Saint Petersburg

I

City (pop., 2000: 248,232), west-central Florida, U.S. It lies near the tip of Pinellas Peninsula, adjacent to Tampa Bay.

Settled in 1876, it became in the late 1940s one of the first Florida cities to encourage tourists to spend their retirement years there. It is a winter resort and a centre for yachting and sport fishing. The city is connected by several bridges with a string of sandy islands (west) between the Gulf of Mexico and Boca Ciega Bay; seaside communities such as St. Pete Beach are located there. To the south, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across the lower bay links the city to Bradenton and Sarasota.

II

Russian Sankt-Peterburg formerly (1914–24) Petrograd or (1924–91) Leningrad

City (pop., 2001 est.: metro. area, 4,627,800) and port, northwestern Russia.

Located on the delta of the Neva River where it enters the Gulf of Finland, it is Russia's second largest city after Moscow. Founded by Peter I (the Great) in 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire from 1712 to 1917. It was the scene of the Decembrist revolt in 1825 and the Bloody Sunday attack on workers in the Russian Revolution of 1905. The original centre of the Bolshevik revolution (see Russian Revolution of 1917), it lost its capital status to Moscow in 1918. In World War II it underwent a seige by German forces (September 1941–January 1944), during which as many as one million people died (see Siege of Leningrad). From 1990 a reformist city council and mayor helped swing the country from the control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. St. Petersburg is a cultural, educational, and industrial centre and Russia's largest seaport. Industries include engineering, printing, manufacturing, and shipbuilding. One of Europe's most beautiful cities, it is intersected by many canals and crossed by more than 600 bridges; it is the site of many palaces, cathedrals, museums (see Hermitage), and historical monuments.

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▪ Florida, United States

      city, Pinellas county, west-central Florida, U.S. It is situated at the southern tip of Pinellas Peninsula on Tampa Bay, about 15 miles (25 km) southeast of Clearwater and 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Tampa. These three cities form one of the state's largest metropolitan areas. It is part of Florida's “Sun Coast” region.

       Calusa peoples were early inhabitants of the area. The Spanish explorers Pánfilo de Narváez (Narváez, Panfilo de) (1528) and Hernando de Soto (Soto, Hernando de) (1539) were the first Europeans to visit the region. Settlement began as early as the 1840s, but the community actually dates from 1875 when John C. Williams of Detroit, Michigan, purchased land in the area. He and Peter Demens, who built a railroad that reached the site in 1888, founded the city, and it was named for Demens's birthplace in Russia. It quickly developed as a resort area, and seafood shipping on the Orange Belt Railroad was a major part of the city's economy. In 1914 the world's first scheduled passenger airline service linked St. Petersburg and Tampa, and the two cities were linked 10 years later by the Gandy Bridge, the first of two bridges and a causeway across Old Tampa Bay. In the late 1940s St. Petersburg became one of the first Florida cities to promote “residentism,” encouraging former tourists to spend their retirement years there.

      Tourism remains the basis of St. Petersburg's economy, and the region is a popular retirement area. High-technology industries, manufacturing (including office equipment, electronics, and optical products), fishing, and services are also important. The city is connected by several bridges with a string of sandy islands (west) between the Gulf of Mexico and Boca Ciega Bay; seaside communities such as St. Pete Beach are located there. To the south, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across the lower bay links the city to Bradenton and Sarasota.

      St. Petersburg is the seat of Eckerd College (1958), St. Petersburg Junior College (1927), Stetson University College of Law (1900), and a campus of the University of South Florida. The city is an oceanographic research centre, home to such facilities as the Florida Marine Research Institute. Among the city's cultural institutions are museums devoted to fine arts, history, the Holocaust, and Spanish painter Salvador Dalí (Dalí, Salvador). It is home to a professional baseball team, the Tampa Bay Rays. There are dozens of marinas and other boating facilities, and sport fishing and sailing are popular. The nation's oldest greyhound-racing track is in the city. The municipal pier features a five-story inverted pyramid with shops, restaurants, and an aquarium. Sunken Gardens, a popular 1930s tourist attraction, was restored by the city and reopened in 2000. Fort De Soto Park occupies five islands off the southern coast of the city and includes the fort, built during the Spanish-American War (1898), and extensive beaches. Weedon Island Preserve is on the city's east coast. Inc. town, 1892; city, 1903. Pop. (1990) city, 238,629; Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater MSA, 2,067,959; (2000) city, 248,232; Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater MSA, 2,395,997.

▪ Russia

Introduction

Russian  Sankt Peterburg , formerly (1914–24)  Petrograd  and  (1924–91)  Leningrad 

  city and port, extreme northwestern Russia. A major historical and cultural centre and an important port, it lies about 400 miles (640 km) northwest of Moscow and only about 7° south of the Arctic Circle.

      The second largest city of Russia and one of the world's major cities, St. Petersburg has played a vital role in Russian history since its founding in 1703. For two centuries (1712–1918) it was the capital of the Russian Empire. The city is remembered as the scene of the February (March, New Style) and October (November, New Style) Revolutions of 1917 (Russian Revolution of 1917) and for its fierce defense while besieged during World War II. Architecturally, it ranks as one of the most splendid and congenial cities of Europe. Its historic district was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990. Area city, 550 square miles (1,400 square km). Pop. (2006 est.) 4,580,620.

Character of the city

      St. Petersburg is a mecca of cultural, historical, and architectural landmarks. Founded by Tsar Peter I (the Great) as Russia's “window on Europe,” it bears the unofficial status of Russia's cultural capital and most European city, a distinction that it strives to retain in its perennial competition with Moscow. Three distinctive characteristics of St. Petersburg engage attention. The first is the city's harmonious mix of western European and Russian architecture. Second is St. Petersburg's lack of an unequivocal city centre, which, in other Russian cities of medieval origin, is defined by a kremlin and its surrounding area. The third characteristic feature of the city is its many waterways. The short but full-flowing tributaries and canals of the Neva River that stretch to the Baltic coast are inseparable from St. Petersburg's panorama. Many of the city's most famed architectural sites stretch along the Neva's historic embankments. Moreover, the bridges and natural canals of the river have earned St. Petersburg the nickname “Venice of the North.” Because of St. Petersburg's northerly location, the city enjoys the “White Nights,” from June 11 to July 2, when daylight extends to nearly 19 hours—another of St. Petersburg's most acclaimed characteristics. Among the cultural events devoted to celebrating the White Nights are the festivals organized by the Mariinsky and Hermitage theatres and the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Each night during the White Nights, the bridges spanning the Neva are raised to let boat traffic through. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, St. Petersburg imbibed a new energy as crumbling facades, potholed roads, and cultural landmarks were renovated.

Landscape

City site

      St. Petersburg is located on the delta of the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland (Finland, Gulf of). The city spreads across 42 islands of the delta and across adjacent parts of the mainland floodplain (flood). The very low and originally marshy site has subjected the city to recurrent flooding, especially in the autumn, when strong cyclonic winds drive gulf waters upstream, and also at the time of the spring thaw. Exceptionally severe inundations occurred in 1777, 1824, and 1924; the last two were the highest on record and flooded most of the city. To control the destructive floodwaters, the city built in the 1980s an 18-mile- (29-km-) long dike across the Gulf of Finland. A number of canals also have been cut to assist drainage.

      Greater St. Petersburg—the city itself with its satellite towns— forms a horseshoe shape around the head of the Gulf of Finland and includes the island of Kotlin in the gulf. On the north it stretches westward along the shore for nearly 50 miles (80 km) to include Zelenogorsk. This northern extension is an area of dormitory towns, resorts, sanatoriums, and children's camps set among extensive coniferous forests and fringed by fine beaches and sand dunes. Some upper-class St. Petersburg residents also have summer cottages, or dachas, in this area. On the southern side of the gulf, the metropolitan limits extend westward to include Petrodvorets and Lomonosov. Eastward, Greater St. Petersburg stretches up the Neva River to Ivanovskoye.

Climate

      The mitigating effect of the Atlantic Ocean provides St. Petersburg with a milder climate than might be expected for its far northern site. Nevertheless, winters are rather cold, with a mean January temperature of about 21 °F (−6 °C), a few degrees warmer than that for Moscow. Winter temperatures can drop below −40 °F (−40 °C), however. Snow cover lasts on the average about 132 days. The Neva begins to freeze normally about mid-November, and the ice is solid by the start of December; breakup begins in mid-April and usually is completed by the end of the month. Icebreakers prolong the navigation season. Summers are moderately warm, with an average temperature of 65 °F (18 °C) in July. Mean annual precipitation amounts to about 25 inches (634 mm), with the summer being the wettest period.

City layout

      In lieu of a distinctive city centre on the standard Russian medieval model, much of St. Petersburg's main thoroughfare, Nevsky Prospekt (avenue), particularly the stretch running from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Terminal, is considered the city's centre. Central St. Petersburg is divided into four sections by the Neva River and its distributaries. The Admiralty Side lies along the left (south) bank of the Neva itself, at this point called the Bolshaya (Great) Neva. Between the Bolshaya Neva and the river's other main arm, the Malaya (Little) Neva, is Vasilyevsky Island. The Malaya Neva and the river's extreme right (north) distributary, the Bolshaya Nevka, enclose a group of islands known as the Petrograd Side, while east of the Bolshaya Nevka and north of the Neva proper lies the Vyborg Side.

Admiralty Side

      Much of St. Petersburg's historical and cultural heritage is concentrated on the Admiralty Side. The district centres on the Admiralty. This, the nucleus of Peter's original city, was reconstructed in 1806–23 by Andreyan D. Zakharov as a development of the earlier building of Ivan K. Korobov, which itself had been remodeled in 1727–38 but retained the layout of the original. Its elegant spire, topped by a weather vane in the form of a ship, is one of the principal landmarks of the city. The building today houses a naval college.

      Just to the east lies the great Palace Square, the city's oldest. The 600-ton granite monolith of the Alexander Column (1830–34), the tallest of its kind in the world and so finely set that its base is not fastened, thrusts up for 165 feet (50 metres) near the centre of the square.

      Between the square and the river rises the huge and massive rectangle of the Winter Palace, the former principal residence of the tsars (tsar). The present structure, the fifth to be built, was the Baroque masterpiece of Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli. Construction of it began in 1754 and was completed in 1762. Both the exterior and the interior of the palace were designed in dazzlingly luxurious style. In 1837 the building was destroyed by fire, and only the adjoining Hermitage survived; the Winter Palace was recreated in 1839 almost exactly according to Rastrelli's plans. The striking appearance of the palace is highlighted by white columns against a green background, with golden stucco moldings; 176 sculptured figures line the roof. The whole complex, now called the Hermitage, or State Hermitage Museum, is a treasury of mostly western European painting and sculpture, an art collection of worldwide significance that originated in 1764 as the private holdings of Tsarina Catherine II.

      Opposite the Winter Palace, the great crescent of Karl Ivanovich Rossi's General Staff building (1811–29) dominates the square. The two wings of the building are joined by a huge triumphal arch topped by heroic figures and crowned by a chariot carrying a figure representing Glory, expressing the Russian victory against the invading army of Napoleon I in the campaign of 1812 (see French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars).

      On the western (downstream) side of the Admiralty stretches the expanse that was called Senate Square when the Senate moved there in 1763; it is now called Decembrists' (or Dekabristovs') Square in commemoration of the revolt in 1825. The buildings of the former Senate and Synod (now housing archives) dominate the western side of the square, their decorated facades dating from the 1830s and representing the last great work of Rossi. They are separated by an arch looking across to the centre of the square, where stands the equestrian statue of Peter, known as the Bronze Horseman, created in 1782 by Étienne Falconet (Falconet, Étienne-Maurice). Near the Senate and Synod buildings to the south rises the Neoclassical front of the Horse Guards Riding School, or Manezh (1804–07); beyond, dominating the south side of St. Isaac's Square, is the cathedral of the same name. An outstanding monument of late Neoclassical Russian architecture built by Auguste Montferrand (1818–58), St. Isaac's (Saint Isaac's Cathedral) is one of the largest domed buildings in the world; its golden cupola, gilded with about 220 pounds (100 kg) of pure gold, soars to 331 feet (101 metres) in height and is visible all over St. Petersburg. It is now a museum.

      From the Admiralty and its surrounding squares radiate three great avenues, of which the most important and best known is the Nevsky. One of the world's great thoroughfares, Nevsky Prospekt cuts southeastward across the peninsula formed by the northward loop of the Neva to the vicinity of the Alexander Nevsky Abbey, crossing the smaller Moyka and Fontanka rivers. The Anichkov Bridge across the latter is graced by four sculptured horses. The street has a special beauty: the architecture is majestic, the buildings are graceful and finely proportioned, and the construction is complex. On Nevsky Prospekt stand the Stroganov, Shuvalov, and Anichkov palaces (former private residences of the nobility) and several churches, of which the most prominent are St. Peter's Lutheran Church (1833–38), St. Catherine's Roman Catholic Church (1763–83), and the Kazan Cathedral (1801–11). The last edifice, undoubtedly the street's finest feature, was designed by Andrey Voronikhin in Russian Neoclassical style and has an interior rich in sculptures and paintings. A magnificent semicircular Corinthian colonnade dominates its exterior. Another interesting building is the department store Gostiny Dvor (1761–85), originally designed by Jean-Baptiste M. Vallin de la Mothe. This building forms an irregular square and opens onto four streets; formerly it was a mercantile centre. Other department stores line Nevsky Prospekt, as do many restaurants, cafés, and theatres—most notably the Pushkin Academic Drama Theatre.

      At the eastern end of Nevsky Prospekt, Alexander Nevsky Square fronts the main entrance to the abbey of the same name and its surrounding gardens. Beyond the square's main entrance lie, on the left and right, respectively, monuments and sculptures of the 18th-century Lazarus Cemetery (where Mikhail V. Lomonosov (Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich) and many of the city's architects are buried) and the 19th-century Tikhvin Cemetery (containing the graves of such writers and composers as Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Dostoyevsky, Fyodor), Modest Mussorgsky (Mussorgsky, Modest), and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich)). Behind the cemeteries rise the spires and cupolas of the Church of the Annunciation (1720, designed by Domenico Trezzini), which is now a museum, and Holy Trinity Cathedral (1778–90, designed by Ivan Starov).

      Through the Admiralty Side and intersecting the radial avenues cut the natural channels and canals that so distinguish the city. The most important, in outward order from the Admiralty, are the Moyka and Fontanka rivers and the Griboyedov and Obvodny canals. Downstream from the northern entrance of the Fontanka into the Neva lies the Field of Mars, one of the city's beautiful open spaces. Begun under Peter (when it was known as the Field of Amusement), it was intended for popular festivities and fireworks. It was a favourite haunt of the 18th-century nobility, but its present name derives from a monument erected in 1801, which portrays the great Russian military leader Aleksandr V. Suvorov (Suvorov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich, Graf Rimniksky, Knyaz Italiysky, Reichsgraf) (buried in the Church of the Annunciation) as the god of war. In the 19th century the space was used for military parades and exercises. The fallen of the February Revolution of 1917 and the defenders of the city during the civil war and foreign military intervention (1918–20) were buried there. They are commemorated by an eternal flame.

 At the extreme eastern side of the central city, within the sharp bend of the Neva itself, lies the Smolny complex of buildings; these include a former convent, with the five-domed cathedral, designed by Rastrelli and begun in 1748, and the Neoclassical building of the Smolny Institute, constructed by Giacomo Quarenghi (Quarenghi, Giacomo Antonio Domenico) in 1806–08. The institute was used as Vladimir Ilich Lenin (Lenin, Vladimir Ilich)'s headquarters in 1917 and is home to the city government.

      Just to the east lies the Summer Garden. Founded on an island in 1704, it has parks and gardens that by the end of the 18th century contained more than 250 statues and busts, mostly the work of Venetian masters. The Summer Palace, Peter's first building project in the city, erected 1710–14 in early Russian Baroque style and designed by Trezzini, stands in the northeastern portion of the garden. The Neva embankment is fronted by a fence (1784), the iron grille of which is reputed to be among the world's finest examples of wrought-iron work. So light and delicate is its design that the grillwork almost seems to be suspended in air.

Vasilyevsky Island

      One of the first areas of St. Petersburg to be developed because of its defendable position, Vasilyevsky Island forms the northwestern corner of the central city. Opposite the Admiralty and Winter Palace, at the island's eastern tip, is the remarkable architectural complex known as the Strelka (“Pointer”), facing the bifurcation of the Neva. Behind the two great Rostral Columns, decorated by carved ships' prows, and across Pushkin Square, the point rises majestically to the former Exchange building (Thomas de Thomon, 1805–10), the city's finest example of early 19th-century style and reminiscent of a Classical Greek temple in appearance; it now houses the Central Naval Museum.

      Farther back, the Twelve Colleges building (Trezzini, 1722–42), originally intended to house the supreme governmental bodies of Peter, is now the home of the city's state university. The building is divided into 12 identical but independent sections and runs at right angles to the Neva embankment, which is fronted at that point by the facades of the main building of the Academy of Sciences, the Menshikov Palace, and the Academy of Arts. On the far, or northern, side of the Exchange is the Naval Customs House—now known as Pushkin House (Institute of Russian Literature)—designed by Giovanni Luchini (1829–32).

Petrograd Side

      Upstream of the bifurcation of the Neva is the Petrograd Side, where the great Peter-Paul Fortress faces the Strelka across the Malaya Neva. Founded in 1703, this fortification, the city's first structure, initially had earthen walls, but these were soon replaced by stone walls 40 feet (12 metres) high and 12 feet (4 metres) thick, with 300 cannons mounted on the bastions. Above the squat horizontal lines of the fortress's massive walls soars the slender, arrowlike spire of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, a golden landmark for the city. The cathedral was built in 1712–33 by Trezzini, and the tsars and tsarinas of Russia from the time of Peter (except for Peter II and Nicholas II) are buried in it. Trezzini also designed St. Peter's (Petrovsky) Gate (1718) as the eastern entrance to the fortress. The Neva Gate, designed by Nikolay A. Lvov, dates from 1787. From the early 19th century the fortress was used as a prison, chiefly for political prisoners. Today it is a museum. At noon each day a cannon is fired from its battlements.

      Just to the east of the Peter-Paul Fortress, where the Bolshaya Nevka River begins, the cruiser Aurora is permanently moored as a museum and training vessel for the Naval College. It was the Aurora that in 1917 fired the blank shot that served as the signal to storm the Winter Palace during the October Revolution.

Vyborg Side

 The northeastern part of the central city had by the late 19th century developed into an industrial appendage, but by the end of the 20th century most of its industry had been replaced by office and apartment buildings and retail establishments. One of its most famous features is the Finland Railway Station, which faces the Admiralty Side across the Neva. Lenin returned to Russia in April 1917 via this station, and there he made his initial pronouncement of a new course that would bring the Bolsheviks (Bolshevik) to power. A major street of the Vyborg Side is Bolshoi Sampsonievski Prospekt, along which stand such buildings as the Cathedral of St. Sampson.

Outer region

      St. Petersburg extends well to the north and south of the original delta site, with arms of growth extending westward along the banks of the Gulf of Finland. The newer outer suburbs include extensive open areas, and parts of the periphery are designated as greenbelt. Alongside the city's satellite towns, large-scale commercial agriculture and “agro-recreational” plots owned by residents of St. Petersburg (dachas, collective orchards, and vegetable gardens) extend 12 to 50 miles (20 to 80 km) from the city centre. However, the multiplicity of large housing blocks containing numerous two- or three-room apartments means that population densities in the built-up areas remain high. As in virtually all modern cities, commuting over long distances is the price paid for more living space and the cleaner air of the suburbs. Among the suburbs noteworthy for their historical and cultural value are Petrodvorets, Pushkin, Pavlovsk, and Gatchina.

Petrodvorets

      The most famous of the communities around St. Petersburg is Petrodvorets (called Peterhof before 1944 and still popularly called by this name), whose unique garden-park setting, stretching in terraces rising above the Gulf of Finland, contains representative works from two centuries of Russian architectural and park styles. The Great Palace, the former residence of Peter I, stands at the edge of the second terrace, its bright yellow walls contrasting with white stucco decorations and the gilt domes of its lateral wings. Built in the Baroque style (1714–28), it was reconstructed and expanded by Rastrelli from the mid-1740s to the mid-1750s. On the north the building commands a view of the Grand Cascade, a grandiose structure including a grotto, 64 fountains, and two cascading staircases, which lead to an enormous semicircular basin that contains a giant statue of Samson wrestling with a lion. This statue, symbolizing the military glory of Russia, is a copy of the original statue by Mikhail I. Kozlovsky, which was carried off by the Nazis during World War II. In fact, much of the town's treasure was plundered, and this magnificent vista becomes all the more remarkable when it is remembered that much of it is a post-World War II restoration.

Pushkin

      The town of Pushkin (called Tsarskoye Selo before 1917, Detskoye Selo in 1918–37) arose in the early 18th century as one of the tsarist residences. The Catherine Palace (1717–23; enlarged by Aleksey V. Kvasov and Savva I. Chevakinsky, 1743–48; rebuilt by Rastrelli, 1752–57) is notable for its dimensions, the beauty and majesty of its form, and the wealth of its sculptural decoration. The golden suite of splendid halls (including the Amber Room) exemplifies Russian Baroque at its peak. The community also is the site of the Chinese Village (1782–96) in Alexander Park and the gallery (1780–90) named for its architect, Charles Cameron, the terraces of which contain more than 50 busts of figures from ancient Greek and Roman history. The Lycée, a school for the offspring of the nobility, had the great Aleksandr Pushkin (Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich) as a student, and a famous statue of the poet stands near the town's Egyptian Gates. The town suffered severe damage during the German onslaught but has been restored.

Pavlovsk

      Pavlovsk, a southern suburb, is the site of a late 18th- and early 19th-century palace and park in the Classical style that was created as a country residence for Tsar Paul I (Paul). The central Great Palace (1782–86; Cameron) is crowned by a dome supported by 64 columns. It was severely damaged by the Nazis and has been restored.

Gatchina

      Another southern suburb, Gatchina, is noted for the palace built in 1766–81 by Antonio Rinaldi for Count Grigory Orlov (Orlov, Grigory Grigoryevich, Graf), a favourite of Catherine II. Gatchina Park was created at the same time. Its monuments, sculptures, and gardens, like those of all of St. Petersburg, are preserved by the state.

People

      The population of St. Petersburg is overwhelmingly Russian. Before the Revolution the city had sizable Polish, Baltic, and German communities and smaller Tatar, Jewish, and Chinese communities. A disproportionate number of non-ethnic-Russian residents of St. Petersburg emigrated soon after the Revolution of 1917. Many of those who remained in the city were victims of purges during the rule of Joseph Stalin (Stalin, Joseph) that sent millions of alleged “enemies” to prison camps in the 1930s. In the interwar period St. Petersburg continued to act as a magnet for Russian peasant labour, and, even in the more homogeneous postwar city, newcomers tended to equal the number of those native to St. Petersburg; however, by the end of the 20th century more than half of the population was native to the city. Over the course of the post-Soviet period, hate crimes became common in St. Petersburg; those usually targeted were immigrants, mostly from Asia, Africa, and the former Soviet republics. Nevertheless, observers have commonly ascribed certain traits to St. Petersburg residents—politeness, a sophistication, a slight reserve—that have seemingly passed from generation to generation. The old intelligentsia is no more, but many people in St. Petersburg, living in a city designed as a cultural centre, consider themselves to be the most cultivated of Russians.

Economy

      St. Petersburg is second only to Moscow among Russian cities in terms of industrial output. In the late Soviet era more than half of the city's working population was employed in factories and the building trades. Following post-Soviet deindustrialization, about one-fifth of the working population was still employed in industry, and the city attracted more industry than Moscow. The majority of the remainder of the working class was employed in the service sector. Industrial output declined throughout the 1990s but bounced back and significantly exceeded its former levels by the beginning of the 21st century, by which time St. Petersburg's economy was growing faster than Russia's as a whole. New industries emerged, and older ones were revived. The real estate market experienced the largest growth, followed by transportation and manufacturing.

Manufacturing

      By the end of the 20th century, the city's most prominent industries were mechanical engineering and metalworking (the city's main exports are machinery, industrial equipment, and metals as well as timber, coal, potassium salts, and pyrites). Special emphasis is still placed on those branches of engineering that require a skilled labour force. St. Petersburg's original industry, shipbuilding, is still important and remains one of the largest of its kind in Russia; it produces icebreakers (some atomic-powered), tankers, timber carriers, and fishing vessels. Other sectors of heavy engineering make armaments and rolling stock. Of national importance are a plant producing nuclear reactors and others that manufacture electrical and power machinery, such as steam, hydraulic, and gas turbines. Other factories produce cable, diesel engines, batteries, generators, medical equipment, cameras, elevator parts, and automotive machinery. Food processing became the second largest industry in St. Petersburg after large breweries and a dairy combine opened in the city.

      By the turn of the 21st century, St. Petersburg was attracting a significant amount of foreign investment. Modern industrial zones developed, comprising Russian and international companies. The automotive industry especially contributed to international investment, as prominent car manufacturers set up plants in and around the city.

Finance and other services

      The city's banking network is well-developed and includes branches of many international banks. At the onset of the 21st century, services accounted for about three-fifths of the city's economic sector. St. Petersburg's flourishing retail trade focuses on a wide range of consumer goods such as cotton and woolen textiles, clothing, footwear, and tobacco products, with the city itself as its principal market.

      Electrical power for the city's industries comes from hydroelectric plants on the Volkhov (Volkhov River), Svir, and Vuoksa rivers. The most important nuclear power station for the metropolis is in nearby Sosnovyi Bor. Natural gas is piped to St. Petersburg from the Volga-Ural field and from west Siberia.

      After the fall of the Soviet Union, St. Petersburg experienced an increase in tourism, which became the fastest growing segment of economic activity. By the early 2000s the number of tourists visiting the city began to outpace that of Moscow's but still lagged behind those of other major eastern European cities. To attract more tourists, the city invested billions of dollars in the construction of hotels, a sea passenger terminal (including a yacht club and marina), highways, and football (soccer) stadiums, as well as theatres, shops, and restaurants. Much industry was relocated outside the city centre to preserve St. Petersburg's picturesque historic and cultural districts. Zoning laws were passed for the first time dividing city districts into residential, commercial, industrial, or historical areas.

Transportation

      St. Petersburg is one of Russia's most important hubs of transportation. Its port, the country's largest, is of international significance. The main harbour is protected by breakwaters and is reached by a dredged channel from Kronshtadt. Ferries maintain regular summer services to several western European ports. By 2000 St. Petersburg's seaport was receiving hundreds of foreign cruise ships annually; however, in the early years of the 21st century, port infrastructure was not sufficient for cruise vessels, and passengers had to pass through cargo facilities to board ships. Smaller seagoing ships have access by way of the Neva to Lake Ladoga (Ladoga, Lake) and thence throughout the inland waterway system of European Russia. From Lake Ladoga the Svir River, Lake Onega, and the White Sea Canal (Belomor Kanal) lead to the White Sea and the Russian Arctic coast. From Lake Onega the Volga-Baltic Waterway system leads to the Volga basin and Caspian Sea and, via the Volga-Don Canal, to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov (Azov, Sea of). The main airfield, Pulkovo International Airport, is located 11 miles (18 km) south of the city.

      The city is a focus of rail routes, with trunk lines radiating to Helsinki and Warsaw as well as to Moscow and other major Russian cities. There are several principal passenger rail terminals—including the Moscow, Vitebsk, Warsaw, Baltic, and Finland stations. A network of suburban electric services connects the outer parts of St. Petersburg and its satellite towns. Internal city traffic is carried by a subway system (opened in 1955) and a well-developed network of bus, streetcar, and trolleybus lines.

Administration and society

Government

      Like Moscow, St. Petersburg has since 1931 been designated a “city of republican subordination”; that is, its city council is directly subordinate to the government of the Russian republic, whereas elsewhere in Russia cities are subordinated to the oblast (province) or republic in which they are located. The city itself is divided into raions (districts), and there are also a number of suburban districts that are subordinate to the St. Petersburg city government. Most rural districts in the orbit of St. Petersburg are subordinate to the provincial government of the Leningrad oblast (which, unlike the city, retained its Soviet-era name). Although located in St. Petersburg and sharing some responsibilities and institutions with the city, the provincial government is itself a separate “subject” of the Russian Federation. As a residue of the city's former status as capital, certain organizations still maintain their national headquarters in St. Petersburg, among them the Russian geographic, chemical, and medical societies.

Municipal services

      Despite the 900-day siege during World War II, much of the city's housing was not destroyed and is still in use. Massive postwar building programs significantly increased the housing stock, though not nearly on the scale accomplished in Moscow. As a result, while a large proportion of St. Petersburg's residents live in more modern apartments (some in high-rise buildings), about one-fifth of the city's population still live in communal apartments, a vestige of Soviet urban life (whereby several families share one apartment with a common kitchen and bathroom). A large share of housing stock, including many communal apartments, is located in the historical area of St. Petersburg. All housing has access to central heat and is tied to the city's sanitation and power services.

Health

      St. Petersburg is fully equipped with the health services of a modern city, but the overall quality of health care deteriorated in the 1990s along with the city's shrinking economy. Although many private health clinics opened whose quality of care surpassed that of the state-run facilities, the latter were still the only option for the majority of the population, who could not afford private care (as in the rest of Russia, public health care in St. Petersburg is free). At the beginning of the 21st century there were several hundred public and private clinics providing medical and dental care and maternity and nursing services. Medical care also is provided by the city's many general and specialized hospitals.

Education

      St. Petersburg is one of Russia's most important centres for education and scientific research; a sizable proportion of the employed population is engaged in education, the arts, and the sciences. There are dozens of public and private universities in St. Petersburg, which has the second largest concentration of institutions of higher education in Russia. Heading the list is St. Petersburg State University (Saint Petersburg State University), founded in 1724 as the University of St. Petersburg. No less renowned and nearly as old are the Academy of Arts (1757), the Institute of Mines (1773), and the Military Medical Academy (1798).

      A focus for research is the library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Sciences, Academy of) (from 1925 to 1991 the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.), which remained in the city when the academy's headquarters moved back to Moscow after the Revolution. The research establishments of the Academy of Sciences in the city include the Pulkovo Observatory, along with the Botanical, Geological, Forestry, and Zoological institutes, among many others. The city is the principal centre in Russia for Arctic research, notably at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute and the Institute for the Study of Permafrost.

Cultural life

  St. Petersburg evolved as a city of culture, and the number and quality of its cultural institutions remain one of its enduring attractions. It has many large and grand, as well as small but reputable, theatres and auditoriums. The Mariinsky Theatre (called the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet during the Soviet period) has long enjoyed an international reputation, and its resident company is frequently on tour abroad. Other important theatres are the Maly, Tovstonogov, Pushkin, and Musical Comedy theatres. The largest of several concert halls is the October Great Concert Hall, which seats some 4,000 people. The city's musical tradition has been enhanced by the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. Notable museums include the Hermitage and the State Russian Museum, both of international prominence. The latter museum traces the history of Russian art from the 10th century to the present. St. Petersburg is a significant centre of the country's motion-picture industry and has been host to the annual Kino Expo International Convention for Russian cinema at its exhibition centre on the waterfront.

      There are a large number of libraries in the city, headed by the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library on Nevsky Prospekt, established in 1795; of all the libraries in Russia, it is second only to Moscow's Russian State Library (formerly the V.I. Lenin Library). Another important specialized collection is the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), on Vasilyevsky Island.

      St. Petersburg has abundant recreational facilities and green spaces for such a large city. Among the notable stadiums in the area is Kirov Stadium. Other opportunities for outdoor recreation are provided by the Kirov Park of Culture and Rest, the zoo, the botanical gardens, and numerous other smaller parks and gardens.

History

The early period

Foundation and early growth

      Settlement of the region around the head of the Gulf of Finland (Finland, Gulf of) by Russians began in the 8th or 9th century AD. Known then as Izhorskaya Zemlya or, more commonly, as Ingermanland or Ingria, the region came under the control of Novgorod, but it long remained thinly populated. In the 15th century the area passed with Novgorod into the possession of the grand princes of Moscow. Sweden annexed Ingria in 1617 and established fortresses along the Neva River. During the Second Northern War (Northern War, Second) (1700–21), Peter I (the Great) (Peter I), seeking a sea outlet to the west, constructed a fleet on the Svir River (which connects Lakes Onega and Ladoga) and, sailing across Lake Ladoga (Ladoga, Lake), launched an attack on the fortress of Noteburg (now Petrokrepost), where the Neva flows out of Ladoga. In 1703 Noteburg fell to Peter; afterward he captured the Swedish fortress of Nienshants on the lower Neva, thus gaining control of the delta.

      On May 16 (May 27, New Style), 1703, shortly after the fall of Nienshants, Peter himself laid the foundation stones for the Peter-Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island. This date is taken as the founding date of St. Petersburg. In the spring of the following year, Peter established the fortress of Kronshlot (later Kronshtadt), on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland, to protect the approaches to the delta. At the same time, he founded the Admiralty shipyard on the riverbank opposite the Peter-Paul Fortress; in 1706 its first warship was launched. Around the fortress and shipyard Peter began the building of a new city to serve as his “window on Europe.” Just upstream of the Peter-Paul Fortress, the city's first small house was built for Peter himself during the early days of the St. Petersburg's construction (it is preserved as a museum).

      Although the first dwellings were single-storied and made of wood, it was not long before stone buildings were erected. The first stone palace (still preserved) was completed in 1714 for Prince Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov (Menshikov, Aleksandr Danilovich), first governor of the city. From the start the city was planned as an imposing capital, on a regular street pattern, with spacious squares and broad avenues radiating out from the Admiralty. Architects, craftsmen, and artisans were brought from all over Russia and from many foreign countries to construct and embellish the new town. In 1712 the capital of Russia was transferred there from Moscow, although it was not until 1721 that Sweden, in the Peace of Nystad, formally ceded sovereignty of the area to Russia. Members of the nobility and merchant class were compelled by Peter to move to the new capital and to build houses for themselves. Government buildings and private palaces and houses arose swiftly; among the earliest buildings were the Exchange (now the Naval Museum), the Naval Customs House (now the Pushkin House, or Institute of Russian Literature), and marine hospital, together with the Summer Palace. Canals for drainage were cut through the marshy left bank of the Admiralty Side. The first floating bridge over the Neva was constructed in 1727, and soon more than 370 bridges had been built across the many canals and river channels. Marshy, flood-prone land and an inhospitable climate made construction expensive in terms of human life; St. Petersburg, it was later suggested, rested on a swamp of human bones.

      A harbour was constructed, and Peter took measures to curtail traffic through Arkhangelsk on the White Sea, previously Russia's major port. In consequence, as early as 1726 St. Petersburg was handling 90 percent of Russia's foreign trade. In 1703 work began on the Vyshnevolotsky Canal in the Valdai Hills, the first link in a chain that by 1709 gave the capital a direct water route to central Russia and all of the Volga River basin. Industry soon began to develop. The original and flourishing Admiralty shipyard was joined by enterprises to supply its needs and those of the growing fleet—a foundry to produce cannons, a gunpowder factory, and a tar works. Merchantmen as well as warships were built, and, before the end of the 18th century, papermaking, printing, and food, clothing, and footwear industries were established; as early as the 1740s a factory was set up to make china. By 1765 the population numbered 150,300, and by the end of the century it reached 220,200, of whom more than a third were in the armed forces or the administration.

The rise to splendour

      The growing city displayed a remarkable richness of architecture and harmony of style. Initially the style was one of simple but elegant restraint, represented in the cathedral of the Peter-Paul Fortress and in the Summer Palace. In the mid-18th century an indelible stamp was put on the city's appearance by the architects Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli, Savva I. Chevakinsky, and Vasily P. Stasov, working in the Russian Baroque style, which combined clear-cut, even austere lines with richness of decoration and use of colour. To this period belong the Winter Palace, the Smolny Convent, and the Vorontsov and Stroganov palaces, among others; outside the city were built the summer palaces of Peterhof (now Petrodvorets) and of Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin). After a transitional period dominated by the architecture of Jean-Baptiste M. Vallin de la Mothe and Aleksandr Kokorinov, toward the end of the 18th century a pure Neoclassical style emerged under the architects Giacomo Quarenghi (Quarenghi, Giacomo Antonio Domenico), Carlo Rossi, Andrey Voronikhin, and others. The Kazan and St. Isaac's cathedrals, the Smolny Institute, the new Admiralty, the Senate, and the Mikhaylovsky Palace (now the State Russian Museum) are representative of the splendid buildings of this period.

      Within this grand architectural setting, cultural life developed and flourished. The University of St. Petersburg was founded in 1724. In 1773 the Institute of Mines was established. Many of the most celebrated names in Russia in the spheres of learning, science, and the arts are associated with the city: Mikhail V. Lomonosov (Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich), Dmitry I. Mendeleyev (Mendeleyev, Dmitry Ivanovich), Ivan Pavlov (Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich), Aleksandr Pushkin (Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich), Leo Tolstoy (Tolstoy, Leo), and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Dostoyevsky, Fyodor), among others. Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment was set in the city, and the buildings described in the novel are a focus of tourism. As early as 1738 the first ballet school in Russia was opened in St. Petersburg; in the 19th century, under Marius Petipa (Petipa, Marius), the Russian ballet rose to worldwide renown and produced such dancers as Vaslav Nijinsky (Nijinsky, Vaslav), Tamara Karsavina (Karsavina, Tamara Platonovna), and Anna Pavlova (Pavlova, Anna). In 1862 the first conservatory of music in Russia opened its doors, and there the premieres of works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich), Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay), Sergey Rachmaninoff (Rachmaninoff, Sergey), and other composers were performed. Overall, the imperial court stood as the focus and patron of the city's cultural life; its ostentatious splendour and wealth were legendary throughout Europe.

Evolution of the modern city

The road to revolution

      The imperial magnificence, centred on the tsarist autocracy, was in sharp contrast to the other side of St. Petersburg's development, the growth of its industrial proletariat. During the 19th century there was much industrial growth in the city, accelerated by improvements in communications and extension of trade. Navigation was opened on the Mariinsky (1810) and Tikhvin (1811) canal systems, which replaced an old and inadequate system. In 1813 the first Russian steamship was built in St. Petersburg, and in 1837 the first Russian railway was constructed from the city to the Summer Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Five years later work started on the railway to Moscow, opened to traffic in 1851. A line to Warsaw was built in 1861–62, followed by still others. In particular, the cotton textile and metalworking industries flourished, the former using imported raw materials. By the 1840s more than three-fifths of Russian imports were entering by way of St. Petersburg. In 1885 a channel was dredged to give larger ships access to the port. City growth and industrialization were stimulated by the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861, which allowed far greater mobility of labour. From 539,400 inhabitants in 1864, the population rose to about 1,500,000 in 1900, largely by migration from rural areas (as late as 1910 only one-third of the population had been born in the city). By 1917 the total had risen to about 2,500,000.

      The factory environment in St. Petersburg became a breeding ground for revolution. With the development of metalworking and engineering as the primary industries, there arose a skilled labour force, increasingly alert politically. Moreover, the factory workers, who numbered nearly 250,000 in 1914, tended to be concentrated in plants of far larger size than was usual in Russia; the Putilov (later renamed Kirov) armaments works alone employed about 13,000. It was thus easier for revolutionaries to spread their ideas and for workers' groups to organize than it was elsewhere in Russia. At the same time, the growth of the city was characterized by a belated and slow development of public transport, making it necessary for workers to live close to their place of work, in conditions of appalling overcrowding (more than 180,000 per square mile in the centre), squalor, and lack of sanitation. Throughout the period before 1917 the city administration was lacking in efficiency and often in funds, and the provision of all public services—even a water supply—was inadequate. Outbreaks of serious epidemics were commonplace.

      The first serious revolutionary outbreak in St. Petersburg came on Dec. 14 (Dec. 26, New Style), 1825: the Decembrist insurrection, organized largely by liberal aristocrats and army officers seeking a liberal constitution and an end to serfdom. It was ruthlessly suppressed. During the rest of the 19th century, workers' revolutionary activity and unrest steadily increased, with ever more frequent strikes and outbreaks of violence. These culminated in the general strike of January 1905, when some 150,000 workers took part. On what became known as Bloody Sunday, January 9 (January 22, New Style), a mass march to the Winter Palace, bearing a petition to the tsar, was met by troops who opened fire; more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded. The situation developed into revolution (Russian Revolution of 1905), spreading throughout Russia. Although it was again crushed, underground revolutionary activity continued.

      The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought an upsurge of patriotic fervour centred on the tsar. The Germanic form of the city's name was changed to its Russian version, Petrograd. The military disasters of the war and the worsening economic situation, however, revived and intensified discontent. Transport inefficiencies led to severe shortages of food and other supplies. On Feb. 26 (March 11, New Style), 1917, with a general strike in effect, disorder broke out. The authorities were slow to act and lost all control. The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was formed on February 27 (March 12, New Style). On March 2 (March 15, New Style) the tsar abdicated. A provisional government was set up, eventually under the premiership of Aleksandr Kerensky (Kerensky, Aleksandr Fyodorovich). On April 3 (April 16, New Style) Vladimir Ilich Lenin (Lenin, Vladimir Ilich) returned to Petrograd from Switzerland and set about organizing the overthrow of the provisional government. Demonstrations in July were suppressed, but on October 25 (November 7, New Style) Bolshevik-led workers and sailors stormed the Winter Palace, deposing the provisional government and establishing the Bolshevik Party in power.

      The Russian Revolution of 1917, which changed the course of history, was spearheaded by the Petrograd proletariat and the sailors from Kronshtadt. In January 1918 a Constituent Assembly met in Petrograd, but the Bolsheviks, who had won only a minority of seats, dispersed it and consolidated their authority.

The Soviet period

      Civil war reigned in Russia from 1918 to 1920, during which the Bolsheviks successfully defended their government against various Russian and foreign elements. In March 1918 the capital of the young Soviet state had been moved back to Moscow. The years of the civil war after the Revolution had a disastrous effect on the city's economy. Industry came very nearly to a standstill. The population fell sharply to 722,000 in 1920, a mere third of the pre-Revolutionary size. Many died of starvation. Recovery began when the war ended. In 1924, following Lenin's death, the city was renamed Leningrad. When in 1928 the era of five-year plans began, much of the initial burden of developing the national economy fell on the city and its established industrial plant and workforce, especially in the provision of power equipment and machinery. This stimulated further growth; by 1939 the city was responsible for 11 percent of all Soviet industrial output, and its population had exceeded three million.

      Then once again the city was struck by a period of loss and destruction. It was one of the initial targets of the German invasion in 1941; by September of that year, German troops were on the outskirts of the city and had cut off communication with the rest of the U.S.S.R., while Finnish troops advanced from the north. Many of the inhabitants and nearly three-fourths of the industrial plant were evacuated eastward ahead of the German advance. The remainder of the population and the garrison then began to endure what has become known as the 900-day siege (Leningrad, Siege of); the German blockade in fact lasted 872 days, from Sept. 8, 1941, to Jan. 27, 1944. Leningrad put up a desperate and courageous resistance in the face of many assaults, constant artillery and air bombardment, and appalling suffering from shortages of supplies. An estimated 660,000 people died, a very high proportion from scurvy and starvation. In particular, the exceptionally bitter winter of 1941–42, when temperatures fell to −40 °F (−40 °C), was one of extreme hardship and loss of life. The only route for supplies was the “road of life” across the ice of Lake Ladoga (Ladoga, Lake); later an oil pipeline and electric cables were laid on the lake bed. The blockade proper was broken in January 1943, but it was another year before the Germans had been driven back from the outskirts. Enormous damage had been caused by the bombardment, and, before retreating, the Germans destroyed the palaces at Petrodvorets and Pushkin. Not until the 1960s did the city regain its prewar size of three million; by the 1980s the population had passed the four million mark.

      The first postwar Soviet five-year plan was devoted in part to reconstruction of the city's industry and restoration of its architectural heritage. In the late 1950s a program of housing construction in the city's periphery got under way; renovation of highly sought-after inner-city apartments began in the 1970s. In the face of continuing construction and expansion, maintenance of the old city and modernization of the infrastructure became major problems. In response the city planners pioneered new forms of industrial administration, drawing on the city's strength as a scientific and technical centre and emphasizing the need to preserve its unique cultural heritage.

      Major changes in the city's political life began to occur in the late 1980s, when the central government of the U.S.S.R. introduced reforms that encouraged greater democratization and openness. The nationwide legalization in March 1990 of political parties other than the Communist Party (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) had an especially sharp impact on Leningrad, as two months later elections for the city council gave a group of reform-minded Communists and reformers outside the Communist Party a substantial majority of the council seats. The council quickly pushed for a variety of free-market measures and initiated a process of stripping the Communist Party of assets and privileges in the city. Reflecting this movement away from the city's Communist past, voters in a June 1991 citywide referendum chose to restore the city's name of St. Petersburg.

Yelena Matveyevna Doroshinskaya Richard Antony French Mary McAuley Grigory Ioffe

The post-Soviet period

      After the fall of the Soviet Union late in 1991, the remainder of the decade saw an increase in crime in the city. The assassinations of several prominent politicians, including a vice-governor and a member of parliament, made headlines. Popular television crime series such as Ulitsy razbitykh fonarei (“Streets of Broken Lights”; 1998–2001) and Banditsky Peterburg (“Bandit Petersburg”; 2000) contributed to the image of the city as the crime capital of Russia. Although the city's economy was expanding faster than the Russian economy as a whole in the early 21st century, unemployment in St. Petersburg was higher than it was in 1990, mainly because of deindustrialization and an aging population.

      Like all of Russia, post-Soviet St. Petersburg experienced drastic overhaul. New cafés and restaurants were opened, bridges and landmarks were illuminated, and cultural venues were constructed. Former communal apartments have been remodeled, and many are now owned by the new elite. On the other hand, homeless people and beggars, never a feature of St. Petersburg in late Soviet decades, became fairly widespread. However, in the early 2000s, more St. Petersburg natives were serving in influential posts in the national government than ever before in the city's history, including Russia's president Vladimir Putin (Putin, Vladimir). In 2006 St. Petersburg hosted the Group of Eight (Eight, Group of) annual summit.

Grigory Ioffe

Additional Reading

Colin Amery, Brian Curran, and Yury Molodkovets, St. Petersburg (2006), is an illustrated work that describes the city's 300-year history through its architecture, literature, and art. William Craft Brumfield, A History of Russian Architecture (1993, reissued 2004), surveys types of Russian architecture, including many of St. Petersburg's structures, dating from the 10th century through modern-day construction.Arthur L. George and Elena George, St. Petersburg: Russia's Window to the Future—The First Three Centuries (2003), narrates the city's history and includes biographies on some of its most famous residents. Historical background is provided in James H. Bater, St. Petersburg: Industrialization and Change (1976); and E.M. Almedingen, Tomorrow Will Come (1941, reprinted 1983), a memoir spanning the Revolutionary period. The Siege of Leningrad is the subject of Harrison E. Salisbury, The 900 Days (1969, reprinted 1985). David T. Cattell, Leningrad: A Case Study of Soviet Urban Government (1968), is an account of the city government. Politics and city planning in the 1970s are covered in Denis J.B. Shaw, “Planning Leningrad,” Geographical Review, 68(2):183–200 (April 1978); and Blair A. Ruble, “Romanov's Leningrad,” Problems of Communism, 32(6):36–48 (November–December 1983), and Leningrad: Shaping a Soviet City (1990). James H. Bater, “Central St. Petersburg: Continuity and Change in Privilege and Place,” Eurasian Geography and Economics, 47(1)4–27 (January–February 2006), examines St. Petersburg's population patterns during three major periods of its political history. Cultural history is discussed in John Gregory and Alexander Ukladnikov, Leningrad's Ballet: Maryinsky to Kirov (1980). Logan Robinson, An American in Leningrad (1982), is an account by a Harvard law student.Grigory Ioffe

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