In times gone by: An era-by-era history of St. Petersburg
Since St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, for whom the planning and construction of the city were matters of great personal interest, each of Russia's rulers has in one way or another left their mark on the city.
The first Emperor of Russia invested a huge amount of time and energy in molding the city he founded, which he saw as the nexus of a new social order in Russia that would place the country not only among the world's great powers, but also at the heart of European culture.
The first female ruler of the Russian Empire enjoyed only a short time on the throne, and her reign saw the continuation of the policies and projects of her husband, Peter the Great, many of whose grand ambitions for St. Petersburg did not come to fruition until after his death.
During the short reign of Peter the Great's grandson, the Imperial Court relocated to Moscow so that the young Tsar could indulge his passion for hunting. As a result, the development of St. Petersburg was briefly stalled, and many prominent citizens abandoned the city.
Not only did Empress Anna return the Russian capital and court to St. Petersburg, her reign also saw significant developments in the construction and planning of the city, as well as some grand follies such as the "Ice House" that have passed into the city's folklore.
The child Emperor Ivan VI was on the throne for a less than a year with his mother, Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna, as regent. Unsurprisingly, they had little time to instigate any major changes to the development of St. Petersburg.
Empress Elizabeth's reign saw her father's city transformed into a glittering European capital, with several opulent palaces commissioned, the grandest of which was the modern Winter Palace, as well as St. Petersburg's most beautiful baroque cathedrals.
Another ruler whose reign lasted a matter of months, Peter III left his most lasting monuments at the suburban estate of Oranienbaum, where he quartered troops from his native Holstein in the model fort of Peterstadt. His modest palace there is still standing.
Although she was German by birth, Catherine the Great made St. Petersburg her own, leaving an indelible mark on the city via several major construction projects in neoclassical style, and through the establishment of a number of eminent institutions such as the National Library.
Although Paul's reign was short, this eccentric monarch nonetheless left for posterity an architectural record of his passions and obsessions, most prominently in the form of the Mikhailovsky Castle, the unusual palace in which he was assassinated.
The peak of Alexander's reign was the defeat of Napoleon, and as the Russian Empire achieved new heights of power and influence with St. Petersburg as its centre, the capital was developed with splendid and unprecedentedly ambitious buildings in the Empire style.
As the Russian Empire grew to its historical zenith under the autocratic Tsar Nicholas I, St. Petersburg continued to assume the trappings of an imperial capital with ever grander construction projects. Meanwhile, the Golden Age of Russian culture also reached its peak in the city.
Alexander II was known as the Great Reformer, and his reign saw significant steps in the modernization of St. Petersburg, with new technologies including a centralized water system, a network of horse-drawn trams, and the partial electrification of the city.
Although there were comparatively few grand building projects undertaken during the reign of Alexander III, St. Petersburg expanded rapidly, with the population reaching over a million and huge numbers of apartment buildings appearing to accommodate the new arrivals.
The final Tsar of Russia ruled in an era when St. Petersburg was unquestionably one of the most modern, cultured, and cosmopolitan cities in the world. The final days of the Russian Empire saw a plethora of technological advancements and cultural achievements.
On the eve of the First World War, St. Petersburg was riding high on a wave of prosperity and patriotic sentiment, celebrating the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty. Within five years, however, the city had been plunged into hunger, deprivation and revolution.
In the aftermath of the October Revolution, the Soviet capital moved to Moscow and Petrograd became almost a ghost town, losing not only status but two-thirds of its population. Little was built in the era, but the new regime stamped its mark on the city by changing the names of its most famous public spaces.
Soon after Lenin died, Petrograd became Leningrad, and the Soviet government began to transform the city with grand constructivist housing projects. The murder of popular Party boss Sergey Kirov marked the start of Stalin's Terror, and Leningrad bore the full brunt of the repression.
Though the city had already suffered through the Revolution and the Terror, St. Petersburg's blackest hour came with the outbreak of war with Nazi Germany. However, the unparalleled tragedy of the Siege of Leningrad also inspired outstanding art, and cemented the city's fierce civic pride.
The reconstruction of Leningrad after the war proceeded at a remarkable pace. However, the city's rejuvenated pride and resilience disturbed Stalin and prompted another wave of repression aimed at quelling the spirit of heroic independence the Siege of Leningrad had fostered.
The death of Stalin and Khrushchev's denunciation of his repressions brought a short-lived cultural spring to Leningrad. Meanwhile, the new leader's reinterpretation of Communist doctrine saw a boom in housing construction that created several new areas of the city.
Infamous for the economic and social problems that became endemic under his rule, Brezhnev's time as General Secretary was also one of relative stability and peace, and there is still considerable nostalgia for the period evident in St. Petersburg.
As the Soviet Union began to crumble, political reforms were unable to keep pace with social change. By the beginning of the 1990s, Leningrad was facing yet another change of name and yet another change of power with a mixture of trepidation and hope.
