120 km far from St. Petersburg and 30 km off the border with Finland there is a town called Vyborg. Its history dates back to 1293 when the Swedes founded the Vyborg castle here (translates from Swedish as «Holy town»), although there was a settlement on this place even earlier. Vyborg preserved a number of monuments of the old times — a knight’s castle on an island, the Old Town with its houses made of boulders, the Clock tower and the Council Hall, ancient fortifications and ancient protestant churches. There are five fortresses on the town’s territory that make Vyborg the unique European town. Those are the actual Vyborg Castle, the earth-made fortress Annenkron, the Round Tower and the Pantserlaks Bastion, which are the remains of the «Horned» Fortress, and fortifications of the Mannerheim Line. The Vyborg Castle hosts annual staged joists and medieval music festivals. There is also the landscape park Monrepo that descends to the bay. Every year the park attracts visitors of the folk festival and various exhibits.
Vyborg District – one of the largest in the region by area and population. Together with a water area of the Gulf of Finland area totals 11,336 square kilometers, with the population of nearly 206,000 people.
On the territory of the municipality “Vyborg region” of Leningrad region located 13 municipal units – 7 town and 6 country ones.
Important geopolitical position on the border of Russia and the European Union and in the immediate proximity of St. Petersburg, the second largest metropolis in the country, is a key factor in the growth and development of the Vyborg district. Today it is a major industrial and tourist center in the North-West of Russia.
