Peter the Great
While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg in 1703, in Ingermanland (a province of the Swedish Empire that he had captured). It was named after his patron saint Saint Peter. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. Between 1713 and 1728 and in 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia.
Saint Petersburg
An admirer of everything German, Peter the Great originally named the city, Sankt-Peterburg (; note that the Russian name lacks the letter "s" between "Peter" and "burg"). On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial government renamed the city Petrograd (), meaning "Peter's city", in order to expunge the German name "Sankt" and "Burg". On 26 January 1924, shortly after the death of Lenin, it was renamed to Leningrad (), meaning "Lenin's City". On 6 September 1991, the original name, Sankt-Peterburg, was returned. Today, in English the city is known as "Saint Petersburg". Local residents often refer to the city by its shortened nickname, Piter ().