Croatian roots of the name of Petrograd

for Sankt Peterburg in Russia


Darko Žubriić, 2025




Krunoslav Heruc (1850-1928)
Advertisment of a bookseller in Sankt Peterburg
(except Slavic editions, sells also Ukrainian, Roumanian, French and English editions):

Krunoslav Jurjevič Geruc
Slavjanskij knigoprodavc-posrednik
S.-Peterburg.
Nevskij pr., dom No 88, kv. 80.


Krunoslav Heruc



Antun Vrgoč (1881-1949) after his return from Siberia back home to Croatia in 1920



Krunoslav Heruc prepared this form in order to collect the names of those in favor of
changing the name of Sankt Peterburg to Petrograd, i.e., Петроград.
Published by Antun Vrgoč in his 1937 autobiography Moje uspomene na Prvi svjetski rat on p. 279.
Heruc mentioned in the accompanying text that the name of Petrograd was already employed
by all south and westerns Slavs, as well as Červonorusy.
The etnicity of Červonorusy (Red Russians) is mentioned in line 8, which refers to present-day Ukrainians.
Many thanks to rev. Oleh Hirnyk for his explanation.

On the top of this photo, Krunoslav Heruc wrote the following by his hand:
"Ovo je moja inicijativa i bez mene ne bi bilo Petrograda, a ostao bi Peterburg. Heruc."
(This was my initiative, and without me there would be no Petrograd, and Peterburg would remain.)


On pp. 279-280 of the extensive authobiographical book by Professor Antun Vrgoč (published in Zagreb in 1937) Moje uspomene na Prvi svjetski rat we find an interesting fact dealing with Krunoslav Heruc (1850-1928), originating from the town of Križevci in Croatia, while living in Sankt Peterburg in Russia.  Heruc initiated changing the name of Sankt Peterburg in Russia to its slavicised version - Petrograd. His initative was accepted in 1914, at the beginning the First World War, and the city was left renamed to Петроград untill 1924, when it was renamed again to Leningrad (which in 1991 was again renamed back to Sankt Peterburg).

It is also worth mentioning that in Petrograd at that time (around 1914) there existed Russian - Croatian Society (Rusko - horvatskoe obščestvo; see the same source, pp. 279-280). The name of Petrogradskoe is still kept today, designating the 13th district of the city.

In the city of Križevci SE of Zagreb in Croatia, where Krunoslav Heruc was born, there is a street named in his honor.

Darko Žubrinić

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