The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998/Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso/L/Leningrad/INFOTEXT

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Capital of the Leningrad region, at the head
of the Gulf of Finland; population (1987)
4,948,000. Industries include shipbuilding,
machinery, chemicals, and textiles.
Originally called St Petersburg, it was
renamed Petrograd 1914, and Leningrad 1924.
history capital of the Russian Empire
1709-1918, it was founded as an outlet to the
Baltic 1703 by Peter the Great, who took up
residence there 1712. Leningrad was the
centre of all the main revolutionary
movements from the Decembrist revolt 1825 up
to the 1917 revolution. During the German
invasion in World War II the city withstood
siege and bombardment Sept 1941-Jan 1944.
Leningrad is notable for its wide boulevards
and the scale of its architecture. Most of
its fine baroque and classical buildings of
the 18th and early 19th centuries survived
World War II. Museums include the Winter
Palace, occupied by the tsars until 1917, the
Hermitage, the Russian Museum (formerly
Michael Palace), and St Isaac's Cathedral.
The oldest building in Leningrad is the
fortress of St Peter and St Paul, on an
island in the Neva, now a political prison.
Leningrad became a seaport when it was linked
with the Baltic by a ship canal built
1875-93. It is also linked by canal and river
with the Caspian and Black seas, and in 1975
a seaway connection was completed via lakes
Onega and Ladoga with the White Sea near
Belomorsk, so that naval forces can reach the
Barents Sea free of NATO surveillance.
Leningrad is split up by the mouths of the
Neva, which connects it with Lake Lagoda. The
site is low and swampy, and the climate
severe. University 1819.