1. St. Petersburg had 3 names
Historically, the city was called and renamed several times, but always in honor of the great politicians - Peter the Great and Vladimir Lenin. Until 1914 - St. Petersburg, from 1914 to 1924 - Petrograd, from 1924 to 1992 - Leningrad, from 1992 - again St. Petersburg.


2. The Highest Cathedral in Russia
Peter Paul Cathedral is the highest cathedral in Russia. The height of its bell tower is 122.5 meters. By the way, from 1733 to 2012, the cathedral was the tallest building in St. Petersburg, and until 1952 it was the tallest in Russia.

3. Hospitable Nevsky Prospect
Nevsky Prospect is the warmest part of the city. The temperature difference with the suburbs in summer is 2–3 degrees; in winter 10-12 degrees higher. By the way, according to statistics, about 2 million people travel every day along the central street of the city.

4. Priceless collection of the Hermitage. St Petersburg’s most famous museum could take you 25 years to explore
As the country’s cultural capital, St Petersburg has over 8,000 landmarks. One of the most notable is the historic State Hermitage Museum. It houses over 3 million pieces of art and cultural artefacts. With around 400 rooms spread across three floors throughout five interlinked buildings, it could take months, even years, to familiarise yourself with every piece of artwork on exhibition. According to one estimate, if you were to look at each artwork for one minute for 8 hours a day, you would need 25 years to properly see everything in the Hermitage.


- The fabulously opulent Amber Room (full of amber panels, gold-leaf and mirrors) at the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo was raided by the Nazis during WWII but has since been restored, after items were found in Germany and returned home.

5. Amazing Michailovskiy castle
The architecture of St. Petersburg is so different that during the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle (now the Russian Museum), all four facades of the building had to be made in different architecture styles. The castle is made in this form to achieve harmony with the surrounding architectural environment.


6. Unique Neva River system
The length of the Neva River is only 74 km, but despite this, it flows through the territory a little less than the territory of Italy. The Neva delta includes the lakes Ladoga, Onega, Saimaa, Ilmen, as well as the Svir, Volkhov and Vuoksa rivers. In the world there is only one similar water system - the Great Lakes in North America. The main river of St. Petersburg Neva carries more water than the Don and the Dnieper combined.

7. St. Petersburg has a popular name
Since we mentioned North America, here`s another amazing fact. In the United States of America there are 15 cities with the name Petersburg. St. Petersburg in Florida (on photo) is the largest one.

8. St Petersburg is the North Venice
Although St Petersburg is a city located on islands and closely connected to water, the first bridges did not appear straight away. Tsar Peter I envisioned the city to be like Venice, where its citizens would move around by boat. The city’s first bridges appeared shortly after his death, and now St Petersburg has 342 bridges. 10% of the total area of St. Petersburg is covered with water. The city is located on 42 islands, has over 300 bridges. From the Troitskiy Bridge you can see 7 other bridges, and from Kashin bridge (through the Griboedov Canal) 9 other bridges!

9. Column without supports
The Alexander Column, 47.5 meters high and weighing about 700 tons, is crowned with an angel figure with a cross. The column is not fixed and is held by its own gravity. At first, citizens were afraid to pass by the column and avoided it. Then the author of the monument, Auguste de Montferrand, began to stroll every day near the column, convincing the citizens of his actions about the safety of his building.

10. The deepest metro in the world
The deepest metro in the world is in St. Petersburg. The city was built on a swampy area, so the subway tunnels had to be laid under the bedrock. The tunnels of the St. Petersburg metro lie at a depth of about 70-80 meters.

11. Blue bridge - One of the widest brigdes in the world
Blue bridge in St. Petersburg, thrown across the river Moika, is the widest bridge in the city and one of the widest in the world. Its width is 97.3 meters. Because of its record width, it almost equals the width of St. Isaacs Square.

12. Petersburg is the capital of trams
St. Petersburg is the capital of trams. The length of the tram tracks in the city is more than 600 km. This fact is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

13. The first railway of Russia appeared in Petersburg
One more thing about transport. St. Petersburg became the first city in Russia, where in 1837 the first Russian railway St. Petersburg - Tsarskoe Selo was opened.

14. First public museum in Russia was founded in St. Petersburg
In 1714, Peter the Great opened the first public museum in Russia, the Kunstkamera, in St. Petersburg. Today it is the most famous museum of anthropology and ethnography in Russia. The museum collection has over a million expositions revealing the ethnographic and historical features of the people all over the world.

15. There’s 24/7 daylight in St Petersburg for roughly three weeks during summer
From mid June to early July St Petersburg experiences a phenomenon called White Nights. The city remains lit up by sunlight practically throughout the whole day, making cultural events and late-night walks very popular. That time of year is also the time for the White Nights Festival, a series of ballet, opera and orchestral performances at the renowned Mariinsky Theatre.

16. It is home to the Krasin icebreaker of 1905, a vessel that has been preserved as it was originally. Book in for a tour of the departments and prepare to be amazed.

17. One of the most beautiful cities in the world