St. Peterburg, Russia

Formerly called Petrograd and then Leningrad, Saint Petersburg [c] is Russia's second-biggest city after Moscow. It is located on the Neva River at the head of the Baltic Sea's Gulf of Finland. As of 2021, there were 5,601,911 people living in the city, and the metropolitan region was home to almost 6.4 million people. With more than a million inhabitants, Saint Petersburg is the most populated city on the Baltic Sea, the fourth most populous city in Europe, and the northernmost city in the world. Being a historically important port and the former capital of the Russian Empire, it is a federal city.Named for the apostle Saint Peter, the city was established on May 27, 1703, by Tsar Peter the Great on the site of a Swedish castle that had been taken. In Russian history and culture, Saint Petersburg is linked to the establishment of the Russian Empire and Russia's rise to prominence as a major European power.From 1712 to 1918, it was the capital of the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire that followed (with Moscow briefly taking its place between 1728 and 1730).

The Bolsheviks relocated their leadership to Moscow following the October Revolution in 1917. Following Lenin's death in 1924, the city was renamed Leningrad. The most deadly siege in history, the siege of Leningrad, took place there during World War II.In a city-wide referendum held in June 1991, just months before the Belovezha Accords and the fall of the Soviet Union, voters approved the return of the city's previous name.In 2018, Saint Petersburg, Russia's cultural hub, welcomed more than 15 million visitors . It is regarded as a significant hub for Russian and European tourism, science, and the economy. Today, the city is known as "the Northern Capital of Russia" and is home to important federal government institutions like the Russian Constitutional Court and the Russian Federation President's Heraldic Council. The Russian Navy's headquarters and the Leningrad Military District of the Russian Armed Forces are located there, along with the National Library of Russia and the Supreme Court of Russia. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is Saint Petersburg's Historic Center and Associated Groups of Monuments. Among the cities that hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020, Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the biggest art museums in the world, and the Lakhta Center, Europe's highest building.