History UsefulNotes / SaintPetersburg

* ''A Dangerous Climate'', one of ChelseaQuinnYarbro's Saint-Germain novels

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts 2''

** Films and TV shows set in TheNineties. In UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia, St. Petersburg acquired the moniker [[ViceCity "the Criminal Capital of Russia,"]] and most of those films and shows [[CopShow portray]] [[PoliceProcedural it]] [[CriminalProcedural accordingly]]. On the other side of the law, the CultClassic ''Film/{{Brother}}'', as perhaps the most authentic depiction of the "wild '90s" spirit in Russian film, is also set in St. Petersburg.

* Features heavily in many 19th Century Russian classics: ''Literature/AnnaKarenina, Literature/CrimeAndPunishment, Literature/TheIdiot'' as well as many stories and poems by Creator/NikolaiGogol stories (''The Overcoat, Nevsky Prospect, ''Literature/DiaryOfAMadman'') and Creator/AleksandrPushkin (''The Queen of Spades, The Bronze Horseman''). The novel ''Petersburg'' by Andrei Bely considered by Creator/VladimirNabokov to be the greatest Russian novel of the 20th Century is also set in the titular city.

* Features heavily in many 19th Century Russian classics: ''Literature/AnnaKarenina, Literature/CrimeAndPunishment, Literature/TheIdiot'' as well as many stories and poems by Creator/NikolaiGogol stories (''The Overcoat, Nevsky Prospect, Diary of a Madman'') and Creator/AleksandrPushkin (''The Queen of Spades, The Bronze Horseman''). The novel ''Petersburg'' by Andrei Bely considered by Creator/VladimirNabokov to be the greatest Russian novel of the 20th Century is also set in the titular city.

St. Petersburg, [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Russian Federation]]. Formerly [[UsefulNotes/UnionOfSovietSocialistRepublics Leningrad]]. Before that, Petrograd. Before that, St. Petersburg. Before that, ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Nyenskans]]''.

The second city of Russia, ''Sankt Peterburg'' was actually the capital of the country until shortly after UsefulNotes/RedOctober. Both revolutions centred around here. The Russian Navy cruiser ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Aurora Aurora]]'' fired the first shots of Red October and is now preserved in Saint Petersburg as both a museum ship and [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets the ceremonial flagship of the Russian Navy]].

Contains quite a few palaces.

Also contains the Mariinsky (or Kirov) Ballet, regarded as one of (if not ''the'') premier classical ballet companies in the world. Also resident in the city is its associated school, the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet; founded in 1738 as the Imperial Ballet School, the Mariinsky and its school remain the heart of the Russian ballet tradition to this day.

Also home to the Leningrad Optical Manufacturing Organization, or LOMO, famous for rescuing film-based photography from extinction, and for (at least formerly) producing some of the finest high-end precision optical instruments, ranging all sizes, in the world. Directly neighboring the LOMO factory is a hospital owned by LOMO, where they hired Russia's best medical doctors in each specialty, to get direct feedback from them on their prototype medical optical instruments. For this reason, throughout the history of the Soviet Union, the city of Leningrad's name was synonymous with top-of-the-line medical care. LOMO also used to make telescopes which were highly sought-after on '''both''' sides of the Iron Curtain. Sadly their quality control of late has declined, somewhat.

Note that several other major cities (and probably many smaller ones) have reverted to their pre-revolutionary names. Gorkiy became Nizhniy ("Lower") Novgorod and Sverdlovsk became Ekaterinburg. Volgograd, however, has not become Tsaritsyn again, and some people want to go back to Stalingrad. The only major city to retain its communist name is Kaliningrad, in the exclave of the same name. This is because the area (North-Eastern Prussia) and the city (Königsberg) were part of Germany until the Second World War and all towns and villages there were given Russian and Soviet names even when they had West Slavic (usually Polish) or (more commonly) Lithuanian names before. There actually is a Russian law to prevent the post-1945 Soviet names from being changed. There has been a real debate about changing Kaliningrad's name back or to something else, nevertheless, and it is often called "Kyonig" informally.

See PleaseSelectNewCityName for particulars.

St. Petersburg, [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Russian Federation]]. Formerly [[UsefulNotes/SovietUnion Leningrad]]. Before that, Petrograd. Before that, St. Petersburg. Before that, ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Nyenskans]]''.

St. Petersburg, [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Russian Federation]]. Formerly Leningrad. Before that, Petrograd. Before that, St. Petersburg. Before that, ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Nyenskans]]''.

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. Formerly Leningrad. Before that, Petrograd. Before that, St. Petersburg. Before that, ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Nyenskans]]''.

[[redirect:UsefulNotes/TheCityFormerlyKnownAs]]