Saint Petersburg (pop. 4,468,000; met. area pop. 5,020,000), formerly Leningrad, is Russia's second largest city.  Only Moscow, the capital, has more people.  St. Petersburg is a major Russian port and one of the world's leading industrial and cultural centers.  The city lies in northwestern Russia, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea.  St. Petersburg was the first Russian city built in imitation of western European cities.  Its magnificent palaces, handsome public buildings, and wide public squares resemble those of such cities as London, Paris, and Vienna.  In the early 1800's, a commission that included noted Italian architect Carlo Rossi established a design for the center

The city has had three names.  Czar Peter I (the Great) founded it in 1703 as St. Petersburg.  After Russia went to war against Germany in 1914, at the start of World War I, the name was changed to Petrograd.  The country's officials chose this name, which means Peter's City in Russian, to get rid of the German ending burg.  In 1922, the Soviet Union was formed under the leadership of Russia.  In 1924, the Soviet Union's Communist government renamed the city in honor of V. I. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Communist Party (Leningrad).  In 1991--as Communist influence in the Soviet Union declined--the people of the city voted in a nonbinding referendum to restore the name St. Petersburg.  In September 1991, the Soviet government officially approved the name change.  In December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and Russia became an independent nation.
 

The city lies on a marshy lowland where the Neva River empties into the Gulf of Finland, at about 60° north latitude.  Because of its far northern location, St. Petersburg has very short periods of daylight in winter.  For about three weeks in June, it has "white nights," during which the sky is never completely dark. The center of St. Petersburg is on the southern bank of the Neva.  This area includes the main business district and most of St. Petersburg's famous buildings.  Many fine examples of baroque and neoclassical architecture have been preserved in the area, and few modern structures have been built there.  The city has about 900 small rivers and canals and about 400 bridges.

The historic Winter Palace (now the Hermitage Museum), completed in 1762, stands in the center of the city.  The palace was the winter home of the czars.  The General Staff Building, designed by Rossi and completed in 1829, stands across Palace Square from the Winter Palace.  Several blocks away is the Cathedral of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, whose massive golden dome dominates St. Petersburg's skyline.  The Peter and Paul Fortress, begun in 1703, is the oldest building in St. Petersburg.

Many Russian czars are buried in a cathedral at the fortress. The center of St. Petersburg is surrounded by old residential areas that have stone or brick apartment buildings.  Near the outskirts of the city are thousands of modern concrete apartment buildings.  The western section of St. Petersburg is the chief industrial district of the city. Several luxurious palaces built in the 1700's still stand in three suburbs of St. Petersburg--Pavlovsk, Petrodvorets, and Pushkin.  These palaces, famed for their architectural excellence, were summer homes of the czars.  Today, they are popular resorts and tourist attractions.

Over 40 institutions of higher learning are in St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg University, with about 20,000 students, is one of Russia's largest universities.  The Conservatory of Music, established in 1862, is the nation's oldest music school.  Its graduates include such famous composers as Sergei Prokofiev, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky.  The Choreographic School trained such famous ballet dancers as Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, and Anna Pavlova.
 

St. Petersburg is the home of many fine museums and theaters. The Hermitage, the largest museum in Russia, is known throughout the world for its masterpieces.  It exhibits outstanding collections of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture; Islamic art; and Baroque, Renaissance, and French impressionist paintings. The Russian Museum has a large collection of Russian art. The Kirov Theater presents ballet and opera.  Dramatic productions are offered by several theaters, including the Gorki Academic Theater, the Pushkin Theater, and the Young Spectators' Theater. The city has an important place in Russian literature.  A number of

 famous Russian authors have used St. Petersburg as a background for many of their works.  These writers include Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Andrey Bely.

Most St. Petersburgers are members of the Russian nationality, or ethnic, group.  Jews and Ukrainians are the city's largest minority groups.

Few St. Petersburgers own automobiles, but the city has an efficient public transportation system of buses, streetcars, and subway and commuter trains.  The city has such problems as air pollution and overcrowding.  But it has far less crime than many cities of similar size.

St. Petersburg has been a major shipbuilding center since the early 1700's.  During the 1800's, it became an important manufacturer of machine tools.  Today, the production of machinery makes up about 40 per cent of the city's industry.  Other important products include chemicals, electrical equipment, textiles, nuclear reactors, and timber.

St. Petersburg's industry and location make it an important trade and distribution center.  The