Petrograd

3693

Petrol

fied when their minute structure is perfectly
retained in some mineral substance. Fossil
wood may be so impregnated with mineral
substances that when sliced and examined
under the microscope all the woody cells and
vessels are clearly seen. See FOSSILS; FOSSIL
FORESTS.

Petrograd, formerly St. Petersburg,
changed in 1924 to Leningrad in honor of
Lenine, the Soviet leader, city, Russia, in the
government of the same name, capital of the
former Russian Empire, and one of the larg-
est and most important cities of Europe. It
is situated at the head of the Gulf of Finland,
at the mouth of the River Neva, in 59° 57'
N. lat. and 30° 20' E. long.; 400 miles north-
west of Moscow. It has railway connection
with the head of the Volga and Moscow,
with Poland and Western Europe, the Baltic
provinces, and Finland. The main avenue of
communication with the rest of the kingdom,
however, is the Neva, which is connected by
canals with the Upper Volga, and has thus
become the mouth of the immense basin of
Russia's chief river and its many tributaries.
The Neva enters the city from the southeast,
near the Alexander Nevski Monastery, flows
n. for a short distance, then turns sharply to
the w., and divides into three main branches.
Five bridges cross the main stream, or Great
Neva, of which the most important are the
Alexander, Nicholas, and Troitzki (Trinity);
and a series of semi-circular drainage canals
empty into it on the eastern bank.

The climate is raw, damp, and exceedingly
changeable. There is a short summer, with
the hottest weather in July, and a long,
damp winter, with an average temperature of
15° r. during January, the coldest month.

The main section of the city lies e. of the
Neva, and has for its center the Old Ad-
miralty, situated on the river bank. Three
streets radiate from this in easterly, south-
easterly, and southerly directions: the famous
Nevski Prospect, the city's chief thorough-
fare, and one of the finest streets in the
world; the Gorokhovaya Ulitsa; and the
Voznesenskii Prospect. Between the river and
the Moika Canal lies the Admiralty Quar-
ter. A spacious square planted with trees en-
closes on three sides the massive structure of
the Admiralty Building, founded by Peter
the Great in 1705, and rebuilt in stone in
1806-23. To the e. of it rise the magnificent
mass of the Imperial Winter Palace, an im-
mense quadrilateral of red stucco; the Her-
mitage, the semicircular buildings formerly
housing the General Staff and containing the

military achives of Russia and the official
quarters of the ministries of war, finance
and foreign affairs; and the Alexander col-
umn, a shaft of red granite nearly a hundred
ft. high. To the w. of the Admiralty Building
is Peter Square, with Falconet's famous
equestrian statue of Peter the Great, erected
by Catherine n. (1729-96). To the s. is the
great Cathedral of St. Isaac (1819-58), the
most sumptuous of all orthodox and Slavic
churches.

The island of Petrograd has the old fortress
of St. Peter and St. Paul, facing the Winter
Palace, and containing the Mint and the
Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, in which
the emperors of Russia are buried. The great
number and variety of its educational, sci-
entific, literary, artistic, and technical institu-
tions made Petrograd the intellectual center
of the Empire. Before the collapse incident
to the Revolution, Petrograd was the second
industrial city in Russia. The great manufac-
turing establishments, situated chiefly on the
outskirts, included metal works, iron foun-
dries, sugar refineries, distilleries, breweries,
ship and boat building yards, printing plants,
and manufacturies. Vessels up to twenty-
eight ft. draught can dock, unload, and re-
ceive cargo at the mouth of the Neva. The
chief exports are agricultural and dairy prod
ucts and timber. The population of Petro-
grad increased from 220,000 in 1800 to i,-
870,000 in 1908. In 1941 the population was
3,191,000.

The territory at the mouth of the Neva
was settled by the Swedes in 1300. The found-
ations of the fortress of St. Peter and St.
Paul, the nucleus of St. Petersburg, were laid
in 1703, and in 1712 the city was formally
created the imperial capital. After destructive
fires in 1736 and 1738, St. Petersburg was
reconstructed with the Winter Palace as its
center, and under Catherine n. (1729-96) be-
came one of the leading capitals of Europe.
The marshes were drained by Alexander i.
(1801-25), and railroads were constructed to
join the capital with other parts of the Em-
pire by Nicholas I. (1825-55). The city was
the center of the Russian political crisis in
1905 (see RUSSIA, History). Since then civic
improvement has been rapid. Shortly after
the outbreak of the Great War of Europe,
in 1914, the name of St. Petersburg, because
of its German origin, was changed to Petro-
grad. In.March 1924 it became Leningrad,
in honor of Nikolai Lenine.

Petrography. See Petrology.

Petrol, the name applied in Great Britain