Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is an amazing, historically rich city located in the northwest of Russia. At the second largest city in Russia, behind only Moscow, Saint Petersburg boasts over 5 million inhabitants. Although Saint Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great (in 1703), it was not in fact named after him. Peter the Great named the city after his patron saint, Saint Peter. While Saint Petersburg both started and ended up (today) with the same name, it did not hold that name throughout Russia's turbulent history. During the Russian Revolution, and again once the Bolosheviks were firmly established in power, Saint Petersburg became Petrograd (in 1914) and then Leningrad (in 1924). Finally, in 1991, Saint Petersburg was given back its original name. In Russian, or Cyrillic, Saint Petersburg is Санкт-Петербу́рг. Saint Petersburg takes after its founder with regards to its relation to the west - Peter the Great was always very interested in the west, attempting to catch Russia up to its western counterparts in regards to not only culture but other areas as well. Saint Petersburg follows in his footsteps, to this day being the most Western city in Russia - even cited as the cultural capital of Russia.