St. Petersburg Is Founded
St. Petersburg, founded by Czar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703, serves as a significant historical and cultural landmark in Russia. Established as a new capital to enhance Russia's access to Europe, the city was built on the banks of the Neva River and quickly became a center for government, culture, and trade. The construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress marked the beginning of St. Petersburg, which officially became the capital in 1712 and remained so until 1918. Peter's vision was to create a "window on the West," a notion that faced opposition from conservative factions within Russian society, mainly due to its location on land taken from Sweden. The city's development involved the forced labor of hundreds of thousands of serfs, many of whom suffered and died during the construction. St. Petersburg evolved into one of Europe's leading cities, attracting artists, writers, and nobles, and it played a critical role in Russia's cultural and political life. After the Russian Revolution, the capital was relocated back to Moscow, and St. Petersburg was renamed several times, finally regaining its original name in 1991. Today, it is Russia's second-largest city, rich in history and architectural beauty, while Moscow retains the status of the capital.
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St. Petersburg Is Founded
St. Petersburg Is Founded
On May 27, 1703, Czar Peter the Great founded the city of St. Petersburg, Russia's new capital, when he began the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress (named after the two biblical apostles) on the banks of the Neva River by the Baltic Sea. Tradition regards this date as the birth of the city, which after years of construction became the capital of Russia in 1712 and lasted as such until 1918 and the Russian Revolution. Today St. Petersburg is Russia's second largest city, with a population of nearly 5 million people, while Moscow serves as the capital.
As discussed in various articles throughout this book, the Grand Duchy of Muscovy in central Russia became a powerful state during the Middle Ages and formed the nucleus of the later Russian Empire. Muscovy was named for the city of Moscow, which over the centuries went from being little more than a large town under the thumb of Mongol conquerors to the capital of a large nation. As the Mongols retreated, Russia expanded, and this expansion brought it into contact with Europeans to the west. The Europeans were more advanced than the Russians, and Czar Peter became determined to observe their ways and adopt those that could benefit the Russian state. For example, he copied European shipbuilding methods and established Russia's first modern navy. In order to encourage further interaction with Europeans, Peter decided to move the capital of Russia away from Moscow, which was hundreds of miles inland. He chose a site by the Baltic Sea, far more accessible to Europe, given that travel by ship was usually faster than travel over the primitive dirt roads of the age. Peter was determined to make St. Petersburg his “window on the West.” Conservative elements in Russian society opposed the move from Moscow, especially since the new city was to be built on land conquered from Sweden which had never historically been a part of Russia, but Peter prevailed.
After beginning the construction of his fortress, Peter had hundreds of thousands of serfs (peasants who were little better than slaves) brought in to build his new city. Tens of thousands of them died from cold, hunger, and disease. Nevertheless, the city rose, featuring beautiful palaces and other structures that Peter had specially commissioned. The various offices of the Russian government, foreign embassies, and most of the influential Russian nobles established residences in the new capital. Following them came the cream of Russia's cultural elite—artists, writers, and other members of the intelligentsia—and the most skilled craftsmen. A network of canals drained off the swampy marshes and facilitated shipping and trade. St. Petersburg became one of the leading cities of Europe, and was the jewel in Russia's crown until the Russian Revolution of 1917—which began in St. Petersburg's streets.
After the Romanov dynasty of czars was overthrown, the communist rulers of the Soviet Union moved the capital back to Moscow, which was easier to defend. St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd and then Leningrad, in honor of the Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. During World War II the city became a byword for its heroic resistance to the invading German forces. Shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Leningrad was permitted to resume its former name, St. Petersburg, but Moscow remained the capital of the newly independent Russia that succeeded the Soviet Union.