ST PETERSBURG , Petrograd,
Leningrad and now again, St
Petersburg - the city's succession
of names mirrors Russia's turbulent
history. Founded in 1703 as a
"window on the West" by
Peter the Great, St Petersburg was
for two centuries the capital of the
tsarist empire, synonymous with
excess and magnificence. During
World War I the city renounced its
German-sounding name and became
Petrograd, and as such was the
cradle of the revolutions that
overthrew tsarism and brought the
Bolsheviks to power in 1917. As
Leningrad it epitomized the Soviet
Union's heroic sacrifices in the
war, withstanding nine hundred days
of Nazi siege. Finally, in 1991 -
the year that Communism and the USSR
collapsed - the change of name, back
to St Petersburg, proved deeply
symbolic of the country's democratic
mood.
St Petersburg's sense of its own
identity owes much to its origins
and to the interweaving of myth and
reality throughout its history.
Created by the will of an autocrat,
the imperial capital embodied both
Peter the Great's rejection of Old
Russia - represented by
"Asiatic" Moscow, the
former capital - and of his embrace
of Europe. The city's architecture,
administration and social life were
all copied or imported.
Today, St Petersburg is beautiful
yet drab, progressive yet stagnant,
sophisticated and cerebral,
industrial and maritime. Beggars and
nouveaux riches rub shoulders on
Nevskiy prospekt, yet after the
enormous changes of recent years a
sense of stability and relative
wellbeing has at last arrived,
reaching even beyond the historic
centre to the sprawling outer ring
of high-rise blocks.
The City
Everything in St Petersburg is built
on a grand scale, which makes
mastering the public transport
system a top priority. The city is
split by the River Neva and its
tributaries, with further sections
delineated by the course of the
canalized Moyka and...
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