The city of Shlisselburg, whose photo arouses the desire to visit it, is the administrative center on the left bank of the Neva River directly at Lake Ladoga, twenty-four kilometers east of St. Petersburg.
History of the city
This ancient city has a rich history and many attractions. Shlisselburg was founded in 1323 by Prince
Yuri Danilovich. It was at this time on the island of Oreshek, where there were thickets of hazel, a wooden fortress with the same name was laid. According to some information, the place got such an original name due to the fact that from above this small piece of sushi is very similar in shape to a nut.
The Swedes tried several times to conquer the fortress in order to push the Novgorodians from going to sea inland, but their attempts until the beginning of the seventeenth century were not successful. But in 1613 the fortress was captured. The conquerors renamed it to Noteburg. A little less than a century passed before the army of Peter the Great in 1702 managed to recapture the fortress.
After several decades, numerous settlements began to form in the vicinity. And already in 1780, this settlement was given the status of a city. Today, tourists come here to see its attractions.
Shlisselburg today
Currently, the city is a full-fledged complex combining historical and architectural monuments belonging to a variety of milestones, starting from the fourteenth century until the Great Patriotic War. Nevertheless, the most unique structure in it is a fortress. Shlisselburg is a small town. About fifteen thousand people live in it.
In this small provincial village there are no thriving industrial enterprises or large centers, including commercial ones. Built at the beginning of the last century, the shipyard today is in desolation. However, the history of the city and its picturesque landscapes are sights in themselves. Shlisselburg during the Great Patriotic War was a defensive point on the outskirts of the besieged city on the Neva. Residents were evacuated through the fortress, and food was delivered to Leningraders from here. And decades later, it became a huge museum of those difficult years.
sights
In addition to the fortress, in the city you can see such amazing architectural monuments as the
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Cathedral of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and the Annunciation, the small chapel of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. There are many museums in Shlisselburg dedicated to naval guns and the history of the city. Truly unique
engineering networks from the
old Ladoga Canal have been preserved here
. This is a granite gateway built in the mid-nineteenth century, a bridge erected on columns. Preserved architectural monuments such as the Gostiny Dvor, the statue of Peter I, etc.
In general, the map of Shlisselburg with attractions is simply amazing in its richness. Tourists come here with pleasure to look at amazing buildings.
Fortress Oreshek
Shlisselburg has always been a border on the Swedish border. That is why an ancient fortress was built here. Since its inception, this defensive structure has been surrounded by deep earthen ramparts. But the wooden buildings after the fire had to be changed to stone. The fortress underwent certain changes: its area increased, and the walls grew to a height of fifteen meters.
However, soon it lost its defensive significance and turned into one of the worst prisons in the country. The prisoners here were kept in dirty and damp dungeons in solitary confinement. An agonizing conclusion was tantamount to death. There were no chances to escape from here.
The first to be imprisoned were members of the imperial family: the first wife of Peter Lopukhin, his sister Maria Alekseevna, and others. Disgraced courtiers were serving their sentences here. And at the end of the eighteenth century, this fate did not pass and the enlighteners. Novikov, Krechetov, Karamzin, and already from the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the Decembrists Bestuzhevs, Kyukhelbekker, Pushchin - all of them were placed in Oreshek.
After the February Revolution, prisoners of the fortress were liberated by the rebel workers of Shlisselburg. The prison buildings were burned down.
In the twenties and thirties, a branch of the Museum of the October Revolution worked here.
During the breakthrough of the Leningrad blockade in January forty-third, many sights were destroyed. Shlisselburg, which in those years was called Petrokrepost, underwent severe destruction. The city was liberated in January 1943 by fighters of the Leningrad Front with the support of the Baltic Fleet, and rebuilt in the postwar years. In the early nineties of the last century, his historical name was returned to him - the Schlisselburg fortress.
Cathedral of the Nativity of John the Baptist
When at the beginning of the seventeenth century the Swedes, taking advantage of the Time of Troubles, launched an offensive on the northwestern borders of Russia, the fortress fell first. And when the Russians recaptured the citadel, they first began to look for the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, revered even in the years of the reign of Tsar John the Terrible. Guides tell the amazing story of the image today during the tour to Shlisselburg. It turns out that before the fall, one of the Princely spiritual centers was located in the fortress. The icon was here in a small chapel. Before the surrender of the citadel, the defenders walled up the image in the wall, which was turned by the Swedes into a church. So the icon was kept for about a century.
Staroladozhsky Canal
This waterway along the Ladoga connects the Neva to the Volkhov River. Today, Shlisselburg has two channels parallel to each other: Staroladozhsky, built at the beginning of the eighteenth century, which has completely dried up and overgrown with time, and Novoladozhsky, which is relatively new. It is still in operation.
Staroladozhsky was also called the channel of Emperor Peter the Great. It was built by the reformer king and has a length of about one hundred and twenty kilometers.
According to the original design, it was built without gateways. The depth of the channel is 210 centimeters below the level of Ladoga. At the initial stage, its construction was somewhat delayed due to the careless conduct of business by contractors. In 1723, Peter began to personally inspect the construction, ordering the arrest of the German locksmiths. The state took over the construction of the canal.
In 1726, the section between Volkhov and the village of Chernoe was completed, the movement of ships began, which significantly accelerated the work. On October 22, 1730, the construction of the canal was completely completed. At that time, it was the largest hydraulic structure in all of Europe.
Blagoveshchensky cathedral
Initially, in 1726 a wooden temple was erected in its place. However, four decades later it was replaced by stone.
During the struggle with the church, the Soviet government closed the cathedral in 1935, however, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, parishioners opened it and operated throughout the war. After the victory, he was again transferred to the diocese.
Cathedral Square accommodates other no less magnificent buildings. In the eighteenth century, a bell tower was added here. Since 1990, the restoration of St. Nicholas Church began, and a year later - the Annunciation Cathedral itself. Kazanskaya was built on the site of an old wooden chapel, erected according to the sketches of the architect Ershov.
Petrovsky bridge
The chain bridge located next to the Annunciation Cathedral is the remnant of the former suspension - the Petrovsky aqueduct, used from 1826 to 1832. It was equipped with adjustable spans, each of which was eight and a half meters long. A breathtaking panorama opens from the bridge. On the one hand, these are locks on the Staroladozhsky Canal, and on the other, the Admiralty anchor from the time of Peter the Great, which was lifted from the bottom of the Neva in the Shlisselburg area.
Museums in Shlisselburg
The largest of them is the Museum of the history of the city. It was created in 1990. Here you can get acquainted with the history of Shlisselburg, learn about the construction of the Ladoga bypass channels and a print factory, as well as the history of the Nevsky Shipyard.
Another museum, called the “Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad”, is dedicated to Operation Iskra, during which the land communications of Leningrad were broken and restored. The diorama is arranged in the left-bank ramp on the Ladoga bridge. Her memorial hall was opened on May 7, 1985. Here you can see a picturesque canvas forty meters long and eight meters wide.
There are also open-air museums in Shlisselburg. For example, the pre-diorama square is an open exposition where military equipment is presented. There are real tanks that participated in the battle for Leningrad. Many of them were raised from the bottom of the Neva or from its surrounding marshes and restored. Among the exhibits is a unique tree preserved from the siege of Leningrad.
The Shlisselburg Museum of Ship Guns is also an open-air exhibition. Here are collected anti-aircraft guns of both military and post-war times. They were dismantled from ships and stored in the warehouse of the Ministry of Defense. The guns were restored and installed on the sixtieth anniversary of the Victory.
City charm
Today, Shlisselburg is a provincial village, which can be bypassed in less than three hours. But it has its own special charm. It lies in the old square, in the quiet and slightly dilapidated streets, several careless moorings. And the main thing is the indescribable picturesque landscapes of the majestic Lake Ladoga, its unique channels connecting the port of Shlisselburg with other cities and protecting it from troubled waters.
The ancient fortress is also beckoning, impregnable before the trends of the times and still striking with its many towers and walls that have seen much. This is an unusual picturesque area in which the Neva originates.