergey |author-link=Sergey Zagraevsky |date=2008 |title=Will Saint Petersburg share the same fate as Moscow? |url=http://zagraevsky.com/piter_engl.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215010459/http://zagraevsky.com/piter_engl.htm |archive-date=15 December 2020 |access-date=16 November 2012 |publisher=Zagraevsky.com}}</ref> After 2005, the demolition of older buildings in the historical centre was permitted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Photos of the violations of the historical environment of Saint Petersburg |url=http://rusarch.ru/attn_spb3.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826114026/http://rusarch.ru/attn_spb3.htm |archive-date=26 August 2011 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Rusarch.ru}}</ref> In 2006, [[Gazprom]] announced an ambitious project to build a skyscraper as part of the Gazprom City complex, with its main tower set to soar significantly higher than the city's most famous landmarks. The tower would be located opposite the [[Smolny Cathedral]] on the [[Neva river]], and critics warned it could disrupt the architectural harmony of the city's landscape.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Myers |first1=Steven Lee |title=Russian Window on the West Reaches for the Sky |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/world/europe/28petersburg.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=22 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712053627/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/world/europe/28petersburg.html |archive-date=12 July 2022 |date=28 November 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Urgent protests by citizens and prominent public figures of Russia against this project were not considered by Governor [[Valentina Matviyenko]] and the city authorities until December 2010, when after the statement of President [[Dmitry Medvedev]], the city decided to find a more appropriate ___location for this project. In the same year, the new ___location for the project was relocated to [[Lakhta, Saint Petersburg|Lakhta]], a historical area northwest of the city centre, and the new project would be named [[Lakhta Center]]. Construction was approved by Gazprom and the city administration and commenced in 2012. The {{Cvt|462|m}} high Lakhta Center has become the first [[List of tallest buildings in Russia|tallest skyscraper in Russia]] and [[List of tallest buildings in Europe|Europe]] outside of Moscow.
==Geography==
{{Main|Geography of Saint Petersburg}}
{{Wide image|Panorama of Saint Petersburg from Palace Bridge.jpg|1200px|align-cap=center|The [[Neva River]] flows through much of the centre of the city. Left – the [[Spit of Vasilievsky Island]], center – [[River Neva]], [[Peter and Paul Fortress]] and [[Trinity Bridge (Saint Petersburg)|Trinity Bridge]], right – [[Palace Embankment]] with the [[Winter Palace]].}}
[[File:Saint Petersburg by Sentinel-2, 2020-07-17.jpg|thumb|Satellite image of Saint Petersburg and its suburbs]]
The area of Saint Petersburg city proper is {{Convert|605.8|km2|abbr=in}}. The area of the federal subject is {{Cvt|1439|km2}}, which contains Saint Petersburg proper (consisting of eighty-one municipal ''[[okrug]]s''), nine municipal towns ([[Kolpino]], [[Krasnoye Selo]], [[Kronstadt]], [[Lomonosov, Russia|Lomonosov]], [[Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg|Pavlovsk]], [[Petergof]], [[Pushkin (town)|Pushkin]], [[Sestroretsk]], [[Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg|Zelenogorsk]]), and twenty-one municipal settlements.
Petersburg is in the middle [[taiga]] lowlands along the shores of the [[Neva Bay]] of the [[Gulf of Finland]], and islands of the river delta. The largest are [[Vasilyevsky Island]] (besides the [[artificial island]] between Obvodny canal and [[Fontanka]], and [[Kotlin Island|Kotlin]] in the [[Neva Bay]]), [[Petrogradsky Island|Petrogradsky]], [[Dekabristov Island|Dekabristov]] and [[Krestovsky Island|Krestovsky]]. The latter, together with [[Yelagin Island|Yelagin]] and [[Kamenny Island]] are covered mostly by parks. The [[Karelian Isthmus]], North of the city, is a popular [[resort area]]. In the south, Saint Petersburg crosses the [[Baltic-Ladoga Klint]] and meets the [[Izhora Plateau]].
The elevation of Saint Petersburg ranges from the sea level to its highest point of {{Cvt|175.9|m}} at the Orekhovaya Hill in the [[Duderhof Heights]] in the south. Part of the city's territory west of [[Liteyny Prospekt]] is no higher than {{Cvt|4|m}} [[above sea level]], and has suffered from numerous floods. [[Floods in Saint Petersburg]] are triggered by a long wave in the [[Baltic Sea]], caused by meteorological conditions, winds, and shallowness of the [[Neva Bay]]. The five most disastrous floods occurred in 1824 ({{Cvt|4.21|m|ftin|disp=or}} above sea level, during which over 300 buildings were destroyed{{Efn|The level of flooding is measured near [[Saint Petersburg Mining Institute]], which is normally {{Cvt|11|cm}} above sea level.}}); 1924 ({{Cvt|3.8|m|ftin|disp=comma}}); 1777 ({{Cvt|3.21|m|ftin|disp=comma}}); 1955 ({{Cvt|2.93|m|ftin|disp=comma}}); and 1975 ({{Cvt|2.81|m|ftin|disp=comma}}). To prevent floods, the [[Saint Petersburg Dam]] has been constructed.<ref>Nezhikhovsky, R.A. ''Река Нева и Невская губа'' [''The Neva River and Neva Bay''], Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1981.</ref>
Since the 18th century, the city's terrain has been raised artificially, at some places by more than {{Cvt|4|m}}, making mergers of several islands, and changing the hydrology of the city. Besides the Neva and its tributaries, other important rivers of the federal subject of Saint Petersburg are [[Sestra River (Leningrad Oblast)|Sestra]], [[Okhta]], and [[Izhora]]. The largest lake is Sestroretsky Razliv in the north, followed by [[Lakhtinsky Razliv]], Suzdal Lakes, and other smaller lakes.
Due to its northerly ___location at c. 60° N [[latitude]], the [[day length]] in Petersburg varies across seasons, ranging from 5 hours 53 minutes to 18 hours 50 minutes. A period from mid-May to mid-July during which twilight may last all night is called ''the [[Midnight sun|white nights]]''.
Saint Petersburg is about {{Convert|165|km|abbr=in}} from the border with Finland, connected to it via the [[M10 highway (Russia)|M10 highway]] ([[European route E18|E18]]), along which there is also a connection to the historic city of [[Vyborg]].
==
Under the [[Köppen climate classification]], Saint Petersburg is classified as ''Dfb'', a [[humid continental climate]]. The distinct moderating influence of [[Baltic Sea]] cyclones results in mild to hot, humid, short summers and long, moderately cold, wet winters. The climate of Saint Petersburg is close to that of [[Helsinki]], although slightly more continental (i.e., colder in winter and warmer in summer) because of its more eastern ___location, while slightly less continental than that of [[Moscow]].
The average high temperature in July is {{Convert|23|C}}, and the average low temperature in February is {{Convert|-8.5|C}}; an extreme temperature of {{Convert|37.1|C}} occurred during the [[2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave]]. A winter low of {{Convert|-35.9|C}} was recorded in 1883. The average annual temperature is {{Convert|5.8|C}}. The Neva River within the city limits usually freezes up in November–December and break-up occurs in April. From December to March, there are 118 days on average with snow cover, which reaches an average snow depth of {{Cvt|19|cm}} by February.<ref name= pogoda/> The frost-free period in the city lasts on average for about 135 days. Despite St. Petersburg's northern ___location, its winters are warmer than [[Moscow#Climate|Moscow]]'s due to the [[Gulf of Finland]] and some [[Gulf Stream]] influence from Scandinavian winds that can bring temperatures slightly above freezing. The city also has a slightly warmer climate than its suburbs due to the [[urban heat island effect]]. It also has a pretty low [[diurnal temperature variation]], especially during fall and winter. Weather conditions are quite variable all year round.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Climate St. Peterburg – Historical weather records |url=http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/St_Peterburg/260630.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826005502/http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/St_Peterburg/260630.htm |archive-date=26 August 2012 |access-date=16 November 2012 |publisher=Tutiempo.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Архив погоды в Санкт-Петербурге, Санкт-Петербург |url=http://rp5.ru/archive.php?wmo_id=26063 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005004805/http://rp5.ru/archive.php?wmo_id=26063 |archive-date=5 October 2012 |access-date=16 November 2012 |publisher=Rp5.ru}}</ref>
Average annual [[precipitation]] varies across the city, averaging {{Cvt|660|mm}} per year and reaching a maximum in late summer. Due to the cool climate, soil moisture is almost always high because of lower [[evapotranspiration]]. [[Relative humidity|Air humidity]] is 78% on average, and there are, on average, 165 [[overcast]] days per year.
{{Saint Petersburg weatherbox}}
==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of Saint Petersburg}}
[[File:St Petersburg pop pyramid 2021.svg|thumb|Population pyramid of St. Petersburg in the 2021 Russian Census]]
Saint Petersburg is the second-largest city in Russia. As of the [[Russian Census (2021)|2021 Census]],<ref name=2021Census/> the federal subject's population is 5,601,911 or 3.9% of the total population of Russia; up from 4,879,566 (3.4%) recorded in the [[Russian Census (2010)|2010 Census]],<ref name="2010Census">{{Ru-pop-ref|2010Census}}</ref> and up from 5,023,506 recorded in the [[Soviet Census (1989)|1989 Census]].<ref name="1989Census">{{Ru-pop-ref|1989Census}}</ref> Over 6.4 million people reside in the [[Saint Petersburg metropolitan area|metropolitan area]].
{{Historical populations
|type =
|footnote = Source: Census data
|1897 | 1,264,920
|1926 | 1,590,770
|1939 | 3,191,304
|1959 | 3,321,196
|1970 | 3,949,501
|1979 | 4,588,183
|1989 | 5,023,506
|2002 | 4,661,219
|2010 | 4,879,566
|2021 | 5,601,911
}}
'''Vital statistics for 2024:<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 February 2025 |title=Естественное движение населения в разрезе субъектов российской федерации за декабрь 2024 года |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/EDN_12-2024.htm |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=Rosstat}}</ref>'''
* Births: 47,148 (8.4 per 1,000)
* Deaths: 62,471 (11.2 per 1,000)
'''Total fertility rate (2024):<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-02-25 |title=Рейтинг рождаемости в регионах: кто в лидерах, а кто в аутсайдерах {{!}} Москва |url=https://fedpress.ru/article/3365231 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=ФедералПресс |language=ru-RU}}</ref>'''<br />
1.26 children per woman
'''Life expectancy (2021):'''<ref name="rosstat">{{Cite web |title=Демографический ежегодник России |trans-title=The Demographic Yearbook of Russia |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/folder/210/document/13207 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821222854/https://rosstat.gov.ru/folder/210/document/13207 |archive-date=21 August 2020 |access-date=1 June 2022 |publisher=[[Federal State Statistics Service (Russia)|Federal State Statistics Service of Russia]] (Rosstat) |language=ru}}</ref> <br />
Total – 72.51 years (male – 68.23, female – 76.30)
{{Clear left}}
[[File:Life expectancy in Russian subject -Saint Petersburg.png|thumb|left|upright=1.5|Life expectancy at birth in Saint Petersburg]]
{{Clear}}
'''Ethnic composition of Saint Petersburg'''
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0; border:none; text-align:right;"
! rowspan="3" |Ethnicity
! colspan="16" |Year
|-
! colspan="2" |1939<ref>{{Cite web |title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_39.php?reg=36 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617140319/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_39.php?reg=36 |archive-date=17 June 2022 |access-date=17 June 2022 |website=Demoscope.ru}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |1959<ref>{{Cite web |title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_59.php?reg=40 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705094652/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_59.php?reg=40 |archive-date=5 July 2022 |access-date=17 June 2022 |website=Demoscope.ru}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |1970<ref>{{Cite web |title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_70.php?reg=9 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617133910/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_70.php?reg=9 |archive-date=17 June 2022 |access-date=17 June 2022 |website=Demoscope.ru}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |1979<ref>{{Cite web |title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_79.php?reg=9 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815160202/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_79.php?reg=9 |archive-date=15 August 2022 |access-date=17 June 2022 |website=Demoscope.ru}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |1989<ref>{{Cite web |title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_89.php?reg=8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617130505/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_89.php?reg=8 |archive-date=17 June 2022 |access-date=17 June 2022 |website=Demoscope.ru}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2002<ref name=":0"/>
! colspan="2" |2010<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Национальный состав и владение языками, гражданство |url=http://www.perepis2002.ru/index.html?id=17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126074108/http://www.perepis2002.ru/index.html?id=17 |archive-date=26 January 2012 |access-date=10 April 2023 |website=perepis2002.ru}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2021<ref name="census2021">{{Cite web |title=Национальный состав населения |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230204643/https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx |archive-date=30 December 2022 |access-date=30 December 2022 |publisher=[[Federal State Statistics Service]]}}</ref>
|-
!Population
!%
!Population
!%
!Population
!%
!Population
!%
!Population
!%
!Population
!%
!Population !! %
!Population<sup>1</sup>!! %
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Russians]]
|2,775,979
|86.9
|2,951,254
|88.9
|3,514,296
|89.0
|4,097,629
|89.7
|4,448,884
|89.1
|3,949,623
|92.0
| 3,908,753 || 92.5
| 4,275,058 || 90.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Ukrainians]]
|54,660
|1.7
|68,308
|2.1
|97,109
|2.5
|117,412
|2.6
|150,982
|3.0
|87,119
|2.0
| 64,446 || 1.5
| 29,353 || 0.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Tatars]]
|31,506
|1.0
|27,178
|0.8
|32,851
|0.8
|39,403
|0.9
|43,997
|0.9
|35,553
|0.8
| 30,857 || 0.7
| 20,286 || 0.4
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Azerbaijanis]]
|385
| -
|855
| -
|1,576
| -
|3,171
| 0.1
|11,804
|0.2
|16,613
|0.4
| 17,717 || 0.4
| 16,406 || 0.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Belarusians]]
|32,353
|1.0
|47,004
|1.4
|63,799
|1.6
|81,575
|1.8
|93,564
|1.9
|54,484
|1.3
| 38,136 || 0.9
| 15,545 || 0.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Armenians]]
|4,615
|0.1
|4,897
|0.1
|6,628
|0.2
|7,995
|0.2
|12,070
|0.2
|19,164
|0.4
| 19,971 || 0.5
| 14,737 || 0.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Uzbeks]]
|238
| -
| -
| -
|1,678
| -
|1,883
| -
|7,927
|0.2
|2,987
|0.1
| 20,345 || 0.5
| 12,181 || 0.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Tajiks]]
|61
| -
| -
| -
|361
| -
|473
| -
|1,917
| -
|2,449
|0.1
| 12,072 || 0.3
|9,573 || 0.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | [[Jews]]
|201,542
|6.3
|168,641
|5.1
|162,525
|4.1
|142,779
|3.1
|106,469
|2.1
|36,570
|0.9
| 24,132 || 0.6
| 9,205 || 0.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Others
|89,965
|2.8
|53,059
|1.6
|68,678
|1.7
|76,228
|1.7
|113,135
|2.3
|88,661
|2.1
| 90,310|| 2.1
| 277,297 || 6.7
|-
!Total
!3,191,304
!100
!3,321,196
!100
!3,949,501
!100
!4,588,183
!100
!5,023,506
!100
!4,661,219
!100
!4,879,566
!100
!5,601,911
!100
|-
! colspan="17" |<small><sup>''1''</sup>''884,678 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.''</small>
|}
During the 20th century, the city experienced dramatic population changes. From 2.4 million residents in 1916, its population dropped to less than 740,000 by 1920 during the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]] and [[Russian Civil War]]. The minorities of Germans, Poles, Finns, Estonians, and Latvians were almost completely [[population transfer in the Soviet Union|transferred]] from Leningrad during the 1930s.<ref name="martin">{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Terry |year=1998 |title=The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3229636/Martin%201998.pdf?sequence=2 |url-status=live |journal=[[The Journal of Modern History]] |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=813–861 |doi=10.1086/235168 |issn=1537-5358 |jstor=10.1086/235168 |s2cid=32917643 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209094732/https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3229636/Martin%201998.pdf?sequence=2 |archive-date=9 December 2020 |access-date=4 November 2018}}</ref> From 1941 to the end of 1943, population dropped from 3 million to less than 600,000, as people died in battles, starved to death or were evacuated during the [[Siege of Leningrad]]. Some evacuees returned after the siege, but most influx was due to migration from other parts of the Soviet Union. The city absorbed about 3 million people in the 1950s and grew to over 5 million in the 1980s. From 1991 to 2006, the city's population decreased to 4.6 million, while the suburban population increased due to the privatization of land and a massive move to the suburbs. Based on the 2010 census results, the population is over 4.8 million.<ref name="Demoscape0163">Chistyakova, N. [http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2004/0163/tema01.php Третье сокращение численности населения... и последнее?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728185425/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2004/0163/tema01.php |date=28 July 2011}} ''Demoscope Weekly'' 163–164, 1–15 August 2004.</ref><ref>"Encyclopedia of Saint Petersburg" Chistyakov, A. Yu. [http://www.encspb.ru/ru/article.php?kod=2804035787 Население (обзорная статья)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071004210856/http://www.encspb.ru/ru/article.php?kod=2804035787 |date=4 October 2007}}. ''Энциклопедия Санкт-Петербурга''</ref> For the first half of 2007, the birth rate was 9.1 per 1000<ref>{{Cite web |title=В первом полугодии продолжалось умеренное повышение числа рождений |url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2007/0301/barom04.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224054117/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2007/0301/barom04.php |archive-date=24 February 2021 |access-date=6 January 2009 |publisher=Demoscope.ru}}</ref> and remained lower than the [[death rate]] (until 2012<ref name="gks.ru">{{Cite web |title=Естественное движение населения в разрезе субъектов Российской Федерации |url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/2012/demo/edn12-12.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301092826/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/2012/demo/edn12-12.htm |archive-date=1 March 2013 |access-date=30 March 2013 |website=Gks.ru}}</ref>); people over 65 constitute more than twenty percent of the population; and the median age is about 40 years.<ref>Russian statistics [http://gov.spb.ru/helper/day/people/ Основные показатели социально-демографической ситуации в Санкт-Петербурге] {{Cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Since 2012 the [[birth rate]] became higher than the [[death rate]].<ref name="gks.ru"/> But in 2020, the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Russia|COVID-19 pandemic]] caused a drop in birth rate, and the city population decreased to 5,395,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Пандемия COVID-19 привела к падению рождаемости в Петербурге |url=https://m.dp.ru/a/2020/08/18/Pandemija_COVID-19_privela |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024143146/https://m.dp.ru/a/2020/08/18/Pandemija_COVID-19_privela |archive-date=24 October 2020 |access-date=19 August 2020 |website=M.dp.ru}}</ref>
===Religion===
{{Multiple image
| align = right
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| image1 = Кронштадт. Никольский собор на Якорной площади.jpg
| width1 = 560
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| image2 = Spb 06-2012 Nevsky various 03.jpg
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| width4 = 500
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| footer = '''Clockwise from left''': Kronstadt: the Naval Cathedral on Yakornaya Square, the [[Church of St. Catherine (Saint Petersburg)|Church of St. Catherine]], the [[Saint Petersburg Mosque]], and the [[Grand Choral Synagogue (St. Petersburg)|Grand Choral Synagogue of St.{{Spaces}}Petersburg]]
}}
According to various opinion polls, more than half of the residents of Saint Petersburg "believe in [[God]]" (up to 67% according to [[VTsIOM]] data for 2002).
Among the believers, the overwhelming majority of the residents of the city are [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] (57.5%), followed by small minority communities of [[Muslims]] (0.7%), [[Protestants]] (0.6%), and [[Catholics]] (0.5%), and [[Buddhists]] (0.1%).<ref name="Religion">{{Cite web |last=Виталий Трофимов-Трофимов |date=30 September 2013 |title=Религиозное лицо Петербурга |url=https://ok-inform.ru/obshchestvo/5554-religioznoe-litso-peterburga.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806180539/https://ok-inform.ru/obshchestvo/5554-religioznoe-litso-peterburga.html |archive-date=6 August 2019 |access-date=21 September 2020 |website=ok-inform.ru}}</ref>
In total, roughly 59% of the population of the city is [[Christian]], of which over 90% are Orthodox.<ref name="Religion"/> Non-Abrahamic religions and other faiths are represented by only 1.2% of the total population.<ref name="Religion"/>
{{Bar box
|title=Religion in Saint Petersburg as of 2012 (Sreda Arena Atlas)<ref name="2012ArenaAtlas">[http://sreda.org/en/arena "Arena: Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206100344/http://sreda.org/en/arena |date=6 December 2017}}. Sreda, 2012.</ref><ref name="2012Arena-religion-maps">[http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg 2012 Arena Atlas Religion Maps]. "Ogonek", № 34 (5243), 27 August 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2017. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170421154615/http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg Archived].</ref>
|float=left
|bars=
{{Bar percent|[[Russian Orthodoxy]]|DarkOrchid|50.3}}
{{Bar percent|Other [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]]|MediumOrchid|1.4}}
{{Bar percent|Other [[Christianity in Russia|Christians]]|DeepSkyBlue|3.2}}
{{Bar percent|[[Islam in Russia|Islam]]|Green|1.1}}
{{Bar percent|[[Spiritual but not religious]]|DarkSlateGray|20.5}}
{{Bar percent|[[Atheism]] and [[irreligion]]|Black|15.4}}
{{Bar percent|Other and undeclared|Gray|7.6}}
}}
There are 268 communities of confessions and [[religious]] associations in the city: the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] (130 associations), [[Pentecostalism]] (23 associations), the [[Lutheranism]] (19 associations), [[Baptism]] (13 associations), as well as [[Old Believers]], Roman Catholic Church, [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], [[Georgian Orthodox Church]], [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]], [[Judaism]], [[Buddhist]], [[Islam|Muslim]], [[Bahá'í]] and others.<ref name="Religion"/>
229 religious buildings in the city are owned or run by religious associations. Among them are architectural monuments of federal significance. The oldest cathedral in the city is the [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]], built between 1712 and 1733, and the largest is the [[Kazan Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Kazan Cathedral]], completed in 1811.
{{Clear}}
==Government==
{{Further|Politics of Saint Petersburg}}
[[File:St Petersburg, Mariinskiy Palace.jpg|left|thumb|The city assembly meets in the [[Mariinsky Palace]].]]
Saint Petersburg is a [[federal subject]] of Russia (a [[federal cities of Russia|federal city]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Constitution of the Russian federation |url=http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-01.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606071041/http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-01.htm |archive-date=6 June 2013 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Constitution.ru}}</ref> The political life of Saint Petersburg is regulated by the [[Charter of Saint Petersburg]] adopted by the city legislature in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russian source: Charter of Saint Petersburg City |url=http://gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8308279&prevDoc=8308279&spack=000listid%3D010000000100%26listpos%3D0%26lsz%3D1%26nd%3D9111570%26nh%3D0%26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531132949/http://gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8308279&prevDoc=8308279&spack=000listid%3D010000000100%26listpos%3D0%26lsz%3D1%26nd%3D9111570%26nh%3D0%26 |archive-date=31 May 2009 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Gov.spb.ru}}</ref> The superior executive body is the [[Saint Petersburg City Administration]], led by the [[Governor of Saint Petersburg|city governor]] (mayor before 1996). Saint Petersburg has a [[unicameralism|single-chamber]] legislature, the [[Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly]], which is the city's [[Regional parliaments of Russia|regional parliament]].
[[File:RUS-2016-SPB-Smolny Institute 02.jpg|thumb|The [[Smolny Institute]], seat of the governor]]
According to the [[Law of Russia|federal law]] passed in 2004, heads of federal subjects, including the governor of Saint Petersburg, were nominated by the [[President of Russia]] and approved by local legislatures. Should the legislature disapprove the nominee, the President could dissolve it. The former governor, [[Valentina Matviyenko]], was approved according to the new system in December 2006. She was the only woman governor in all of Russia until her resignation on 22 August 2011. Matviyenko stood for elections as a member of the Regional Council of Saint Petersburg and won comprehensively with allegations of rigging and ballot stuffing by the opposition. Russian President [[Dmitry Medvedev]] has already backed her for the position of [[Chairman of the Federation Council (Russia)|Speaker]] to the [[Federation Council]], and her election qualifies her for that job. After her resignation, [[Georgy Poltavchenko]] was appointed as the new acting governor the same day. In 2012, following passage of a new federal law,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Федеральный закон от 02.05.2012 N 40-ФЗ "О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об общих принципах организации законодательных (представительных) и исполнительных органов государственной власти субъектов Российской Федерации" и Федеральный закон "Об основных гарантиях избирательных прав и права на участие в референдуме граждан Российской Федерации" |url=http://base.garant.ru/70169404 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116103954/http://base.garant.ru/70169404 |archive-date=16 November 2012 |access-date=26 November 2012 |publisher=garant.ru}}</ref> restoring direct elections of heads of federal subjects, the city charter was again amended to provide for direct elections of governor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Закон Санкт-Петербурга от 26.06.2012 N 339-59 |url=http://ppt.ru/texts/index.phtml?id=64263 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216062927/http://ppt.ru/texts/index.phtml?id=64263 |archive-date=16 February 2015 |access-date=26 November 2012 |website=ppt.ru}}</ref> On 3 October 2018, Poltavchenko resigned, and [[Alexander Beglov]] was appointed acting governor.<ref name="beglov">{{Cite news |date=3 October 2018 |script-title=ru:Александр Беглов назначен врио Губернатора Санкт-Петербурга |url=https://news.rambler.ru/other/40954610-aleksandr-beglov-naznachen-vrio-gubernatora-sankt-peterburga-dose |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003221037/https://news.rambler.ru/other/40954610-aleksandr-beglov-naznachen-vrio-gubernatora-sankt-peterburga-dose |archive-date=3 October 2018 |access-date=3 October 2018 |publisher=Rambler news |language=ru}}</ref>
Saint Petersburg is also the unofficial, ''de facto'' administrative centre of [[Leningrad Oblast]] (a separate federal subject), and of the [[Northwestern Federal District]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 June 2009 |title=Official website of the Northwestern Federal District (Russian) |url=http://www.szfo.ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216171819/http://www.szfo.ru |archive-date=16 February 2008 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Szfo.ru}}</ref> Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast share several local departments of federal executive agencies and courts, such as court of arbitration, police, [[Federal Security Service (Russia)|FSB]], postal service, drug enforcement administration, penitentiary service, federal registration service, and other federal services.
The [[Constitutional Court of Russia]] moved to Saint Petersburg from [[Moscow]] in May 2008. The relocation of the [[Supreme Court of Russia]] from Moscow to Saint Petersburg has been planned since 2014.
===Administrative divisions===
{{Main|Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg}}
{|
|-
|Colspan=2|Saint Petersburg is divided into 18 administrative districts:
|rowspan=2|[[File:Spb all districts 2005 abc rus.svg|right|300px|[[Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg|Administrative divisions]] of the city of Saint Petersburg]]
|-
|
# [[Admiralteysky District|Аdmiralteysky]]
# [[Vasileostrovsky District|Vasileostrovsky]]
# [[Vyborgsky District, Saint Petersburg|Vyborgsky]]
# [[Kalininsky District, Saint Petersburg|Kalininsky]]
# [[Kirovsky District, Saint Petersburg|Кirovsky]]
# [[Kolpinsky]]
# [[Krasnogvardeysky District, Saint Petersburg|Krasnogvardeysky]]
# [[Krasnoselsky District, Saint Petersburg|Кrasnoselsky]]
# [[Kronshtadtsky]]
|
# <li value="10"> [[Kurortny District|Kurortny]]
# [[Moskovsky District, Saint Petersburg|Moskovsky]]
# [[Nevsky District|Nevsky]]
# [[Petrogradsky]]
# [[Petrodvortsovy]]
# [[Primorsky District, Saint Petersburg|Primorsky]]
# [[Pushkinsky District, Saint Petersburg|Pushkinsky]]
# [[Frunzensky District, Saint Petersburg|Frunzensky]]
# [[Tsentralny District, Saint Petersburg|Tsentralny]]</li>
|-
|colspan=3|Within the boundaries of the districts, there are 111 [[Municipal divisions of Russia|intra-city municipalities]], 81 municipal districts, nine cities ([[Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg|Zelenogorsk]], [[Kolpino]], [[Krasnoe Selo]], [[Kronstadt]], [[Lomonosov, Russia|Lomonosov]], [[Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg|Pavlovsk]], [[Petergof]], [[Pushkin, Saint Petersburg|Pushkin]] and [[Sestroretsk]]) and 21 villages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=О территориальном устройстве Санкт-Петербурга |url=http://www.gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8414528&prevDoc=8442196 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505011221/http://www.gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8414528&prevDoc=8442196 |archive-date=5 May 2008 |access-date=19 September 2020 |publisher=gov.spb.ru}}</ref>
|}
==Economy==
{{Main|Economy of Saint Petersburg}}
[[File:Петербургский международный экономический форум (2022) (41).jpg|thumb|The [[St. Petersburg International Economic Forum|Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum]] is a major Russian investment forum.]]
Saint Petersburg is a major trade gateway, serving as the financial and industrial centre of Russia, with specializations in oil and gas trade; shipbuilding yards; [[aerospace|aerospace industry]]; technology, including radio, electronics, software, and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other [[military equipment]]; mining; [[Tool|instrument]] manufacture; ferrous and nonferrous [[metallurgy]] (production of aluminium alloys); chemicals, [[Drug|pharmaceuticals]], and [[medical equipment]]; publishing and printing; food and catering; wholesale and retail; textile and [[apparel]] industries; and many other businesses. It was also home to Lessner, one of Russia's two pioneering automobile manufacturers (along with [[Russo-Balt]]ic); it was founded by machine tool and boilermaker G.A. Lessner in 1904, with designs by Boris Loutsky, and it survived until 1910.<ref>[[G.N. Georgano]] ''Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930''. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985)</ref>
[[File:Admiralty Shipyard.jpg|thumb|left|[[Admiralty Shipyard]]]]
[[File:Power Machines building SPB.jpg|thumb|Power Machines plant building on Sverdlovskaya embankment in Saint Petersburg]]
Ten percent of the world's power [[turbine]]s are made there at the [[LMZ]], which built over two thousand turbines for [[power plants]] across the world.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Major local industries are [[Admiralty Shipyard]], [[Baltic Shipyard]], [[LOMO]], [[Kirov Plant]], [[Elektrosila]], [[Izhorskiye Zavody]]; also registered in Saint Petersburg are [[Sovkomflot]], [[Petersburg Fuel Company]] and [[Sibur|SIBUR]] among other major Russian and international companies.
The [[Port of Saint Petersburg]] has three large cargo [[ports of the Baltic Sea|terminals]], Bolshoi Port Saint Petersburg, [[Kronstadt]], and [[Lomonosov, Russia|Lomonosov terminal]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Границы порта на 2023 год |url=https://www.pasp.ru/d/26909/d/shema_akvatorii_morskogo_porta.pdf |website=Baltic Sea Ports Administration |access-date=22 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214151051/https://www.pasp.ru/d/26909/d/shema_akvatorii_morskogo_porta.pdf |archive-date=14 February 2023 |language=ru |url-status=dead}}</ref> International [[cruise liners]] have been served at the passenger port at Morskoy Vokzal on the south-west of [[Vasilyevsky Island]]. In 2008, the first two berths opened at the [[Passenger Port of St. Petersburg|New Passenger Port]] on the west of the island.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 December 2008 |title=Cruise St Petersburg, Discover the Baltic |url=http://www.discoverthebaltic.com/spb/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230231453/http://www.discoverthebaltic.com/spb/index.htm |archive-date=30 December 2008 |access-date=2 July 2022}}</ref> The new passenger terminal is part of the city's "Marine Facade" development project<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 March 2012 |title=ЗАО "Терра-Нова" | Крупнейший в Европе проект по образованию и комплексному развитию территории в западной части Васильевского острова Санкт-Петербурга |url=http://www.mfspb.ru |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127070915/https://mfspb.ru |archive-date=27 November 2020 |access-date=16 November 2012 |website=Mfspb.ru}}</ref> and was due to have seven berths in operation by 2010.{{Update after|2011}}
A complex system of riverports on both banks of the [[Neva River]] are interconnected with the system of seaports, thus making Saint Petersburg the main link between the [[Baltic Sea]] and the rest of Russia through the [[Volga–Baltic Waterway]].
The [[Saint Petersburg Mint]] (Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest [[mint (coin)|mints]] in the world. It mints [[Russian ruble|Russian coins]], medals, and badges. Saint Petersburg is also home to the oldest and largest Russian foundry, Monumentskulptura, which made thousands of sculptures and statues that now grace the public parks of Saint Petersburg and many other cities.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Monuments and [[bronze statues]] of the Tsars, as well as other important historic figures and dignitaries, and other world-famous monuments, such as the sculptures by [[Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg]], [[Paolo Troubetzkoy]], [[Mark Antokolsky]], and others, were made there.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
In 2007, [[Toyota]] opened a [[Camry]] plant after investing 5 billion rubles (approx. 200 mln dollars) in Shushary,{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} one of the southern suburbs of Saint Petersburg. [[Opel]], [[Hyundai Motor Company|Hyundai]] and Nissan have also signed deals with the [[Politics of Russia|Russian government]] to build their automotive plants in Saint Petersburg.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} The automotive and auto-parts industry is on the rise there during the last decade.{{Which|date=July 2024}}
Saint Petersburg has a large brewery and distillery industry. Known as Russia's "beer capital" due to the supply and quality of local water, its five large breweries account for over 30% of the country's domestic beer production. They include Europe's second-largest brewery [[Baltika]], Vena (both operated by BBH), [[Heineken International|Heineken Brewery]], [[Stepan Razin]] (both by [[Heineken]]) and [[Tinkoff brewery]] (SUN-[[InBev]]).
The city's many local [[distilleries]] produce a broad range of [[vodka]] brands. The oldest one is {{ill|LIVIZ|ru|Ливиз}} (founded in 1897). Among the youngest is [[Russian Standard Vodka]] introduced in Moscow in 1998, which opened in 2006 a new $60 million distillery in Petersburg (an area of {{Convert|30000|m2|abbr=on}}, production rate of 22,500 bottles per hour). In 2007, this brand was exported to over 70 countries.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.russianstandard.com/corporation/press_center/press_releases/1.smx | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715220016/http://www.russianstandard.com/corporation/press_center/press_releases/1.smx | archive-date=15 July 2011 | title=Russian Standard }}</ref>
Saint Petersburg has the second largest [[construction|construction industry]] in Russia, including commercial, housing, and road construction.
In 2006, Saint Petersburg's city budget was 180 billion rubles (about 7 billion US$ at 2006 exchange rates).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Budget of Saint Petersburg (Russian document) |url=http://www.gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8421328&prevDoc=8421328&spack=000listid%3D010000000100%26listpos%3D0%26lsz%3D1%26nd%3D8372689%26nh%3D0%26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002005013/https://www.gov.spb.ru/law?d&nd=8421328&prevDoc=8421328&spack=000listid%3D010000000100%26listpos%3D0%26lsz%3D1%26nd%3D8372689%26nh%3D0%26 |archive-date=2 October 2018 |access-date=20 August 2007 |publisher=City of Saint Petersburg}}</ref> The federal subject's [[Gross Regional Product]] {{As of|2016|lc=y}} was 3.7 trillion [[Russian ruble]]s (or around US$70 billion), ranked 2nd in Russia, after Moscow<ref>{{Cite web |title=Валовой региональный продукт по субъектам Российской Федерации в 1998–2016гг. (в текущих основных ценах; млн.рублей) |url=http://mrd.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_ts/mrd/ru/statistics/grp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217021320/http://mrd.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_ts/mrd/ru/statistics/grp |archive-date=17 February 2018 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Gks.ru}}</ref> and per capita of US$13,000, ranked 12th among Russia's federal subjects,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Валовой региональный продукт на душу населения (в текущих основных ценах; рублей) |url=http://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b01_19/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d000/dusha98-05.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720211211/https://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b01_19/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d000/dusha98-05.htm |archive-date=20 July 2020 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Gks.ru}}</ref> contributed mostly by wholesale and [[retail trade]] and repair services (24.7%) as well as processing industry (20.9%) and transportation and telecommunications (15.1%).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Отраслевая структура ВРП по видам экономической деятельности (по ОКВЭД) за 2005 год |url=http://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b01_19/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d000/stru05.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720205208/https://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b01_19/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d000/stru05.htm |archive-date=20 July 2020 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Gks.ru}}</ref>
Budget revenues of the city in 2009 amounted to 294.3 billion rubles (about 10.044 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates), expenses – 336.3 billion rubles (about 11.477 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates). The budget deficit amounted to about 42 billion rubles.<ref>Data of the Government of Saint Petersburg</ref> (about 1.433 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates)
In 2015, St. Petersburg was ranked in 4th place economically amongst all federal subjects of the Russian Federation, surpassed only by Moscow, the Tyumen and Moscow Region.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015 |title=Passport of St. Petersburg Industrial Zones |url=https://regionen-russland.de/uploads/media/Preview_eng.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226132014/http://www.regionen-russland.de/uploads/media/Preview_eng.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2017 |website=regionen-russland.de |page=2}}</ref>
==Cityscape==
{{Main|Landmarks of Saint Petersburg|Kronstadt}}
[[File:Admiralteystvo on water, St.Petersburg RUS.jpg|thumb|The Admiralty building in St. Petersburg]]
[[File:Kazan Cathedral - panoramio (1).jpg|thumb|[[Kazan Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Kazan Cathedral]], an example of [[Neoclassical architecture]]]]
[[File:Saint Isaac's Square SPB (01).jpg|thumb|[[Saint Isaac's Square]]|left]]
The historic architecture of Saint Petersburg's city centre, mostly [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] and [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has been largely preserved; although a number of buildings were demolished after the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, during the [[Siege of Leningrad]] and in recent years.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] in 1703 on the shore of the [[Neva]] near Trinity Square. Since 1991, the [[Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments]] in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by [[UNESCO]] as a [[World Heritage Site]].
The ensemble of [[Peter and Paul Fortress]] with the [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]] takes a dominant position on [[Zayachy Island]] along the right bank of the [[Neva River]]. Each noon, a cannon fires a blank shot from the fortress. The [[Saint Petersburg Mosque]], the largest mosque in Europe when opened in 1913, is on the right bank nearby. The [[Spit of Vasilievsky Island]], which splits the river into two largest armlets, the [[Bolshaya Neva]] and [[Malaya Neva]], is connected to the northern bank ([[Petrogradsky Island]]) via the [[Exchange Bridge]] and occupied by the [[Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns]]. The southern coast of [[Vasilyevsky Island]] along the Bolshaya Neva features some of the city's oldest buildings, dating from the 18th century, including the [[Kunstkamera]], [[Twelve Collegia]], [[Menshikov Palace]], and [[Imperial Academy of Arts]]. It hosts one of two campuses of [[Saint Petersburg State University]].
On the southern, left bank of the Neva, connected to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island via the [[Palace Bridge]], lie the [[Admiralty building, Saint Petersburg|Admiralty building]], the vast [[Hermitage Museum]] complex stretching along the [[Palace Embankment]], which includes the Baroque [[Winter Palace]], former official residence of Russian emperors, as well as the neoclassical [[Marble Palace]]. The Winter Palace faces [[Palace Square]], the city's main square with the [[Alexander Column]]. [[File:RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Peter and Paul Fortress 02.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of [[Peter and Paul Fortress]]]]
[[File:RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Field of Mars.jpg|thumb|The [[Field of Mars (Saint Petersburg)|Field of Mars]]]] [[Nevsky Prospekt]], also on the left bank of the [[Neva]], is the city's main avenue. It starts at the Admiralty and runs eastwards next to Palace Square. Nevsky Prospekt crosses the [[Moika]] ([[Green Bridge (Saint Petersburg)|Green Bridge]]), [[Griboyedov Canal]] ([[Kazansky Bridge]]), [[Garden Street]], the [[Fontanka]] ([[Anichkov Bridge]]), meets [[Liteyny Prospekt]] and proceeds to [[Uprising Square]] near the [[Moskovsky Rail Terminal (Saint Petersburg)|Moskovsky railway station]], where it meets [[Ligovsky Prospekt]] and turns to the [[Alexander Nevsky Lavra]]. [[Passage (department store)|The Passage]], [[Catholic Church of St. Catherine (Saint Petersburg)|Catholic Church of St. Catherine]], [[Singer House|Book House]] (former [[Singer Manufacturing Company]] Building in the [[Art Nouveau]] style), [[Grand Hotel Europe]], [[Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul]], [[Great Gostiny Dvor]], [[Russian National Library]], [[Alexandrine Theatre]] behind [[Mikeshin]]'s statue of [[Catherine the Great]], [[Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg|Kazan Cathedral]], [[Stroganov Palace]], [[Anichkov Palace]] and [[Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace]] are all along that avenue.
[[File:Nevsky Avenue 01.jpg|thumb|[[Nevsky Prospekt]]|left]]
[[File:Saint Petersburg 2019.jpg|thumb|[[Palace Square]] during Christmas|left]]
The [[Alexander Nevsky Lavra]], intended to house the relics of [[St. Alexander Nevsky]], is an important centre of [[Religious studies|Christian education]] in Russia. It also contains the [[Tikhvin Cemetery]] with graves of many notable Petersburgers.
On the territory between the Neva and Nevsky Prospekt, the [[Church of the Savior on Blood]], Mikhailovsky Palace housing the [[Russian Museum]], [[Field of Mars (Saint Petersburg)|Field of Mars]], [[St. Michael's Castle]], [[Summer Garden]], [[Tauride Palace]], [[Smolny Institute]] and [[Smolny Convent]] are located.[[File:The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (20956466968).jpg|thumb|[[Church of the Savior on Blood]], seen from [[Griboyedov Canal]]|left]] [[File:Smolny Cathedral SPB 02.jpg|thumb|[[Smolny Convent]], an example of [[Baroque architecture]]]]Many notable landmarks are to the west and south of the Admiralty Building, including the [[Trinity Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Trinity Cathedral]], [[Mariinsky Palace]], [[Hotel Astoria (Saint Petersburg)|Hotel Astoria]], famous [[Mariinsky Theatre]], [[New Holland Island]], [[Saint Isaac's Cathedral]], the largest in the city, and [[Senate Square (Saint Petersburg)|Senate Square]], with the [[Bronze Horseman]], 18th-century equestrian monument to [[Peter the Great]], which is considered among the city's most recognisable symbols. Other symbols of Saint Petersburg include the [[weather vane]] in the shape of a small ship on top of the Admiralty's golden spire and the golden angel on top of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The Palace Bridge [[drawbridge|drawn]] at night is yet another symbol of the city.
From April to November, 22 bridges across the Neva and main canals are drawn to let ships pass in and out of the Baltic Sea according to a schedule.<ref>{{Cite web |title=График разводки мостов на Неве в Санкт-Петербурге |url=http://www.mr7.ru/info/most |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827013819/http://www.mr7.ru/info/most |archive-date=27 August 2010 |access-date=3 October 2010}}</ref> It was not until 2004 that the first high bridge across the Neva, which does not need to be drawn, [[Big Obukhovsky Bridge]], was opened. The most remarkable bridges of our days are Korabelny and Petrovsky cable-stayed bridges, which form the most spectacular part of the city toll road, [[Western High-Speed Diameter]]. There are hundreds of smaller [[bridges in Saint Petersburg]] spanning numerous canals and distributaries of the Neva, some of the most important of which are the [[Moika]], [[Fontanka]], [[Griboyedov Canal]], [[Obvodny Canal]], [[Karpovka]], and [[Smolenka River|Smolenka]]. Due to the intricate web of canals, Saint Petersburg is often called ''[[Venice of the North]]''. The rivers and canals in the city centre are lined with granite embankments. The embankments and bridges are separated from rivers and canals by [[granite]] or [[cast iron]] [[parapet]]s.
[[File:RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Peterhof Palace.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of [[Peterhof Palace]]]]
Southern suburbs of the city feature former imperial residences, including [[Petergof]], with majestic fountain cascades and parks, [[Tsarskoe Selo]], with the baroque [[Catherine Palace]] and the neoclassical [[Alexander Palace]], and [[Pavlovsk Palace|Pavlovsk]], which has a domed palace of [[Emperor Paul]] and one of Europe's largest English-style parks. Some other residences nearby and making part of the world heritage site, including a castle and park in [[Gatchina]], actually belong to [[Leningrad Oblast]] rather than Saint Petersburg. Another notable suburb is [[Kronstadt]] with its 19th-century fortifications and naval monuments, occupying the [[Kotlin Island]] in the Gulf of Finland.
Since around the end of the 20th century, a great deal of active building and restoration works have been carried out in a number of the city's older districts.
The authorities have recently been compelled to transfer the ownership of state-owned private residences in the city centre to private lessors. Many older buildings have been reconstructed to allow their use as apartments and penthouses.
Some of these structures, such as the [[Saint Petersburg Commodity and Stock Exchange]] have been recognised as town-planning errors.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hudyakov |first=Artyom |date=12 March 2008 |script-title=ru:Виртуальная защита Петербурга |trans-title=Virtual protection of Petersburg |url=http://www.bn.ru/articles/2008/12/03/39306.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910223621/http://www.bn.ru/articles/2008/12/03/39306.html |archive-date=10 September 2011 |access-date=5 August 2009 |publisher=bn.ru |language=ru}}</ref>
===Parks===
[[File:Temple of Friendship in Pavlovsk Park 01.jpg|thumb|The "Temple of Friendship" in [[Pavlovsk Park]]]]
Saint Petersburg is home to many parks and gardens. Some of the most well-known are in the southern suburbs, including [[Pavlovsk Palace|Pavlovsk]], one of Europe's largest [[English garden]]s. [[Sosnovka]] is the largest park within the city limits, occupying 240 ha. The [[Summer Garden]] is the oldest, dating back to the early 18th century and designed in the regular style. It is on the Neva's southern bank at the head of the Fontanka and is famous for its cast iron railing and marble sculptures.
Among other notable parks are the [[Maritime Victory Park]] on [[Krestovsky Island]] and the Moscow Victory Park in the south, both commemorating the victory over [[Nazi Germany]] in the Second World War, as well as the Central Park of Culture and Leisure occupying [[Yelagin Island]] and the [[Tauride Garden]] around the [[Tauride Palace]]. The most common trees grown in the parks are the [[English oak]], [[Norway maple]], [[green ash]], [[silver birch]], [[Siberian Larch]], [[blue spruce]], [[Salix euxina|crack willow]], [[Tilia|limes]], and [[poplars]]. Important [[Xylotheque|dendrological collections]] dating back to the 19th century are hosted by the [[Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden]] and the Park of the Forestry Academy.
In order to commemorate 300 years anniversary of Saint Petersburg, a new park was laid out. The park is in the northwestern part of the city. The construction started in 1995. It is planned to connect the park with the pedestrian bridge to the territory of [[Lakhta Center]]'s recreation areas. In the park 300 trees of valuable sorts, 300 decorative apple trees, and 70 limes. 300 other trees and bushes were planted. These trees were presented to Saint Petersburg by non-commercial and educational organizations of the city, its sister-cities, the city of Helsinki, heads of other regions of Russia, German Savings Bank and other people and organizations.<ref>{{In lang|ru}}[http://www.apmtri.ru/projects/blagoustrojstvo_v_sanktpeterburge/park_300letija_s_peterburga] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709132017/http://www.apmtri.ru/projects/blagoustrojstvo_v_sanktpeterburge/park_300letija_s_peterburga|date=9 July 2014}}</ref><gallery widths="200">
File:Cameron gallery in Tsarskoe Selo 02.jpg|alt=|Cameron gallery in Catherine park of Tsarskoe Selo
File:Grot pavilion in Tsarskoe Selo.jpg|alt=|Grotto pavilion in Catherine park of Tsarskoe Selo
File:Liceum building in Tsarskoe Selo 03.jpg|alt=|[[Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum|The Imperial Lyceum]] in Tsarskoye Selo
File:RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Grand Menshikov Palace.jpg|alt=|Grand Menshikov Palace
</gallery>
===Tall structures===
Regulations forbid the construction of tall buildings in Saint Petersburg's city centre. Until the early 2010s, three [[skyscrapers]] were built: Leader Tower (140 m), Alexander Nevsky (124 m), and Atlantic City (105 m) – all situated far from the historical centre. The {{Convert|310|m|adj=on}} tall [[Saint Petersburg TV Tower]], constructed in 1962, was the tallest structure in the city.
However, a controversial project endorsed by the city authorities was announced, known as the [[Okhta Center]], to build a {{Convert|396|m|adj=on}} [[list of tallest buildings and structures in the world|supertall]] skyscraper. In 2008, the [[World Monuments Fund]] included the Saint Petersburg historic skyline on the watch list of the 100 most endangered sites due to the expected construction, which threatened to alter it drastically.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Petersburg Historic Skyline, Russian Federation |url=http://wmf.org/watch2008/watch.php?id=S8352 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090607022939/http://wmf.org/watch2008/watch.php?id=S8352 |archive-date=7 June 2009 |access-date=22 October 2009 |website=Wmf.org}}</ref> The Okhta Center project was cancelled at the end of 2010.
In 2012, the [[Lakhta Center]] project began in the city's outskirts, to include a {{Convert|463|m|adj=on}} tall office skyscraper and several low-rise mixed-use buildings. The latter project caused much less controversy. Unlike the previous unbuilt project, it was not seen by [[UNESCO]] as a potential threat to the city's cultural heritage due to its remote ___location from the historic centre. The skyscraper was completed in 2019, and at 462.5 meters, it is currently the [[List of tallest buildings in Europe|tallest in Russia and Europe]].
[[File:Лахта центр 2021.jpg|left|thumb|[[Lakhta Center]], the tallest building in Europe]]
==Tourism==
{{Update|section|reason=Needs discussion on how the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]] has affected tourism|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| Official_name = Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
| image = Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| caption = [[Catherine Palace]] in [[Tsarskoe Selo]]
| ___location =
| criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(i), (ii), (iv), (vi)}}(i), (ii), (iv), (vi)
| ID = 540bis
| coordinates =
| year = 1990
| extension = 2013
| area = {{Convert|3,934.1|ha|sqmi|abbr=on}}
| map_caption =
}}
Saint Petersburg has a significant historical and cultural heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visit Saint Petersburg |url=http://www.visit-petersburg.ru/en |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203091505/http://www.visit-petersburg.ru/en |archive-date=3 December 2019 |access-date=20 September 2016 |publisher=Visit-Petersburg.ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Petersburg Tourist Information Bureau |url=http://eng.ispb.info |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012163108/http://eng.ispb.info |archive-date=12 October 2016 |access-date=20 September 2016 |publisher=Petersburg.ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to Saint Petersburg! |url=http://www.saint-petersburg.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926041001/http://www.saint-petersburg.com |archive-date=26 September 2016 |access-date=20 September 2016 |publisher=Saint Petersburg.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=National Geographic – Saint Petersburg, Russia |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destination/moscow |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925164537/http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/st-petersburg-russia |archive-date=25 September 2016 |access-date=20 September 2016 |publisher=NationalGeographic.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Petersburg is a Stroll Along A Lovely Canal |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/russia/st-petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912065757/https://www.lonelyplanet.com/russia/st-petersburg |archive-date=12 September 2016 |access-date=20 September 2016 |publisher=LonelyPlanet.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fodor's Travel – Saint Petersburg, Russia |url=http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/russia/st-petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924163741/http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/russia/st-petersburg |archive-date=24 September 2016 |access-date=20 September 2016 |publisher=Fodors.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rick Steve's Europe – Saint Petersburg, Russia |url=https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/russia/st-petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012151904/https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/russia/st-petersburg |archive-date=12 October 2016 |access-date=20 September 2016 |publisher=RickSteves.com}}</ref>
The city's 18th and 19th-century architectural ensemble and its environs are preserved in virtually unchanged form. For various reasons (including large-scale destruction during World War II and construction of modern buildings during the postwar period in the largest historical centres of Europe), Saint Petersburg has become a unique reserve of European architectural styles of the past three centuries. Saint Petersburg's loss of capital city status helped it retain many of its pre-revolutionary buildings, as modern architectural 'prestige projects' tended to be built in Moscow; this largely prevented the rise of mid-to-late-20th-century architecture and helped maintain the architectural appearance of the historic city centre.
[[File:Andrey Zeest - Amber Room 2 (autochrome).jpg|thumb|left|The [[Amber Room]] in the [[Catherine Palace]]]]
Saint Petersburg is inscribed on the [[UNESCO]] World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture, history, and culture. New tourist programs and sightseeing tours have been developed for those wishing to see Saint Petersburg's cultural heritage.
The city has 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theatres, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas, and 80 other cultural establishments. Every year, the city hosts around 100 festivals and various competitions of art and culture, including more than 50 international ones.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}
[[File:Schloss Peterhof, Große Kaskade.jpg|thumb|Grand Peterhof Palace and the Grand Cascade]]
Despite the [[Economic history of the Russian Federation|economic instability of the 1990s]], not a single major theatre or museum was closed in Saint Petersburg; on the contrary many new ones opened, for example a private museum of puppets (opened in 1999) is the third museum of its kind in Russia, where collections of more than 2000 dolls are presented including 'The multinational Saint Petersburg' and Pushkin's Petersburg. The museum world of Saint Petersburg is incredibly diverse. The city is not only home to the world-famous [[Hermitage Museum]] and the [[Russian Museum]] with its rich collection of [[Russian art]], but also the palaces of Saint Petersburg and its suburbs, so-called small-town museums and others like the museum of famous Russian writer [[Dostoyevsky]]; Museum of Musical Instruments, the museum of decorative arts and the museum of professional orientation.
[[File:Saint Petersburg Philharmonia - Bolshoi Zal.jpg|thumb|The Bolshoi Zal (Grand Hall) of [[Saint Petersburg Philharmonia]]]]
[[File:Стрелка Васильевского острова ночью.jpg|thumb|[[Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns]]]]
The [[Music of Russia|musical life]] of Saint Petersburg is rich and diverse, with the city now playing host to a number of annual carnivals. Ballet performances occupy a special place in the cultural life of Saint Petersburg. The Petersburg School of Ballet is named as one of the best in the world. Traditions of the Russian classical school have been passed down from generation to generation among outstanding educators. The art of famous and prominent Saint Petersburg dancers like [[Rudolf Nureyev]], [[Natalia Makarova]], [[Mikhail Baryshnikov]] was, and is, admired throughout the world. Contemporary Petersburg ballet is made up not only of traditional Russian classical school but also ballets by those like [[Boris Eifman]], who expanded the scope of strict classical [[Russian ballet]] to almost unimaginable limits. Remaining faithful to the classical basis (he was a choreographer at the [[Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet]]), he combined [[classical ballet]] with the [[avant-garde|avant-garde style]], and then, in turn, with acrobatics, rhythmic gymnastics, dramatic expressiveness, [[Cinema of Russia|cinema]], color, light, and finally with spoken word.
The [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]] has impacted tourism. The British [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]] advises against travelling to Russia, including Saint Petersburg, noting there have been reports of fires and explosions in areas close to the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign travel advice – Russia |url=https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/russia/safety-and-security |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229195907/https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/russia/safety-and-security |archive-date=29 February 2020 |access-date=6 June 2023 |website=HM Government}}</ref>
==Media and communications==
All major Russian newspapers are active in Saint Petersburg. The city has a developed telecommunications system. In 2014, [[Rostelecom]], the national operator, announced the beginning of a major modernization of the fixed-line network in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 May 2014 |title=Rostelecom to invest RUB 15 bln in St Petersburg |url=http://www.telecompaper.com/news/rostelecom-to-invest-rub-15-bln-in-st-petersburg--1011519 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713232103/http://www.telecompaper.com/news/rostelecom-to-invest-rub-15-bln-in-st-petersburg--1011519 |archive-date=13 July 2015 |access-date=3 May 2014 |website=Telecom Paper}}</ref>
==Culture==
===Museums===
{{Further|List of museums in Saint Petersburg}}
{{Wide image|Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.jpg|600px|The [[State Hermitage Museum]] ([[Hermitage Theatre]], Old Hermitage, Small Hermitage and [[Winter Palace]], all part of the current museum complex)}}
Saint Petersburg is home to more than two hundred museums, many of them in historic buildings. The largest is the [[Hermitage Museum]] that features the interiors of the former imperial residence and a vast collection of art. The [[Russian Museum]] is a large museum devoted to Russian fine art. The apartments of some famous people, including [[Alexander Pushkin]], [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]], [[Feodor Chaliapin]], [[Alexander Blok]], [[Vladimir Nabokov]], [[Anna Akhmatova]], [[Mikhail Zoshchenko]], [[Joseph Brodsky]], as well as some palace and park ensembles of the southern suburbs and notable architectural monuments such as St. Isaac's Cathedral, have also been turned into public museums.
The [[Kunstkamera]], with its collection established in 1714 by Peter the Great to collect curiosities from all over the world, is sometimes considered the first museum in Russia, which has evolved into the present-day [[Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography]]. The [[Russian Ethnography Museum]], which has been split from the Russian Museum, is devoted to the cultures of the people of Russia, the [[former Soviet Union]], and the Russian Empire.
<gallery widths="200" heights="150px">
File:Exterior of Hermitage Museum-2.jpg|alt=|The State Hermitage Museum is the [[List of largest art museums|largest art museum]] in the world by [[Art gallery|gallery]] space.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hermitage in Figures and Facts |url=https://hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/about/facts_and_figures/?lng=en |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619051314/https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/about/facts_and_figures?lng=en |archive-date=19 June 2022 |access-date=18 June 2022}}</ref>
File:Russian museam.JPG|alt=|The State Russian Museum is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art.
File:Этнографический музей (СПБ).jpg|alt=|The Russian Museum of Ethnography is one of the largest ethnographic museums in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title="The Heart of Yugra" exhibition at the Russian Museum of Ethnography |url=https://forumspb.com/en/archive/2022/programme/102598/?year=2022&ELEMENT_ID=102598 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812184934/https://forumspb.com/en/archive/2022/programme/102598/?year=2022&ELEMENT_ID=102598 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=forumspb.com}}</ref>
</gallery>
Several museums provide insight into the Soviet history of Saint Petersburg, including the Museum of the Blockade, which describes the [[Siege of Leningrad]] and the Museum of Political History, which explains many authoritarian features of the USSR.
Other notable museums include the [[Central Naval Museum]], and [[Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences|Zoological Museum]], [[The Central Soil Museum by V. V. Dokuchaev|Central Soil Museum]], the [[Russian Railway Museum]], [[Suvorov Museum]], Museum of the Siege of Leningrad, [[Erarta|Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art]], the largest non-governmental museum of contemporary art in Russia, [[Saint Petersburg Museum of History]] in the [[Peter and Paul Fortress]] and [[Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps|Artillery Museum]], which includes not only artillery items, but also a huge collection of other military equipment, uniforms, and decorations. Amongst others, Saint Petersburg also hosts the State Museum of the History of Religion, one of the oldest museums in Russia about religion, depicting cultural representations from various parts of the globe.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 May 2021 |title=Выставка нерукотворных икон художника Журавлева открылась в петербургском Музее истории религии – Северо-Запад {{!}}{{!}} Интерфакс Россия |url=https://www.interfax-russia.ru/northwest/photo/vystavka-nerukotvornyh-ikon-hudozhnika-zhuravleva-otkrylas-v-peterburgskom-muzee-istorii-religii |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215555/https://www.interfax-russia.ru/northwest/photo/vystavka-nerukotvornyh-ikon-hudozhnika-zhuravleva-otkrylas-v-peterburgskom-muzee-istorii-religii |archive-date=2 June 2021 |access-date=2 June 2021 |website=Interfax-russia.ru |language=ru}}</ref>
===Music===
[[File:Profusion of gold at the Mariinsky Theatre (18271919528).jpg|center|thumb|600px|The main auditorium of the Mariinsky Theatre]]
[[File:2022-05-18 - Panorama of Stalls and Boxes at the Main Mariinsky Theatre.jpg|thumb|Panorama of stalls and boxes at the Main Mariinsky Theatre]]
Among the city's more than fifty theatres is the [[Mariinsky Theatre]] (formerly known as the Kirov Theatre), home to the [[Mariinsky Ballet]] company and opera. Leading ballet dancers, such as [[Vaslav Nijinsky]], [[Anna Pavlova]], [[Rudolf Nureyev]], [[Mikhail Baryshnikov]], [[Galina Ulanova]] and [[Natalia Makarova]], were principal stars of the Mariinsky ballet.
The first music school, the [[Saint Petersburg Conservatory]], was founded in 1862 by the Russian pianist and composer [[Anton Rubinstein]]. The school alumni have included such notable composers as [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]], [[Sergei Prokofiev]], [[Artur Kapp]], [[Rudolf Tobias]], and [[Dmitri Shostakovich]], who taught at the conservatory during the 1960s, bringing it additional fame. The renowned Russian composer [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]] also taught at the conservatory from 1871 to 1905. Among his students were [[Igor Stravinsky]], [[Alexander Glazounov]], [[Anatoly Liadov]] and others. The former St. Petersburg apartment of Rimsky-Korsakov has been faithfully preserved as the [[Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment and Museum|composer's only museum]].
[[File:Shou alie parusa.jpg|thumb|[[Scarlet Sails (tradition)|Scarlet Sails]] celebration on the [[Neva River]]]]
Dmitri Shostakovich, who was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, dedicated his [[Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich)|Seventh Symphony]] to the city, calling it the "Leningrad Symphony". He wrote the symphony while based in the city during the siege of Leningrad. It was premiered in Samara in March 1942; a few months later, it received its first [[Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7|performance]] in the besieged Leningrad at the Bolshoy Philharmonic Hall under the baton of conductor [[Karl Eliasberg]]. It was heard over the radio and was said to have lifted the spirits of the surviving population.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Close |date=16 October 2005 |title=Where a symphony silenced guns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2005/oct/16/classicalmusicandopera.russia.stpetersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140920024917/http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2005/oct/16/classicalmusicandopera.russia.stpetersburg |archive-date=20 September 2014 |access-date=22 October 2009 |work=The Guardian |___location=London}}</ref> In 1992, the 7th Symphony was performed by the 14 surviving orchestral players of the Leningrad premiere in the same hall as half a century before.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vulliamy |first=Ed |date=25 November 2001 |title=Orchestral manoeuvres (part one) |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,605454,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109205831/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,605454,00.html |archive-date=9 November 2007 |access-date=22 October 2009 |work=The Observer |___location=London}}</ref> The [[Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra]] remained one of the best known [[orchestra|symphony orchestras]] in the world under the leadership of conductors [[Yevgeny Mravinsky]] and [[Yuri Temirkanov]]. Mravinsky's term as artistic director of the Leningrad Philharmonic – a term that is possibly the longest of any conductor with any orchestra in modern times – led the orchestra from a little-known provincial ensemble to one of the world's most highly regarded orchestras, especially for the performance of Russian music.
The Imperial Choral Capella was founded and modelled after the [[royal court]]s of other European capitals.
[[File:Александринский театр (Alexandrinsky Theatre) в Санкт-Петербурге... 2H1A8042WI.jpg|thumb|The [[Alexandrinsky Theatre]]]]
Saint Petersburg has been home to the newest movements in [[popular music]] in the country. The early Soviet [[jazz]] bands founded here included [[Leopold Teplitsky]]'s First Concert Jazz Band (1927), [[Leonid Utyosov]] 's TheaJazz (1928, under the patronage of composer [[Isaak Dunayevsky]]), and Georgy Landsberg's Jazz Cappella (1929). The first jazz appreciation society in the Soviet Union was founded here in 1958 as J58, and later named [[jazz club]] Kvadrat. In 1956, the popular ensemble Druzhba was founded by Aleksandr Bronevitsky and [[Edita Piekha]] to become the first popular band in the USSR during the 1950s. In the 1960s, student rock-groups Argonavty, Kochevniki, and others pioneered a series of unofficial and [[underground rock]] concerts and festivals. In 1972, [[Boris Grebenshchikov]] founded the band [[Aquarium (band)|Aquarium]], which later grew to huge popularity. Since then, "Peter's rock" [[music style]] was formed.
In the 1970s many bands came out from the "underground" scene and eventually founded the [[Leningrad Rock Club]], which provided a stage to bands such as [[DDT (band)|DDT]], [[Kino (band)|Kino]], [[Alisa (Russian band)|Alisa]], [[Zemlyane]], [[Zoopark (band)|Zoopark]], [[Piknik]], and [[Sekret (band)|Secret]]. The first Russian-style happening show [[Pop-Mechanics|Pop Mekhanika]], mixing over 300 people and animals on stage, was directed by the multi-talented [[Sergey Kuryokhin]] in the 1980s. The Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF) is named after him. In 2004, the [[Kuryokhin Center]] was founded, where the SKIF and the Electro-Mechanica and Ethnomechanica festivals take place. SKIF focuses on [[experimental pop music]] and [[avant-garde music]], Electro-Mechanica on [[electronic music]], and Ethnomechanica on [[world music]].
Today's Saint Petersburg boasts many notable musicians of various genres, from popular Leningrad's [[Sergei Shnurov]], [[Tequilajazzz]], [[Splean]], and [[Korol i Shut]], to rock veterans [[Yuri Shevchuk]], [[Vyacheslav Butusov]], and [[Mikhail Boyarsky]]. In the early 2000s the city saw a wave of popularity of [[metalcore]], [[rapcore]], and [[emocore]], and there are bands such as [[Amatory]], [[Kirpichi]], Psychea, [[Stigmata (Russian band)|Stigmata]], [[Grenouer]] and [[Animal Jazz]].
The [[White Nights Festival]] in Saint Petersburg is famous for spectacular fireworks and a massive show celebrating the end of the [[Academic term|school year]].
The rave band [[Little Big]] also hails from Saint Petersburg. Their music video for "[[Skibidi (song)|Skibidi]]" was filmed in the city, starting at Akademicheskiy Pereulok.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Рэпер Моргенштерн снялся в клипе группы Little Big |trans-title=Rapper Morgenstern starred in a music video of the group Little Big |url=https://mgazeta.com/news/reper-morgenshtern-snyalsya-v-klipe-gruppy-little-big- |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806053139/https://mgazeta.com/news/reper-morgenshtern-snyalsya-v-klipe-gruppy-little-big- |archive-date=6 August 2020 |access-date=17 December 2018 |website=mgazeta.com |language=ru}}</ref>
===Literature===
[[File:Spb Vasilievsky Island Pushkin House asv2019-09 img10.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Pushkin House]]]]
Saint Petersburg has a longstanding and world-famous tradition in literature. [[Dostoyevsky]] called it "The most abstract and intentional city in the world", emphasizing its artificiality, but it was also a symbol of modern disorder in a changing Russia. It often appeared to [[Russian writers]] as a menacing and inhuman mechanism. The grotesque and often nightmarish image of the city is featured in Pushkin's last poems, the Petersburg stories of [[Gogol]], the novels of [[Dostoyevsky]], the verse of [[Alexander Blok]] and [[Osip Mandelshtam]], and in the symbolist novel ''[[Petersburg (novel)|Petersburg]]'' by [[Andrey Bely]]. According to Lotman in his chapter, 'The Symbolism of Saint Petersburg' in ''Universe and the Mind'', these writers were inspired by symbolism from within the city itself. The effect of life in Saint Petersburg on the plight of the poor clerk in a society obsessed with hierarchy and status also became an important theme for authors such as [[Pushkin]], Gogol, and Dostoyevsky. Another important feature of early Saint Petersburg literature is its mythical element, which incorporates [[urban legend]]s and popular [[ghost stories]], as the stories of Pushkin and Gogol included ghosts returning to Saint Petersburg to haunt other characters as well as other fantastical elements, creating a surreal and abstract image of Saint Petersburg.
Twentieth-century writers from Saint Petersburg, such as [[Vladimir Nabokov]], [[Ayn Rand]], Andrey Bely and [[Yevgeny Zamyatin]], along with his apprentices, The [[Serapion Brothers]], created entirely new styles in literature and contributed new insights to the understanding of society through their experience in this city. [[Anna Akhmatova]] became an important leader for [[Russian poetry]]. Her poem ''Requiem'' adumbrates the perils encountered during the Stalinist era. Another notable 20th-century writer from Saint Petersburg is [[Joseph Brodsky]], recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] (1987). While living in the United States, his writings in English reflected on life in Saint Petersburg from the unique perspective of being both an insider and an outsider to the city in essays such as "A Guide to a Renamed City" and the nostalgic "In a Room and a Half".<ref>Joseph Brodsky. ''Less Than One: Selected Essays'', 1986</ref>
===Film===
[[File:Konstantin Khabensky — 2018 (3).jpg|thumb|[[Konstantin Khabensky]], known for his roles in ''[[Night Watch (2004 film)|Night Watch]]'', ''[[Day Watch (film)|Day Watch]]'' and ''[[The Admiral (2008 film)|Admiral]]'', is a native of Saint Petersburg.]]
Over 300 international and Russian movies were filmed in Saint Petersburg.<ref>{{cite web |title=Filming in Saint Petersburg |url=https://filmspb.tv/locations-in-russia/filming-in-saint-petersburg/ |website=filmspb.tv |access-date=18 March 2025}}</ref> Well over a thousand feature films about tsars, revolution, people and stories set in Saint Petersburg have been produced worldwide but not filmed in the city. The first [[film studios]] were founded in Saint Petersburg in the 20th century, and since the 1920s, [[Lenfilm]] has been the largest film studio based in Saint Petersburg. The first foreign feature movie filmed entirely in Saint Petersburg was the 1997 production of Tolstoy's ''[[Anna Karenina (1997 film)|Anna Karenina]]'', starring [[Sophie Marceau]] and [[Sean Bean]] and made by an international team of British, American, French, and Russian filmmakers.
The cult comedy ''[[Irony of Fate]]''<ref>{{Cite web |title=the irony of fate sat in st.petersburg |url=http://traveldk.com/st-petersburg/topten/films-set-in-st-petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213160919/http://traveldk.com/st-petersburg/topten/films-set-in-st-petersburg |archive-date=13 February 2010 |access-date=26 August 2009}}</ref> (also Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!) is set in Saint Petersburg and pokes fun at Soviet city planning. The 1985 film ''[[White Nights (1985 film)|White Nights]]'' received considerable Western attention for having captured genuine Leningrad street scenes at a time when filming in the Soviet Union by Western production companies was generally unheard of. Other movies include ''[[GoldenEye]]'' (1995), ''[[Midnight in Saint Petersburg]]'' (1996), ''[[Brother (1997 film)|Brother]]'' (1997) and [[Tamil cinema|Tamil]] romantic [[thriller (genre)|thriller film]]-''[[Dhaam Dhoom]]'' (2008). ''[[Eugene Onegin#Film|Onegin]]'' (1999) is based on the [[Pushkin]] poem and showcases many [[tourist attraction]]s. In addition, the Russian romantic comedy, ''[[Piter FM]]'', intricately showcases the cityscape, almost as if it were a main character in the film.
Several international film festivals are held annually, such as the [[Festival of Festivals, Saint Petersburg|Festival of Festivals]], Saint Petersburg, as well as the Message to Man International Documentary Film Festival, since its inauguration in 1988 during the White Nights.<ref name="Message To Man">{{Cite web |title=The XIX International "Message To Man" Film Festival |url=http://m2m.iffc.ru/index_E.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515190814/http://m2m.iffc.ru/index_E.htm |archive-date=15 May 2009 |access-date=9 June 2009 |publisher=IFC Centaur}}</ref>
===Dramatic theatre===
{{Further|List of theatres in Saint Petersburg}}
Saint Petersburg has more than a hundred theatres and theatre companies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Театры Санкт-Петербурга |url=http://www.opeterburge.ru/theatre.html |website=opeterburge.ru |access-date=18 March 2025 |language=ru}}</ref>
==Education==
{{See also|List of higher education and academic institutions in Saint Petersburg}}
{{As of|2006}}–2007, there were 1,024 kindergartens, 716 [[public school (government funded)|public schools]] and 80 [[vocational education|vocational]] schools in Saint Petersburg.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ОТЧЕТ за 2006/2007 учебный год |url=http://old.gov.spb.ru/day/statistika/stat |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616092222/http://old.gov.spb.ru/day/statistika/stat |archive-date=16 June 2013 |access-date=1 January 2009}}</ref> The largest of the public higher education institutions is [[Saint Petersburg State University]], enrolling approximately 32,000 undergraduate students;<ref>{{cite book | last=Warner | first=M. | title=Comparative Management: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-134-78740-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIWGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA269 | access-date=2024-05-13 | page=269}}</ref> and the largest non-governmental higher education institutions is the [[St. Petersburg Institute of International Trade, Economics and Law|Institute of International Economic Relations, Economics, and Law]]. Other famous universities are [[Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University]], [[Herzen University]], [[Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance]], [[Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering]], and [[Military engineering-technical university|Saint Petersburg Military engineering-technical university]]. However, the public universities are all federal property and do not belong to the city.
{{Wide image|SPB-Univer-12kol.jpg|820px|align-cap=center|The [[Twelve Collegia]] of [[Saint Petersburg State University]]}}
==
{{Main|Sport in Saint Petersburg}}
[[File:Saint Petersburg, Russia (43506287930).jpg|thumb|[[Krestovsky Stadium|Gazprom Arena]] on [[Krestovsky Island]]]]
Leningrad hosted part of the [[Football at the 1980 Summer Olympics|association football tournament]] during the 1980 [[Summer Olympics]]. The 1994 [[Goodwill Games]] were also held here.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1994 games in the "new" Russia |url=http://www.goodwillgames.com/html/past_1994frame.html |website=Goodwill Games |access-date=18 March 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140427041926/http://www.goodwillgames.com/html/past_1994frame.html |archive-date=27 April 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
In boating, the first competition here was the 1703 [[rowing (sport)|rowing]] event initiated by Peter the Great, after the victory over the [[Swedish Navy|Swedish fleet]]. The Russian Navy has held [[Yachting]] events since the foundation of the city. [[Yacht club]]s:<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Yacht Clubs in Russia |url=http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804016491 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213234728/http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804016491 |archive-date=13 February 2012 |access-date=22 October 2009 |publisher=Encspb.ru}}</ref> [[St. Petersburg River Yacht Club]], [[Neva Yacht Club]], the latter is the oldest yacht club in the world. In the winter, when the sea and lake surfaces are frozen and yachts and dinghies cannot be used, local people sail [[ice boat]]s.
[[Equestrianism]] has been a long tradition, popular among the Tsars and aristocracy, as well as part of [[military training]]. Several historic sports arenas were built for equestrianism since the 18th century to maintain training all year round, such as the Zimny Stadion and Konnogvardeisky Manezh.
[[Chess]] tradition was highlighted by the 1914 international tournament, partially funded by the Tsar, in which the title "Grandmaster" was first formally conferred by [[Russian Tsar Nicholas II]] to five players: [[Emanuel Lasker|Lasker]], [[Capablanca]], [[Alekhine]], [[Siegbert Tarrasch|Tarrasch]] and [[Frank Marshall (chess player)|Marshall]].
The city's main football team is [[FC Zenit Saint Petersburg]], who have been champions of the [[Soviet Top League|Soviet]] and [[Russian Premier League|Russian]] league nine times, most notably claiming the RPL title in four consecutive seasons from 2018–19 to 2021–22, along with winning the [[Soviet Cup|Soviet]]/[[Russian Cup (football)|Russian Cup]] five times. The club also won the [[2007–08 UEFA Cup]] and the [[2008 UEFA Super Cup]], spearheaded by successful player and local hero [[Andrey Arshavin]].
[[Kirov Stadium]] formerly existed as Zenit's home from 1950 to 1993 and again in 1995, being one of the largest stadiums in the world at the time. In 1951, a crowd of 110,000 set the single-game attendance record for Soviet football. The stadium was knocked down in 2006, with Zenit temporarily moving to the [[Petrovsky Stadium]] before the [[Krestovsky Stadium]] was built on the same site as the Kirov Stadium. The Krestovsky Stadium opened in 2017, hosting four matches at the [[2017 FIFA Confederations Cup]], including the [[2017 FIFA Confederations Cup Final|final]]. The stadium then hosted seven matches at the [[2018 FIFA World Cup]], including a semi-final and the third-placed playoff. It also hosted seven matches at [[UEFA Euro 2020]], including a quarter-final. The stadium was going to host the [[2022 UEFA Champions League final]], however UEFA removed Saint Petersburg as host in February 2022, citing the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nair |first=Rohith |date=25 February 2022 |title=Russia stripped of major events as invasion of Ukraine intensifies |url=https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/russia-stripped-major-events-invasion-ukraine-intensifies-2022-02-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220227/https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/russia-stripped-major-events-invasion-ukraine-intensifies-2022-02-25 |archive-date=27 February 2022 |access-date=7 March 2022 |website=Reuters}}</ref>
Hockey teams in the city include [[SKA Saint Petersburg]] in the [[KHL]], [[HC VMF St. Petersburg|HC VMF Saint Petersburg]] in the [[VHL]], and junior clubs [[SKA-1946]] and [[Silver Lions]] in the [[Russian Major League]]. SKA Saint Petersburg is one of the most popular in the KHL, consistently being at or near the top of the league in attendance. Along with their popularity, they are one of the best teams in the KHL right now, as they have won the [[Gagarin Cup]] twice.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 April 2017 |title=Datsyuk adds KHL title to Stanley Cup victories |url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/19177827/pavel-datsyuk-adds-khl-title-stanley-cup-victories |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028171357/https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/19177827/pavel-datsyuk-adds-khl-title-stanley-cup-victories |archive-date=28 October 2021 |access-date=19 October 2021 |website=ESPN.com}}</ref> Well-known players on the team include [[Pavel Datsyuk]], [[Ilya Kovalchuk]], [[Nikita Gusev]], [[Sergei Shirokov]] and [[Viktor Tikhonov (ice hockey b. 1988)|Viktor Tikhonov]]. During the NHL lockout, stars Ilya Kovalchuk, [[Sergei Bobrovsky]], and [[Vladimir Tarasenko]] also played for the team. They play their home games at [[SKA Arena]].
The city's long-time basketball team is [[BC Spartak Saint Petersburg]], which launched the career of [[Andrei Kirilenko]]. BC Spartak Saint Petersburg won two championships in the [[USSR Premier Basketball League|USSR Premier League]] (1975 and 1992), two [[USSR Basketball Cup|USSR Cups]] (1978 and 1987), and a [[Russian Basketball Cup|Russian Cup]] title (2011). They also won the [[Saporta Cup]] twice (1973 and 1975). Legends of the club include [[Alexander Belov]] and [[Vladimir Kondrashin]]. [[BC Zenit Saint Petersburg]] also play in the city, being formed in 2014.
==Transportation==
[[File:Spb 06-2017 img46 ZSD bridge at Krestovsky Stadium.jpg|thumb|right|A section of the [[Western High-Speed Diameter]]]]
Saint Petersburg is a major transport hub. The first Russian railway was built here in 1837, and since then, the city's transport infrastructure has kept pace with the city's growth. Petersburg has an extensive system of local roads and railway services, maintains a large public transport system that includes the [[Saint Petersburg tram]] and the [[Saint Petersburg Metro]], and is home to several riverine services that convey passengers around the city efficiently and in relative comfort.
The city is connected to the rest of Russia and the wider world by several federal highways and national and international rail routes. [[Pulkovo Airport]] serves most of the air passengers departing from or arriving in the city.
===Public transport===
[[File:Tram LM-99AV in SPB.jpg|thumb|right|Tram passing by Kronverksy Avenue]]
[[File:Metro SPB Line1 Narvskaya1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Narvskaya]] station of the [[Saint Petersburg Metro]], opened in 1955]]
[[File:AKSM-32100D in SPB (img2).jpg|thumb|right|[[Trolleybus]] on [[Nevsky Prospekt]]]]
Saint Petersburg has an extensive city-funded network of public transport including [[Buses in Saint Petersburg|buses]], [[Trams in Saint Petersburg|trams]], and {{Interlanguage link|Trolleybuses in St. Petersburg|lt=trolleybuses|ru|Санкт-петербургский троллейбус}}.
In the 1980s, the city had the largest tram network globally.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.uitp.org/news/charging-trolleybus-motion-celebrating-85-years-of-trolleybuses-in-st-petersburg/ | title=Charging trolleybus motion: Celebrating 85 years of trolleybuses in St Petersburg | work=[[International Association of Public Transport]] |date=21 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.saint-petersburg.com/transport/tram/ |title=St. Petersburg Trams | website=saint-petersburg.com}}</ref> However, like in many Russian cities, trams were dismantled after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/tram-heritage-under-threat | title=Tram heritage under threat | first=Jens | last=Malling | work=[[Le Monde]] | date=11 February 2015}}</ref>
Buses carry up to 3 million passengers daily, with over 250 urban and suburban bus routes.
[[Saint Petersburg Metro]] was opened in 1955; it now has 5 lines with 73 stations, connecting all five railway terminals,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Official site of St. Petersburg Metro |url=http://www.metro.spb.ru/en/metro.html | website=Metro.spb.ru}}</ref> and carrying 2.3 million passengers daily. Many stations are elaborately decorated with materials such as marble and bronze. There are plans for extending several lines and building one new depot.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://metro.spb.ru/uploads/img/map/prspktmap2025.jpg | title=Map of Saint Petersburg Metro | work=Официальный сайт Петербургского метрополитена | publisher=Metro.spb.ru}}</ref> Plans call for 16 new stations to open between 2025 and 2035, including 10 that will open between 2025 and 2030.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://runews24.ru/eng/saint-petersburg/11/04/2025/new-development-strategy-st-petersburg-plans-to-expand-the-metro-by-16-stations | title=New development strategy: St. Petersburg plans to expand the metro by 16 stations | work=Ru News 24 | date=11 April 2025}}</ref> The Admiralteysko-Okhtinskaya and Koltsevaya line is projected to open after the 2030s.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://subterramuseum.com/metrostroenie/objects/metro-sankt-peterburga-admiralteysko-okhtinskaya-liniya/ | title=Метро Санкт-Петербурга. Адмиралтейско-Охтинская линия | trans-title=Saint Petersburg Metro. Admiralteysko-Okhtinskaya Line | work=Subterra Museum | date=15 June 2017 | language=ru}}</ref>
{|class="collapsible collapsed" style="border:1px solid #ddd; float:center; margin:5px auto 0 auto;"
|-
!style="background:#f5f5f5; padding:5px;"|Saint Petersburg Metro map
|-
|[[File:Saint Petersburg metro map ENG.png|500px|center]]
|}
===Roads===
[[Traffic jams]] are common in the city due to daily commuter traffic volumes, intercity traffic, and excessive winter snow. The construction of [[freeways]] such as the [[Saint Petersburg Ring Road]], completed in 2011, and the [[Western High-Speed Diameter]], completed in 2017, helped reduce traffic in the city. The [[Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway|M11 Neva]], also known as the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Motorway, is a [[Russian federal highway|federal highway]], and connects Saint Petersburg to Moscow by a freeway.
Saint Petersburg is an important [[transport corridor]] linking [[Scandinavia]] to Russia and Eastern Europe. The city is a node of the [[International E-road network|international European routes]] [[European route E18|E18]] towards [[Helsinki]], [[European route E20|E20]] towards [[Tallinn]], [[European route E95|E95]] towards [[Pskov]], [[Kyiv]] and [[Odesa]] and [[European route E105|E105]] towards [[Petrozavodsk]], [[Murmansk]] and [[Kirkenes]] (north) and towards Moscow and [[Kharkiv]] (south).
===Waterways===
[[File:St. Petersburg Russia Hydrofoil boat.jpg|thumb|right|[[Hydrofoil]] docking in Saint Petersburg upon arrival from [[Peterhof Palace]] (2008)]]
The city is also served by passenger and cargo seaports{{Clarify|is the port a year-round port? free of ice in the winter?|date=October 2021}} in the [[Neva Bay]] of the [[Gulf of Finland]], [[Baltic Sea]], the river port higher up the Neva and tens of smaller passenger stations on both banks of the Neva river. It is a terminus of both the [[Volga–Baltic Waterway|Volga–Baltic]] and [[White Sea–Baltic Canal|White Sea–Baltic]] waterways.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}
The first high bridge that does not need to be drawn, the {{Convert|2824|m|ft|adj=mid|-long}} [[Big Obukhovsky Bridge]] opened in 2004. Meteor [[hydrofoil]]s link the city centre to the coastal towns of [[Kronstadt]] and [[Shlisselburg]] from May through October.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 September 2019 |title=Trip by hydrofoil to Kronstadt from St. Petersburg |url=https://guidetopetersburg.com/trip-by-hydrofoil-to-kronstadt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420195927/https://guidetopetersburg.com/trip-by-hydrofoil-to-kronstadt |archive-date=20 April 2020 |access-date=3 June 2020 |website=St.Petersburg travel guide}}</ref> In the warmer months, many smaller boats and water-taxis navigate the city's canals.
The shipping company [[St. Peter Line]] operates two ferries that sail from [[Helsinki]] to Saint Petersburg and from [[Stockholm]] to Saint Petersburg.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 June 2010 |title=Riding the new ferry to St Petersburg |url=https://finland.fi/life-society/riding-the-new-ferry-to-st-petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302162418/https://finland.fi/life-society/riding-the-new-ferry-to-st-petersburg |archive-date=2 March 2020 |access-date=2 March 2020 |website=thisisFINLAND}}</ref>
===Rail===
{{See also|Rail transport in Russia}}
[[File:Сапсан в Санкт-Петербург.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Sapsan]] high-speed train runs between Saint Petersburg and Moscow.]]
The city is the final destination for a web of intercity and suburban railways, served by five different railway terminals ([[Baltiysky Rail Terminal|Baltiysky]], [[Finlyandsky Rail Terminal|Finlyandsky]], [[Ladozhsky Rail Terminal|Ladozhsky]], [[Moskovsky Rail Terminal (Saint Petersburg)|Moskovsky]] and [[Vitebsky Rail Terminal|Vitebsky]]),{{Efn|Until 2001, the [[Varshavsky Rail Terminal]] served as a major station; it now is a railway museum.}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Бюпьюбяйхи Бнйгюк – Хярнпхъ |url=http://www.russkialbum.ru/r/sp5/h.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016131325/http://www.russkialbum.ru/r/sp5/h.shtml |archive-date=16 October 2012 |access-date=16 November 2012 |publisher=Russkialbum.ru}}</ref> as well as dozens of non-terminal [[railway stations]] within the federal subject. Saint Petersburg has international railway connections to [[Helsinki]], Finland, Berlin, Germany, and many former republics of the USSR. The [[Riihimäki – Saint Petersburg Railway|Helsinki railway]], built in 1870 and {{Convert|443|km}} long, had until 2022 trains running five times a day, in a journey lasting about three and a half hours with the [[Karelian Trains Class Sm6|Allegro]] train.
The [[Moscow–Saint Petersburg Railway]] opened in 1851, and is {{Convert|651|km}} long; the commute to Moscow now requires from three and a half to nine hours.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Results of train ticket inquiry, Russian train schedules and Russian train tickets |url=http://www.rzd.ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011051107/https://pass.rzd.ru/main-pass/public/en |archive-date=11 October 2018 |access-date=1 January 2011 |publisher=RZD.com}}</ref>
In 2009, [[Russian Railways]] launched a high-speed service for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg route. The new train, known as [[Sapsan]], is a derivative of the popular [[Siemens Velaro]] train; various versions of this already operate in some European countries. It set records for the fastest train in Russia on 2 May 2009, travelling at {{Convert|281|km/h}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 May 2009 |title=Sapsan claims Russian rail speed record |url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/sapsan-claims-russian-rail-speed-record.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810005755/https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/sapsan-claims-russian-rail-speed-record.html |archive-date=10 August 2020 |access-date=10 May 2009 |publisher=[[Railway Gazette International]]}}</ref> and on 7 May 2009, travelling at {{Convert|290|km/h}}.
From 12 December 2010 until March 2022, [[Karelian Trains]], a joint venture between [[Russian Railways]] and [[VR Group|VR (Finnish Railways)]], has been running [[Karelian Trains Class Sm6|Alstom Pendolino]] operated high-speed services between Saint Petersburg's [[Finlyandsky Rail Terminal|Finlyandsky]] and Helsinki's [[Helsinki Central railway station|Central]] railway stations. These services are branded as "Allegro" trains. "Allegro" is known for suffering from some big technical problems from time to time, which sometimes result in significant delays and even cancellation of tourists' trips.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 August 2016 |title=Allegro trains suffered from the biggest problems in its history |url=http://guidetopetersburg.com/allegro-train-suffered-from-biggest-problems-in-its-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106123030/http://guidetopetersburg.com/allegro-train-suffered-from-biggest-problems-in-its-history |archive-date=6 November 2016 |access-date=27 November 2016 |publisher=St. Petersburg Travel Guide}}</ref> The service has been suspended indefinitely in the context of the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]] and is not expected to resume.
{|class="collapsible collapsed" style="border:1px solid #ddd; float:center; margin:5px auto 0 auto;"
|-
!style="background:#f5f5f5; padding:5px;"|Intercity and suburban rail terminals of St. Petersburg
|-
|{{Gallery
|width=136
|height=102
|File:Vitebsky Rail Terminal SPB.jpg|[[Vitebsky Rail Terminal|Vitebsky Station]]
|File:Spb 06-2017 img19 Moskovsky railway station.jpg|[[Moskovsky Rail Terminal (Saint Petersburg)|Moskovsky Station]]
|File:Spb 06-2012 Baltic Railway Terminal.jpg|[[Baltiysky Station]]
|File:Finlandsky Rail Terminal.jpg|[[Finlyandsky Rail Terminal|Finlyandsky Station]]
|File:Ladozhsky Rail Terminal of SPB 02.jpg|[[Ladozhsky Rail Terminal|Ladozhsky Station]]
}}
|}
===Air===
[[File:Панорама новая.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5 |Pulkovo International Airport]]
Saint Petersburg is served by [[Pulkovo International Airport]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 July 2007 |title=Россия – российские авиалинии |url=http://www.rossiya-airlines.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114105647/https://www.rossiya-airlines.com |archive-date=14 January 2021 |access-date=16 November 2012 |publisher=Rossiya-airlines.com}}</ref>
Pulkovo airport was opened to passengers as a small aerodrome in 1931. {{As of|2013}}, the Pulkovo airport, which handles over 12 million passengers annually, is the 3rd busiest in Russia after Moscow's [[Sheremetyevo]] and [[Domodedovo International Airport|Domodedovo]]. As a result, the steadily increasing passenger traffic has triggered a massive modernization of the entire airport infrastructure. A newly built Terminal 1 of the Pulkovo airport was put into operation on 4 December 2013 and integrated international flights of the former terminal Pulkovo-2. The renovated terminal Pulkovo-1 has been opened for domestic flights as an extension of Terminal 1 in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Аэропорт Пулково ввел в эксплуатацию дополнительное здание для обслуживания внутренних рейсов |url=https://pulkovoairport.ru/about/press_center/news/9339 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211002192146/https://pulkovoairport.ru/about/press_center/news/9339 |archive-date=2 October 2021 |access-date=2 October 2021 |website=pulkovoairport.ru}}</ref> One of the oldest air carriers of the Russian Federation Rossiya is registered in Saint Petersburg and is the largest and the base carrier of Pulkovo Airport.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 November 2006 |title=UzReport: Russian state-owned Rossiya and Pulkovo airlines merge |url=http://business.uzreport.com/mir.cgi?lan=e&id=23724 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125184646/http://business.uzreport.com/mir.cgi?lan=e&id=23724 |archive-date=25 November 2006}}</ref>
There is a regular rapid-bus connection (buses 39, 39E, K39) between Pulkovo airport and the [[Moskovskaya (Saint Petersburg Metro)|Moskovskaya metro station]] as well as a 24/7 taxi service.
==Notable people==
{{Main|List of people from Saint Petersburg}}
==International relations==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Russia}}
List of sister cities to Saint Petersburg as it appears on the official portal of the City Government, listing both sister cities and partnership ties:<ref name="saint_petersburg">{{Cite web |title=Saint Petersburg in figures – International and Interregional Ties |url=http://eng.gov.spb.ru/figures/ities |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20090224073839/http://eng.gov.spb.ru/figures/ities |archive-date=24 February 2009 |access-date=23 March 2008 |publisher=Saint Petersburg City Government}}</ref>
'''Non CIS/Baltic states sister cities of Saint Petersburg (from official government list)'''
{{Columns-list|colwidth=23em|
* [[Adana]], Turkey <small>(since 1997)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Antwerp]], Belgium <small>(since 1958)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Bangkok]], Thailand <small>(since 1997)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Barcelona]], Spain <small>(since 1984)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Barcelona's Sister cities |url=http://w3.bcn.es/XMLServeis/XMLHomeLinkPl/0,4022,229724149_257215678_1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20090715214014/http://w3.bcn.es/XMLServeis/XMLHomeLinkPl/0,4022,229724149_257215678_1,00.html |archive-date=15 July 2009 |access-date=1 December 2008 |publisher=2008 Ajuntament de Barcelona (City council's webpage)}}</ref>
* [[Bethlehem]], Palestine <small>(since 2003)</small><ref name="BethlehemTwinning">{{Cite web |title=Bethlehem Municipality |url=http://www.bethlehem-city.org/Twining.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724140854/http://www.bethlehem-city.org/Twining.php |archive-date=24 July 2010 |access-date=10 October 2009 |publisher=bethlehem-city.org}}</ref>
* [[Bordeaux]], France <small>(since 1991)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="Bordeaux twinnings">{{Cite web |title=Bordeaux – Rayonnement européen et mondial |url=http://www.bordeaux.fr/p63778/europe%C2%A0et%C2%A0international |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207154903/http://www.bordeaux.fr/p63778/europe%C2%A0et%C2%A0international |archive-date=7 February 2013 |access-date=29 July 2013 |publisher=Mairie de Bordeaux |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="Bordeaux twinnings 2">{{Cite web |title=Bordeaux-Atlas français de la coopération décentralisée et des autres actions extérieures |url=http://www.cncd.fr/frontoffice/bdd-recherche-resultat.asp?searchField=bordeaux&x=36&y=14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207152951/http://www.cncd.fr/frontoffice/bdd-recherche-resultat.asp?searchField=bordeaux&x=36&y=14 |archive-date=7 February 2013 |access-date=29 July 2013 |publisher=Délégation pour l'Action Extérieure des Collectivités Territoriales (Ministère des Affaires étrangères) |language=fr}}</ref>
* [[Cape Town]], South Africa <small>(since 2001)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Cebu]], Philippines <small>(since 2010)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Petersburg to promote Cebu as tourism spot |url=http://cebutourismnews.com/news/st-petersburg-to-promote-cebu-as-tourism-spot |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204201059/http://cebutourismnews.com/news/st-petersburg-to-promote-cebu-as-tourism-spot |archive-date=4 February 2017 |access-date=10 December 2016 |publisher=Cebu Tourism News}}</ref>
* [[Colombo]], Sri Lanka <small>(since 1997)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Chengdu]], China <small>(since 1998)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Daegu]], South Korea <small>(since 1997)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Colorful Daegu |url=http://english.daegu.go.kr/AboutDaegu/sister.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020201744/http://english.daegu.go.kr/AboutDaegu/sister.asp |archive-date=20 October 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Dresden]], Germany <small>(since 1961)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dresden Twin cities |url=http://dresden.de/en/02/11/c_03.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016001550/http://www.dresden.de/en/02/11/c_03.php |archive-date=16 October 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008 |publisher=2008 Landeshauptstadt Dresden (City of Dresden: Dresden.de)}}</ref>
* [[Edinburgh]], United Kingdom <small>(since 1995)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Gothenburg]], Sweden <small>(since 1962)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Hamburg]], Germany <small>(since 1957)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Havana]], Cuba <small>(since 2000)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Helsinki]], Finland <small>(since 1993)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Ho Chi Minh City]], Vietnam <small>(since 1977)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Isfahan]], Iran <small>(since 1999)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Istanbul]], Turkey <small>(since 1990)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sister Cities of Istanbul |url=http://www.greatistanbul.com/sister_cities.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022085201/http://www.greatistanbul.com/sister_cities.htm |archive-date=22 October 2014 |access-date=2 November 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Erdem |first=Selim Efe |date=3 November 2003 |title=İstanbul'a 49 kardeş |url=http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=94185 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041126070957/http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=94185 |archive-date=26 November 2004 |access-date=2 November 2008 |publisher=Radikal |language=tr |quote=49 sister cities in 2003}}</ref>
* [[Kota Kinabalu]], Malaysia <small>(since 2017)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Le Havre]], France <small>(since 1965)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="TwinTowns">{{Cite web |title=Le Havre Website – Twin Towns |url=http://www.lehavre.eu/#Twin_towns |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230154722/https://lehavre.eu/#Twin_towns |archive-date=30 December 2020 |access-date=30 November 2008 |publisher={{Font color|Green|(in {{Font color|Green|English}})}} 2006–2008 Ovidio Limited.}}</ref>
* [[Los Angeles]], United States <small>(since 1990)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Los Angeles City Council: Sister cities of Los Angeles |url=http://www.lacity.org/sistercities/html/08.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719222418/http://www.lacity.org/sistercities/html/08.htm |archive-date=19 July 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Lyon]], France <small>(since 1993)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="Lyon">{{Cite web |title=Partner Cities of Lyon and Greater Lyon |url=http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/villes_partenaires/villes_partenaires_2/?aIndex=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719003816/http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/villes_partenaires/villes_partenaires_2/?aIndex=1 |archive-date=19 July 2009 |access-date=21 October 2008 |publisher=2008 Mairie de Lyon}}</ref>
* [[Manchester]], United Kingdom <small>(since 1956)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Friendship Agreements |url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=100002&documentID=2632&pageNumber=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611021612/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=100002&documentID=2632&pageNumber=3 |archive-date=11 June 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008 |publisher=[[Manchester City Council]]}}</ref>
* [[Mariupol]], Ukraine <small>(since 2022)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Mikkeli]], Finland <small>(since 1996)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Montevideo]], Uruguay <small>(since 1998)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Mumbai]], India <small>(since 1963)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Official Website of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai |url=http://www.mcgm.gov.in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028225646/http://www.mcgm.gov.in |archive-date=28 October 2017 |access-date=1 December 2008 |publisher=[[Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai]]}}</ref>
* [[Nice]], France <small>(since 1997)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="Nice Jumellage">{{Cite web |title=Villes jumelées avec la Ville de Nice |url=http://www.nice.fr/Collectivites/La-municipalite/Villes-jumelees-avec-la-Ville-de-Nice |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029114949/http://nice.fr/Collectivites/La-municipalite/Villes-jumelees-avec-la-Ville-de-Nice |archive-date=29 October 2012 |access-date=24 June 2013 |publisher=Ville de Nice |language=fr}}</ref>
* [[Osaka]], Japan <small>(since 1961)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Osaka and the World, the official website of the Osaka city |url=http://www.city.osaka.jp/english/more_about_osaka/osaka_world/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222222132/http://www.city.osaka.jp/english/more_about_osaka/osaka_world/index.html |archive-date=22 December 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Piraeus]], Greece <small>(since 1965)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="Greek twinnings">{{Cite web |title=Twinnings |url=http://www.kedke.gr/uploads/twinnedcities.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630221808/http://www.kedke.gr/uploads/twinnedcities.pdf |archive-date=30 June 2017 |access-date=25 August 2013 |publisher=Central Union of Municipalities & Communities of Greece}}</ref>
* [[Plovdiv]], Bulgaria <small>(since 2001)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 November 2011 |title=Plovdiv.bg – Ïîáðàòèìåíè ãðàäîâå |url=http://www.plovdiv.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=261&Itemid=279 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102060041/http://www.plovdiv.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=261&Itemid=279 |archive-date=2 November 2011 |access-date=2 July 2022}}</ref>
* [[Quebec City]], Canada <small>(since 2002)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Rio de Janeiro]], Brazil <small>(since 1986)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Rotterdam]], Netherlands <small>(since 1966)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Santa Cruz de Tenerife]], Spain<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tenerife |url=http://serviredprofesional.com/pageID_8034482.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525044911/http://www.serviredprofesional.com/pageID_8034482.html |archive-date=25 May 2010 |access-date=27 February 2012}}</ref>
* [[Santiago de Cuba]], Cuba<ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Shanghai]], China <small>(since 1959)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Stockholm]], Sweden <small>(since 1992)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Tampere]], Finland <small>(since 1993)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Thessaloniki]], Greece <small>(since 2002)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="thessaloniki">{{Cite web |title=Twinning Cities |url=http://www.thessalonikicity.gr/English/twinning-cities.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331054219/http://www.thessalonikicity.gr/English/twinning-cities.htm |archive-date=31 March 2009 |access-date=1 December 2008 |publisher=City of Thessaloniki}}</ref>
* [[Zagreb]], Croatia <small>(since 1968)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="zagreb_sister_cities">{{Cite web |title=Zagreb Sister Cities |url=http://www.zagreb.hr/mms/en/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208152508/http://www.zagreb.hr/mms/en/index.html |archive-date=8 February 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
}}
'''Sister cities in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic states'''
{{Columns-list|colwidth=23em|
* [[Almaty]], Kazakhstan <small>(since 1996)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Baku]], Azerbaijan <small>(since 1998)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Daugavpils]], Latvia <small>(since 2002)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=О городе Даугавпилс |url=http://www.gorod.lv/o_gorode |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412202626/http://www.gorod.lv/o_gorode |archive-date=12 April 2009 |access-date=12 March 2013 |publisher=Gorod.lv}}</ref>
* [[Dushanbe]], Tajikistan <small>(since 1999)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Sevastopol]] <small>(since 2000)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/>
* [[Vilnius]], Lithuania <small>(since 2002)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Guide to Vilnuis |url=http://www.vilniushostels.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101012051203/http://www.vilniushostels.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2 |archive-date=12 October 2010 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Yerevan]], Armenia <small>(since 1997)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="Yerevan partnerships">{{Cite web |title=Yerevan – Partner Cities |url=http://www.yerevan.am/3-233-233.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105220142/http://www.yerevan.am/3-233-233.html |archive-date=5 November 2013 |access-date=4 November 2013 |publisher=2005–2013 Yerevan}}</ref><ref name="Yerevan Sister Cities">{{Cite web |title=Yerevan Municipality – Sister Cities |url=http://yerevan.am/main.php?lang=3&page_id=194 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002075135/http://www.yerevan.am/main.php?page_id=194&lang=3 |archive-date=2 October 2011 |access-date=22 June 2009 |publisher=2005–2009 Yerevan}}</ref>
}}
'''Sister cities of Saint Petersburg (not included on official government list)'''
{{Columns-list|colwidth=23em|
* [[Astana]], Kazakhstan <small>(since 2008)</small><ref name="spb.ru">{{cite web |title=Международные и межрегиональные связи |url=https://www.gov.spb.ru/helper/new_stat/inter/ |website=Administration of Saint Petersburg |access-date=22 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512182537/https://www.gov.spb.ru/helper/new_stat/inter/ |archive-date=12 May 2022 |language=ru |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Aqaba]], Jordan <small>(since 2004)</small><ref name="spb.ru"/>
* [[Bethlehem]], Palestine<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twinning with Palestine |url=http://www.twinningwithpalestine.net/xarchive/groupsinternational.html#anchoritaly |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007001437/http://www.twinningwithpalestine.net/xarchive/groupsinternational.html#anchoritaly |archive-date=7 October 2016 |access-date=29 May 2016}}</ref>
* [[Busan]], South Korea <small>(since 2008)</small><ref>{{cite web |title=List of Sister Cities |url=https://www.busan.go.kr/eng/SisterCities |website=Busan is good |access-date=17 March 2025}}</ref>
* [[Cebu City]], Philippines <small>(since 2009)</small><ref>{{cite web |title=Cebu, Russia’s St. Petersburg to renew sisterhood ties |url=https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/574551/cebu-russias-st-petersburg-to-renew-sisterhood-ties |website=Cebu Daily News |access-date=17 March 2025 |date=21 May 2024}}</ref>
* [[Debrecen]], Hungary <small>(since 2002)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hungary-Russia sister cities |url=http://www.vengria.ru/main.php?folderID=911&articleID=4075&ctag=articlelist&iid=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120919181911/http://www.vengria.ru/main.php?folderID=911&articleID=4075&ctag=articlelist&iid=1 |archive-date=19 September 2012 |access-date=20 July 2012 |publisher=Vengria.ru}}</ref>
* [[Florence]], Italy <small>(since 2001)</small><ref name="Sister cities international">{{Cite web |title=Sister cities international |url=http://www.glosk.com/LH/Republic_of_Lithuania/-3599695/pages/List_of_twin_towns_and_sister_cities/4519_en.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527183801/http://www.glosk.com/LH/Republic_of_Lithuania/-3599695/pages/List_of_twin_towns_and_sister_cities/4519_en.htm |archive-date=27 May 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Galveston]], Texas, United States<ref>{{Cite web |title=US Africa Sister Cities Conference |url=http://www.usasc.org/misc-docs/SA_Conf_Tour%20package.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527220449/http://www.usasc.org/misc-docs/SA_Conf_Tour%20package.pdf |archive-date=27 May 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008 |publisher=U.S. Africa sister cities foundation}}</ref>
* [[Guadalajara]], Mexico <small>(since 2008)</small><ref name="Guadalajara sisters">{{Cite web |title=Sister Cities, Public Relations |url=http://www.guadalajara.gob.mx/dependencias/relacionespublicas/versioningles/sistercities.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302011742/http://www.guadalajara.gob.mx/dependencias/relacionespublicas/versioningles/sistercities.html |archive-date=2 March 2012 |access-date=12 March 2013 |publisher=Guadalajara municipal government |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
* [[Haifa]], Israel <small>(since 2008)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Haifa agreement with partner |url=http://www.mignews.com/news/politic/world/210508_03000_59894.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019031332/http://www.mignews.com/news/politic/world/210508_03000_59894.html |archive-date=19 October 2017 |access-date=20 July 2012 |publisher=Mignews.com |language=ru}}</ref>
* [[Haiphong]], Vietnam <small>(since 2006)</small><ref name="spb.ru"/>
* [[Khartoum]], Sudan <small>(since 2002)</small><ref name="spb.ru"/>
* [[Lansing]], Michigan, United States <small>(since 1992)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sister cities:Saint Petersburg, Russia |url=http://www.lansingsc.org/pages/stpetersburg.cfm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019194319/http://www.lansingsc.org/pages/stpetersburg.cfm |archive-date=19 October 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Le Havre]], France<ref name="Le Havre twinnings">{{Cite web |last=Florence |first=Jeanne |title=Le Havre – Les villes jumelées |trans-title=Le Havre – Twin towns |url=http://archives.lehavre.fr/delia-CMS/guichet_virtuel/rubrique/article_id-1626/topic_id-707/les-villes-jumelees.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807181850/http://archives.lehavre.fr/delia-CMS/guichet_virtuel/rubrique/article_id-1626/topic_id-707/les-villes-jumelees.html |archive-date=7 August 2013 |access-date=7 August 2013 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="Le Havre twins">{{Cite web |title=Le Havre – Les villes jumelées |trans-title=Le Havre – Twin towns |url=http://lehavre.fr/dossier/le-havre-ville-partenaire |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729215238/http://lehavre.fr/dossier/le-havre-ville-partenaire |archive-date=29 July 2013 |access-date=7 August 2013 |publisher=lehavre.fr |language=fr}}</ref>
* [[Lviv]], Ukraine <small>(since 2006)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=The city of Lviv, and its sister cities |url=http://www.ukrainians.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=279&Itemid=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915111322/http://www.ukrainians.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=279&Itemid=2 |archive-date=15 September 2013 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Mar del Plata]], Argentina <small>(since 2009)</small><ref name="spb.ru"/>
* [[Maribor]], Slovenia <small>(since 2001)</small><ref>{{cite web |title=Prijateljska in partnerska mesta |url=https://maribor.si/mestna-obcina/zupan/kabinet-zupana/mednarodno-in-medmestno-sodelovanje/prijateljska-in-partnerska-mesta/ |website=maribor.si |access-date=4 March 2025 |language=sl}}</ref>
* [[State of Maryland]], United States<ref>{{Cite web |title=Online Directory: Russian Federation, Eurasia |url=http://www.sister-cities.org/icrc/directory/NIS/Russia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908065704/http://www.sister-cities.org/icrc/directory/NIS/Russia |archive-date=8 September 2008 |access-date=1 December 2008 |publisher=Sister Cities International}}</ref>
* [[Nampho]], North Korea <small>(since 2002)</small><ref>{{cite web|script-title=ru:Перспективные направления сотрудничества|trans-title=Prospective areas of cooperation|url=http://kvs.gov.spb.ru/media/uploads/userfiles/2017/06/05/5Democratic_Peoples_republic_of_Korea.docx|access-date=22 October 2017|publisher=Committee for External Relations of Saint-Petersburg|language=ru|archive-date=23 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923093951/http://kvs.gov.spb.ru/media/uploads/userfiles/2017/06/05/5Democratic_Peoples_republic_of_Korea.docx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Osh]], Kyrgyzstan <small>(since 2004)</small><ref>{{cite web |title=St. Petersburg Days held in Osh city |url=https://24.kg/english/312701_St_Petersburg_Days_held_in_Osh_city/ |website=24.kg |access-date=4 March 2025 |date=30 November 2024}}</ref>
* [[Oslo]], Norway <small>(since 2002)</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sister partners of Oslo |url=http://www.oslo.kommune.no/the_city_of_oslo/international_cooperation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102135652/http://www.oslo.kommune.no/the_city_of_oslo/international_cooperation |archive-date=2 January 2009 |access-date=1 December 2008}}</ref>
* [[Porto Alegre]], Brazil <small>(since 2002)</small><ref name="Porto Alegre">{{Cite web |title=Porto Alegre's International Sister Cities Program |url=http://www2.portoalegre.rs.gov.br/captare/default.php?p_secao=36 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120152731/http://www2.portoalegre.rs.gov.br/captare/default.php?p_secao=36 |archive-date=20 January 2016 |access-date=22 August 2008 |publisher=Porto Alegre, RS}}</ref>
* [[Turin]], Italy <small>(since 2012)</small><ref name="Turin twinnings">{{Cite web |last=Pessotto |first=Lorenzo |title=International Affairs – Twinnings and Agreements |url=http://www.comune.torino.it/relint/inglese/gemellaggieaccordi/index.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618182559/http://www.comune.torino.it/relint/inglese/gemellaggieaccordi/index.shtml |archive-date=18 June 2013 |access-date=6 August 2013 |publisher=International Affairs Service in cooperation with Servizio Telematico Pubblico |agency=City of Torino}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=22 June 2012 |title=La Stampa – Torino-San Pietroburgo, c'è l'intesa sull'asse strategico |url=http://www.lastampa.it/2012/11/15/cronaca/torino-san-pietroburgo-c-e-l-intesa-sull-asse-strategico-GrXers6Srhhzx5r57bdq3N/pagina.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116081818/http://www.lastampa.it/2012/11/15/cronaca/torino-san-pietroburgo-c-e-l-intesa-sull-asse-strategico-GrXers6Srhhzx5r57bdq3N/pagina.html |archive-date=16 November 2012 |access-date=16 November 2012 |publisher=Lastampa.it}}</ref>
* [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]], Connecticut, United States<ref>{{Cite web |title=Town of Westport, Connecticut : Sister Cities Committee |url=http://www.westportct.gov/index.aspx?page=190 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123172425/http://www.westportct.gov/index.aspx?page=190 |archive-date=23 January 2016 |access-date=19 February 2014 |website=Westportct.gov}}</ref>
}}
===Former twin towns===
Italian cities [[Milan]] and [[Venice]] were formerly twin cities of Saint Petersburg, but suspended this link due to St. Petersburg's ban on "gay propaganda".<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 November 2012 |title=Milan severs twin city ties with St Petersburg over 'homosexual propaganda' ban |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9712066/Milan-severs-twin-city-ties-with-St-Petersburg-over-homosexual-propaganda-ban.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9712066/Milan-severs-twin-city-ties-with-St-Petersburg-over-homosexual-propaganda-ban.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |access-date=30 November 2012 |work=The Telegraph}}{{Cbignore}}</ref> Milan suspended the relationship with Saint Petersburg on 23 November 2012<ref>{{Cite web |author=Associazione Radicale Certi Diritti |date=23 November 2012 |title=Associazione radicale Certi Diritti | Gemellaggio tra Milano e San Pietroburgo: Consiglio comunale approva mozione che ne chiede la sospensione |url=http://www.certidiritti.it/notizie/comunicati-stampa/item/1631-gemellaggio-tra-milano-e-san-pietroburgo-consiglio-comunale-approva-mozione-che-ne-chiede-la-sospensione |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130111632/http://www.certidiritti.it/notizie/comunicati-stampa/item/1631-gemellaggio-tra-milano-e-san-pietroburgo-consiglio-comunale-approva-mozione-che-ne-chiede-la-sospensione |archive-date=30 January 2013 |access-date=12 March 2013 |publisher=Certidiritti.it}}</ref> and Venice did so on 28 January 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Associazione Radicale Certi Diritti |title=Associazione radicale Certi Diritti | Venezia approva mozione per la sospensione degli effetti del gemellaggio con San Pietroburgo |url=http://www.certidiritti.it/notizie/comunicati-stampa/item/1650-venezia-approva-mozione-per-la-sospensione-degli-effetti-del-gemellaggio-con-san-pietroburgo |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008100455/http://www.certidiritti.it/notizie/comunicati-stampa/item/1650-venezia-approva-mozione-per-la-sospensione-degli-effetti-del-gemellaggio-con-san-pietroburgo |archive-date=8 October 2013 |access-date=12 March 2013 |publisher=Certidiritti.it}}</ref> <!-- removed line:
* [[Milan]], Italy <small>(since 1961)</small><ref name="saint_petersburg"/><ref name="Milan">{{Cite web |title=Milano – Città gemellate |url=http://www.comune.milano.it/portale/wps/portal/CDM?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/ContentLibrary/In%20Comune/In%20Comune/Citt%20Gemellate |access-date=5 December 2008 |publisher=2008 Municipality of Milan (Comune di Milano)}}</ref>
-->
Shortly after the beginning of the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]], [[Gdańsk]], [[Warsaw]], [[Aarhus]], [[Melbourne]], [[Kotka]], [[Turku]], [[Riga]] and [[Tallinn]] terminated or suspended the cooperation, affiliation or sister city relationship with Saint Petersburg.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 March 2022 |title=Trójmiasto zrywa współpracę z rosyjskimi miastami |url=https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Koniec-wspolpracy-Trojmiasta-z-Rosja-n164797.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303190853/https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Koniec-wspolpracy-Trojmiasta-z-Rosja-n164797.html |archive-date=3 March 2022 |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=3 March 2022 |title=Gdańsk zrywa współpracę z rosyjskimi miastami. Na sali był konsul Ukrainy |url=https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/trojmiasto/gdansk-zrywa-wspolprace-z-rosyjskimi-miastami-na-sali-byl-konsul-ukrainy-6743312033806944a |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314170323/https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/trojmiasto/gdansk-zrywa-wspolprace-z-rosyjskimi-miastami-na-sali-byl-konsul-ukrainy-6743312033806944a |archive-date=14 March 2022 |access-date=4 March 2022 |language=pl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=3 March 2022 |title=Rada Warszawy: najważniejszym zadaniem jest stworzyć uchodźcom drugi dom |url=https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/najnowsze/warszawa-rada-warszawy-potepia-atak-rosji-na-ukraine-i-zrywa-wspolprace-z-rosyjskimi-miastami-5621996 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511060219/https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/najnowsze/warszawa-rada-warszawy-potepia-atak-rosji-na-ukraine-i-zrywa-wspolprace-z-rosyjskimi-miastami-5621996 |archive-date=11 May 2022 |access-date=6 March 2022 |language=pl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Aarhus dropper russisk venskabsby |url=https://www.tv2ostjylland.dk/aarhus/aarhus-dropper-russisk-venskabsby |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310230358/https://www.tv2ostjylland.dk/aarhus/aarhus-dropper-russisk-venskabsby |archive-date=10 March 2022 |access-date=10 March 2022 |website=TV2 ØSTJYLLAND |language=da}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 2022 |title=Melbourne cuts ties with sister city following Russia's invasion of Ukraine |url=https://www.3aw.com.au/melbourne-cuts-ties-with-sister-city-following-russias-invasion-of-ukraine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322103155/https://www.3aw.com.au/melbourne-cuts-ties-with-sister-city-following-russias-invasion-of-ukraine |archive-date=22 March 2022 |access-date=17 March 2022 |website=3AW 693}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=30 May 2023 |title=Melbourne council cuts ties with Russian sister city over Ukraine war |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-council-cuts-ties-with-russian-sister-city-over-ukraine-war-20230530-p5dcm2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530104031/https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-council-cuts-ties-with-russian-sister-city-over-ukraine-war-20230530-p5dcm2.html |archive-date=30 May 2023 |access-date=30 May 2023 |website=The Age}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=28 February 2022 |title=Kotka keskeyttää yhteistyön venäläisten kumppanien kanssa |url=https://www.kotka.fi/2022/02/kotka-keskeyttaa-yhteistyon-venalaisten-kumppanien-kanssa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230219/https://www.kotka.fi/2022/02/kotka-keskeyttaa-yhteistyon-venalaisten-kumppanien-kanssa |archive-date=10 August 2023 |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=Kotkan kaupunki |language=fi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=28 February 2022 |title=Turku keskeyttää ystävyyskaupunkitoiminnan Pietarin kanssa |url=https://www.turku.fi/uutinen/2022-02-28_turku-keskeyttaa-ystavyyskaupunkitoiminnan-pietarin-kanssa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404135634/https://www.turku.fi/uutinen/2022-02-28_turku-keskeyttaa-ystavyyskaupunkitoiminnan-pietarin-kanssa |archive-date=4 April 2023 |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=Turku.fi |language=fi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 March 2022 |title=Rīgas dome pārtrauc sadarbību ar sadraudzības pilsētām Baltkrievijā un Krievijā |url=https://www.riga.lv/lv/jaunums/rigas-dome-partrauc-sadarbibu-ar-sadraudzibas-pilsetam-baltkrievija-un-krievija |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230337/https://www.riga.lv/lv/jaunums/rigas-dome-partrauc-sadarbibu-ar-sadraudzibas-pilsetam-baltkrievija-un-krievija |archive-date=10 August 2023 |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=Rīgas dome |language=lv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=8 March 2022 |title=City of Tallinn supports Ukraine and ends cooperation with Moscow and St Petersburg |url=https://www.tallinn.ee/en/news/city-tallinn-supports-ukraine-and-ends-cooperation-moscow-and-st-petersburg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230905/https://www.tallinn.ee/en/news/city-tallinn-supports-ukraine-and-ends-cooperation-moscow-and-st-petersburg |archive-date=10 August 2023 |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=Tallinn City Council}}</ref> On 17 March 2022, [[Košice]] joined the list of cities terminating the partnership. The cooperation began in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tlačová agentúra Slovenskej republiky – TASR.sk |url=https://www.tasr.sk/tasr-clanok/TASR:2022031700000104 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125093248/https://www.tasr.sk/tasr-clanok/TASR:2022031700000104 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=www.tasr.sk}}</ref>
===Twinning with occupied Mariupol===
Some Russian cities are twinned with ones in occupied Ukraine, in particular, Saint Petersburg is twinned with [[Mariupol]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tenisheva |first=Anastasia |date=8 July 2022 |title=Russian Towns Get Ukrainian 'Twins' in PR Drive, Political Deflection Tactic |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/08/russian-towns-get-ukrainian-twins-in-pr-drive-political-deflection-tactic-a78195 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731185241/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/08/russian-towns-get-ukrainian-twins-in-pr-drive-political-deflection-tactic-a78195 |archive-date=31 July 2023 |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=The Moscow Times}}</ref> An art symbol of the twinning was unveiled on [[Palace Square]] in Saint Petersburg, defaced and removed.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Murderers, you bombed it": a schoolgirl was detained in St. Petersburg for writing on an installation about Mariupol |url=https://www.txtreport.com/news/2022-12-19-%22murderers--you-bombed-it%22--a-schoolgirl-was-detained-in-st--petersburg-for-writing-on-an-installation-about-mariupol.HyB1fER_i.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407060204/https://www.txtreport.com/news/2022-12-19-%22murderers--you-bombed-it%22--a-schoolgirl-was-detained-in-st--petersburg-for-writing-on-an-installation-about-mariupol.HyB1fER_i.html |archive-date=7 April 2023 |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=www.txtreport.com}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Geography|Russia|Europe}}
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Fences in Saint Petersburg]]
* [[Hotels in Saint Petersburg]]
* [[List of buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg]]
* [[List of museums in Saint Petersburg]]
* [[List of people from Saint Petersburg|List of notable people from Saint Petersburg]]
* [[List of Saint Petersburg Metro stations]]
* [[List of sister cities to Saint Petersburg|List of Saint Petersburg sister cities]]
* [[List of theatres in Saint Petersburg]]
* [[Outline of Saint Petersburg]]
* [[Timeline of Saint Petersburg]]
{{Div col end}}
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
{{See also|Timeline of Saint Petersburg#Bibliography|l1=Bibliography of the history of Saint Petersburg}}
{{Refbegin|35em}}
* Amery, Colin, Brian Curran & Yuri Molodkovets. ''St. Petersburg''. London: [[Frances Lincoln]], 2006. {{ISBN|0-7112-2492-7}}.
* Bater, James H. ''St. Petersburg: Industrialization and Change''. Montreal: McGuill-Queen's University Press, 1976. {{ISBN|0-7735-0266-1}}.
* Berelowitch, Wladimir & Olga Medvedkova. ''Histoire de Saint-Pétersbourg''. Paris: Fayard, 1996. {{ISBN|2-2135-9601-8}}.
* Brumfield, William Craft. ''The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-5200-6929-3}}.
* Buckler, Julie. ''Mapping St. Petersburg: Imperial Text and Cityshape''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005 {{ISBN|0-6911-1349-1}}.
* Clark, Katerina, ''Petersburg, Crucible of Revolution''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
* Cross, Anthony (ed.). ''St. Petersburg, 1703–1825''. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. {{ISBN|1-4039-1570-9}}.
* "San Pietroburgo, la capitale del nord" by [[Giuseppe D'Amato]] in ''Viaggio nell'Hansa baltica.'' L'Unione europea e l'allargamento ad Est. Greco&Greco editori, Milano, 2004. pp. 27–46. {{ISBN|8-8798-0355-7}}. ([http://www.europarussia.com/books/viaggio_nellhansa_baltica/travel-to-the-baltic-hansa Travel to the Baltic Hansa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516034324/http://www.europarussia.com/books/viaggio_nellhansa_baltica/travel-to-the-baltic-hansa |date=16 May 2011}}. The European Union and its enlargement to the East) Book in Italian.
* George, Arthur L. & Elena George. ''St. Petersburg: Russia's Window to the Future, The First Three Centuries''. Lanham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003. {{ISBN|1-5897-9017-0}}.
* Glantz, David M. ''The Battle for Leningrad, 1941–1944''. Lawrence: [[University Press of Kansas]], 2002. {{ISBN|0-7006-1208-4}}.
* Hellberg-Hirn, Elena. ''Imperial Imprints: Post-Soviet St. Petersburg''. Helsinki: SKS [[Finnish literature]] Society, 2003. {{ISBN|9-5174-6491-6}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Lindsey |title=Peter the Great: a Biography |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-3001-0300-7}}
* [[Duncan Fallowell]], ''One Hot Summer in St Petersburg'' (London, Jonathan Cape,1995)
* ''Knopf Guide: Sat. Petersburg''. New York: Knopf, 1995. {{ISBN|0-6797-6202-7}}.
* {{Cite book |title=Eyewitness Guide: St. Petersburg |publisher=DK Eyewitness Travel |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-2414-1835-2 |___location=London |oclc=1233315986}}
* Lincoln, W. Bruce. ''Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia''. New York: [[Basic Books]], 2000. {{ISBN|0-4650-8323-4}}.
* Orttung, Robert W. ''From Leningrad to St. Petersburg: Democratization in a Russian City''. New York: St. Martin's, 1995. {{ISBN|0-3121-7561-2}}.
* {{Cite book |last1=Richardson |first1=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mozWAAAAMAAJ |title=St. Petersburg: The Rough Guide |last2=Humphreys |first2=Robert |date=2004 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1-8582-8298-5 |edition=5th |___location=New York, London & Delhi |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073805/https://books.google.com/books?id=mozWAAAAMAAJ |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live |orig-year=1998}}
* Ruble, Blair A. ''Leningrad: Shaping a Soviet City''. Berkeley: [[University of California Press]], 1990. {{ISBN|0-8777-2347-8}}.
* Shvidkovsky, Dmitry O. & Alexander Orloff. ''St. Petersburg: Architecture of the Tsars''. New York: Abbeville Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-7892-0217-4}}.
* Volkov, Solomon. ''St. Petersburg: A Cultural History''. New York: Free Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-0287-4052-1}}.
* St. Petersburg:Architecture of the Tsars. 360 pages. Abbeville Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-7892-0217-4}}
* Saint Petersburg: Museums, Palaces, and Historic Collections: A Guide to the Lesser Known Treasures of St. Petersburg. 2003. {{ISBN|1-5937-3000-4}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Ivanov |first=S.V. |title=Unknown Socialist Realism: The Leningrad School |date=2007 |publisher=NP-Print Edition |isbn=978-5-9017-2421-7 |___location=Saint Petersburg}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Nezhikhovsky |first=R.A. |title=Река Нева и Невская губа |publisher=Gidrometeoizdat |year=1981 |___location=Leningrad |trans-title=The Neva River and Neva Bay}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vorhees |first=Mara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MYVCQYIJafsC |title=St. Petersburg |date=2008 |publisher=[[Lonely Planet]] |isbn=978-1-7405-9827-9 |edition=5th |___location=[[Footscray, Victoria|Footscray]], Victoria, Australia |access-date=11 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902073806/https://books.google.com/books?id=MYVCQYIJafsC |archive-date=2 September 2023 |url-status=live}}
{{Refend}}
==External links==
{{Sister project links|auto=yes|d=yes}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-Saint Petersburg (intro).ogg|date=11 August 2011}}
* [http://visit-petersburg.ru/?lang=en City Tourist Portal]; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901073356/http://visit-petersburg.ru/?lang=en |date=1 September 2014}}
* {{YouTube|haQJed3b7-Y|St. Petersburg – 2018 FIFA World Cup Host City}} by [[FIFA]]
* {{In Our Time|St Petersburg|b00jts6k|St_Petersburg}}
* [http://www.airpano.com/360Degree-VirtualTour.php?3D=Saint-Petersburg-Virtual-Tour&set_language=2 St-Petersburg, Virtual Tour 360° Aerial Panorama]
* {{Cite web |last=Atchinson |first=Bob |year=2010 |title=Saint Petersburg, 1900: a photographic travelogue of the capital of Imperial Russia |url=http://www.alexanderpalace.org/petersburg1900 |access-date=9 February 2011}}{{Self-published inline|date=November 2021|certain=y}} 50 photographs of St. Petersburg from "[[Travel literature|Travelogues]]" of [[Burton Holmes]] (Vol. 8, 1914) and other sources
* {{Cite web |year=2001–2011 |script-title=ru:Официальный портал администрации Санкт-Петербурга |trans-title=The Official Portal of the Saint Petersburg City Authority |url=http://eng.gov.spb.ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231222926/http://eng.gov.spb.ru |archive-date=31 December 2006 |access-date=9 February 2011 |publisher=The Saint Petersburg City Authority: 191060, St. Petersburg, [[Smolny Institute|Smolny]] [Администрация Санкт-Петербурга 191060, СПб., Смольный] |language=ru}}
* {{Cite web |year=2004 |title=Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg |url=http://www.encspb.ru/en |access-date=9 February 2011 |publisher=The Likhachov Foundation |___location=St. Petersburg}} 3500 entries, 9200 personalities, 3500 addresses, 2000 pictures and 40 geographical maps, 3800 bibliographical references from the original "Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg" (SPb., [[Rosspen]], 2004)
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= St Petersburg | volume= 24 |last1= Kropotkin |first1= Peter Alexeivitch |author1-link= Peter Kropotkin| last2= Bealby |first2= John Thomas| pages = 38–40}}
* [http://search.library.yale.edu/catalog/13263164 Байков В.Д. Ленинградские хроники: от послевоенных 50-х до "лихих 90-х". М. Карамзин, 2017. – 486 с., илл. – in English: Leningrad Chronicles: from the postwar fifties to the "wild nineties"] {{ISBN|978-5-0007-1516-1}}
* [http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/russia/peterburg/peterburg.html Old Maps of Saint Petersburg]; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116221919/http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/russia/peterburg/peterburg.html |date=16 January 2021}}, [http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/historic_cities.html Historic Cities] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325051637/http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/historic_cities.html |date=25 March 2022}} site
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