Saint Petersburg, second largest Russian City, located close to the border with Finland and Estonia.
Founded as St Petersburg in 1703 by Russian Emperor Peter The Great, the city has become a capital of Russian Empire and carried the title (with a short disruption disruption) until 1918
Renamed to Petrograd in 1914 (to sound more Slavic) it saw the decline of Russian Empire, October Revolution, and a few days after Lenin's death was renamed to Leningrad.
Withstood the World War 2 and 900 horrifying days of
siege when the city was completely isolated from the rest of the country and any supplies.
The city was renamed back to Saint Petersburg in 1991, same year first Russian President was elected.
Now, the city of 4.6 million people is the major tourist, economic and manufacturing center with many cultural, entertainment, educational and just interesting places.
Read more at wikipedia.org.