The Companion Guide to St Petersburg was first published in spring 2003 to coincide with the tercentenary of the founding of the city.Most visitors to St Petersburg have heard at least four facts about it: that it is 'the Venice of the North'; that a vast number of workmen, perhaps a hundred thousand, died in the early years of its construction; that it was built on uninhabited marshes; and that it was founded on territory which did not and never had belonged to Russia. These 'facts' have one feature in common: none of them is true. Few people can say this with more authority that Kyril...