St. Petersburg. Russia

Built from scratch by Peter the Great, St Petersburg was built to be a display of imperial Russia’s status in the world. Fine-tuned by the ruler's successors, St Petersburg grew to be the Romanovs’ showcase city and Russia’s first modern city, a status it has retained despite the capital moving back to Moscow. Despite all that it has gonethrough throughout its history, St Petersburg still feels every bit the capital of the empire, a city largely frozen in time.