Damascus vs St. Petersburg

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Damascus ( də-MASS-kəs; Arabic: دِمَشْق, romanized: Dimašq [diˈmaʃq], Syrian Arabic: [dɪˈmaʃʔ] is the capital of Syria; it became the country's largest city in the early 2010s, after the decrease in population of Aleppo during the struggle for the city. It's colloquially known in Syria as aš-Šām (الشَّام) and titled the"City of Jasmine" (مَدِينَة الْيَاسْمِين Madīnat al-Yāsmīn). Damascus is a major cultural centre of the Levant and the Arab world. The town had an estimated population of 2,079,000 as of 2019. In south-western Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.7 million people (2004). Embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 feet ) above sea level, Damascus encounters a dry climate because of the rain shadow effect.

The Barada River flows through Damascus. Damascus is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. First settled in the 2nd millennium BC, it was selected as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. Following the success of the Abbasid dynasty, the chair of Islamic power was transferred to Baghdad. Damascus saw its importance decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain substantial value from the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Today, it's the seat of the central government and each the government ministries. As of September 2019, eight years to the continuing Syrian Civil War, Damascus was appointed the least livable city in the worldwide Liveability Ranking.

Source: Wikipedia

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Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербург, tr. Sankt-Peterburg, IPA: [ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk] (listen)), formerly known as Petrograd (Петроград) (1914–1924), and later Leningrad (Ленинград) (1924–1991), is a city on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. It is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow. With a population of roughly 5.4 million residents, it is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most-populous city on the Baltic Sea, as well as the world's northernmost city with over 1 million residents. As an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it is governed as a federal city. The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress, and was named after apostle Saint Peter. Saint Petersburg is historically and culturally associated with the birth of the Russian Empire and Russia's entry into modern history as a European great power. It served as a capital of the Tsardom of Russia and the subsequent Russian Empire from 1713 to 1918 (being replaced by Moscow for a short period of time between 1728 and 1730).

After the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks moved their government to Moscow.Saint Petersburg is known as the "Cultural Capital of Russia", and is one of the most important tourism centers in the country. The city received over 15 million tourists in 2018, and is considered an important economic, scientific, and cultural centre of Russia and Europe. In modern times, the city has the nickname of the "Northern Capital" and serves as a home to some federal government bodies such as the Constitutional Court of Russia and the Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation. It is also a seat for the National Library of Russia and a planned location for the Supreme Court of Russia, as well as the home to the headquarters of the Russian Navy, and the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world, and the Lakhta Center, the tallest skyscraper in Europe.

Source: Wikipedia