The second largest city in Russia after Moscow , Saint Petersburg is also the country's largest seaport .
The second largest city of Russia and one of the world's major cities , St . Petersburg has played a vital role in Russian history .

It served as the capital of Russia for 200 years .
For two centuries it was the capital of the Russian Empire .

Saint Petersburg lies on the mouth of the Neva River at the head of the Baltic Sea .
St . Petersburg is located on the delta of the Neva River , at the head of the Gulf of Finland .

The city is spread over a mainland section and many small islands .
The city spreads across nearly 42 islands of the delta and across adjacent parts of the mainland floodplain .

In late June , it stays light outside almost all night in Saint Petersburg .
Because of St . Petersburg's northerly location , winter nights are long; in early summer , on the other hand , the city enjoys the half-light "white nights," one of its most renowned features .

Many of Saint Petersburg's buildings from this time have been preserved , and in 1990 the historic central district was designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational , Scientific , and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) .
Its historic central district was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1990 .

The fortress , which is located on Zayachy Island , was built in 1703 .
On May 16 ( May 27 , New Style ) , 1703 , shortly after the fall of Nienshants , Peter himself laid the foundation stones for the Peter-Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island .

Inside is the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul , where almost all the Russian czars , including Peter the Great , are buried .
The cathedral was built in 1712-33 by Trezzini , and the tsars and tsarinas of Russia from the time of Peter the Great ( except for Peter II and Nicholas II ) are buried in it .

Across the Neva River from the fortress is the Winter Palace , which was home of the czars from 1762 until 1917 .
Between the square and the river rises the huge and massive rectangle of the Winter Palace , the former principal residence of the tsars .

The palace is now part of the State Hermitage Museum .
The whole complex , now called the Hermitage , or State Hermitage Museum , is a treasure-house of fine art of worldwide significance that originated in 1764 as the private collection of the tsarina Catherine II .

The cathedral , built over a period of more than 40 years ( from 1818 to 1858 ) , is a gold-domed building with beautiful marble and mosaics inside .
An outstanding monument of late classical Russian architecture built by Auguste Montferrand ( 1818-58 ) , St . Isaac's is one of the largest domed buildings in the world; its golden cupola , gilded with about 220 pounds ( 100 kilograms ) of pure gold , soars to 331 feet in height and is visible all over St . Petersburg .

In addition to many fountains , the park also contains the Summer Palace , built in about 1710 .
The Summer Palace , Peter's first in the city , erected 1710-14 in early Russian Baroque style and designed by Trezzini , stands in the northeastern portion .

The most famous of the city's grand boulevards is Nevsky Prospect .
From the Admiralty and its surrounding squares radiate three great avenues , of which the most important and best known is the Nevsky Prospekt ( see photograph) .

Saint Petersburg is one of the great cultural centers of Europe .
St . Petersburg evolved as a city of culture , and the number and quality of its cultural institutions remain one of its enduring attractions .

In 1738 the first ballet school in Russia was opened in Saint Petersburg .
As early as 1738 the first ballet school in Russia was opened in St . Petersburg; in the 19th century , under Marius Petipa , the Russian ballet rose to worldwide renown and produced such dancers as Vaslav Nijinsky , Tamara Karsavina , and Anna Pavlova .

There are many educational and scientific sites in Saint Petersburg as well .
St . Petersburg is one of Russia's most important centres for education and scientific research; a sizable proportion of the employed population is engaged in education , the arts , and the sciences .

Because Saint Petersburg is the biggest port in Russia , the city is an important center of industry and trade .
St . Petersburg is one of the major industrial centres in Russia , with more than half of its working population employed in factories and the building trades; its products are distributed throughout Russia and beyond .

Products produced include nuclear reactors , electrical and power machinery , electronic goods , chemicals , clothes , and shoes .
Of national importance are a plant producing nuclear reactors and others that manufacture electrical and power machinery , such as steam , hydraulic , and gas turbines , armatures , and generators .

Other important industries are printing , shipbuilding , and the production of consumer goods such as food products .
There are industries producing a wide range of consumer goods , with the city itself as their principal market .

Other important industries are printing , shipbuilding , and the production of consumer goods such as food products .
St . Petersburg's original industry , shipbuilding , is still important and remains one of the largest of its kind in Russia; it produces icebreakers ( some atomic-powered ) , tankers , timber carriers , and fishing vessels .

Russians started settling the area near what is now Saint Petersburg in the 8th or 9th century AD .
Settlement of the region around the head of the Gulf of Finland by Russians began in the 8th or 9th century AD .

Sweden captured the area in the 17th century and built fortresses along the Neva River .
Sweden annexed Ingria in 1617 and established fortresses along the Neva .

At the beginning of the 18th century , Peter the Great took over these Swedish fortresses and controlled the area .
In 1703 Noteburg fell to Peter; afterward he captured the Swedish fortress of Nienshants on the lower Neva , thus gaining control of the delta .

In 1703 Peter laid the foundation stones for the Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island , and in 1712 the capital of Russia was moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg .
On May 16 ( May 27 , New Style ) , 1703 , shortly after the fall of Nienshants , Peter himself laid the foundation stones for the Peter-Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island .

In 1703 Peter laid the foundation stones for the Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island , and in 1712 the capital of Russia was moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg .
In 1712 the capital of Russia was transferred there from Moscow , although it was not until 1721 that Sweden , in the Peace of Nystad , formally ceded sovereignty of the area to Russia .

The city soon started to grow rapidly as much of Russia's foreign trade passed through the city .
In consequence , as early as 1726 St . Petersburg was handling 90 percent of Russia's foreign trade .

By the mid-19th century there were many factories in the city , as well as many poor workers .
During the 19th century there was much industrial growth in the city , accelerated by improvements in communications and extension of trade .

Extreme overcrowding and dirty conditions in the city caused outbreaks of serious diseases .
Outbreaks of serious epidemics were commonplace .

In 1905 royal soldiers shot and killed workers who were demonstrating outside the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg .
On what became known as Bloody Sunday , January 9 ( January 22 ) , a mass march to the Winter Palace , bearing a petition to the tsar , was met by troops , who opened fire; more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded .

The day became known as Bloody Sunday .
On what became known as Bloody Sunday , January 9 ( January 22 ) , a mass march to the Winter Palace , bearing a petition to the tsar , was met by troops , who opened fire; more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded .

As a result of the incident , others began to plan for a revolution .
The situation developed into revolution , spreading throughout Russia .

In 1914 , at the beginning of World War I , the city's name was changed to the more Russian-sounding Petrograd .
The Germanic form of the city's name was changed to its Russian version , Petrograd .

Because of military losses in the war , shortages of food , and a worsening economy , people became even more unhappy with the government of the czars .
The military disasters of the war and the worsening economic situation , however , revived and intensified discontent .

In March 1918 the capital was moved back to Moscow .
In March 1918 the capital of the young Soviet state had been moved back to Moscow .

After the death of Vladimir Lenin , the leader of the revolution , in 1924 , Petrograd was given a new name -- Leningrad .
In 1924 , following Lenin's death , the city was renamed Leningrad .

From 1941 until 1944 , German soldiers surrounded the city .
The remainder of the population and the garrison then began to endure what has become known as the 900-day siege; the German blockade in fact lasted 872 days , from Sept . 8 , 1941 , to Jan . 27 , 1944 .

More than half a million people in Leningrad died from bombings , starvation , and disease .
An estimated 660,000 people died , a very high proportion from scurvy and starvation .

The exceptionally bitter winter of 1941-42 added to their suffering .
In particular the exceptionally bitter winter of 1941-42 , when temperatures fell to -40 degree F ( -40 degree C ) , was one of extreme hardship and loss of life .

In the late 1980s , major changes in the city's political life began when the government of the Soviet Union introduced reforms that encouraged democracy and openness .
Major changes in the city's political life began to occur in the late 1980s , when the central government of the U.S.S.R . introduced reforms that encouraged greater democratization and openness .

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 , the Russian government changed the city's name back to Saint Petersburg .
Reflecting this movement away from the city's Communist past , voters in a June 1991 citywide referendum chose to restore the city's name of St . Petersburg .