Talk:Saint Petersburg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WikiProject Featured articles in other languages has identified Saint Petersburg as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the German,  Finnish or Romanian language Wikipedias.

Saint Petersburg is either included in the Wikipedia CD Selection or is a candidate for inclusion in the next version (the project page is at WPCD Selection). Please maintain high quality standards, and if possible stick to GFDL and GFDL-compatible images.

This page has been selected for Version 0.5 and the release version of Wikipedia. It has been rated B-Class on the assessment scale. It is in the category Geography.

[edit] Unused Image

Featured on Template:March 5 selected anniversaries (may be in HTML comment)

Waterfront from across the Neva: a classic image not yet being used

[edit] Automatic Translation Cleanup

The recent addition by 62.78.138.226 from May 3, 2003 is the automatically translated text from Russian Wikipedia. Meanwhile I shall not attempt merging it with the original text of the article, only rewrite it in more or less readable English. Iorsh 22:08 23 May 2003 (UTC)

[edit] United States - Russia Naming Issues

I think this page should, like Rome, Paris and Athens, be mainly about the Russian city. jheijmans

I agree - in fact the "link" to the Russian Saint Petersburg doesn't even work

It is not all that obvious that "Saint Petersburg" means the one in Russia to most people. The one in Florida is probably nearly as commonly meant, or even MORE commonly meant.

How perfectly ridiculous. I don't think anyone outside the US would so mean unless they had a vacation home in Florida. The one in Russia is a great home of the arts, seat of the Hermitage and longtime capital of Imperial Russia. As well say that the most famous Frankfurt is in Kentucky. (Yes, I know it's spelt differently.) user:Montrealais

Also, the most famous Cairo is in Georgia, and you say it KAY-row.

An aside: I live in Florida, and I've always seen Saint Petersburg, Florida written St. Petersburg, Florida instead.

I for one was not particularly aware there was a S(ain)t Petersburg in Florida. (The only non-Russian one that comes to mind is the one in Missouri, which is fictional.) --Brion

If you're talking to me, I was being heavily ironic.  :-)

For 70 Years, the Russian city wasn't even called "St. Petersburg." It was "Leningrad"! I just did a Google search on "Saint Petersburg" and of the first 10 hits (thus the most popular ones) 5 referred to the one in Florida and 5 to the one in Russia. We should note that the audience for Wikipedia is English-speakers, and in the English speaking world there are far more Americans and Canadians (yes, a lot of Canadians vacation in Florida) than Europeans. (I'm not sure what "St. Petersburg" unmodified would mean to Australians, the only other major English-speaking group in the world!) To consider St. Petersburg in Russia as THE "St. Petersburg" is about of a piece as considering Boston, England or Memphis, Egypt as THE "Boston" or "Memphis" (How many people even know there ARE such places as Boston in England or Memphis in Egypt? But yes, they were there first!) -- BRG

Clearly we need some way to distinguish between:

• Leningrad, the St. Petersburg in Russia
• Saint Petersburg, Florida
• and the fictional place in Hucklebury Finn.

The question is: is one of these usages of such primacy that it should get the best spot? Or should Saint Petersburg be a disambiguation page that shows the differences and requires the reader to click again for the one they wanted? --Ed Poor

Americans are not the only people in the world, BRG. Saint Petersburg in Russia is simply of greater historical and international significance than St. Petersburg, FL. - user:Montrealais

I honestly hope North Americans aren't as ignorant of geography and history as BRG suggests, but if they are, well, shouldn't an encyclopedia attempt to educate them instead of reinforcing their regionalism? I think Saint Petersburg, Russia should get the lead spot, due to both historical and current international significance. Wesley

I am an American, and I have absolutely no idea why anyone would want a raw link to Saint Petersburg to go to some town in Florida whose sole claim to fame appears to be a Salvador Dali museum. Russia it is. --Brion 18:16 Sep 13, 2002 (UTC)

It seems to be common for USAns to think anything in the USA is automatically better known throughout the world than anything outside the USA. For example, someone claimed a single street in Columbus, Ohio was better known throughout the world than Gaston Lagaffe. JIP | Talk 11:13, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A Proposed Solution to the Naming Issues

ALC Washington suggests:

First, why St. Petersburg, Florida is more important than the above discussion would lead us to believe:

• While I agree that Saint Petersburg, Russia, is the more historically important "St./Saint Petersburg, Florida" I think that St. Petersburg, Florida is has sufficient political significance and conspicuity to merit some changes. For those unfamiliar with the American St. Petersburg, the city is one of the most politically important locations in the United States, because it is known to be a very crucial "battleground" in the swing state of Florida-- hence making congressional and legislative elections there more competitive, and prompting U.S. Presidential candidates to make multiple visits there during campaigns. Furthermore, the St. Petersburg Times is the newspaper with the largest circulation in large state of Florida (over 333,000, twenty-third in the United States overall). Combined again with the political significance of the area, this has generated widespread acknowledgement that the St. Petersburg Times has influence which outsizes even its circulation. Beyond that, there are major league sports teams and the Salvador Dali museum, and it is of course a very popular vacation destination for American, British, and German tourists. Easy dismissal of these facts would be just as regionalist as BRG's dismissal above of the significance of the Russian city.
• In a search of the English-language Google for "St. Petersburg", the first fifty-three results yielded three pages that related to neither city (one about the St. Petersburg Paradox, and two about a board game), and an even twenty-five related to both the Russian and American city. So the first fifty relevant results were evenly split between the two towns.
• In a similar search of the English-language Google for "Saint Petersburg", the first fifty relevant references produced forty-four related to the Russian city and sixteen related to the American city.

A Proposed Solution

• The two cities do in fact have different official names. Saint Petersburg, Russia may occasionally be abbreviated as "St. Petersburg," but its proper name uses the full spelling, and this full spelling is still frequently used.
• On the other hand, the official and formal name of St. Petersburg, Florida is and has been "St. Petersburg," rarely and incorrectly spelled out.
• In Wikipedia, writing out "Saint Petersburg" and pressing "go" should continue to automatically lead directly to the article on the Russian city, still with a link to the current disambiguation page at the top of the page. The current disambiguation page would give the Russian page sole "above the fold" ("Saint Petersburg is a city in Russia. It may also refer to...")
• However, writing out "St. Petersburg" and pressing "go" should instead lead directly to a new, second disambiguation page, which would read "St. Petersburg" may refer to two cities..." giving both "above the fold" prominence.

If you have any questions about the idea, please feel free to ask me on my talk page. Otherwise, please respond below. ALC Washington 20:18, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Responses and Discussion of the Proposal

Reply here.

• I have created a disambiguation page at St. Petersburg, with redirect at St Petersburg. Re the title of this article, I can only recall occasions when I've seen "St. Petersburg". I find that "Saint Petersburg" interrupts my reading, even if it is the official/formal name. Imagine reading a letter where "Mr.", "Mrs.", "Dr.", etc. are written in full. Regards, David Kernow 11:48, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

• No, ALC Washington's proposal makes perfect sense.

Call a spade a bloody spade: it is SAINT PETERSBURG, the Russian city. At least the link on the Mariinsky Theatre page today takes one to the correctly-spelled Russian city.... Haven't looked at where else it appears.

Vivaverdi 01:39, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

• respectfully object. It is the blooper of nostalgic fathers-founders of American Odessa, Athens, Moscow, &c., &c. Unlike founders of New York, they chose to ignore the issue that these names will always be secondary, a reflected light. So deal with it, without robbing the original city. As for "On the other hand, the official and formal name of St. Petersburg, Florida is and has been "St. Petersburg," rarely and incorrectly spelled out.", try google ["saint petersburg" + florida], and you will see that you are somewhat wrong: over 6,000,000 hits is hardly "rarely and incorrectly". mikka (t) 21:24, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
• object per mikka. --Ghirla ^-трёп- 13:41, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
• OBJECT! this is ridiculous. both 'st. p' and 'saint p' shall point to the ex-capital city of 5 million, not a sweaty resort town of 250 thousand. the.crazy.russian (T) (C) (E) 15:35, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

I have added a second link to St. Petersburg, Florida to the top, similar to what has been done with Birmingham. When you have a use that is the most common worldwide, a use that is by far the second most common, and several minor uses, it makes sense to use this convention. Kirjtc2 02:25, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

• Object per mikka. MaxSem 08:19, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Map and administrative regions

It seems I have got incomplete information about St. Petersburg administrative regions (raions). Many places state that St. Petersburg has 21 administrative regions and those 13 are just the urban ones, for instance here: http://nw.priroda.ru/spb/img/map_big.gif http://www.galenfrysinger.com/saint_petersburg_russia.htm

I used tourist maps and tourist guide information and drew a map with administrative districts on it, similar to my Shanghai map. If someone has a definite knowledge about administrative regions in StPb, please let me know. Otherwise I will visit local library this week and complete the maps and fill up the rest of the districts using the information I have available. I apology for the incomplete data, but lets hope I get it corrected very soon.

I will add a new link clarifying (problemizing) the administrative districts in St. Petersburg: http://www.leontief.ru/rnsc/eng/nwregions/nwr4.htm -- this says 21 "raions" (or independent settlements) and 111 administrative municipalities. The administrative system gets complicated. I am going to focus on those 21 "raions", since I have no information source for those 111 municipalities whatsoever.

Per OKATO, there are 20 administrative districts in the city. I made the corrections to the article. If you need information on lesser municipalities, leave me a note on my talk page. Or, I can write the Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg modeled after similar articles (e.g., Administrative divisions of Dagestan). Let me know if you need assistance. Thanks.—Ëzhiki (erinaceus europeaus) 16:45, Nov 18, 2004 (UTC)

St. Petersburg district map is now in the Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg article.

[edit] On Notable/Famous people

The section should be dropped or moved off to a separate page. Pretty much every notable Russian, who lived in 18th and 19th century is related to SPb. SPb was a capital. It's a city now with nearly 5 million people, like a small country. There are way too many notable/famous residents. Such lists can work for small towns but for large cities/capitals they simply pollute the artile with a list nearly the same as the List of Russians. --Gene s 06:12, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC) Besides, the Category system can address such lists much cleaner than the "lists". --Gene s 06:14, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Translation_into_English#German-to-English

I've just taken on a request to translate and merge in extra information from the German article into the English Saint Petersburg, and have started the first paragraph where there's nothing to add (I will soon translate and merge in the second paragraph though) except I'm puzzled by the differing population figures. The German article states a population almost 700 thousand lower, while as far as I can make out from Babelising (I can't read Russian) the :ru: article:

Population of 4436,7 thousand inhabitants (5003,8 thousand inhabitants,
including the populated areas, subordinated to city hall)

but no date is given.

Other sources give:

• http://www.bartleby.com/61/22/S0032200.html Population: 4,328,851.
• MSN Encarta has (2001 estimate) 4,627,800.
• http://www.travelspb.com/ (2004 assumed) has 4.8 million
• ru: states 4436,7 thousand but no date
• http://map.rin.ru/cgi-bin/main_e.pl?Region=piter 2000-2004 has 4728 thousand

Even the historical population charts in both languages vary for 2002: 4,700,000 versus 4,159,635 in the German article. Could the larger number be including the suburbs? -Wikibob | Talk 23:54, 2005 Feb 13 (UTC)

According to 2002 Census, the population of St. Petersburg is 4,661,219. This includes the population of all of the administrative districts under the city jurisdiction. The "suburbs" population (by which, I believe, you mean the population of Leningrad Oblast) is not included. I woul recommend using Census data as they are used across all of the Russian federal subjects to create a basis for proper stats comparison.

If you need detailed stats by administrative districts, let me know.—Ëzhiki (erinaceus europeaus) 21:41, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for that, I've used the 2002 census data as you suggest.

I've also added some more images, and translated and merged in a couple of paragraphs. A rough summary and details can be seen in User:Wikibob/Saint Petersburg if anyone cares to check and improve. My translating is slow and somewhat weak in places.

The German article structure is somewhat different from that of this article, here is an English translation of the German one:

1 The Name of the City
2 Geography
3 History
 3.1 The city in the swamp
 3.2 The blooming of the city
 3.3 Rebellions, assassination attempts, revolutions  
 3.4 Leningrad
 3.5 After the fall of the Soviet Union
4 Politics
5 Population
 5.1 Population growth
6 Culture
 6.1 Literature
  6.1.1 The "Petersburger Text"
 6.2 The Hermitage
 6.3 Architecture
  6.3.1 Building and monument conservation
  6.3.2 Building style
  6.3.3 Tour of the city
 6.4 Petersburg in Film
7 Education
8 Economy (Industry?) and Transportation
 8.1 Economy
 8.2 Transportation
9 Twin towns
10 Personages
11 Literature
 11.1 English
 11.2 Literature by Petersburgers
12 Weblinks

Contrast this with the English article that starts like a tourist guide and is missing certain sections I would consider important. Before making such a drastic change, what are the views of others? Should we relocate the sections to mirror the German structure, or mirror one of these: London, Berlin, or leave it as it is? -Wikibob | Talk 03:33, 2005 Mar 6 (UTC)

Information that's present in the German article and missing from the English article is quite interesting and important. I do not see why anyone would complain if you translate it and add to the English article. I do not believe the article on St. Petersburg is a part of any series with a rigidly defined structure, so no matter in which (more or less logical) order you add sections, it should work fine. I would guess that eventually the articles on all Russian cities, St. Pete included, will conform to a standard template/layout, but currently it is not the case.

This is strictly my personal opinion, of course. If any one has any complaints, I assume they will voice them here.—Ëzhiki (erinaceus europeaus) 16:33, Mar 7, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] from the section Population

As for religions, 10 per cent of the inhabitants are atheist, Russian Orthodox.

This makes no sense. Does it mean 10 are athiest, the rest are russian orthodox, or that the two positions have 10% each? Sabine's Sunbird 03:58, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Was religious affiliation even asked in the 2002 census? This paragraph right below the census numbers at least gives the impression, but the first links I found with google make me believe it was not, like Russian census will not survey religious affiliation (at the bottom of page), "Both the patriarchate and the state committee agree that confessional identification is a private matter of the citizen and the inclusion of such a question in the census would constitute infringement on freedom of conscience."

Any numbers from after 1937 I found were vague and coming from religious communities. Considering this, and if I'm not interpreting the assumed percentages completely wrong, would it be safe to say, "Although there are no exact numbers from any census since 1937, a majority of inhabitants is believed to be Orthodox Christians, a significant percentage atheist, and (..)"? --Nikai 09:18, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cultures of St. Petersburg

If possible, could you add some new cultures that have recently developed? Like architecture? These updates would be a big help for future readers. I got a little confused. Thanks. :-|

[edit] List of St Petersburg leaders

I moved the unprocessed list from the article space here. Please wikify and insert into a separate article:

[edit] Leningrad during the Russian S.F.S.R.(1918 -1991)

• From 16 May 1703 -------------> Saint Petersburg
• From 19 Jul 1914 -------------> Petrograd
• From 26 Jan 1924 -------------> Leningrad
• From 6 Sep 1991 -------------> Saint Petersburg

First Secretaries of the Communist Party:

• Mar 1918 - Apr 1919:Pyotr Savelyevich Zaslavsky
• Apr 1919 - Nov 1919:Moisey Markovich Kharitonov (b. 1887 - d. 1948)
• Nov 1919 - Feb 1921:Sergey Semyonovich Zorin (b. 1891 - d. 1937)
• 21 Feb 1921-14 Dec 1921:Nikolay Aleksandrovich Uglanov(b.1886-d.1937)
• 15 Dec 1921 - Mar 1922:Ivan Nikitovich Smirnov (b. 1881 - d. 1936)
• Mar 1922 - Dec 1925: Pyotr Antonovich Zalutsky (b. 1888 - d. 1937)
• Dec 1925 - 7 Jan 1926:Grigory Yeremeyevich Yevdokimov(b.1884-d. 1936)
• 8 Jan 1926 - 1 Dec 1934:Sergey Mironovich Kirov (b.1886 - d. 1934)
• 15 Dec 1934-28 Dec 1944: Andrey Aleksandrovich Zhdanov(b.1896-d.1948)
• 5 Jan 1945-8 Mar 1946:Aleksey Aleksandrovich Kuznetsov(b.1905-d.1950)
• 9 Mar 1946 - 15 Feb 1949:Pyotr Sergeyevich Popkov (b.1903-d.1950)
• 16 Feb 1949 -19 Jan 1950:Vasily Mikhaylovich Andrianov(b.1902-d.1978)
• Jan 1950 - Jul 1952:Frol Romanovich Kozlov (b. 1908 - d. 1965)
• Jul 1952 - Apr 1953:Aleksey Ivanovich Alekseyev (b. 1911)
• Apr 1953 - Nov 1953: Nikolay Grigoryevich Ignatov (b. 1901 - d. 1966)
• Nov 1953 - Jul 1956: Ivan Konstantinovich Zamchevsky(b. 1909-d. 1979)
• Jul 1956 - Dec 1957: Ivan Vasilyevich Spiridonov (b. 1905 - d. 1991)
• Dec 1957 - Jan 1960: Nikolay Nikolayevich Rodionov(b. 1915 - d. 1999)
• Jan 1960 - Feb 1971: Georgy Ivanovich Popov (b. 1912)
• Feb 1971 - Apr 1978: Boris Ivanovich Aristov (b. 1925)
• Apr 1978 - Jan 1984: Yury Filippovich Solovyov (b. 1925)
• Jan 1984 - Jan 1986: Anatoly Panteleyevich Dumachev (b. 1932)
• Jan 1986 - Jul 1989: Anatoly Nikolayevich Gerasimov (b. 1931)
• 12 Jul 1989 - 24 Aug 1991:Boris Veniaminovich Gidaspov (b. 1933)

Chairmen of the Executive Committee:

• 25 Oct 1917 - 11 Dec 1917:Lev Davydovich Trotsky (b. 1879 - d. 1940)
• 13 Dec 1917 - 12 Jul 1926:Grigory Yevseyevich Zinovyev(b.1883-d.1936)
• 12Jul 1926 - 7 Jan 1930:Nikolay Pavlovich Komarov (b.1886-d.1937)
• Apr 1930 - Jan 1937:Ivan Fyodorovich Kodatsky (b. 1893 - d. 1937)
• Jan 1937 - Mar 1937:Vasily Ivanovich Shestakov (b. 1891 - d. 1956)
• Sep 1937 - Oct 1938:Aleksey Nikolayevich Petrovsky (b. 1889- d. 1939)
• Oct 1938 - 6 Jan 1939: Aleksey Nikolayevich Kosygin (b.1904-d. 1980)
• 6 Jan 1939 - 9 Mar 1946:Pyotr Sergeyevich Popkov (s.a.)
• 11 Mar 1946 - 22 Feb 1949:Pyotr Georgiyevich Lazutin (b.1905-d. 1949)
• 2 Mar 1949 - Jun 1954:Pyotr Fyodorovich Ladanov (b. 1904 - d. 1989)
• Jun 1954 - 17 Jun 1962:Nikolay Ivanovich Smirnov (b. 1906 - d. 1962)
• Jun 1962 - Aug 1966:Vasily Yakovlevich Isayev (d. 1977)
• Aug 1966 - Dec 1972:Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Sizov (b. 1913 -d. 1972)
• Jan 1973 - Jun 1976:Vasily Ivanovich Kazakov (b. 1927)
• Jun 1976 - 26 Apr 1983:Lev Nikolayevich Zaykov (b. 1923 - d. 2002)
• 26 Apr 1983 - 23 May 1990:Vladimir Yakovlevich Khodyrev (b. 1930)
• 23 May 1990 -12 Jun 1991:Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Schelkanov(b. 1939)

Mayor:

• Jun 1991 -25 Dec 1991:Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak (b.1937-d. 2000)

[edit] Saint Petersburg after 1991

• From 26 Jan 1924 ----------> Leningrad
• From 6 Sep 1991 -----------> Saint Petersburg

Mayor :

• Jun 1991 -5 Jun 1996:Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak (b. 1937 -d. 2000)

Governors :

• 5 Jun 1996 - 16 Jun 2003:Vladimir Anatolyevich Yakovlev (b. 1944)
• 16 Jun 2003-15 Oct 2003:Aleksandr Dmitriyevich Beglov(acting)(b.1956)
• 15 Oct 2003 - present: Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko (f) (b. 1949)

[edit] False population statistics

I've romoved an image about population development, which wrongly stated that current population of Petersburg is only 4m. According to the official government site the current population of the city is around 4,6m.

...There´s a web page that provides a comprehensive set of population data and relative statistics:

http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&dat=32&srt=pnan&col=aohdq&geo=-4

Just see the first paragraph: "Europe's largest cities and towns and statistics of their population".

It's calculed for the current year, 2006: Saint Petersburg's population in the current year is 4 014 710, according to that website.

Do you really think that some strange website is a more reliable source than the government of the city? Moreover, at the top of the article in the main fact table we state that the population is actually 4,6 million. I think this is confusing and we should rely on the official governmental sources.

[edit] SanktPiterburh?

"The original name of SanktPiterburh was actually Dutch" Where does that statement come from? The Dutch name of the city is actually "St Petersburg", just like it is in English; perhaps in the 18th century Dutch it would have been Sint Pietersburgh or something like that. "Sankt" is German, not Dutch JDH 11:22PM, 2 February 2006

It was Sankht Peterburkh, which Peter the Great wanted to call it as he admired all things Dutch. He even wanted the Russians at the court to speak Dutch, for obvious reasons this was unpopular. After a time the city name was 'Russified', if you will, into "Sankt Peterburg", which is how they say it in Russia - James

no, it's pronounced in russian [sankt pyoterburk] Fixifex 05:21, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox map

Why do we have a map of Leningrad in the infobox and not a map of modern Saint Petersburg? Can anyone please tell me the logic of that? Come on, Wikipedia can do better! I suggest Image:Leningrad area78.jpg is replaced with Image:Saint petersburg districts map.png. --Thorri 18:15, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Go ahead. --Ghirla | talk 08:00, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I have changed Image:Leningrad area78.jpg to Image:Saint petersburg districts map.png. --Xeon 04:36, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Instrument manufacture

I'm doing a disambiguation link cleanup for "instrument", but I don't know what kind of instruments are appropriate here -- measuring instruments, musical instruments, industrial instruments? I'd appreciate it if someone with more knowledge would change the link for instrument as appropriate. Pimlottc 09:20, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Literature

St. Petersburg features extensively in the novels of Henri Troyat. Henri Troyat was the author of over 60 books and a member of the academie francaise. Unless someone can give good reasons why his novels are not important enough, I would suggest that User:Alex_Bakharev's deletion be undone. 139.165.200.31 22:10, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Saint or St.?

Personally I think this article should be at St. Petersburg as this is the usual English way of representing such names. Also using the 'Google test', a search for "St. Petersburg" Russia yields 26,000,000 hits while "Saint Petersburg" Russia gives only 4,950,000. — SteveRwanda 12:40, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree, St. Petersburg is the more common name for the city and according to the Wiki Naming Conventions that should be selected as the name. Vox Populi (TSO) 23:13, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Would people please refer to the long discussions which took place way up at the top of the page. It looks pretty clear which way the majority feel about this issue.

Vivaverdi 23:17, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Fine. TSO1D 14:07, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Map

We can't see where this city is located. You better take the map on the German article.

[edit] its a rather limited article

it focuses FAR too much on the historic beauty of the city and does not describe the modern aspects of life in the city at all. clearly the reason for this is that the city is a world historical landmark but before this article can be moved to a FA or anything the modern life in the city has to be addressed.--Greg.loutsenko 13:17, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I would agree. Friends of mine on holiday reported back that "St. Petersberg is difficult to get to and they don't let you walk around the city unescorted." and "They are really picky, and don't yet understand about hospitality at all." Perhaps this could be put into context? --Hooperbloob 16:59, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notable People

In the list for notable politicians "John Quincy Adams" is listed and is linked to the page for the American president. Either this name doesn't belong (since President Adams was born in Massachusetts, as well as the US Constitution only allowing native born people to run for President) or the link needs to be directed to the correct "John Quincy Adams." I realize that the list also includes those people who lived in the city but could find no mention anywhere of Pres. Adams living there. UPDATE = he "served as minister to Russia from 1809 until 1814" - whatever that is (some sort of diplomat I guess).

[edit] Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia

Hello. The article on the last Grand Duchess of Imperial Russia, Olga Alexandrovna Romanova, is complete of facts, biographical information, and is furthermore packed with the needed information. Now the information and technical matters within the article must be resolved in order to promote the article to Featured Article status. Thank you for your time and please visit the article here (Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia) and make comments on how to improve the article at its Wikipedia: Peer Review page here: [1]. Thanks again. -- AJ24 23:54, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] St. Petersburg docks

The illustration of St. P's docks is not well chosen. Those 2 cranes could be from anywhere between Boston and Seattle. --72.60.10.20 21:06, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I assume going the longer way around the globe? TSO1D 21:09, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Population: More questions

The text has, "People are permitted to move to St. Petersburg only if they can show they have a room and a job or if they are married to an inhabitant of St. Petersburg."

Who are "People"? If a St Petersburg woman married someone from, say Peru, could that Peruvian come and live in St Petersburg?

And who is it who gives permission?

The text also has, "Officially the city is inhabited by 89.1% Russians. 2.1% Jews, 1.9% Ukrainians, 1.9% Belarusians ..."

This implies that Jews are not Russians. Is that so?

--Robert P. O'Shea 03:50, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the Jews & Russians. Listing Jews & Russians like that in the same demographic makes no sense to me - one is a religion, the other a nationality.

The other issue with the demographics is that they're wrong. They get listed twice, once in a paragraph, the other in a table. The former lists 1.9% Ukrainian, the other 3% - which is it?

"but the figures for 1959 to 2002 come from census returns" - someone want to link to said census returns? I've been able to find the 2002 Russian census (perepis2002.ru) - the demographics table uses 1989. Perhaps someone should update? All I can find on the Russian site is national demographic breakdown - not for St. Petersburg. Of course, it doesn't help that I don't speak Russian. Deathanatos 01:08, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

The finnish article for this page also includes the Jew/Ukrainian statistic, but all I can find is the 1.9% figure for Ukrainian. (So perhaps the 3% is the wrong one.) Again, I don't speak finnish either. Deathanatos 01:33, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Jews actually are recognized as a nationality; was that a joke, or what? The 2002 Census showed 36,570 Jews in St. Petersburg, or .78% of the city's population. I'll update the population and the demographics section to straighten out the inconsistencies.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 16:57, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bad Caption

The Caption on the image called "Rathause Petersburg" is incorrect. It mentions buildings in the art nouveau style. The building depicted is not an art nouveau building in any way, but rather an eclectic neo-baroque one.Fixifex 05:23, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Images

If you are unsure about the copyright status of an image please do not use it here. We have a lot of images already and if you put a copyvio image instead of the free one and then the copyvio is deleted, the quality of the page deteriorates. abakharev 02:44, 13 October 2006 (UTC)