A rare visitor to the city on the Neva will not visit the Museum of the History of Petersburg in the Peter and Paul Fortress. There, in the granite of the bastions, the story of the birth of the Northern capital of Russia froze, the center of which, according to Peter the Great, was the citadel, symbolizing the power and inaccessibility of the power created by him.
The Citadel - 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 prince’s lands were recaptured, and to protect them a reliable fortress was built, built according to all the rules of fortification science of those years. Its construction was all the more necessary because the old Nyenschanz fortress, located at the confluence of the Okhta River in the Neva, was considered insufficiently reliable.
From the documents that have reached us, it is known that the place for the new fortress was personally chosen by Peter I. To this end, on May 8, 1703, he examined the Neva shores with Alexander Danilovich Menshikov and the French engineer Joseph Gaspard Lambert de Guerin. The sovereign's choice fell on Zayachy Island, located in the widest part of the Neva estuary, and having quite suitable dimensions - 750 m in length and almost 360 m in width.
The history of the Peter and Paul Fortress begins on May 16 (27), 1703, from the day when it was laid. Despite the fact that the fortress was built not only on the initiative of Peter I, but also on his projects, carried out jointly with Lambert de Guerin, the sovereign himself was not present at this historic event. According to the chronicle of those years, he was in the Olonets shipyard, located on the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, and the beginning of work on Hare Island was supervised by A. D. Menshikov.
Today is the day when the Peter and Paul Fortress was founded, it 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 state capital around it was not supposed. Only later these two events were interconnected, so that the Pushkin’s “city will be laid 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 wooden and earthen, however, despite this, it was an advanced fortification at that time, consisting of 6 bastions, each of which was a powerful five-sided fortification, erected at the corners of the fortress fence.
In front of the walls connecting them (curtains) 2 ravelins were erected - bulk buildings. Their purpose was to cover the walls from enemy artillery fire and hinder the assault. A kronverk was also built - an external auxiliary fortification designed both for additional protection of the fortress and for creating a bridgehead in the event of possible counterattacks.
The Peter and Paul Fortress was erected by the hands of Russian soldiers and captured Swedes. In addition, by decree of the king from each province was sent a certain number of serfs. Difficult working conditions in the cold and damp Baltic climate became the reason that hundreds of unknown builders remained forever in the graves that covered the swampy Neva shores. They were replaced by new batches of the 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.
Senior construction curators
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 notation has survived to this day: Trubetskoy bastion, Gosudarev, Menshikov, Naryshkin, Zotov and Golovkin.
It should be noted right away that Peter I only took part in laying the Sovereign's bastion, and all subsequent work in it was supervised by his son, Tsarevich Alexei and A.D. Menshikov. It is also noteworthy that the other curators, contrary to Russian tradition, not only did not dare to cash in on the business entrusted to them, but in many cases they themselves covered current expenses.
Chronicle of further events
The history of the Peter and Paul Fortress also testifies to a number of miscalculations made during its design. One of them came to light before the erection of earth defenses was completed on October 1, 1703. As a result of a severe flood that occurred on August 30, water, rising 2.5 meters, flooded the Hare Island, and washed away several already finished buildings. This incident once again proved the need for the construction of 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 find out: on June 29 (July 12), the solemn laying of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, then a small wooden church, took place on its territory. She gave the name of the citadel being built, and later the city, named in the Dutch style - "St. Peter Burkh". Thus, the date of June 29 can be considered the birthday of the city on the Neva.
In the same year, the Ioannovsky Bridge appeared, connecting the Hare Island with the Petrograd side, however, in those days it was a structure of several rafts connected together. By autumn, guns were installed on barely finished earthen ramparts. These were cast-iron and copper guns, both captured, captured from the Swedes, and domestic castings made by Novgorod gunsmiths. Then the sovereign appointed the first commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress. This honor was entrusted to one of his closest associates - the Estonian nobleman, Colonel Karl-Ewald von Renne.
The beginning of the facing of 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 design of the new citadel and the management of the work were entrusted to an Italian of Swiss origin - the outstanding architect and engineer of his time, Domenico Andrea Trezzini.
To implement the plan he had planned, an additional washing up of the territory of Hare Island was carried out, as a result of which its width increased by 30 m. Work began in early May 1706, and began with the restructuring of the Menshikov bastion, since in the event of an attack it could be the most vulnerable. During the construction process, the old shafts were torn down, and their soil went to add the island.
According to the new project, only kronverk remained - earthen - a system of defensive structures, in the plan representing the crown ("kron" - crowns, "werk" - fortress), located in the northern part of the island and intended to protect against a possible attack from land. From it went the name of the Kronversky channel separating the Hare island from the Petrograd side.
A fortress that Russia did not know yet
By 1708, Menshikov and Golovkin bastions were dressed in granite, as well as adjacent curtain walls (walls) and gunpowder cellars. Then the construction of the barracks and Petrovsky gates, created, according to the sovereign's command, on the model of the Narva began.
How powerful was the citadel erected on Hare Island is evidenced by documents presented at the Museum of the History of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Briefly summarizing their contents, we only note that for Russia this type of fortification was completely new.
It is enough to say that the thickness of the fortress walls reached 20 m, and the height was 12 m. To strengthen their bases, 40 thousand piles were driven into the ground. Each bastion had firepower, which was provided by about 60 guns. In the curtain walls, between the bastions, garrison barracks were placed, and a store of gunpowder was stored in the casemates.
The secret ways of communication with the outside world were not forgotten. In particular, under the external structures, underground tunnels were dug for landing troops outside the fortress, and so-called patterns were built in its walls - places intended for the sudden appearance of soldiers in the rear of the enemy. The exits from them, laid with one layer of bricks, were known only to highly trusted officers.
The fortress, which 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 a different level. Since that time, she has forever lost her military significance, and the guns mounted on her bastions rattled only during official celebrations. Around the fortress with extraordinary speed, the 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 Apostle Peter.
Before the final end of the Northern War, the Senate began work on Hare Island, and soon the main political prison of Russia was created. In this, the development stories of the Tower and the Peter and Paul Fortress are similar. The citadel, erected on the banks of the Thames, also managed to serve as a fortification, and the administrative center, and a prison, and, finally, a museum.
It is curious that the first prisoner of the "Russian Bastille" - this name she got 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 on the territory of the new prison and a special house, which housed the Secret Office. Between Naryshkin and the Trubetskoy bastion, he built the first Mint, 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 decorations.
In 1731, the Naryshkin bastion was crowned with the Flage Tower, on which the Russian flag was hoisted daily, and two years later the construction of the stone Peter and Paul Cathedral was completed, which eventually became the tomb of the Russian monarchs. Like other buildings of the fortress, it was built according to the project and under the direct supervision of Domenico Trezzini. In the 30s, it became a tradition to fire 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 house the botanist Peter I, who, after the sovereign’s death, became one of the relics of Russian history. The fortress finally took its solemn appearance by the end of the 80s, when its granite cladding was completed, and the Commandant’s pier and Narva Gate were built.
Prisoners of the Russian Bastille
The Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg entered into 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, posing as the heiress to the throne, the writer Radishchev and the Decembrists contained in the Alekseevsky ravelin. Within their walls were Petrashevists, Narodnaya Volya and Nechaevites, led by their inglorious leader. 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 Revolution of 1917, the garrison supported the Bolsheviks, which in the Soviet years was not forgotten to mention even in the brief history of the Peter and Paul Fortress. It was described in detail that during the storming of the Winter Palace single shots were fired from its walls, and after its completion, ministers of the Provisional Government became prisoners of the casemates.
Less readily, Soviet historians recalled 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 clan were shot on its territory: Dmitry Konstantinovich, Georgy Mikhailovich, Nikolai Mikhailovich and Pavel Alexandrovich.
A particularly gloomy page in the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress was the period of the Red Terror, the peak of which fell on 1917-1921. Mass executions were then carried out at the fortress wall from the Kronverksky Strait. In 2009, the remains of hundreds of people who were victims of the hate regime established for many years in the country were discovered there.
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 barbarism was not destined to happen, 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 the first gas-dynamic laboratory in Russia, whose employees laid the foundation for domestic rocket science. In its place in 1973 the Museum of rocketry and astronautics was opened, which exists to this day.
During the Great Patriotic War, an anti-aircraft battery was placed in the fortress, which protected the sky of Leningrad from 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 in the cathedral, but the walls were seriously damaged.
In 1975, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the uprising on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, near Kronverk, in the place where five Decembrists were executed on the night of July 25, 1826, a memorable obelisk of pink marble was erected. The names of A. Pestel, P. Kakhovsky, K. Ryleyev, S. Muravyov-Apostol and M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin were stamped on it.
Endless story
Today, the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg "Peter and Paul Fortress" was created on the territory of the once formidable citadel. As in previous times, every day at noon from the Naryshkinsky bastion a signal shot of the gun is heard, which is often provided to honored guests of the city. In 1991, a sculpture of Peter the Great appeared by the Russian-American sculptor M. M. Shemyakin among the sights of the fortress, and in the post-perestroika period various entertaining events began to be arranged on the beaches adjacent to it. In the XXI century, the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg takes on a new life. The story summarized in this article continues.