History of St. Petersburg

Saint Petersburg was founded on the 16th of May, 1703. That day the six-bastion Peter and Paul fortress was ceremonially laid on the Zayachy Island in the broadest part of the Neva estuary as a result of Russia s victory in the Northern War against Sweden. Fortress was aimed to control the whole region. The fortress paved a way to the construction of the city and in 1710 the capital of Russia was transferred from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. Later, in 1712, the Tsar Family and households together with the major Governmental Bodies moved to the newly built city.
Peter the Great conceived the idea of a regularly planned city with well-defined layout. Domenico Tresini was the first architect who made the general layout of the city center. His designs were used for construction of the Summer Palace of Peter the Great and the laying of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. It was Peter the Great's intention to move the Relics of Saint Alexander Nevsky from Vladimir City to this monastery to make a memorial that would always remind of the glory of Russian troops.
Jean Batist Leblon was the architect who developed the general layout of Saint Petersburg. During that period such buildings as Menshikov Palace and Kunstamera were constructed. In the city, another outstanding sculptor and architect B.F. Rastrelli worked. The combined efforts of these architects led to the specific style of Saint Petersburg baroque.
The tragic pause in the city development followed the death of Peter the Great on the 28th of January, 1725. The opponents of Peter the Great's reforms brought the capital back to Moscow and the city of Peter began to decay. In 1730, Empress Ann ascended the throne and the status of the Russian capital was given back to Saint Petersburg again. The Empress tried to be seen as the follower of Peter's ideas.
Empress Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1741. During the period of her reign the Russian Baroque taste of Saint Petersburg was embodied in such creations as Winter Palace, Smolny Monastery (B. Rastrelli), and St. Nicolay Church (S. Chevakinsky).
Empress Catherine II (1762-1796) was known as the continuer of Peter the Great's affairs for home reforms and significant conquests. Brilliant education, philosophy and ideals of the Empress seriously influenced Russian legislation, policy and the fine arts of that time. A new style - classicism was established. Such buildings as Academy of Fine Arts (Felten), Gostinny Dvor (Valen de la Moth), Marble Palace (Rinaldi), Old Hermitage (Felten), Taurida Palace (Starov), Yusupov Palace at the Fontanka River, Smolny Institute, Narva Triumph Gates (Quarenghi), Main Admiralty Building (Zakharov), Stock Exchange House (Toma de Tomon), and Kazansky Cathedral (Voronikhin) were constructed during that period. Emperor Pavel (1796-1801) proceeded with rearrangement of the city center and its suburbs.
The victorious parry of Napoleon's invasion in 1812 was reflected in a new rise of the city development in the capital of mighty Russia. The ensemble of the Mikhaylovsky Palace, the ensemble of the Alexandrinsky Theater, buildings of the top governmental bodies of Russia (The Senate and The Synod), the building of the Headquarters with the Triumph Arch and the House of Ministries in the Palace Square (Rossi) were constructed during this period. The complex of the Palace Square was completed with the Alexander Column, and the biggest cathedral in Russia - St. Isaac Cathedral was erected on the Isaac Square (Montferrand).
During the reign of Nicolay I Saint Petersburg acquired new features typical of capitalism epoch. The city appearance became more complicated, multifaceted, and contradictory. Private housing development was on the up-grade. More buildings appeared in the city center during that period. It was the time when the architect Stakenschneider worked in Saint Petersburg. He was the one to create Mariinsky Palace on Isaac Square, Nicolaevsky Palace and other pieces of architectural art. The development of Petrogradskaya Storona (the district in Saint Petersburg) can be seen as an example of the architects' concept of the city that was supposed to be a single artistic entity.
These trends in the city development were followed during the reign of Emperor Alexander III (1881-1894), which was a short peaceful reprieve for Russia. The social, economical and political contradictions of Russia development after bourgeois reforms of 1860-1870 opened the way for the growth of capitalism. However Russia could not get entirely rid of feudal/serfdom survivals. Social contradictions that had been accumulating for a long time and wars that Russia was waging brought about the Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution of 1905-1907 that was accompanied by the series of political strikes. The most severe strikes in Russia took place in Saint Petersburg.
During the reign of Nicolay II (1894-1917) Russia waged a number of wars that happened to be extremely hard for the country. In 1914, World War I broke out. Under the influence of anti-German vein Saint Petersburg was renamed into Petrograd in 1914. This war (1914-1918) appeared to be fatal for the Russian autocracy. Finally, the October coup inspired by the Bolsheviks headed by V. Lenin on November 6-7, 1917 led to the change of the political system in Russia. The Civil War and the mess in economy followed these events. All private properties in the city were nationalized.
After Lenin s death in 1924 Bolsheviks renamed the city into Leningrad in order "to immortalize Lenin's name". In the thirtieth and fortieth such districts as Avtovo, Moskovsky Avenue, and Malaya Okhta were developed.
The Great Patriotic War with Nazi Germany became the hardest ordeal for the whole country and in particular for Saint Petersburg. According to the plan of Hitler, Leningrad was supposed to be totally demolished. The Blockade of Leningrad was the most tragic period for the city during World War II. It lasted from September 8, 1941 till January, 27 1944, about 900 days and nights. Fighting for Leningrad the Soviet troops managed to keep the enemy back from the city at quite a short distance setting an example of real heroism. The memorial ensembles were created in the sixtieth at Piskarevskoye and Seraphimovskye cemeteries, where the victims of the Blockade had been buried. During the siege the monuments of history and culture and the suburban palace complexes were ruined or devastated. The restoration works started right after the war. These works were most successfully performed in the fifties and sixties. The city was developed along the arch of the Finnish Gulf coast, as well as to the Northwest and South.
The nineties marked the drastic changes in the governmental structures and economical policy. In 1991, the name of Saint Peter was returned to the city. The high speed Saint Petersburg-Moscow railroad project was started in 1991. In 1994, Saint Petersburg became the place of the Good Will Games. The projects for revamping of the City Sea Port and the Airport have been initiated. The growth of business, political and cultural activity is quite obvious. Being one of the major European centers Saint Petersburg has the honor to be referred to as the Northern capital of Russia .
Upon the decision of UNESCO Saint Petersburg has been recognized as a cultural monument. As a part of the tercentenary preparations conducted in 2003, the city has undertaken projects aimed at the long-term improvement of the city's infrastructure. Celebrations gave a great impulse for stimulating the resurrection and effective use of the city's unique resource - its cultural climate.