Passport of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg (St. Petersburg) is situated at the easternmost tip of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. The exact geographical coordinates of the city centre are 59°57' North Latitude 30°19' East Longitude. St. Petersburg, located in the node of several major sea, river and land transportation routes, is the European gate of Russia and its strategic centre closest to the border with the European Union. Inland waters constitute about 10% of the city territory. The total area (with administrative subjects) covers 1439 km². The population amounts to 5 225.7 people (as of January 1, 2016 by the data from the federal statistical agency “Petrostat”). St. Petersburg is the second (after Moscow) largest city of the Russian Federation and the third (after Moscow and London) largest city in Europe. St. Petersburg is the administrative centre of the Northwestern Federal Region which is characterized by considerable potential in natural resources, well developed industry, a fine traffic network and furthermore provides contact of the Russian Federation with the outside world via the sea ports of the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The city hosts the following institutions: • The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; • Regional offices of federal ministries and departments; • Representations of 24 entities and 2 cities in the Russian Federation; • 65 consular offices of foreign countries; • Offices of international organizations: CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Economic Community, representatives of international organizations, funds and associations, UN agencies and representative offices and branches of international banks. • Offices of international cultural institutions: the Goethe German Cultural Center, the French Institute, the Finnish Institute, the Dutch Institute, the Danish Cultural Institute, the Israeli Cultural Center and the Italian Cultural Institute. • Polish House and Finnish House, representatives of Stockholm and Helsinki; • Representatives of Chambers of commerce and business centers of foreign countries. Culture St. Petersburg possesses a considerable historical heritage which facilitates social stability and harmonizes international and interdenominational relationships, encourages spiritual growth and fulfillment of the creative potential of an individual and the society as a whole. Culture makes a sizeable contribution to the economic revival of the city by creating workplaces, attracting investments, developing new areas of industry: cultural tourism and creative industries. St. Petersburg is a major world cultural centre featuring 6807 world heritage sites (historical and cultural venues) including 1125 federal cultural heritage sites (almost 10% of all the cultural venues under the governmental protection in the Russian Federation). The city accommodates a wide network of cultural establishments: museums, theaters, libraries, as well as exhibition and concert halls. It is thanks to the Hermitage, the Mariinsky Theater, the Russian National Library, the Russian Museum, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Maly Drama Theatre, St. Isaac’s Cathedral that St. Petersburg is listed among the 10 cities considered most attractive for tourists. The historical centre of St. Petersburg is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Culture is considered strategic potential for the development of St. Petersburg as a multifaceted city of European standards integrated in the world economy. Cultural Venues St. Petersburg is a major center of world and Russian culture featuring sites of unique cultural and historical heritage. • Cultural heritage sites under governmental protection – 6807; • Of them 1125 are sites of federal importance; • Over 80% of the venues and exhibits from XVIII-XIX centuries are originals; • St. Petersburg ranks 8 in the list of the most popular and attractive cities in the world (by the information of UNESCO); • The territory of St. Petersburg with its 36 complex sites comprising around 4000 distinguished architectural, historical and cultural venues is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The following cultural establishments operate in St. Petersburg: Museums - 147 • Museums and open-air museums under local management: 27 (with branches); • Museums under federal management: 26 (with branches); • Departmental museums: 31; • Other: 63. Libraries – 271 • Library under federal management - 2; • Library of the Academy of Sciences of Russia – 1; • Libraries under local management - 197; • Libraries of institutions and organizations – 71. Theatres - 124 • Theatres under local management - 30; • Theatres under federal management - 5; • Theatres under regional management performing in the city - 3; • Non-state supported theaters - 86. Concert halls - 14 • Concerts halls under local management - 12; • Concert halls under federal management - 2. Cultural and recreational facilities - 53 • Cultural and recreational facilities under local management - 27; • Cultural and recreational facilities under other agencies – 26. Educational Institutions - 71 • Secondary vocational education under local management - 7; • Music, design and art schools – 63; • School of Music under federal management – 1. Parks - 5 • City parks and recreation centers - 4; • Zoo – 1. Cinemas - 62 • City cinemas - 14, including cinemas for children - 4; • Non-state supported cinema network – 48. Statistics of St. Petersburg cultural events in 2013 – 2015 Events 2013 2014 2015 Exhibitions 1220 1764 2246 - Contemporary Art 773 1076 1388 - Museum Funds 447 688 858 Premieres 163 162 154 Festivals 488 605 674 Tourism Nowadays St. Petersburg is a popular tourist and holiday center which attracts more and more tourists from other regions of Russia and foreign countries. St. Petersburg was awarded the title "Europe's Leading Destination 2015" according to the World Travel Awards, and the prestigious award "European Tourism Star" as a result of the contest of tourism promoting methods in the framework of the first European Festival of "Tourism and Strategy". In the TripAdvisor rating St. Petersburg is ranked the 1st in Russia, the 9th in Europe and the 17th in the world in the category of "Destination". The Administration of St. Petersburg pays great attention to the development of tourism as a promising course of economic development of the city, which is set in “Strategy of economic and social development of St. Petersburg until 2030”. The government program “Development of Culture and Tourism in St. Petersburg for 2015-2020” is currently under implementation. Decree of the Government of St. Petersburg dated 13.08.2015 №48-rp sets services market in the tourism sphere and hotel service as the top of the list of high-priority and socially important markets to promote competition in St. Petersburg. In 2015, St. Petersburg was visited by 6.5 million tourists: 2.8 million – foreigners (an increase of 4% compared to the year 2014); 3.7 million people – tourists from the Russian regions (an increase of 3% compared to the year 2014). An important attractive feature of the city is that foreign tourists coming to St. Petersburg with tourist groups on passenger cruise ships and ferryboats can enjoy a 72-hour visa-free stay in the city. By the end of 2015 St. Petersburg was visited by 482 thousand cruise passengers, which is 2% more than in 2014. More than a quarter of all the tourists who arrived on board of cruise ships were from Germany (27%), 17% were from the USA, 11% from the UK St. Petersburg offers its guests a wide range of hotels of various types: from the 5-star category to small bed-and-breakfast hotels. At present, the total hotel room capacity of collective and individual means of accommodation in St. Petersburg constitutes over 30.5 thousand rooms. In 2016, it is planed to open two "Hilton" hotels with a capacity of 237 and 207 rooms on the territory of convention and exhibition center "Expoforum". A network of 11 information offices and pavilions of the St. Petersburg branch of State Public Establishment “St. Petersburg Tourist Information Bureau” operates in the city in order to create comfortable information atmosphere in St. Petersburg. The offices are located in the areas of vast tourist attendance and the transport hubs. Here tourists can obtain snap-apart and folded maps of the city, tourist guides, tourist information magazines and newspapers in Russian and foreign languages. Also, an Internet portal visit-petersburg.ru operates for information support of the tourists as well as a special application for mobile devices. Science St. Petersburg is one of the major scientific and educational centers of Russia accommodating over 10% of the country’s scientific potential in the form of over 300 scientific establishments, among them: 65 organizations within the Russian Academy of Sciences and other state academies, 10 state research centers, over 170 educational establishments of higher and professional education. Human resources in science and education of St. Petersburg amount to over 186 thousand employees of research facilities and higher educational establishments, 8 thousand Doctors of Sciences and over 25 thousand Candidate of Sciences. The Committee for Science and Higher Education is the authorized executive body of St. Petersburg in charge of professional education and science. The Committee for Science and Higher Education develops and implements a regional model of modernization and development of higher and secondary vocational education