The monograph is devoted to the restoration of the dominants of such an original and fruitful phenomenon of the Russian cultural tradition as the “St. Petersburg myth” - primarily as they are seen through the prism of the city’s interaction with its key cultural partners, namely the “German world” and “French civilization” . Particular attention is paid to the diverse cultural contacts that mediated the inclusion in the “St. Petersburg myth” of elements that historically preceded the city on the Neva, the substrate cultures of the Baltic-Finnish peoples, the Swedes, as well as the Byzantine spiritual tradition.