A rare guest of the city on the Neva will not visit the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg in the Peter and Paul Fortress. There, in the granite of the bastions, the history of the birth of the Northern capital of Russia was frozen, the center of which, according to the plan of Peter the Great, was the citadel, symbolizing the power and impregnability of the power he created.
The Citadel is the brainchild of Peter I
The history of the creation of the Peter and Paul Fortress is inextricably linked with the Northern War, which Russia and Sweden waged in the period 1700-1721. As a result of a number of successful military operations, by 1703 the Neva lands were recaptured, and a reliable fortress built according to all the rules of the fortification science of those years was required to protect them. Its construction was all the more necessary because the old Nienschanz fortress, located at the confluence of the Okhta River with the Neva, was considered insufficiently reliable.
From the documents that have come down to us, it is known that Peter I personally chose the place for the new fortress. French engineer Joseph Gaspard Lambert de Guerin. The choice of the sovereign fell on Hare Island, located in the widest part of the mouth of the Neva, and having quite suitable dimensions - 750 m long and almost 360 m wide.
The history of the Peter and Paul Fortress begins on May 16 (27), 1703, from the day it was laid. Despite the fact that the fortress was built not only on the initiative of Peter I, but also according to his projects, carried out jointly with Lambert de Guerin, the sovereign himself was not present at this historical event. According to the chronicle of those years, he was in the Olonets shipyard, located on the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, and A. D. Menshikov supervised the start of work on Hare Island.
Today, when the Peter and Paul Fortress was founded, is considered to be the birthday of St. Petersburg, but few people know that initially its construction pursued purely military purposes, and the foundation of a new capital of the state around it was not supposed. Only later these two events were connected with each other, so that Pushkin's "the city will be founded here" came to the sovereign's mind a little later than the creation of powerful fortress bastions began.
Building an earthen fortress
As can be seen from the history of the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress, it was originally made of wood and earth, however, despite this, it was an advanced fortification structure at that time, consisting of 6 bastions, each of which was a powerful five-sided fortification erected along corners of the fortress fence.
In front of the walls (curtains) connecting them, 2 ravelins were erected - bulk buildings. Their purpose was to cover the walls from enemy artillery fire and hinder the assault. A crownwork was also built - an external auxiliary fortification, intended both for additional protection of the fortress and for creating a bridgehead in case of possible counterattacks.
The Peter and Paul Fortress was built by the hands of Russian soldiers and captured Swedes. In addition, by decree of the king, a certain number of serfs were sent from each province. The difficult working conditions in the cold and damp B altic climate caused hundreds of unknown builders to lie forever in the graves that covered the swampy banks of the Neva. They were replaced by new parties of working people, on whose bones the walls of the fortress grew, and the capital of the great empire rose from the darkness of the forests.
High-ranking construction supervisors
Archival documents related to the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg indicate that the construction of its bastions was personally supervised by the sovereign and five of his closest associates, whose names they were later named. So, the designations have survived to this day: Trubetskoy bastion, Gosudarev, Menshikov, Naryshkin, Zotov and Golovkin.
It should immediately be noted that Peter I only took part in the laying of the Sovereign's bastion, and all subsequent work in it was supervised by his son, Tsarevich Alexei and A. D. Menshikov. Notable is the fact that the restthe curators, contrary to Russian tradition, not only did not dare to cash in on the work entrusted to them, but in many cases covered the current expenses themselves.
Chronicle of further events
The history of the Peter and Paul Fortress testifies to a number of miscalculations made during its design. One of them came to light even before October 1, 1703, work was completed on the construction of earthen defensive structures. As a result of a severe flood that occurred on August 30, the water, having risen by 2.5 meters, flooded Hare Island and washed away several already finished buildings. This incident once again proved the need to build a stone citadel.
In the summer of 1703, another important event took place, which everyone who visits the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg in the Peter and Paul Fortress will certainly know about: on June 29 (July 12), the solemn laying of the Peter and Paul Cathedral took place on its territory - then still a small wooden church. She gave the name of the citadel being built, and later the city, named in the Dutch style - "St. Petersburg". Thus, the date of June 29 can be considered the name day of the city on the Neva.
In the same year, the Ioannovsky Bridge appeared, linking Zayachy Island with the Petrograd side, however, in those days it was a structure of several rafts connected together. By autumn, guns were installed on the barely completed earthen ramparts. These were cast-iron and copper cannons, both captured from the Swedes, and domestic castings madeNovgorod gunsmiths. At the same time, the sovereign appointed the first commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress. This honor was entrusted to one of his closest associates - an Estonian nobleman, Colonel Karl-Ewald von Renne.
Beginning of facing the fortress with granite
In 1705 a new stage in the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress began. After all the earthen fortifications were erected, and thus it became possible to repel a possible attack by the Swedes, Peter I decided to rebuild it in stone. The drafting of the new citadel and the management of the work were entrusted to an Italian of Swiss origin, an outstanding architect and engineer of his time, Domenico Andrea Trezzini.
To implement the plan he had conceived, an additional alluvium was carried out on the territory of Hare Island, as a result of which its width increased by 30 m. might be the most vulnerable. During the construction process, the former ramparts were torn down, and their soil was used to fill the island.
Earth, according to the new project, remained only kronverk - a system of defensive structures, in terms of representing a crown ("kron" - crowns, "werk" - a fortress), located in the northern part of the island and designed to protect against a possible attack from sushi. From it came the name of the Kronver channel, which separates Zayachy Island from the Petrograd Side.
Fortress that Russia has not yet known
By 1708 Menshikov and Golovkin bastions were dressed in granite, andalso adjoining curtains (walls) and powder magazines. At the same time, the construction of barracks and the Petrovsky Gates began, created, according to the sovereign's decree, on the model of Narva.
The documents presented at the Museum of the History of the Peter and Paul Fortress testify to how powerful the citadel erected on Hare Island was. Briefly describing their content, we only note that for Russia this type of fortification was absolutely new.
Suffice it to say that the thickness of the fortress walls reached 20 m, and the height was 12 m. To strengthen their foundations, 40 thousand piles were driven into the ground. Each bastion had firepower, which was provided by about 60 guns. In the curtain walls - the walls between the bastions, garrison barracks were placed, and a supply of gunpowder was stored in the casemates.
The secret ways of communication with the outside world were not forgotten either. In particular, underground passages were dug under the outer structures for landing troops outside the fortress, and so-called paterns were built within its walls - places intended for the sudden appearance of soldiers behind enemy lines. The exits from them, laid with a single layer of bricks, were known only to especially trusted officers.
The fortress that became the core of the city
The victories won over the Swedes in 1709-1710 brought the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress to another level. Since that time, it has forever lost its military significance, and the cannons mounted on its bastions rattled only on the days of official celebrations. Around the fortress with extraordinary speedthe city began to grow, which received the status of the new capital of the Russian Empire, and named St. Petersburg in honor of its heavenly patron saint the apostle Peter.
Even before the final end of the Northern War, the Senate began its work on Hare Island, and soon the main political prison of Russia was created. This is similar to the history of the development of the Tower and the Peter and Paul Fortress. The citadel, built on the banks of the Thames, also managed to serve as a fortification, and an administrative center, and a prison, and, finally, a museum.
It is curious that the first prisoner of the "Russian Bastille" - this name she received over time, was the son of its founder - Tsarevich Alexei, who died (or was secretly killed) in custody on June 25, 1718. The architect Trezzini built a special house on the territory of the new prison, which housed the Secret Office. He also built the first Mint between Naryshkin and the Trubetskoy Bastion, which occupied a prominent place in the Russian history of money. The Peter and Paul Fortress, in addition, became a place where not only coins were minted, but also state awards.
In 1731, the Naryshkin Bastion was crowned with the Flag Tower, on which the Russian flag was raised daily, and two years later, the construction of the stone Peter and Paul Cathedral, which eventually became the burial place of Russian monarchs, was completed. Like other buildings of the fortress, it was erected according to the project and under the direct supervision of Domenico Trezzini. In the 1930s it became a traditionfire a signal shot at noon from the Naryshkinsky bastion, which continues in our time.
The Peter and Paul Fortress acquired its museum significance in 1766, when a building was built on its territory to accommodate Peter the Great's boat, which became one of the relics of Russian history after the death of the sovereign. Finally, the fortress took on its solemn appearance by the end of the 80s, when its granite lining was completed, and the Commandant's Quay and the Narva Gate were built.
Prisoners of the "Russian Bastille"
The Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg entered Russian history mainly as a political prison. It was mentioned above that Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich became her first prisoner. Subsequently, his fate was shared by many of those who came into conflict with the existing regime.
The bastions of the fortress remember the famous Princess Tarakanova, who pretended to be the heir to the throne, the writer Radishchev and the Decembrists, who were kept in the Alekseevsky ravelin. Petrashevists, Narodnaya Volya and Nechaevites, led by their inglorious leader, visited their walls. In the echoing corridors of the fortress, the steps of N. G. Chernyshevsky, F. M. Dostoevsky, M. A. Bakunin and many other prominent figures of that era were heard.
During the October coup of 1917, the garrison supported the Bolsheviks, which in the Soviet years was not forgotten to be mentioned even in a brief history of the Peter and Paul Fortress. It was told in detail that during the assault on the Winter Palace, blank shots were fired from its walls, and after it was completed, the prisoners of the casemates becameministers of the Provisional Government.
Soviet historians were less willing to recall the role that the fortress played in the prison system of the Cheka, where it entered immediately after the Bolsheviks came to power. It is known that in 1919, 4 Grand Dukes from the Romanov family were shot on its territory: Dmitry Konstantinovich, Georgy Mikhailovich, Nikolai Mikhailovich and Pavel Aleksandrovich.
A particularly gloomy page in the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress was the period of the Red Terror, which peaked in 1917-1921. Mass executions were then carried out near the fortress wall from the side of the Kronverk Strait. In 2009, the remains of hundreds of people were found there, victims of a misanthropic regime that had been established in the country for many years.
The fate of the fortress in the Soviet period
In 1925, the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress almost ended after the Leningrad Council issued a decree on its dismantling (destruction) and the creation of a stadium on Hare Island. But, fortunately, this barbarity was not destined to come true, and a museum was created on the territory of the fortress. Noteworthy is the fact that in the period 1925-1933. one of its buildings housed Russia's first gas-dynamic laboratory, whose employees laid the foundation for domestic rocket science. In its place, the Museum of Rocketry and Cosmonautics was opened in 1973, which still exists today.
During the Great Patriotic War, the fortress housed an anti-aircraft battery that protected the skies of Leningradfrom enemy aircraft, and the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral was covered with a camouflage net. Despite the constant shelling and bombing that the city was subjected to, there were no hits on the cathedral, but the fortress walls were seriously damaged.
In 1975, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the uprising on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, near Kronverk, at the place where five Decembrists were executed on the night of July 25, 1826, a commemorative obelisk of pink marble was erected. The names of A. Pestel, P. Kakhovsky, K. Ryleev, S. Muravyov-Apostol and M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin were engraved on it.
A story that never ends
Today, on the territory of the once formidable citadel, the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg "Peter and Paul Fortress" has been created. As in the old days, every day at noon, a signal shot of a gun is heard from the Naryshkinsky bastion, which is often given to honored guests of the city. In 1991, a sculpture of Peter I, made by the Russian-American sculptor M. M. Shemyakin, appeared among the sights of the fortress, and in the post-perestroika period, all kinds of entertainment events began to be arranged on the beaches adjacent to it. In the 21st century, the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg takes on a new life. The story summarized in this article is being continued.
