The Building of Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia, and it was the Russian Empire's capital for over 200 years. However, it is a fairly new city. It was founded on May 27th 1703, by Tsar Peter the Great, after he defeated the Swedish and conquered the lands surrounding the Neva river, gaining access to the Baltic Sea. Peter decided to build a new capital (to replace Moscow) in European style for his empire on the shores of the Neva, he named this city Saint Petersburg.

The construction of the city began on 1703. The cabin of Peter the Great (where he initially resided) was built shortly after the city's foundation and it was the first building to be built. Some of the famous sights at Saint Petersburg were built during the city's first years. These include the Winter Palace (completed in 1712, when the city became the capital of the Russian Empire), the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (completed in 1714), and the Summer Garden (completed in 1719), among other sites. 

Many of the major buildings of the new capital were designed by one of its main architects, Domenico Trezzini, who designed them in the style he elaborated, Petrine Baroque. The city was built on a marshland, and large amounts of construction materials and workers were needed. In order to have enough stone, Peter forbade the use of stone anywhere else in the empire while his capital was being built. Tens of thousands of workers were conscripted to build Saint Petersburg, and when there was a shortage of men, even soldiers, convicted criminals and prisoners of war were forced to work. Between 1703 and 1725 (the year of Peter's death), several thousands of workers died under the harsh working conditions. The bodies of the dead were simply left in the construction site, thus the city was dubbed "the city built on bones."

On February 8th 1725, Peter the Great died, and in 1728, his son Peter II of Russia moved the capital back to Moscow. Saint Petersburg became the capital once again during the reign of Empress Anna, in 1732, and it remained the capital until 1918. The city also had its name changed a couple of times. In 1914, it was renamed Petrograd, and in 1924, Leningrad (in honor of Lenin's death). Finally in 1991 the city was once again renamed Saint Petersburg. Construction in the city never ceased, and some of its most famous sites, such as the Hermitage Museum and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, were built in the years that followed.