Saint Petersburg is the second city of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. Founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on 27 May 1703,  when it was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1713–1728, 1732–1918). Saint Petersburg ceased to be the capital in 1918 after the Communist Revolution in that year. It is now Russia's second largest city after Moscow with 4.6 million inhabitants. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural centre and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea.
          The area of Saint Petersburg city is 605.8 km2 (233.9 sq miles).
Saint Petersburg is often described as the most western city of Russia. Amongst the cities of the world, with a population of over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the most northern. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is also a home to The Hermitage, the largest art museum in the world. The 2002 census recorded twenty-two ethnic groups each having more than two thousand people.  The ethnic composition was, Russian 84.72%, Ukrainian 1.87%, Belarusians 1.17%, Jewish 0.78%, Tatar 0.76%, Armenian 0.41%, Azeri 0.36%, Georgian 0.22%, Chuvash 0.13%, Polish 0.10%, and many other smaller ethnic groups.
          Saint Petersburg is a federal subject of Russia. The political life of Saint Petersburg is regulated by the city charter adopted by the city legislature of 1998. The superior executive body is the Saint Petersburg City Administration, led by the governor (mayor before 1996). Saint Petersburg has a single-chamber legislature, the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly. According to the federal law passed in 2004, heads of federal subjects, including the governor of Saint Petersburg, are nominated by the President of Russia and approved by local legislatures. If the legislature disapproves of the nominee, it is dissolved.  The current governor, Valentina Matviyenko, was approved according to the new system in December 2006. She is currently the only woman governor in Russia.
          Saint Petersburg is a major trade gateway, financial and industrial centre of Russia specialising in oil and gas trading, shipbuilding yards, aerospace industry, radio and electronics, software and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other military equipment, mining, instrument manufacture, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy (production of aluminium alloys), chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, publishing and printing, food and catering, wholesale and retail, textile and clothing industries, as well as many other businesses. It was also home to Lessner, one of Russia's two pioneering automobile manufacturers (along with Russo-Baltic), Lessner; founded by machine tool and boiler maker G. A. Lessner in 1904, with designs by Boris Loutsky, it survived until 1910.
          The Saint Petersburg Mint (Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest mints in the world, which mints Russian coins, medals and badges.
          Saint Petersburg has three large cargo seaports. A complex system of river ports on both banks of the Neva river  are interconnected with the system of seaports, making Saint Petersburg the main link between the Baltic sea and the rest of Russia through the Volga-Baltic Waterway.

          Interesting facts:

•    The city’s latitude is 59 degrees 57' North, which is the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska.
•    Its longitude is 30 degrees 19' East.
•    The time zone is: GMT +3, Eastern +8.
•    There are 2 airports: Pulkovo-2 International, Pulkovo-1 Domestic
•    The vegetation period is 100 days a year.
•    The city is based on 42 islands, 65 rivers and canals which criss cross the city.
•    We wear coats 10 months a year.
•    There are 300 bridges in Saint-Petersburg.
•    Saint Petersburg is the first city in Europe that was planned before being built.
•    There are 100 museums in Saint Petersburg and more than 30 theatres