ST. PETERSBURG City Passport
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ST. PETERSBURG City Passport St. Petersburg is located at the eastern head of the Gulf of Finland (an arm of the Baltic Sea). The geographical coordinates of the city center are 59°57' North and 30°19' East. Situated at the junction of the sea, river and land-based routes, St. Petersburg is Russia’s gateway to Europe, its strategic center closest to the countries of the European Community. Inland waters occupy about 10% of the city area. The total area of the city (together with areas under municipal jurisdiction) is 1439 km2. The city population is 4.568,00 people (the estimate of Petrostat as of 1.01.2008). St. Petersburg is the second largest city of the Russian Federation (after Moscow). St. Petersburg is the administrative center of the Northwest Federal district. It has significant natural resource potential, highly developed industry, dense transportation network, and links the 1 Russian Federation with the outside world via the sea ports in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The city is the seat of: Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; territorial offices of federal ministries and agencies; representative offices of 26 constituent entities and 3 cities of the Russian Federation; 52 consulates of foreign countries; representative offices of international organizations: the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Information Office of the Nordic Council of Ministers, representative offices of international foundations and unions, UN organizations; branch offices of international cultural institutions: the German Goethe Institute, the French Institute, the British Council, the Institute of Finland, the Dutch Institute, the Danish Institute of Culture, the Israeli Cultural Center, the Italian Institute of Culture; representative offices of Stockholm and Helsinki; chambers of industry and commerce and business centers of foreign countries. Culture St. Petersburg has a great historical and cultural heritage which ensures social stability and harmony in inter-ethnic and inter-confessional relations, enhances creative potential, spiritual evolution of individuals and the society as a whole. Culture makes an important contribution into the economic renaissance of the city, creating new jobs, attracting investment, developing new sectors – cultural tourism and artistic crafts. St. Petersburg is a cultural center of world importance with 7783 sites of cultural heritage in it, which amounts to almost 10% of all monuments protected by the state in the territory of Russia. An impressive system of arts and humanities centers operates in the city: museums, theaters, libraries, art galleries and concert halls. The Hermitage, the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Theater, the Russian National Library, the Russian Museum, the Peter-and-Paul Fortress, the Maly Drama Theatre, the St. Isaac’s Cathedral place St. Petersburg among the top ten cities of the world most attractive for visiting. UNESCO has included the historic downtown part of St. Petersburg in the World Heritage List. Culture is the strategic potential of St. Petersburg integration into the Russian and world economy as of a multi-functional city of European standards. Cultural heritage sites St. Petersburg is a major cultural center of worldwide and national importance, where unique objects of cultural and historic heritage are concentrated: 7783 cultural heritage sites in St. Petersburg; over 80% of historic landmarks belonging to the 18th and 19th centuries are originals; St. Petersburg ranks the eighth in the list of the most popular and attractive travel destinations in the world (reported by UNESCO); 2 St. Petersburg, as an area with 36 integrated sites bringing together some 4,000 of outstanding architectural, historical and cultural landmarks, is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The following cultural institutions function in St. Petersburg: Museums Museums and conservation areas of the municipal system: 44; Federal museums: 25 (with branches); Departmental museums: 20; Other museums: 65. Total: 154 Libraries Federal libraries – 1; District libraries – 188; Libraries of the Trade Union system – 42; Departmental libraries 34. Total: 265 Theaters Municipal theaters – 27; Federal theaters – 6; Theaters sponsored by the regional administration located in the city – 4. Private theaters – 25. Total: 62 Concert production organizations Municipal concert production organizations – 14; Federal concert production organizations: -- 2. Total: 16 Culture and leisure institutions Municipal culture and leisure institutions -- 28 Departmental culture and leisure institutions – 27 Total: 55 Educational institutions Municipal secondary professional educational institutions – 5; Music and artistic schools and schools of art – 64. Total: 69 Parks Municipal parks of culture and leisure – 5; Movie theaters Municipal movie theaters – 16, including 9 for children; Cinema associations – 2; 3 Statistics of events in the cultural life of St. Petersburg in 2006 – 2007. Events 2006 2007 Exhibitions 866 940 - of contemporary art 609 626 - from museum collections 257 314 New productions 128 130 Art festivals 249 259 Science St. Petersburg is a major center of scientific research and education in Russia (accounting for more than 11% of the total scientific and educational potential of the country). Brief description of the scientific potential of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg is a major center of academic, applied and university science which has capacity to generate important achievements in science and technology in the most diverse areas: hydrogen power engineering, microsystems, nano- and biotechnologies, new materials and other critical areas of research. The scientific potential of the city has the following distinctive characteristics: availability of unique scientific schools, high-skilled researchers, engineers, technicians and production workers capable to maintain development of research and technologies and to participate in prestigious international projects; capacity to combine perspective directions of fundamental and target-oriented researches and development focused on particular results; capacity to support highly dynamical production process, which manifests in continuous renewal of the component production (items under research, development, and in production; technologies, circuitry and structural design, information flows etc.). The city innovation organizations use virtually all available form of funding of the innovation processes: federal and regional programs, foreign grants, venture financing, and funds of industrial facilities. About 92 thousand researchers work in the city: of those, 8.8 thousand are Doctors of Sciences, 25.7 are Candidates of Sciences, and 14.2 thousand are aspirants and doctorates. Spheres of science and innovation activities in St. Petersburg are represented by: 453 scientific institutions including 65 state academic scientific institutions, of which 41 belong to in the system of the Russian Academy of Sciences; 14 scientific 4 institutions of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences; 4 scientific organizations of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences; 2 research institutions of the Russian Academy of Arts; 2 research institutions of the Russian Academy of Education; 1 research institution of the Russian Academy of Education; 1 research institution of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; 1 research institution of the Russian Academy of architecture and construction; 405 branch research institutions including 148 state research institutions and 257 research institutions in the business sector; 111 university institutions; 13 innovation and technological parks; 9 centers of joint exploitation of unique equipment. The list of major research and development institutions of St. Petersburg is shown in Appendix 1. Major directions of research, scientific - technological and innovation activities, pilot projects, testing and training of personnel in priority areas were established by the Russian Federation Government Verdict №449 as of 23.07.2005 “On Assignment of the Technology Park Status of the Russian Federation to the City of Petershof” for the Petershof Science and Technology Park (Naukograd) of the Russian Federation in correspondence with the priority directions of the science, technological and techniques development of the Russian Federation Information on the structural development of the Russian Federation Naukograd in Petershof is shown in Appendix 2. Brief information on St. Petersburg higher educational institutions and secondary vocational schools The system of higher professional education comprises: 48 public civil universities and colleges; 18 military academies, universities and colleges; 45 private universities and colleges; 450 thousand students receive training in public and private universities and colleges. The faculty of universities and colleges of St. Petersburg numbers about 30,3 thousand people, among them 4,900 doctors of science, 15,5 thousand candidates of science. About 18 thousand students from abroad are undergoing training in the system of higher professional education. The list of public universities and colleges is shown in Appendix 3. Public colleges and schools of secondary vocational education have: 81,000 students; Faculty of 5,100, including 27 doctors of science, 322 candidates of science. 5 Education The system of public education in St. Petersburg is a full-scale and multi-faceted