Peter and Paul Fortress

Places to visit inside the fortress:

1. St. John's Gate
2. St. Peter's Gate
3. Engineer House
4. Artillery House
5. Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul
6. Neva Gate
7. Mint
8. Trubetskoi Bastion
9. Commandant's House
10. Naryshkin Bastion
11. Monument to Peter the Great

Saint-Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great in 1703. To secure the approach to the Neva River, Peter the Great started with the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The fortress was designed to protect the city from the invading Swedes, and was built as an elongated hexagon with six bastions that traced the contours of the island [1, p.68].

The fortress is the oldest construction in St.-Petersburg. Today it is very popular among the tourists and has become the emblem of the city.

The Peter and Paul Fortress stands on Hare Island. When you pass the St. John's Gate (1) erected in 1740 [1, p.68], you will find yourself in front of an extremely interesting old structure, the St. Peter's Gate (2). Built by Domenico Trezzini in 1717-1718, this is the only historical and architectural monument that has come down to us almost unchanged inside the fortress [1, p.68]. The building on the left is the Engineer House (3) erected in the 1740s for the team of engineers building the fortress and on the right the Artillery Arsenal (4) built at the beginning of the 19th century [1, p.70].

In the middle of the fortress rises its most valuable architectural monument, the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul (5), the foundations of which were laid in 1712. The Cathedral was built by the architect Domenico Trezzini [1, p.70]. "The golden spire of the bell-tower, rising high above the Neva and marking Russia's exit to the Baltic Sea, dominates the architectural ensembles on the banks of the Neva" [2, p.136]. The cathedral is 121.8 meters (404 ft.) high [1, p.70]. Especially noteworthy in the cathedral's interior decoration is the 18th century carved iconostasis of gilded wood [2, p.136]. Almost all the Russian tsars, from Peter the Great to Alexander III, are buried in the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. On the left (southern) side of the cathedral you will see an archway in the fortress wall beyond which there stands one of the best architectural structures in the fortress, the Neva Gate (6). Through these gates you can go out onto the Commandant's Pier (6). In the center of the fortress your attention is attracted by the Mint (7), which was founded in 1724 [1, p.76]. From 1876 the St.-Petersburg Mint became the only place in Russia where metal money was coined [2. p.75]. The staff of the Mint made the emblems delivered to the Moon, and Mars by Russian spaceships. The Mint still produces special coins, medals and badges. Back in the 18th century the Peter and Paul Fortress became a jail - Trubetskoi Bastion (8), where the best sons of the Russian people "who fought against the autocracy were incarcerated" [1, p.76].

Besides the fortress buildings, which are of architectural interest, inside its walls you can see the permanent exhibitions: The History of St. Petersburg and Petrograd (located near the cathedral, in the Commandant's House (9) and the 18th- to early 20th century Achitecture of St. Petersburg and Petrograd (in the Engineers' House) [5, p.79].

Some interesting facts:

One who finds himself in the fortress at noon will be able to see how from the Naryshkin Bastion (10) a blank shot is fired from cannon. "It was Peter the Great himself who introduced the practice of firing a cannon from the fortress every day at noon"[3]. This tradition sprang up in the 18th century. The shot allowed the inhabitants to know exactly what time it was.

In the middle of the fortress near the Engineers' House there is a monument to Peter the Great (11). The memorial was created by Mikhail Shemyakin [4]. This statue portrays a Peter "sitting solidly in his place and exaggerates the features of his legendary physique, including his elongated, spidery fingers" [4]. There were a lot of arguments about the monument but they all have died down, and citizens love this statue. Now everyone wants to touch the memorial for good luck.