Reuben Zorgias, age 13, of Wilmington, Del., for his question:
IS LENINGRAD A VERY OLD CITY?
Leningrad is the second largest city in Russia. It also ranks second to Moscow among Russia's industrial cities and has the country's best equipped port. The city was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great.
During the years, the city has had three different names. Peter the Great, the Russian ruler who raised the nation to the rank of a great power, named the city Saint Petersburg. When Russia went to war against Germany in 1914, the name was changed to the Russian name of Petrograd. This means "Peter's City." The Russians did this to get rid of the German ending "burg." Then the Communist government gave the city its present name when Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died in 1925.
There is some serious talk in Russia these days that the city may soon go back to its old name of Petrograd.
Much of Leningrad's present day beauty can be attributed to Peter the Great. He not only made the city the capital of Russia, but also turned it into the intellectual and social center of the Russian Empire.
Most of the city is on the southern bank of the Neva River with the remainder covering several islands formed by branches of the river's delta. Leningrad is famous for its wide boulevards and for its beautiful palaces and handsome public buildings.
About 365 bridges connect the various parts of Leningrad. Most of these bridges cross narrow canals.
Nevsky Prospekt is the name of the city's wide main thoroughfare. On this avenue is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, with its semicircular colonnade of Corinthian columns. It now contains the Museum of Religion and Atheism of the Academy of Science.
Also on this street is the former Imperial Library, which is now the Public Library, and the former Anichkov Palace, which is now a children's recreation center.
Leningrad has about 50 fine museums with the spectacular and famous Hermitage probably the best known.
Leningrad lies along the Baltic Sea at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, about 400 miles northwest of Moscow. It is about as far north as Anchorage, Alaska. It is the northernmost city in the world with a population of more than a million people.
The city's Winter Palace faces the Neva River. Built in baroque style between 1754 and 1762, it is a huge building 500 feet long and 385 feet wide. It was the winter residence of the czars until 1917. When fully occupied, the Winter Palace accommodated 6,500 persons and was the largest royal palace in the world.
The Winter Palace is now an extension of the Hermitage.
Leningrad is Russia's leading port. A ship canal built in 1885 connects the port of Leningrad with Kronshtadt on the Gulf of Finland and the White Sea Baltic Canal links the city with Belomorsk on the White Sea.