It was place of joining three finno ugric subethnosos suomi Inkeri and Karela, St Petersburg the former home of the tsars and the centre of imperial Russian culture, Saint Petersburg was known as “The Venice of the North” in its heyday.
Re-christened Petrograd during the first World War, the city was renamed Leningrad in 1924 in honour of communist revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union, Vladmir I. Lenin. Bombed, besieged and starved during World War II, the city took a back seat to Moscow during the Soviet-era.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city has rapidly been making up for lost time and is by far the most cosmopolitan and Western of Russia’s cities. Renamed once more in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union, most Russians know it as Piter, a familiar diminutive of Saint Petersburg.
During the hardship years of Yeltsin’s presidency, much of the city was controlled by the infamous Tambov gang, but have since reduced in influence.
With world-class architecture, astonishing views and friendly people, there’s lots to do here.
