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St. Petersburg is a city of romantics, whether illuminated by the opalescent White Nights of summer, when the sun's radiance turns the night into day, or sunk into the gloomy darkness in winter, when snow and ice covers the city in a mysterious shroud. It is the epicenter of Russia's modern history, the stage for great artistic achievement as well violent political upheaval. It has inspired floods of poetry, symphonies and revolutions, and has changed its own majestic garb at least three times: It was Petersburg for the Czars, Petrograd for a nation during the World War I, Leningrad for the followers of the Bolshevik Revolution and during World War II, only returning back to its original name recently.
St. Petersburg was born from a collision of two very different cultures, a juxtaposition of East and West. The city's Northern latitude situates it only 800 kilometers (500 miles) South of the Arctic Circle, along the shores of the Neva River which winds around the 44 islands that comprise the city as it flows 74 kilometers(46 miles) from Lake Ladoga into the Gulf of Finland.
On a stroll along enchanted canal banks at any time of year, the first thing one notices is the incredible light that washes over the city. Joseph Brodsky, the Noble prize-winning poet and St Petersburg native, wrote: ”It’s the Northern light, pale and diffused, one in which memory and the eye operates with unusual sharpness. In this light…a walker’s thoughts travel farther than his destination.”
It was Peter the Great who brought the majesty of the West to this isolated northern region. He called his creation Sankt Pieterburkh, in the spelling of his beloved Holland, and named it after Christ’s first Apostle and the Czar's patron saint. The city is one of the few in the world that was centrally planned, drawn up by the most famous Russian and European architects of the day. Peter the Great couldn't wait to move the Russian capital city out of Moscow, and nine years after completing St. Petersburg, he did so. His beloved city remained the capital of the Russian Empire for 206 years.
The 150 years which followed Peter's creation, St. Petersburg was inspired by two great women: Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth I and then Catherine the Great. The city became the stage for Russia’s Golden Age, an incredible concentration of the world’s greatest composers, writers, artists, and dancers. During this time of Russia’s Renaissance, St Petersburg flowered in the music of Tchaikovsky, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov; the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev, Pavlova and Nijinsky; the artistry of Repin, Benois and Faberge; and prose and poetry of Gogol, Dostoevsky and Akhmatova. St Petersburg first two centuries overflowed with beauty, innovation and progress that transformed not only the city but the world.
A city litterally risen from a swamp through sheer force of will and determined vision was also destined to become the cradle of turbulent revolutions. The Golden Age also set the stage for some of the most idealized political and social philosophers, and in the aftermath of World War I, during which the city's name was Russified to "Petrograd," these movements found their consequence: In February 1917 the monarchy of Nicholas II was toppled, and on October 24, 1917, Lenin orchestrated the October Revolution. The battleship Aurora fired a blank shot at the Hermitage and signalled the beginning of what American writer John Reed termed ‘the ten days that shook the world.’ Red Army troops stormed the Winter Palace and the Bolsheviks seized control of what they would transform into the Soviet State. Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed in 1918, concluding hopes of a return to the Romanov rule. Amidst the turmoil, Lenin transferred the capital of the new Soviet Union back to Moscow. Upon Lenin's death in 1924, the city of Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor — ironically, as he hated the place.
There was even more tragedy to come out of the historical shadows: In 1941 Hitler invaded the country and was only held back by the brutal winters and extraordinary bravery of the country's people -the famous siege of the city which ensued lasted for 900 days. In three years alone, over a million residents died from starvation or in the defense of their city.
Much has happened to St Petersburg over the past three centuries — what started as the fountain of one of the greatest artistic, philosophic and scientific ages of world history was also the scene of some of most brutal revolutions and repressions, sieges and purges, isolation and humiliations. But throughout it all, the city has retained its propensity for not only couragiously facing the winds of change but continuing to ignite the sparks that continue to affect not only the country but the world. As the spirit of the White Nights illuminates the darkness of a midsummer’s night, the city fairytale continues, a Sleeping Beauty reawaking after years of revolution and war to discover her glorious past, her prolific poetry, and her dedicated citizens still intact.
In 1991, in honor of its historic foundation, the country’s second largest city of five million people won yet another battle: It changed its name from Leningrad back to St. Petersburg. The new “Piter,” as residents lovingly call their city, has been kissed by its prince and is rising to embrace its past and reclaim its heritage. Even though Moscow is still the capital, St. Petersburg residents resoundingly prefer their own city. At the Palace for Newborns, each baby is honored with a ceremony and medal that reads "Born in St. Petersburg." Not at all surprising to the city's proud residents, Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin, has one. Even though Putin lives in the current capital of the Russian Federation, he has certainly raised his native city's fortunes. And if history should be any precedent, who know what awaits as it enters yet a new future. Few cities in the world can compare with St Petersburg — in its vast beauty, turbulent history and remarkable endurance of the human spirit.
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