The Peter and Paul Fortress is the first building in St. Petersburg. This is how the city was founded in 1703 by Peter I. Since the territory was transferred to the Russian Empire during the war with Sweden, the fortress was built to protect against the Swedes. The fortress was founded on Hare Island, so the cannons of the fortress were supposed to defend the city from invasion along two large branches of the river. The maritime borders of St. Petersburg were supposed to be protected by the Kronstadt fortress, founded in 1704.
Well, already in 1705, the first industrial building was opened, the Admiralty Shipyard on the Admiralty Island, which in 1706 represented a fortress, to protect the territory as part of the Northern War with the Swedes. Now the Peter and Paul Fortress is an object of cultural heritage of St. Petersburg. And although now it is a museum, do not forget that this is a real fort that was ready to repel any attack.
How to get to the Peter and Paul Fortress
The Peter and Paul Fortress is located on Hare Island, which is open to the public daily from 6.00 to 21.00. The fortress itself is open to the public from 9.00 to 20.00. Two bridges lead to Zayachy Island: Ioannovsky Bridge and Kronverksky Bridge.
You can enter the territory of the island, as well as the fortress itself, on any of the bridges. Not far from the Peter and Paul Fortress is Gorkovskaya metro station, from it to the Peter and Paul Fortress no more than 5-10 minutes on foot.
You can also get here on foot: from the Admiralteisky Island through Trinity bridge. Or by Palace Bridge first to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island, and from there across the Birzhevoy Bridge along the Mytninskaya Embankment to the Kronverksky Bridge, but this route is the longest. The route map and opening hours of ticket offices and expositions can be found on the website of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Ioannovsky bridge and Ioannovsky ravelin
We got to the Peter and Paul Fortress in the easiest way - by metro. The ground lobby of the Gorkovskaya station is located in Aleksandrovsky Park, and when you go out into the street it is easy to lose your bearings and understand where to go. In this case, if your natural sense of direction is silent, then it is better to ask someone for directions or try to follow the main stream of people.
So after 5 minutes we find ourselves at the Ioannovsky bridge, the road to the historical heart of St. Petersburg, the Peter and Paul Fortress. The bridge is the oldest bridge in St. Petersburg, although there is nothing left of that very bridge. Ioannovsky Bridge, originally called Krasny, as the main and only bridge to the fortress, had a lifting central section. 
The Ioannovsky Bridge ends with the Ioannovsky Gates, on which the year 1740 is indicated. This is the year when construction work was completed, during which the Peter and Paul Fortress became completely stone, before that it was wooden. The fortress is additionally fortified from the east and west with protective structures called ravelins. In the eastern ravelin or Ioannovsky, those same Ioannovsky gates are built in. Therefore, having passed through them, thus bypassing the ravelin, we find ourselves in an open space directly in front of the main walls of the fortress. 
Gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress
Four gates lead to the Peter and Paul Fortress, according to the number of cardinal points and their location.
- Neva Gate. This is the southern, river entrance to the fortress. It was possible to get into the fortress through the Nevsky Gate only by mooring at the pier. Hence the name of the gate.
- Vasilyevsky gate from the west, these gates serve as an entrance to the fortress through the Vasilyevsky curtain, which faces Vasilyevsky Island, hence the name.
- The Nikolsky Gates serve as the entrance to the Peter and Paul Fortress from the north. They were not in the original plan of 1703 and they appeared in the Nikolskaya Curtain only during the reconstruction of the wooden fortress into a stone one a quarter of a century after its foundation.
- Petrovsky gates, the eastern entrance to the fortress, the most beautiful gates of the fortress
It is through the Petrovsky Gates that we enter the fortress. The wooden gate was built in 1708 and rebuilt 10 years later in stone. Petrovsky gates are a monument of Petrovsky Borocco, designed by the architect Domenico Trezzini. In the niches on either side of the gate are placed statues representing "Prudence" and "Courage". 
Above the arch is a lead double-headed eagle. And above it is a wooden bas-relief "The overthrow of Simon the Magus by the Apostle Peter", in which Simon is identified with the Swedish King Charles XII, and the Apostle Peter with Peter I, respectively. Thus, the whole picture is a symbol of Russia's victory in the Northern War with Sweden. 
Grand Duke's burial vault and monument to Peter I
Behind the Petrovsky Gates begins, paved with paving stones, the central alley to the Cathedral Square of the fortress. 
The central alley will lead us straight to Cathedral Square and its main Peter and Paul Cathedral. But first, there are a few sights waiting for us. 
To the right of the alley, in the territory of its own garden, there is the Grand Duke's tomb. The role of the tomb in the Peter and Paul Fortress went to the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the tomb itself appeared here much later in 1908. The tomb was intended for the grand dukes and princesses, as well as for princes of imperial blood. Part of the burials in the tomb were transferred from the Peter and Paul Cathedral. 
The entrance to the Grand Duke's burial vault is accessible from the Cathedral Square. 
Opposite the tomb, on the other side of the alley, the founder of the fortress, Peter I, sits on a forged throne, behind him is the building of the chief officer's guardhouse. Sculpture of Peter I, the work of Mikhail Mikhailovich Shemyakin, Russian and American artist. When creating the sculpture, the artist drew inspiration from the famous "Wax persona", the emperor's wax counterpart, exhibited in the State Hermitage.
The "wax person" is entirely the work of Carlo Rastrelli, who, during the life of Peter I, took a wax cast from the face of the emperor and made with it a bust and an exact copy of Peter. But “Shemyakinsky Peter” owes only his face to Rastrelli's mask, let's leave the body devoid of proportions on the conscience of the artist. 
Cathedral Square and Peter and Paul Cathedral
The alley leads us to the Cathedral Square, which also served as a parade ground for the garrison of the fortress. 
Several main buildings of the fortress are located on the Cathedral Square. First of all, these are the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Mint and the Boat House. The current Mint of the State Sign and the largest Mint in the World. 
The botny house was built specifically to store the boat of Peter I, where it was kept until 1931, now a copy is on display here. 
From this cathedral, the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress began. The building was founded in 1703 on the day of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. The height of the Peter and Paul Cathedral with a spire was 122.5 meters. Until 2013, it was the tallest building in St. Petersburg. According to the plan of Peter I, the Peter and Paul Cathedral was to become the first building new Russia, which is why it does not look like traditional Orthodox churches, but with its height, the spire almost pierces the sky. 
Trubetskoy Bastion Prison
Although you can walk around the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress absolutely free of charge, exhibitions and museums in the fortress still cost money. Therefore, you will have to pay to visit the next attraction, but it's worth it. 
What is a fortress without "dungeons"? No, of course, it did not exist in the original plans; guardhouses usually served for punishment. The prison in the Trubetskoy bastion appeared in 1872, for the sake of its construction, the inner walls of the bastion were dismantled. Thus, a pentagonal two-story prison building with a courtyard, in the center of which there were baths, appeared on the site of the tower. 
The prison was planned for 73 solitary cells, where the main goal was the complete isolation of the prisoner from both the outside world and other prisoners. AT different years Populist revolutionaries were imprisoned here, including Lenin's elder brother Alexander Ilyich Ulyanov, Socialist-Revolutionaries, members of the deputation who opposed the executions of 1905, including Maxim Gorky, as well as members of the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies, including Leon Trotsky. 
Later, the situation radically changed twice, first during the February Revolution, and later as a result of the October Revolution of 1917. Thus, the contingent of the prison cells changed first to ministers and police leaders, and later to the provisional government, junkers and members of the Kadet Party. The fundamental difference between the Bolshevik prison and the “tsarist” prison was the abolition of the solitary confinement regime. 
A particularly sad page in the history of the Trubetskoy Bastion prison was the years of the Red Terror, when prisoners were massively shot on the territory of the fortress, including 4 Grand Dukes. On the territory of the Fortress in 2010, mass graves of victims of the Red Terror were discovered. 
Naryshkin Bastion and Neva Curtain
A separate pleasure in visiting the Peter and Paul Fortress is the opportunity to look at the city from the walls of the fortress. There is such an opportunity, for this you just need to climb the Naryshkin Bastion, having previously bought a ticket at the box office located here. Since the fortress was built in the shape of a six-pointed star, there are exactly six bastions in the fortress. In one of them we have just visited the prison, it was the Trubetskoy bastion, the rest are Menishikov, Golovkin and Zotov bastions. Two more Naryshkin and Sovereign, between which lies the camp called the Neva Curtain, and we have to inspect. From here, from the Naryshkin bastion, a cannon fires its salvo every day at noon, announcing the middle of the day. 
From the Naryshkin bastion, beautiful views of not only the Neva, but also the fortress itself open up. The route from the Naryshkin Bastion along the Neva Curtain to the Sovereign's Bastion is called the Neva Panorama, which is how it is positioned at the box office and on advertising posters in the fortress. 
The Neva Curtain is a shaft connecting the Naryshkin and Sovereign bastions. The shaft faces the Neva, hence its name. It is in the Neva Curtain that the Neva Gates, also called the Gates of Death, are installed. 
On a wooden floor, we, accompanied by an audio guide broadcasting from the horns installed on the curtain, are moving towards the Sovereign's Bastion. 
The sovereign's bastion was the first to be laid, now a monument has been erected on the bastion in honor of the "300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg." 
And from the bastion itself, a beautiful view of the Neva and the Trinity Bridge opens up. By the way, you can go into the bastion and walk along its edge, feeling like in a real dungeon. 
Poster of the Sovereign Bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress
Poterna is an underground corridor that communicates between the internal structures of the fort and its external fortifications. Thus, through the curtain of the Sovereign's bastion, one could get into the courtyard of the fortress, bypassing the Petrovsky Gates. 
The entrance to the terrace is carried out from the outside of the Sovereign's bastion, from the side of the Ioannovsky ravelin. The entrance is paid, and the gallery itself is not very large, it ends with a small art exhibition. 
That was the end of our sightseeing tour. Of course, we have not examined all the objects of the fortress and visited not all exhibitions and museum expositions, but what we have covered is quite enough for a 4-5 hour acquaintance with the Peter and Paul Fortress. And it's definitely worth going here. After all, the Peter and Paul Fortress is the first building of the Northern capital, and even a military one. It turns out that in the Peter and Paul Fortress there is the charm of Kronstadt and the proximity of St. Petersburg attractions.
Nevsky Gate- Peter and Paul Fortress. Nevsky Gates of the Peter and Paul Fortress. St. Petersburg. Nevsky Gates, in the Neva Curtain of the Peter and Paul Fortress, between the Sovereign and Naryshkin bastions, the only ones facing the Neva (hence the name). Built ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"
The gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, located in the Neva Curtain between the Sovereign and Naryshkin bastions. It connects the fortress with the Commandant's Quay. A monument of classicism architecture. History In 1714 1716 there were ... ... Wikipedia
The Neva Gate is the gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, located in the Nevsky Curtain between the Sovereign and Naryshkin bastions. It connects the fortress with the Commandant's Quay. A monument of classicism architecture. History In 1714 1716 ... ... Wikipedia
In the Neva Curtain of the Peter and Paul Fortress, between the Sovereign and Naryshkin bastions, the only ones facing the Neva (hence the name). Built in 1703, in the 1730s. rebuilt in stone: the inner facade has retained its original appearance, ... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)
GATE OF DEATH- The Neva Gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress, through which the prisoners sentenced to death were led out to the Commandant's Quay. Compare: DEATH GATE ... Dictionary of the Petersburger
DEATH GATES- The Neva Gates of the Peter and Paul Fortress, through which prisoners condemned to death were taken out of the fortress. Compare: GATE OF DEATH ... Dictionary of the Petersburger
Channel on the plan of ra ... Wikipedia
- "Nevsky Gates of the Peter and Paul Fortress". Benjamin Patersen (Swedish Benjamin Patersen, 1750, Varberg 1815 ... Wikipedia
- "Nevsky Gates of the Peter and Paul Fortress". Benjamin Patersen (Swedish Benjamin Patersen, 1750, Varberg 1815, St. Petersburg) is a Swedish portrait painter who worked in St. Petersburg for a significant part of his life. Benjamin Patersen was born in Swedish ... Wikipedia
The architecture of St. Petersburg, in particular its historical center, is one of the most outstanding architectural complexes of the capital, created in the 18th and 20th centuries. On the territory of Russia, St. Petersburg became the first ... ... Wikipedia
neva gate, rebuilt in 1787 in the classical style according to the project of a prominent figure in Russian culture, scientist and architect Nikolai Lvov. The gate and the pier formed a single solemn architectural ensemble, which has survived to this day almost unchanged. It should be noted that these works no longer had a defensive value: the fortress acquired a look corresponding to its prominent role as the historical center of the capital of the empire. The first gates were built in the Neva Curtain between the Sovereign and Naryshkin bastions back in 1714. Then they were made of wood - like the pier near them, which looked like ordinary wooden bridges. In the early 1720s, the gate was rebuilt in stone by Domenico Trezzini, while the pier remained wooden until the 1770s.
Nevsky Gates and Commandant's Quay (Issue 67 - Peter and Paul Fortress)
Category: Curious Petersburg Tags:
Nevsky Gate and Commandant's Quay in the painting by Ivan Ivanov "View of the embankment of the Neva river on the day of the Midday". From here, members of the imperial family, sailing along the Neva from Winter Palace. Initially, the pier was called Tsarskaya, later - Nevsky, and from the 1760s - Commandantskaya. The boat of the commandant (chief) of the fortress moored here. One of the oldest city ceremonies began from the pier - a celebration of the opening of navigation. This event was of particular importance for the city, which grew up on the islands and until the middle of the 19th century did not have a permanent bridge across the Neva. When the Neva was finally cleared of ice, the commandant went on his boat to the Winter Palace with a report to the emperor and presented him with a cup of Neva water. According to legend, the emperor returned the goblet, filling it to the top with silver rubles. This was followed by an imperial order to open navigation. Cannons were fired from the walls of the fortress, fireworks were launched, the water area was filled with ships and boats of all stripes under multi-colored flags. At this time, the “Mid-half” was also usually celebrated - an ancient church holiday “halfway” between Easter and Trinity. The clergy of all the parish churches of St. Petersburg gathered at the Commandant's Quay to consecrate the Neva water. For a solemn dinner in the fortress, huge sturgeon were served, "caught in no other river, but certainly in the Neva." Back in 1715, by decree of Peter the Great, a footstock was fortified on the eastern side of the pier - a pole with divisions that made it possible to measure the water level. This made it possible to determine the average (“ordinary”) water level in the Neva and marked the beginning of regular hydrological observations in Russia. It was by divisions on this footstock that the height of the rise of water in floods was determined.
"Chronicle of catastrophic floods" under the arch of the Nevsky Gate (Issue 67 - Peter and Paul Fortress)
Category: Curious Petersburg Tags:
"Chronicle of catastrophic floods" on the wall under the arch of the Nevsky Gates. The boards indicate the level of water rise during five floods: 1752 (2.8 meters), 1777 (3.2 meters), 1788 (2.3 meters), 1824 (4.2 meters), 1924 (3.8 meters) and 1975 (2.8 meters) years. The pavement here is specially deepened to the position in which it was in the 18th century. From the Swedish chronicles we know about the catastrophic flood of 1691 (7.6 meters). This is the highest level of water rise in the Neva ever recorded. The first flood in the history of St. Petersburg occurred three months after its foundation. The water flooded Hare Island and washed away the forest prepared for the construction of the fortress. The flood of 1724 led to the illness and death of Peter I (he saved drowning sailors). The most catastrophic was the flood of November 7, 1824. “The Neva was one huge lake with Palace Square, flowing through Nevsky Prospekt like a wide river,” recalled an eyewitness. Providing assistance to the townspeople, the Governor-General then sailed along Nevsky Prospekt on his huge boat.
Under the arch of the Nevsky Gate, on the right side of the wall, there are metal and marble memorial plaques with level marks of the most severe floods in the history of St. Petersburg. The line between letters A and B indicates the level of water rise. Please note that the so-called "pit" is left here - that is, the soil level that existed in the 18th century is shown. This allows you to imagine the full power of the raging elements.
Petersburg floods are not of a river, but of a marine nature. Sea floods - they are also called storm surges - occur on other seas, threaten many cities, but St. Petersburg is one of the largest among them.
Since the founding of the city, more than three hundred floods have occurred in St. Petersburg. Once upon a time, the rise of water above 90 centimeters was considered dangerous for the city. Since during the existence of the city the cultural layer has risen by almost one and a half meters, now the flood is considered to be the rise of water in the Neva by 161 centimeters above the ordinary - the zero mark on the footstock installed at the Mining Institute on Vasilyevsky Island.
After the flood of 1777, Catherine II adopted a decree "on the establishment of signs and signals in the city" to alert the population about the rise in water in the Neva. These decrees were in effect almost unchanged until the 1930s, before the widespread use of radio broadcasting.
The September flood of 1777 was the third highest in the history of St. Petersburg floods. The water then rose by 321 centimeters. Hundreds of houses were destroyed, thousands of trees were uprooted, St. Petersburg cemeteries were washed away, ships were thrown by the wave onto the embankments. Fountains arranged by Peter died summer garden, never restored. Shops with goods and food were destroyed, people died.
Empress Catherine wrote to her correspondent: "The Neva represented the spectacle of the destruction of Jerusalem." According to the memoirs of contemporaries, during the flood, the empress prayed earnestly in the church of the Winter Palace. When the danger had passed, she summoned Chief of Police Chicherin to her palace. When he appeared, the empress stood up, bowed from the waist and said: “Thank you, Nikolai Ivanovich! By your mercy, many of my faithful subjects perished! The chief police chief was blamed for the poor condition of the city's watercourses. Then it was believed that the reason for the floods was that the western wind did not allow the Neva water to enter the bay, and in order to avoid a catastrophe, it was enough to direct the "surplus" to the city rivers and canals. Modern science believes that the cause of the Neva floods is much more complicated. But the brief reprimand of the empress, uttered in a low voice, made such an impression on the general that he immediately suffered a blow in the palace, he was taken home, where he soon died. His assistant was expelled from Petersburg within 24 hours. Since both were bribe-takers and extortionists known throughout the city, the townspeople were delighted by this turn of events. One of his contemporaries remarked: “There is no silver lining! The water washes away the dirt, and the flood washed away two dirty people."
The most terrible in the history of St. Petersburg was the flood of November 7, 1824, described by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in the poem "The Bronze Horseman". The water rose 421 centimeters above the ordinary. Vasilyevsky Island suffered the most, one of the inhabitants of which wrote: “... the long-suffering, but righteous God visited St. Petersburg with an unheard-of flood. It was brief, but terrible and disastrous.” According to the memoirs, it is known that "the Neva was one huge lake with Palace Square, pouring out Nevsky Prospekt like a wide river." Petersburg Governor-General Count Miloradovich, who organized assistance to the victims, sailed along the Nevsky in a 12-oared boat. The consequences of the flood were terrible, and for a long time the people of St. Petersburg divided their lives into "before the flood" and "after". Again they remembered the prophecy of the first, unloved wife of Peter - Evdokia Lopukhina, who hated Peter's beloved brainchild: "Petersburg to be empty!"
The second highest rise in water was the flood of 1924 - 380 centimeters. At the same time, fires broke out in the city. The element caused incalculable losses and claimed many human lives. The severity of the situation was aggravated by the post-revolutionary devastation and civil war. It is curious that this flood, or rather, the behavior of laboratory dogs during it, prompted Academician Pavlov to study conditioned reflexes.
The dates of the two most catastrophic floods in the history of the city - separated by exactly a hundred years, 1824 and 1924, set in a mysterious and mystical mood. As the poet said: "Two floods with a difference of a hundred years - don't they shed some light on the meaning of everything?" An even earlier flood of November 1724 cannot be put on a par with them in terms of the height of the water rise - “only” 211 centimeters. But it was fatal for Peter. Rescuing drowning sailors off the coast of Lakhta, the sovereign caught a cold in cold water under a strong wind. A long-standing kidney disease worsened, and in January of the next year, 1725, Peter the Great died.
Maybe it's true - is there something in the mystical magic of numbers and dates? The unpredictability of floods, the suddenness of the furious onslaught of the elements caused mystical horror and gave rise to numerous rumors and gloomy legends in which the river itself became the main character.
Neva, powerful and majestic, immediately became the main street of St. Petersburg. In order to admire the panorama of the Neva banks, we will go out to the Commandant's Quay.
Buy a tour for 149.5 rubles.
View from the Neva.
The Neva Gates of the Peter and Paul Fortress are the only way out of the citadel to the Neva. This exit appeared already at the first wood-earthen fortress in the form of wooden rectangular gates with a pier adjoining them.
On August 30, 1723, during the celebration of the third anniversary of the Peace of Nystad, the "Grandfather of the Russian fleet" - the boat of Peter I was solemnly transferred through the Neva Gate to the Peter and Paul Fortress. At the same time, a decree was issued on the annual procedure for bringing the boat to the Neva. This was repeated in 1724, and then only in 1744 and 1746.
In the early 1720s, the wooden Neva Gates designed by Domenico Trezzini were replaced with stone ones. After the second solemn removal of the boat, it was decided to update them. In the early 1730s, they were given the look that has been preserved from the inside of the fortress wall to this day. At the same time, the pier was rebuilt into an arched pier with three descents to the water.
In 1747-1748, presumably according to the project of B. Kh. Minich, the Neva Gate from the side of the river was decorated in the form of a portico with double pilasters bearing the entablature. In 1762-1767, architect D. Smolyaninov and engineer N. Muravyov drafted a granite pier with vaults. Its implementation began only when the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress were faced with granite.
In 1780, the architect N.A. Lvov was asked to draft a new stone Nevsky Gate. In 1784-1787 this project was realized. The Nevsky Gates were inscribed by the architect into a kind of square. Their height was 12 meters and width - 12.2 meters. All architectural details were made of polished Serdobol granite. Given the height of the pier, Lvov raised the Nevsky Gate by almost a meter. The image of an anchor on the pediment, decorative bombs with tongues of fire on the edges of the pediment gave the Nevsky Gates the significance as a triumphal monument in honor of the victories of the Russian fleet.
On the northern facade appeared the monogram of Catherine II and the date "1787", indicating the year the monument was built.
In 1840, in the frieze of the portico on the north side, the inscription "Nevsky Gates 1787" was reinforced. In the 1860s, the pier of the Nevsky Gates began to be called Komendantskaya. It was from her that the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress sailed away on a boat on his own business. From here, prisoners sentenced to death were taken out of the fortress and taken along the Neva to the place of execution.
Under the arch of the Nevsky Gates there is a section showing the natural level of the Hare Island. Above it is a board with marks of the largest St. Petersburg floods: 1752, 1777, 1788, 1824, 1924 and 1975.
In 1952-1953 the Nevsky Gates were restored. In 1998-1999, the northern façade was restored to its appearance in the middle of the 18th century.
