Saint-Petersburg

St. Petersburg is the Russian's second largest city after Moscow with nearly 5 million inhabitants.
According to the European standards St. Petersburg is the only city in the world, which has such a rich history for a short period of time.

In May 2003 the city celebrated the tercentenary of its existence. The city was founded in 1703 by construction of the fortress by the order of  Tsar Peter the I. In 1710 the new constructed city became the capital of Russia instead of Moscow. According to the strong views of Tsar, the new capital had to be the window to Europe, which should help to get out to the country from stagnation of the Middle Ages to the new Age. In that time Moscow became quiet provincial city.

Peter the I used every possible means in order to create the modern European capital with all its palaces, small squares, beautiful parks and with the great number of canals.

The life of the city closely bound with Neva River, which divides the city into two parts. The city is situated in the mouth of the river on 42 isles. More than 300 bridges span banks of 65 small rivers and great number of city canals. Every summer night drawbridges are opened in order to let big ships out to the sea. Often St. Petersburg is called as Northern Venice, because of a great number of navigation waterways and sightseeing.

During 200 years the city had been developed and became more and more beautiful.  St. Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia nowadays. The magnificent Mariinsky Theatre is more beautiful than The Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow. Halls of the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg, of the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory and of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic have a great acoustics. The great number of classical music concerts There often take place there. St. Petersburg is also famous for its incredible “White nights”.  A lot of musical festivals are hold here during the period from May to July. The State Hermitage, The State Russian Museum, Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo  are known all over the worlad. Palaces and historical buildings of St. Petersburg amaze by its magnificence.  Many of them were reconstructed and now are open for visitors.