Saint Petersburg is the northernmost of the world’s biggest cities. That’s why the visitors can enjoy real white nights there. In the end of May the sun doesn’t go down over the horizon for more than 9°, and the evening dusk blends with the false dawn. Until the middle of July you can walk under the milky grey skies all night long admiring the curved fences of palaces, and inimitable architecture of St. Petersburg. The ghostly light of the white nights are so mysterious and phantasmagorical. Feast your eyes on the quiet flow of the Neva River, its canals, little tributaries and bridges that cross them. Many tourists come to the city to see the famous drawbridges of St. Petersburg. The Neva is a navigable waterway – and 22 of the 308 bridges stretching over it can be drawn apart! The bridges are inevitable – the city lies on 47 islands of Neva’s delta.

Neva is both the pride of St. Petersburg and its worst trouble: the city has been flooded more than 300 times during its life. The worst flood was that of the 1824 when the water raised 4.1 meters above its normal level!

But would there be a city without the Neva? The river had washed out a hollow which was perfect for building a fortress which was later laid by Tsar Peter I. The fortress was named Petropavlovskaya and the city rising under its protection got the name Saint-Petersburg. The exact date of the city foundation is the May 16th, 1703. In 1712, it was made the capital of the Russian Empire. The Tsar moved there together with his family, nobility and state departments.

In the 18th century, the Russian lifestyle was rapidly changing in accordance to the ideals set up by the Europeans. The architecture of newly-built St. Petersburg definitely copied that of the “Adriatic queen” – Venetia. At that time, a Venetian gondola floating along St. Petersburg canals wouldn’t attract any attention. Venetian architects were constructing city palaces right next to the theaters where Venetian actors were performing.

The city was growing – the place next to such architectural wonders as Peter’s Summer Palace; Menshikov’s palace, Kunstkamera, was occupied by the famous Winter Palace; Admiralty; granite embankments; the “Copper Rider”, which is a monument depicting Peter I. Also the Michailovsky palace, which is one of the most mystic buildings in the city, has a huge granite column devoted to Tsar Alexander and the Isakiyevsky Cathedral. In the beginning of the 20th century the old nickname of the city, “Northern Venetia”, gained its popularity back again.

Poets, artists, and musicians of St. Petersburg spoke of themselves as the participants of the Venetian carnival that was whirling them “through the ghostly city, over the canals and the fantastic bridges of Northern Venetia”. The architects were trying to persuade their clients to build houses resembling Venetian palazzos.

But then came World War I and the people were protesting against everything German. It resulted in the change of the city’s name, Saint-Petersburg, turned into Petrograd.

The city is closely connected with the events leading to the establishment of the Soviet Union. Petrograd – also called the “Cradle of Revolution” or the “City of Three Revolutions” – has numerous symbolic monuments: Smolny and the “Aurora” cruiser that signaled the beginning of the Revolution.

Moscow was made the capital of the USSR and Petrograd changed its name again to “Leningrad” after V.I. Lenin’s death.

Leningrad went through terrible ordeals during the Russian period of World War II (1941-1945). A fascist blockade of the city lasted for 900 days. Over a million people died because of cold, hunger, non-stop batter, and bombing. However, Leningrad withstood everything – nobody has ever managed to occupy it.

In 1991, historic justice was finally obtained – the city on the Neva got back its original name of Saint Petersburg - and what about the status of the “second capital” of Russia? Well… the city has never lost it.