Get to know Russia (ep. 1)
Hello! A sudden idea occured to me, and I decided to try making a series of posts about the cities of my country. Idk how long it will be and if I will describe all the possible regional centres, but still it seems a great opportunity to learn more about this large and diverse piece of land (for me too).
Saint Petersburg | Санкт-Петербу́рг
Main historical milestones:
Founded on 27 May 1703 by Peter the Great, the first Russian Emperor.
Was the capital of the Russian Empire until the revolutions in 1917.
Survived the siege of almost 900 days during the World War II (more precisely, the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945).
Is now the second largest city in Russia (after Moscow) and is considered a special kind of federal subject - the city of federal importance.
Saint Petersburg wasn’t always called like this. Surely, Tsar Peter wanted to be closer to Europe, and that’s why he gave his new fortress on the Neva River a foreign name: Sankt Peterburg, or “the city of Saint Peter” (who was the patron saint of Peter I).
Times changed. World War I began in 1914, and Tsar Nicholas II announced that the city would be called Petrograd (the Peter’s city) in order to get rid of German words “Sankt” and “burg”. But this name didn’t get much popularity among the citizens.
After the death of Vladimir Lenin (one of the leaders of the October Revolution) in 1924, it was decided that the city should be renamed after him. This is how Leningrad appeared on the maps.
This name was used right until 1991 when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Then through the referendum the city got its first name, Sankt-Peterburg, back.
Nicknames: Northern Capital, City of White Nights, etc.
Three popular sights (chosen randomly)
1) The Palace Square and the Winter Palace
2) Peter and Paul Fortress
3) Peterhof (a large palace and garden complex located near the city of St Petersburg)
Everybody in Russia knows about the Moscow-Petersburg rivalry. These two cities are shown as complete opposites, and there are tons of jokes about it. Moscow’s image is of a hard-working, busy, arrogant place, always full of people and literally never sleeping. Petersburg is, on the contrary, a calm and laid-back one, a bit too slow and sometimes moody.
And there exists so-called “Petersburg slang” (@russlangblr asked me about it) which is also usually compared with the same words in Moscow. Let’s have a look at some petersburgish phrases:
turtleneck (piece of clothing): водола́зка (M) - бадло́н (StP)
donut *: по́нчик - пы́шка
curb (of the pavement): бордю́р - поре́брик
front door (usually in a block of flats): подъе́зд - пара́дная
shawarma: шаурма́ - шаве́рма
chicken (meat): ку́рица - ку́ра
*I’m speaking only about the kind having a hole, with powdered sugar on top and without any filling (considered a Petersburg specialty)
And there are many many more but these are the most famous, in my opinion.
This is it! I hope the post was interesting and informative, please give your feedback <3
