The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia.

17th–18th centuries

Part of a series on the
History of Russia
Periods Prehistory  • Antiquity  • Early Slavs Rus' people pre-9th century     Rus' Khaganate     Arthania     Garðaríki 879–1240: Ancient Rus' Rurik • Baptism of Rus' • Russkaya Pravda Novgorod Land 882–1136 Principality of Polotsk 987–1397 Principality of Chernigov 988–1402 Rostov-Suzdal 1093–1157     full list... 1240–1480: Feudal Rus' Council of Liubech • Council of Uvetichi • Mongol conquest • Battle of Kulikovo Novgorod Republic 1136–1478 Vladimir-Suzdal 1157–1331 Principality of Moscow 1263–1547     full list... 1480–1917: Tsarist Russia Great Stand on the Ugra River • Time of Troubles • Zemsky Sobor • Treaty of Nystad • Petrovian reforms • 1812 Patriotic War • Decembrist Revolt • Emancipation reform • Russo-Japanese War • 1905 Revolution • October Manifesto • Second Patriotic War Tsardom of Russia 1547–1721 Russian Empire 1721–1917      Russian America 1799–1867      Grand Duchy of Finland 1809–1917      Congress Poland 1867–1915      Russian Manchuria 1900–1905      Uryankhay Krai 1914–1921 1917–1923: Russian Revolution February Revolution • Provisional Government • Dvoyevlastiye • July Days • Kornilov affair • Directorate • Constituent Assembly (election) • Bolshevik Coup • Civil War • White Guard • Red Army • Soviet-Polish War • Priamurye Govt. • War Communism • USSR • Emigrants Russian Republic 1917–1918      General Secretariat of Ukraine 1917–1918 Russian SFSR 1917–1922      Ukrainian SSR 1919–1922      Byelorussian SSR 1920–1922      Transcaucasian SFSR 1922–1922 Russian State 1918–1920      Provisional Priamurye Govt. 1921–1923     full list... 1923–1991: Soviet Era NEP • Cultural revolution • Korenization • Stalinism • Collectivization • Industrialization • GULAG • Great Purge • Great Patriotic War • Cold War • Warsaw Pact • Comecon • Crimea transfer • Era of Stagnation • Afghan War • Perestroika • Chernobyl disaster • Karabakh War • Parade of sovereignties (War of Laws) Soviet Union 1922–1991      Russian SFSR 1922–1991      Karelo-Finnish SSR 1940–1956         full list... Tannu Tuva 1921–1944 since 1991: Modern Russia August Coup • Belavezha Accords • Alma-Ata Protocol • USSR dissolution • CIS • "Near abroad" • Constitutional crisis • Privatization • CSTO • Chechen wars (1st • 2nd) • Oligarchy • Putinism • Five-Days War • Presidential terms amendments • Eurasian Economic Union • Annexation of Crimea • War in Donbas • 2020 amendments • Invasion of Ukraine (Prelude • Mass emigration • Debt default • Sanctions • Mobilization • 2022 annexation) Russian Federation 1991–present      Republic of Tatarstan 1994–present      Chechen Republic 2000–present      Republic of CrimeaA 2014–present      Donetsk People's RepublicAB 2022–present      Luhansk People's RepublicAB 2022–present      Kherson OblastAB 2022–present      Zaporizhzhia OblastAB 2022–present         full list... ^A Not internationally recognized. ^B Not fully controlled.
Timeline 860–1721 • 1721–1796 • 1796–1855 1855–1894 • 1894–1917 • 1917–1927 1927–1953 • 1953–1964 • 1964–1982 1982–1991 • 1991–present
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v t e

• 1611 – Nyenschantz built by Swedes.
• 1703
  • City founded by Tsar Peter the Great
  • Cabin of Peter the Great built.
  • Artillery museum formed.^[1]
• 1709 – Petrischule founded.
• 1710 – Saint Sampson's Church built.
• 1711 – Menshikov Palace opens.
• 1712
  • City becomes capital of Russian Empire.
  • Winter Palace built.
• 1714
  • Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences founded.
  • Summer Palace of Peter the Great built.
• 1716 – Catholic Church of St. Catherine founded.
• 1718 – Saint Petersburg Police established.
• 1719 – Summer Garden laid out.
• 1720
  • Hermitage Bridge opens.
  • New Holland Island created.
• 1721 – Ligovsky Canal constructed.
• 1724
  • Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences founded.
  • Saint Petersburg Mint founded.
• 1725
  • Peterhof Palace built (approximate date).
  • Death of Peter the Great.
• 1727 – Kunstkamera built.
• 1728 – State capital moves to Moscow from St. Petersburg.
• 1731 – Cadet Corps founded.
• 1732 – State capital moves back to St. Petersburg from Moscow, after only 4 years, and will remain there for nearly two centuries.
• 1733 – Peter and Paul Cathedral built.
• 1736 – Fire.
• 1738 – Imperial Ballet School established.
• 1740
  • Peter and Paul Fortress built.
  • Mariinsky Ballet founded (approximate date).
• 1744
  • Lomonosov Porcelain Factory founded.
  • Twelve Collegia built.
• 1748 – Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery opens.
• 1754
  • Stroganov Palace built.
  • Anichkov Palace built.
  • Transfiguration Cathedral built.
• 1756 – Alexandrinsky Theatre founded.
• 1757
  • Academy of the Three Noblest Arts founded.
  • Vorontsov Palace built.
• 1759 – Page Corps founded.
• 1762 – Winter Palace built.
• 1764
  • Hermitage Museum established.
  • Institute for Noble Maidens founded.
• 1770
  • Foundling Hospital established.^[2]
  • Moika Palace built.
• 1771 – Chicherin House built.
• 1773
  • Mining School established.
  • Volkovo Cemetery established.
• 1774 – Roller coaster pavilion built at Oranienbaum.
• 1777
  • The Karl Knipper Theatre is founded.
  • The Neva caused flooding.^[3]
• 1779 – Free Russian Theatre opens.
• 1780
  • Saint Andrew's Cathedral consecrated.
  • Chesme Church built.
• 1782 – Bronze Horseman monument unveiled.
• 1783
  • Russian Imperial Opera Orchestra formed.
  • Kamenny Theatre opens.
• 1785
  • City Duma established.
  • Hermitage Theatre opens.
  • Great Gostiny Dvor built.
  • Marble Palace built.

19th century

• 1801
  • Friendly Society of Aficionados of Elegance formed.^{[citation needed]}
  • Saint Michael's Castle built.
  • Tsarina's Meadow renamed Field of Mars.
• 1802 – Saint Petersburg Philharmonia formed.
• 1804 – Petersburg Pedagogical Institute established.
• 1805 – Russian Naval Museum established.
• 1806 – Police Bridge rebuilt.
• 1807 – Constantine Palace built.
• 1808 – Smolny Institute building constructed.
• 1810
  • Military Engineering school established.
  • Stock Exchange built.
• 1811 – Kazan Cathedral built.
• 1812 – Syn otechestva begins publication.
• 1813 – Red Bridge built.
• 1814
  • Imperial Public Library opens.^[4]
  • Narva Triumphal Arch erected.
• 1818
  • Otechestvennye Zapiski begins publication.
  • Blue Bridge built.
  • Asiatic Museum founded.
• 1819 – Saint Petersburg University formed.
• 1822 – Yelagin Palace built.
• 1823 – Admiralty building rebuilt.
• 1824 - The Neva caused flooding.^[3]
• 1825
  • December – Interregnum.
  • Decembrist revolt.
  • Northern Bee begins publication.
  • Mikhailovsky Palace built.
• 1826 – Kamenny Island Theatre building constructed.
• 1829 – General Staff Building constructed.
• 1832 – Zoological Museum established.
• 1833
  • Obvodny Canal opens.
  • Mikhaylovsky Theatre founded.
• 1834 – Alexander Column unveiled.
• 1835
  • Imperial School of Jurisprudence founded.
  • Trinity Cathedral built.
• 1836
  • Sovremennik begins publication.
  • Premiere of Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar.^[5]
• 1838 – Moscow Triumphal Gate erected.
• 1839
  • Observatory opens.
  • Bolshoi Zal built.
• 1842 – Alexander Park established.
• 1844 – Mariinsky Palace built.
• 1848 – Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace expanded.
• 1850 – Blagoveshchensky Bridge built.
• 1851
  • Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway begins operating.
  • Nicholaevsky rail terminal opens.
• 1858 – Saint Isaac's Cathedral built.
• 1860 – Mariinsky Theatre opens.
• 1861 – Nicholas Palace built.
• 1862
  • Saint Petersburg Conservatory founded.
  • New Michael Palace built.
  • November: Premiere of Verdi's opera La forza del destino.^[6]
• 1863 – Pavel Military School established.
• 1866
  • Vestnik Evropy begins publication.
  • Dostoyevsky's fictional Crime and Punishment published.
• 1867 – Khlebnikov founded.
• 1869 - Population: 667,926.^[7][3]
• 1870 – Riihimäki – Saint Petersburg Railway constructed.
• 1874 – Premiere of Musorgsky's opera Boris Godunov.^[8]
• 1876 – School of Technical Drawing founded.
• 1877 – Ciniselli Circus opens.
• 1878 – Bestuzhev Courses and Stieglitz Museum established.
• 1879
  • Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography established.
  • Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company headquartered in city.
• 1881 - Population: 861,303.^[3]
• 1882 – Imperial Music Choir formed.^[9]
• 1888 - Ship canal completed. ^[3]
• 1890
  • Saint Petersburg Prison for Solitary Confinement built.
  • Population: 954,400.^[3]
• 1893 - Premiere of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6.^[10]
• 1894 – Ves Peterburg directory begins publication.
• 1895 – Conversion of Mikhailovsky Palace into Russian Museum.^[3]
• 1897 - Population: 1,267,023.
• 1900
  • Russian cruiser Aurora launched.
  • Suvorov Museum founded.

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1905
  • January – Bloody Sunday.^[11]
  • October – Saint Petersburg Soviet formed.
  • Population: 1,429,000.^[3]
• 1907 – Electric trams begin operating.
• 1909 – Na Liteinom Theatre founded.
• 1910 – March: Soyuz Molodyozhi art exhibit held.^[12]
• 1913 – Population: 2,318,645.^[13]
• 1914 – City renamed "Petrograd."
• 1916
  • Grigori Rasputin assassinated.
  • Palace Bridge built.
• 1917
  • February Revolution begins.^[14]
  • March – Petrograd Soviet formed.
  • July Days.
  • August – Golos Truda begins publication.
  • October Revolution.
• 1918
  • State capital moves to Moscow from Petrograd.
  • Osobaya Drammaticheskaya Truppa organized.
  • Ioffe Institute established.
• 1920 – Theatrical re-enactment of Storming of the Winter Palace.
• 1921 – Art Culture Museum opens.
• 1922 – Leningrad Young People's Theatre opens.
• 1923 – Russian Museum of Ethnography opens.
• 1924 – City renamed Leningrad.
• 1928 – Circus museum opens.^{[citation needed]}
• 1929 – Young Theatre founded.
• 1931 – Komarov Botanical Institute and Leningrad Radio Orchestra established.
• 1932
  • Shosseynaya Airport begins operating.
  • Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists and St Petersburg Union of Composers founded.
  • Bolshoy Dom built.
  • Avrora Cinema active.^[15]
• 1934
  • Sergey Kirov assassinated.
  • Leningrad Secondary Art School established.
  • Premiere of Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
• 1936
  • Arctic and Antarctic Museum opens.
  • Memorial Lenin Komsomol Theatre established.
• 1938 – Museum of History and Development of Leningrad established.
• 1941
  • Siege of Leningrad begins.
  • Road of Life begins operating.
• 1942 – Russian Museum of Military Medicine founded.
• 1944
  • Siege of Leningrad ends.
  • State Puppet Theatre of Fairy Tales established.
• 1946 – Moskovsky Victory Park opens.
• 1949 – Leningrad Affair.

1950s–1990s

• 1953
  • Pavlovsky District becomes part of city.
  • Pushkin Museum established.
• 1954 – Levashovo, Pargolovo, and Pesochny become part of city.
• 1955 – Saint Petersburg Metro begins operating.
• 1962 – Saint Petersburg TV Tower constructed.
• 1963 – Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-124 Neva river ditching.
• 1965 – Population: 3,329,000 city; 3,641,000 urban agglomeration.^[16]
• 1967 – Museum of Electrical Transport established.
• 1971
  • Dostoevsky Museum opens.
  • Rimsky-Korsakov Museum established.
• 1974 – Na Fontanke Youth Theatre founded.
• 1981 – Leningrad Rock Club opens.
• 1984
  • Teatralnaya laboratoriya founded.
  • Sister city relationship established with Los Angeles, United States.^[17]
• 1985 – Population: 4,867,000.^[18]
• 1987
  • Na Neve Theatre opens.
  • Zazerkalie (theatre) opens.
• 1988 – Xenia of Saint Petersburg canonized.
• 1989
  • Komedianty Theatre founded.
  • Akhmatova Museum opens.
• 1990 – Ostrov Theatre opens.
• 1991
  • City renamed Saint Petersburg.
  • Flag design adopted.
  • Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak becomes mayor.
• 1993 – Tunnel nightclub opens.^{[citation needed]}
• 1994
  • Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg formed.
  • St Petersburg Ballet Theatre founded.
• 1996 – Vladimir Anatolyevich Yakovlev becomes city governor.
• 1997 – Toy Museum established.
• 1998
  • Politician Galina Starovoytova assassinated.
  • Nabokov Museum opens.
• 2000 – City designated administrative center of Northwestern Federal District.

21st century

• 2000
  • The 2000 IIHF Men's World Championships are held in Saint Petersburg.^[19]
• 2003
  • Aleksandr Dmitriyevich Beglov becomes city governor, succeeded by Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko.
  • Peter & Paul Jazz Festival begins.
  • Museum of Optical Technologies opens.
  • Saint Petersburg Children´s Hospice opens.
• 2004
  • Big Obukhovsky Bridge opens.
  • Sergey Kuryokhin Center for Modern Art established.
• 2005 – Gas incident.
• 2006 – 32nd G8 summit held.
• 2007 – Dissenters' March.^[20]
• 2008 – Side by Side (film festival) begins.
• 2009 – Gallery of Contemporary Sculpture and Plastic Arts opens.
• 2010
  • Yota Space art festival begins.
  • Erarta art museum established.
• 2011
  • Georgy Sergeyevich Poltavchenko becomes city governor.
  • Saint Petersburg Dam inaugurated.
  • Saint Petersburg Ring Road opens.
  • St. Petersburg International Legal Forum begins.
• 2013 – September: 2013 G-20 Saint Petersburg summit.
• 2017
  • A bombing attack hits Saint Petersburg's metro.^[21]