The last stop of Moving Baltic Sea

St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 as Russia´s gateway to Europe. It had been the Russian capital for almost 200 years, and now is still considered to be Russia's cultural and marine capital. The most “western” or “European” city of Russia has always been a centre for many political, economic and cultural processes taking part not only in Russia, but in the whole Europe.

Although over the last few years the population figures in St. Petersburg have been going down, however, it remains to be the largest city in the Baltic Sea area with around 4.5 million inhabitants. The port of St. Petersburg is considered to be one of the most important for Russia, both in terms of export and import, while its handling volumes are the highest in the Baltic Sea Area.

 

The city has many outlets to the open sea, and one of the key characteristics of St. Petersburg is the fact that it's located on approximately 60 islands, connected with around 500 bridges, many of which go up during the White Nights Period.

St. Petersburg changed its name three times over the last 100 years and hosted three Russian revolutions, witnessing the changing of political structures and social regimes. Famous for its grand architecture and cultural heritage, the White Nights, but also for dramatical floods, bad weather and soggy swamps around the city, St. Petersburg has provoked many artists of various kinds to create masterpieces in different genres.

The city has a vibrant art scene, both in terms of visual and performing arts, alongside with literary and film sectors. St. Petersburg hosts a number of film festivals, such as "Message to Man" (short, animation and documentary) and "Festival of the Festivals" (collecting the premiers from the best European festivals). The city also has a whole variety of film-viewing opportunities - from Multiplex cinemas in big shopping centers to small underground cinemas specializing on art-house films. It is also quite common to organise open-air screening and performances, especially during the White Nights period.