Ganja is Azerbaijan's second largest city, with a population of around 332,600. It was named Elisabethpol in the Russian Empire period. The city regained its original name, Ganja, in 1918 when Azerbaijan declared its independence. However, after incorporation into the Soviet Union its name was changed again in 1935 to Kirovabad and retained that name through most of the rest of the Soviet period. In 1989, during perestroika, the city regained its original name.