Saint Petersburg , [ c ] formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad , [ d ] is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. The city had a population of 5,, residents as of , [ 4 ] with more than 6. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents.
As the former capital of Imperial Russia , and a historically strategic port , it is governed as a federal city. The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May on the site of a captured Swedish fortress , and was named after the apostle Saint Peter. It was the site of the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War , the most lethal siege in history.
As Russia's cultural centre, [ 14 ] Saint Petersburg received over 15 million tourists in In modern times, the city has the nickname of being "the Northern Capital of Russia" and is home to notable federal government bodies such as the Constitutional Court of Russia and the Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation. The consecration of the small wooden church in their names its construction began at the same time as the citadel made them the heavenly patrons of the Peter and Paul Fortress , while Saint Peter at the same time became the eponym of the whole city.
A former spelling of the city's name in English was Saint Petersburgh. This spelling survives in the name of a street in the Bayswater district of London, near St Sophia's Cathedral , named after a visit by the Tsar to London in A 14 to letter-long name, composed of the three roots , proved too cumbersome, and many shortened versions were used.
It took some years until the known Russian spelling of this name finally settled. However, it was only on 31 August [ O. On 6 September , the original name, Sankt-Peterburg , was returned by citywide referendum. Today, in English the city is known as Saint Petersburg. Renaming the city Petrograd was not an option. This change officially took effect on 6 September Having passed the role of capital to Petersburg, Moscow never relinquished the title of "capital", being called pervoprestolnaya 'first throned' for years.
