Location from civilization by Firaxis Games / 2K
Peter the Great's masterpiece — a European-style city built in a Russian swamp as a declaration that Russia had joined the modern world.
Saint Petersburg is Peter the Great's greatest monument to his own will. He chose a swampy, frozen, hostile site specifically because it gave Russia access to the sea — to the trade routes and naval power that Peter had decided Russia needed. He built it by conscripting labor from across the empire, and tens of thousands died in its construction. The result is a city that looks like it was shipped in from Amsterdam or Venice. Under Peter, it is filling with German engineers, Dutch shipbuilders, French artists, and Italian architects — all invited by the tsar to come modernize Russia in his image.
A city of canals and Baroque palaces on the Gulf of Finland, built on marshy islands connected by bridges. The Winter Palace gleams yellow and white on the Neva riverbank. The streets are wider and more geometric than any city in Russia — they were planned on paper before they were built. In winter, everything is snow and ice and grey Baltic sky.
Also known as: Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Petrograd, Peter's City, Leningrad (later)