Russia’s north city of St. Petersburg joins Constantinople in modern day Turkey in the club of historical cities with three names. Just like Constantinople was once Byzantium and then Istanbul, the too-German sounding St. Petersburg changed shortly before the Bolshevik Revolution to Petrograd. After the rise of the communist party it again was renamed, to Leningrad. With the communist era over, Russian authorities were quick to throw off the name of the once national hero.

On this day, September 6, in 1991, with both the Germans and the Soviets now gone, Leningrad was once again restored its original name, in honor of Peter I, who carved out the northern territory where his city now stands in wars against Sweden and Finland.

Having gone through three different dynasties — from the tsarist era to communism and now modern Russia — in just about a century, St. Petersburg retains a very eclectic spirit. Tsarist splendor still abounds, with the art collection of the Hermitage, the former Winter Palace of the Tsar easily rivaling the Louvre in Paris; and the extensive metro system — a product of the communist times — taking citizens and tourists around the city with all the efficiency of the London Underground.