This article addresses the spectaclity of St. Petersburg as a fundamental ontological problem, moving beyond traditional semiotic or historical analyses. The authors argue that St. Petersburg’s identity is not defined by static images or symbols but by a dynamic and conflictual process of “spectacle-making”. They identify a gap in existing research, which often treats the city’s visuality as a completed phenomenon, and propose a novel synthetic methodology combining Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and Nick Land’s philosophy of process and decay. The core of their approach is the application of Harman’s fourfold object model (Real Object-RO, Real Qualities-RQ, Sensual Object-SO, Sensual Qualities-SQ) to conceptualize “Petersburg-ness” (RO) as an elusive essence that perpetually escapes being perceived in full. Its material foundations (RQ) and sensory manifestations (SQ/SO) are in constant tension with this core. Land’s concepts help analyze this process as a “machine” producing and dismantling meanings under the pressures of modernity. The article provides a systematic comparative analysis of five diverse cultural case studies: Alexander Sokurov’s film “Russian Ark,” Olga Bychkova’s “Piter.fm,” Konstantin Moguchy’s theatrical production “Three Fat Men,” Anna Basner’s novel “The Theseus Paradox,” and a series of educational videos about Peter the Great. Each case represents a distinct strategy for engaging with the city’s spectaclity—from meditative immersion and media noise deconstruction to carnivalesque explosion and pedagogical myth-making. The central conclusion is that the spectaclity of St. Petersburg is an “eternal performance” born from an insurmountable ontological rift between its unknowable essence (RO) and its perceptible qualities (SQ/SO). The city’s vitality and the diversity of its representations are explained precisely by this endless conflict between attempts to capture its image and its inherent resistance to final definition. The study shifts the discourse on urban spectaclity from description to ontology, offering a new framework for understanding complex urban spaces in contemporary culture.