Snow in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great on May 27, 1703. In order to establish a naval power, it became the capital of the Russian Empire from 1712 to 1918, and was the center of the three revolutions of the empire - the First Russian Revolution, the Russian February Revolution, and the October Revolution. St. Petersburg has been renamed several times due to the historical background: after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, St. Petersburg was renamed "Petrograd" in response to the "de-Germanization" trend at the time; after Lenin's death, it was renamed "Leningrad". During the Second World War, Leningrad was besieged by the German army for 872 days, resulting in the death of up to 1.5 million people from starvation. After the war, the city was awarded the title of "Hero City", and three of its subordinate cities were awarded the title of "City of Military Honor" - Lomonosov, Kronstadt, and Kolpino. On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Leningrad was renamed St. Petersburg after a referendum. In 2013, St. Petersburg set a strategic development goal for 2030, when it is estimated that there will be 5.9 million citizens. The urban agglomeration centered on St. Petersburg covers an area of 1,439 square kilometers, second only to the Moscow urban agglomeration, which was restructured and expanded during 2011-2012. After Russia annexed Crimea, St. Petersburg became the second smallest federal entity after Sevastopol. The historic center of St. Petersburg and its related monuments are listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Tourism is one of the core industries of St. Petersburg, which has many cultural attractions, such as the Summer Palace, the Museum of Ethnology, the Smolny Palace, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Russian National Library, the Russian Museum, the Peter and Paul Fortress, Victory Square, Kazan Cathedral, St. Isaac's Cathedral, and other attractions. The Hermitage Museum (including the Winter Palace) is one of the four major museums in the world.