St. Petersburg, or Sankt Petersburg, has long stood as Russia's link to the culture and personality of its European neighbors - a window to the west, so to speak. While Moscow enjoys long-standing status as the Russian Federation's seat of political and military might, regal St. Petersburg is most definitely the country's heart and soul. Designed on a grand scale as per the wishes of Peter the Great, the city is noteworthy for its beautiful 18th and 19th century Czarist architecture, wide boulevards, Venetian-style canals, and arched bridges. St. Petersburg served as Russia's capital city for more than 200 years, and despite heavy collateral damage suffered during both the Revolution and World War II, subsequent years of neglect, and a name change (it was Leningrad for the eight decades of communist rule), the city continues to be a source of pride for the Russian people, a symbol of the greatness that was Czarist Russia. With its flashing spire and golden hue, Picturesque Admiralty, a building belonging to the Higher Naval Academy (and completed in the 1820s), stands as the city's architectural center. Extending from it are St. Petersburg's three main avenues: Gorokhovaya Ulitsa, Voznesensky Prospekt, and Nevsky Prospekt, renowned as St. Petersburg's Fifth Avenue or Champs Élysées. Other noteworthy sites include the Peter & Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island, the city's oldest structure and a prison for the likes of Alexei Petrovich (Peter the Great's Son), Dostoevsky, Gorky, and Alexander Lenin (brother of Vladimir Illyich Lenin); Dvortsovaya Ploshcad, St. Petersburg's glorious Palace Square, where troops fired on peaceful demonstrators in what was called the Bloody Sunday clash of 1905 (an event that helped spark the Bolshevik Revolution); Letny Sad, known as the Summer Garden, home to Peter the Great's "modest" summer palace and one of the city's favorite places to take a stroll; the Russian Museum of Art, located at Mikhailovsky Palace and home to a myriad of 19th century artwork; and the Winter Palace, site of the famous Hermitage Museum, which boasts more than 3,000,000 works of art and is St. Petersburg's most visited attraction.