St. Petersburg is Russia's second largest city. After Peter the Great, the city would continue to be the capital of Russia except for the brief reign of Czar Peter II (1728 to 1732). In 1918, the new Soviet government would move the capital back to Moscow.
From 1914 until 1924 it was called "Petrograd." From 1924 to 1991 the city was called "Leningrad."
During World War II the city was besieged by German forces for 872 days. An estimated 650,000 civilians died during the siege. The victims of the siege are memorialized in Piskariovskoye Memorial Cemetery.
Major attractions include the Hermitage Winter Palace, which was the czar's palace until the end of the Romanov Dynasty in 1917. The Hermitage has a world famous art collection.
Other attractions include St. Isaac's Cathedral, Peter and Paul's Fortress and the Kirov Ballet. The "mad monk" Rasputin was murdered in the Yusupov Palace. The czar's summer home in Tsarskoye Selo, outside of the city, is also open to visitors.
