St. Petersburg - The Venice of the North, Russia (30/418)

The "Venice of the North" with its numerous canals and more than 400 bridges is foremost the result of a vast urban project begun in 1703 under Peter the Great. Known later as Leningrad (in the former USSR), it is closely associated with the October Revolution. Its architectural heritage reconciles the opposite styles of baroque and pure neo- classicism, as seen in the Admiralty, the Winter Palace, the Marble Palace and the Hermitage.