Built on the Neva River by Peter the Great in 1703 as the Window to Europe, the "Northern Capital" remains a huge tourist attraction with its gorgeous architecture, and many ways, the cultural center of Russia.
But the "white-stone" city (Moscow Kremlin's walls were once white, not red) regained the title in 1918, when Vladimir Lenin moved his government into the old capital as a matter of prudence and precaution, and the seven hills boast plenty of their own flavor and history.