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Saint Petersburg

/ (ˈpiːtəzˌbɜːɡ) /

noun usually abbreviated to: St Petersburg

a city and port in Russia, on the Gulf of Finland at the mouth of the Neva River: founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built on low-lying marshes subject to frequent flooding; capital of Russia from 1712 to 1918; a cultural and educational centre, with a university (1819); a major industrial centre, with engineering, shipbuilding, chemical, textile, and printing industries. Pop: 5 315 000 (2005 est)Former names: Petrograd (1914–24), Leningrad (1924–91)
a city and resort in W Florida, on Tampa Bay. Pop: 247 610 (2003 est)

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Words nearby Saint Petersburg

Saint Paul's, Saint Paul's Cathedral, Saint Peter Port, Saint Peter's, Saint Peter's Basilica, Saint Petersburg, Saint Phalle, Saint-Pierre, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Pölten, Saint-Quentin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

City in northwestern Russia, situated at the head of the Gulf of Finland on both banks of the Neva River and on the islands of its delta; the second-largest city in Russia; a major port, and one of the world's leading industrial and cultural centers.

notes for Saint Petersburg

The first Russian city modeled after European cities, it was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, who wanted to make it his “window to the West”; renamed Petrograd at the start of World War I and then Leningrad in 1924 in honor of Lenin.

notes for Saint Petersburg

Because it is so far north, St. Petersburg experiences “white nights” for three weeks in June when the sky never completely darkens.

notes for Saint Petersburg

It is the location of the historic Winter Palace, which was sacked during the Russian Revolution but later became the Hermitage Museum.

notes for Saint Petersburg

With the collapse of communism, the city was renamed St. Petersburg.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.