St. Petersbourg, a window to the West
St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. Its history
is filled with greatness. It is located at the mouth of the Neva
River, making it one of Russia’s most important trade cities.
St. Petersburg is also a great industrial center manufacturing
machinery, textiles, and leather products.
Czar Peter the Great, who wanted to modernise Russia, founded
the city in 1703. Over time it has gone through three names: St.
Petersburg, Petrograd, and Leningrad. Peter the Great wanted the
city to be a "window to the West," hence the city’s
western style architecture. This style includes a street layout
by Italian architect Carlo Rossi, buildings that resemble European
cities, and wide city squares like Paris and Vienna. In 1905,
an uprising took place in front of the Winter Palace, leading
to the deaths of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators. Although many
uprisings had occurred in St. Petersburg before, this "Bloody
Sunday" led to the Revolution of 1905. Then again in 1917,
a revolution swept the city, this time leading to a new form of
government. Vladimar Lenin then set up the Soviet Communist Party
in St. Petersburg. When Lenin died in 1924, the city was renamed
Leningrad in honor of him. The city was destroyed during World
War II. When Russian communism collapsed in 1991, the city was
again renamed, this time to its original St. Petersburg.
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Some famouse buildings and monuments of St.
Petersburg |
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Churches and Cathedrals |
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The Kazan Cathedral
(Cathedral Our Lady of Kazan) |
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Cathedral of the Holy Trinity |
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St. Peter and Paul Cathedral |
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St. Isaac's Cathedral |
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The Smolny Cathedral |
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St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral |
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Cathedral of the Saviour-on-the-Spilt-Blood |
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Chesma Church |
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Chapel of St. Xenia |
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Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevskij Monastery |
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Palaces |
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The Winter Palace |
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The Michail Castle |
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Mikhaylovsky Palace |
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Stroganov Palace |
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Anichkov Palace |
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Yussupov Palace |
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Marble Palace |
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Menshikov Palace |
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Mariinsky Palace |
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Summer Palace and garden |
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Kikin Palace |
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Tauride Palace and gardens |
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Other buildings |
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Peter and Paul fortress |
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The Admiralty |
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General Staff building |
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Mariinsky Theatre |
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Stock Exchange and the
Rostral Columns |
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Monument, square and street |
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Nevskij Prospect |
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Palace Square |
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The Bronze Horseman |
