CITY LEGENDS


Foundation of the city
 On May 6, 1703, during inspection of the Yenisaari island, Peter the First suddenly stopped, cut two strata of turf , put them on the ground crosswise and said: Here the city is to be founded". Then he started to dig the ditch, where the box graven from the stone was placed ...       [Foundation of the city]


"On the bank of bleak waves …"
 Fascinated by these Pushkin's lines we might get an opinion that Saint Petersburg territory before foundation of the city was a marshy, covered by woods, outback desert ...       ["On the bank of bleak waves …"]


Legend of name
 Most part of townsfolk are absolutely convinced that the city is called in honor of its great founder Peter the First. This belief might not considered a legend but qualified as common aberration based on the lack of knowledge of the facts and on coincidence of names, except for explicit wish of many of town dwellers to see in the initial name of the city the name of its founder ...      [Legend of name]


Finnish legends about foundation of the city
Petersburg was built on profundity by the bogatyr. He built a first house of his city - and profundity swallowed it. The bogatyr builds the second house - and it is subjected to the same fate…The bogatyr does not droop, he builds the third house, and the third house is swallowed by the evil profundity. Then the bogatyr fell into a muse ...
     [Finnish legends ...]