The History of St. Petersburg Trivia Quiz

Answer: Peter and Paul Fortress

Peter and Paul Fortress was built on Hare Island in the Neva River. In addition to being the primary defense of St. Petersburg, it also served as a prison for political prisoners until the Russian Revolution in 1917. It was converted to a museum in 1924.

Answer: Peterhof Palace

Peter the Great named a lot of places and buildings after his patron saint (and by extension himself.) The Peterhof Palace today refers to a series of buildings that make up the Peterhof Palace Complex. Areas and sights in the Peterhof Palace Complex including the Samson Fountain, many garden areas and the Grand Palace, a palace completely decked out in classic French architectural style. Monplaisir is a palace on the grounds. It can be found in the Petergof neighborhood.

Historically, the Peterhof Palace at the time of Peter the Great was magnificent, but not as much as it is today with several more palaces and gardens being added throughout the centuries. The complex was taken by Germans during World War II and much of its features were destroyed and part of it was even blown up. It was restored completely by the city's 300th anniversary in 2003.

Answer: Elizabeth

Elizabeth was born Elizaveta Petrovna. Although she was not her father's heir, the young woman was able to overthrow her infant cousin Ivan VI when his regent died. Elizabeth had the vast support of the Russian guards and nobility and they were handsomely rewarded during her reign with increased power locally. Despite having no experience or knowledge on how to lead her empire, Elizabeth used her wit and advisors to successfully support Maria Theresa of Austria in her fight against the Prussians in the War of Austrian Succession. The Seven Years' War was less successful for Elizabeth as she was forced to raise the already high taxes that were in effect.

Today, Elizabeth is regarded as one of the most popular Russian royals, even in places were the royals are still vilified. She was generally seen as an ambivalent ruler and is famous for having no executions during her reign, although she did order the murder of her cousin Ivan VI should he plan a coup, something that did happen after her death.

Answer: The Golden Age of the Russian Empire

This time period is also sometimes called the Russian Renaissance as it saw a revitalized St. Petersburg in the area of arts and sciences. Catherine the Great established the Smolny Institute, the first public university for women in Europe. She was also responsible for modernizing Russia's economy and for leading Russia into an era when it became a leading European power. She crushed rebellions and invasions from the Ottoman Empire and expanded Russian territory, including Alaska.

Her reign, however, was not all peachy. Many rebellions broke out because of high taxation and because serfdom was widespread. Critics also claimed she relied heavily on advisors and very few of her ideas and policies were actually hers. She had many lovers and she often appointed her suitors to high positions they were not qualified for. Nevertheless, Russia grew in strength and importance during her reign from 1762-1796.

Answer: Nicholas I

Tsar Alexander I had died suddenly under mysterious circumstances. Rumors spread that he had actually not died and became a monk instead. Either way, there was dispute about which brother would succeed him. The Royal Guard had supported Constantine, who eventually refused the throne.

The Royal Guards refused to recognize Nicholas as emperor and stormed Peter's Square with about 3,000 men, significantly fewer than expected. Nicholas struggled to subdue the weak rebels because of the icy conditions until the rebels fled to the Neva River, which was frozen and dispersed when fired upon.

Answer: Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

Alexander II was assassinate on March 13 1881 while on his way to his usually Sunday visit to Mikhailovsky Manege, which now serves as a sports complex, for military roll call. On the way, a suicide bomber failed to kill the emperor but a second one succeeded. Alexander II was injured and brought to the Winter Palace where he died. He was killed by members of the Narodnaya Volya, socialist supporters opposed to a monarchy.

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built over the location of the bombing that killed Alexander II. It has the famous Russian onion domes and sits on the Griboedov Canal. The church closed during the Russian Revolution in 1917 and was ransacked then and again in World War II. During World War II, it was used as a morgue because of the high death rates from combat and starvation. Afterward, it was locally called the Church of the Savior on Potatoes because it was used as a produce warehouse.

Answer: Duma

The Revolution of 1905 was characterized by massive workers' strikes throughout the city. In addition, there were also revolts led by students and by the peasants, all of whom felt the government was ineffective in dealing with their needs and desires. The military also revolted after Russia's devastating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.

As a result, Nicholas II established the State Duma, Russia's representative legislative body. Almost half of the seats were represented by peasants, giving them substantially more power over the nobles who only occupied about a third of the seats. The Duma only met four times between 1906-1917. Although the Duma was powerful, it could not pass laws without the tsar's consent and vice versa. This State Duma was dissolved in 1917 after Nicholas II and the Romanovs were overthrown.

Answer: Leningrad

The name was changed to honor Lenin who had played a key role in the revolution to overthrow the Romanovs. Lenin had died on January 21 of that year. The name change also signified a change from tsarist autocracy to Communist dictatorship and was designed to discourage any uprisings. It was also a way to get a way from the memory of the Russian Royals because the old names were associated with Peter the Great.

It was during this time after the tsar was overthrown that the Russian capital was moved to Moscow temporarily but it ultimately stayed there. Today, St. Petersburg, once Russia's first city, is seen as its second city behind Moscow.

Answer: A young girl who wrote a diary during the Siege of Leningrad

Tanya Savicheva lived during the 29-month Siege of Leningrad by Germany during World War II. During the siege, Germany had cut off supplies in the city and millions of people died from starvation, freezing to death or were murdered. Everyone in Tanya's family died within the span of six months (Dec. 1941 - May 1942) except for her brother Mikhail, who was not in Russia at the time, and her sister Nina, who was believed to have been killed the year before but who had actually been evacuated.

The only way into Leningrad was via the Road of Life on Lake Ladoga but this was constantly bombed and attacked by Germany. In August 1942, Tanya was evacuated and brought to an orphanage. However, she was very sickly and died on July 1, 1944. Her diary entries can be read at the Museum of Leningrad History and at the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery. Her most famous entry simply reads "Everyone died. Only Tanya is left". It is said that her diary was used as testimony during the Nuremburg Trials but this is unproven.

Answer: Anatoly Sobchak

During his tenure as mayor, Sobchak sought to restore St. Petersburg to its former glory and succeeded in restoring a number of famous buildings and monuments. He narrowly lost reelection in 1996.

Sobchack died mysteriously while campaigning for Vladimir Putin in 2000. He apparently died of a heart attack at the exact same moment two other people also died of heart attacks.