Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad It is often called just Petersburg (Russian: Петербург) and is informally known as Piter
Founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on May 27, 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1713–1728, 1732–1918). Saint Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow with 4.6 million inhabitants, and fourth in Europe after Istanbul, London and Moscow. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural centre, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea.
