Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject located in Northwestern Federal District of Russia on the Neva River at the east end of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.
Founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703, it was capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1712-1728, 1732-1918). St. Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is Russia’s second largest and Europe’s third largest city (by city limit) after Moscow and London. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. The city, as federal subject, has a total area of 1439 square km.