About Saint-Petersburg
Welcome to Saint-Petersburg!
Saint-Petersburg is the second large city and the largest port of Russia. It is located at North-Western part of the European part of the country on the Neva firth of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea).
During two centuries (1712-1918) it was the capital of the Russian Empire. This beautiful town of canals, one of the most beautiful cities of Europe is also often named as "Northern Venice" or "Northern Palmira". Saint-Petersburg is not only treasury of architecture, but also an important industrial, cultural and educational centre of Russia. Well-known collections of all over the world arts are contained in the museums of the city. Famous suburbs of Saint-Petersburg are especially interesting because of their museums and palace-park ensembles. Saint-Petersburg is declared as a world culture monument by decision of UNESCO.
Saint-Petersburg is situated on the both banks of the Neva river and numerous islands of Neva's delta. It was founded on May, 27 in 1703 by Russian ruler Peter the Great as "window to Europe" and it was always the most European city of Russia.
During its history the city changed its name three times. Named in honour of his founder at first in 1914 the city was renamed to Petrograd and in 1924 after the death of USSR head Vladimir Lenin it was named Leningrad. In summer 1991 six months before the Soviet Union collapse, citizens vote for returning the city its historical name Saint-Petersburg.
Geography and climate
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Saint-Petersburg is the most northern of largest city of the world. It's situated at 59°57' N, 30°19' E (Pulkovo meridian). Due to closeness to the northern polar circle the city is known with its "white nights", lasting from May, 25-26 to July, 16-17. Guests from all over the world are gathering to admire this delightful sight.
Climate of Saint-Petersburg is transitional from maritime to continental, mild and humid, cloudy and frequent hydrometeor in the form of rain and snow. Unstable weather like this is peculiar to many coastal cities. Sometimes in the summer the weather is dry and hot. Annual average temperature is 5.2°C (41°F), average July temperature is 17.7°C (64°F), average January temperature is -6.5°C (20°F).
The river Neva is the main water-way of Saint-Petersburg and at the same time the shortest large river of Europe. It runs out the lake Ladozhskoe and its overall length is 74 kilometres, 32 of which are within the precincts of a town. Many researchers suppose the river Neva has taken its name from the ancient Finnish name of the lake Ladozhskoe "Nevo", that means a maritime gulf or sea.
In its delta the Neva river is divided into three branchs: Bol'shaya Neva, Malaya Neva and Bol'shaya Nevka. All rivers and canals of Saint-Petersburg whose number is about 100 are connected with Neva. The water surface amounts 10% of the city area and the city has 44 islands.
Floods are frequent in Saint-Petersburg at the time of strong west wind in autumn. During the city history Neva 300 times exceeded it's usual level. One considers flood is water raising more than 160 cm over zero level, marked near the Institute of Mines in 1877. The water rose to 410 cm in 1824.
The Saint-Petersburg is a city of bridges. There are about 500 ones in Saint-Petersburg and about 800 with suburbs. Only Hamburg has more bridges - about 2500, Amsterdam has about 500 and Venice - about 400 ones. Overall length of the bridges comes to 16 kilometres. More than 20 bridges are drawbridges. The longest bridge is Alexander Nevsky bridge across the Neva, its length is 909 metres. The widest bridge is the Siniy bridge across the river Moyka, its width is 97 metres.
Saint-Petersburg with its administrative-subordinated territories occupies 1439 square kilometers. Shore line of the Gulf of Finland is 12-14 kilometers. The highest point of the Saint-Petersburg is mountain Poklonnaya (42 meters over the sea level). The city population makes more than 5 million people.
The Saint-Petersburg is in the Moscow time zone. Moscow Daylight Saving Time (M.S.T.) = Greenwich (Mean) Time (G.M.T.) + 4 hours.
Imagine: summer, Saint-Petersburg city, the river Neva, erected bridges and white night over the city...
Certainly, you must to visit our fantastic city to appreciate all the magnificence of Northern Capital!
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View of Saint Petersburg.
The Peter and Paul Fortress.
The Blagoveshchensk church Aleksandro-Neva Laurels.
Bolsheohtinsky bridge through Neva.
Peterhof - the Big cascade of fountains.
Kronstadt - the Sea Cathedral.
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