Shlisselburg was of great strategic importance only in the coming years of the Northern War; during the capture of the Neva (1703), he played the role of an advanced base; then, until 1710, it provided the right flank of the Neva line, and during the siege of Kexholm (1710) served as a base for Bruce's detachment. After the capture of Kexholm and Vyborg and the construction of the fortifications of St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, the significance of Shlisselburg as a fortress fell. The fortress was turned into a prison.

In 1725, Evdokia Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter, was here. They kept her strictly secret under the name of a "famous person." She spent a little over a year here.

From above you can see the Royal Tower, the citadel and a secret house in it. The secret house was rebuilt in 1908 on the existing foundations:

John Antonovich from 1756 to 1764 was kept in a separate house, which was located at the entrance to the fortress next to the Sovereign Tower. They want to completely restore this house, the foundation has already been made. In the photo covered with a green film:

John Antonovich was kept very strictly. After Catherine II met with Mirovich, she added the last 10th point to the instructions. After that, "while trying to free" John Antonovich was killed. It is still unknown where he is buried.

Gradually, this prison becomes political. Biron sent members of the constitutional council here. In 1736, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn (1665-1737), the elder brother of Mikhail Golitsyn, the hero of the assault on the fortress, was here at the age of 70. In 1737 Dmitry Golitsyn died here. Dolgorukov Vasily Vladimirovich (1667 - 1746). He was arrested in 1731, was in the Ivangorod and Shlisselburg fortresses and in the Solovetsky Monastery. In 1741 he was released. Dolgorukov Vasily Lukich (1670-1739), was an ambassador to Poland, France, Sweden, Denmark. Arrested in 1730, executed by Senate in 1739.

But then Biron himself, along with his family, visited here. He was arrested in 1740 and stayed here for six months while the investigation lasted. He was sentenced to death, which was replaced by exile in Pelym.

Here is an amazing character. Chechen Sheikh Mansur (1760-1794). During a fierce battle near Anapa, he was captured and brought to the Peter and Paul Fortress. By the decree of Catherine II, he was sentenced to "a hopeless stay" in the Shlisselburg fortress. He tried to run, but was captured. He died in the fortress in 1794.

Gradually, this old prison began to turn into a transit prison. There were people who were waiting for hard labor. There were 17 Decembrists.

The Decembrists did not stay here for long, from a month to a year. But one person here stayed in solitary confinement for six and a half years.

He was married to the daughter of Senator Andrei Mikhailovich Borozdin, Maria Andreevna. He was 32, a widower with four children, she was 16. She married against her father's wishes. When Poggio was arrested, Borozdin did everything to prevent his daughter from following her husband to hard labor. And she was going to.

Borozdin persuaded Nikolai to detain Iosif Viktorovich in Shlisselburg, and to inform his daughter that her husband had died. She did not believe, she wrote to all authorities and even to Nicholas I. She wanted to know where he was. After all, the Decembrists were still under investigation, relying only on what their relatives sent them. All her letters went unanswered. After six and a half years, she believed that he was gone and got married. That's when he was sent to Siberia. That is, he was kept in Shlisselburg so that no one could see him. The Volkonskys, who took care of him in Siberia, took pity on him and did not say that in April 1826 his son was born.

There were many Poles sitting here. Valerian Lukasinsky (1786 - 1868). He was arrested in 1822, first kept in the Zamostye fortress, from 1830 to 1868 in the Shlisselburg fortress, of which 31 years in the Secret House, the last six years in the "numbered barracks". He died in the fortress at the age of 82, in total he spent 46 years in prison. The wiki has an article about him, but we were told a different story. They simply forgot about him. Then someone grabbed, asking, what kind of old man you live here. They transferred him to a brighter cell, as he began to see badly. And they forgot again.

The punishment cell was also in the Old Prison.
There was also a group of comrades of Alexander Ulyanov, who were preparing an assassination attempt on Alexander III. They were in the fortress for only two days, except for the five who were hanged. They refused to write a petition for pardon. Ulyanov's mother came to Shlisselburg and begged to write his petition. He didn't write. Then on the night of May 8, 1887, they were hanged, which is very strange, they were usually shot here.

Mikhail Frolenko (died 1938) one of the last generation of Narodnaya Volya members. Lived 88 years. When the regime was softened for the Narodnaya Volya, they were allowed to engage in gardening. He planted an apple tree in this place, but he did not know what kind of place it was. This is the place of execution of Alexander Ulyanov, but then the places of execution were kept secret. The first apple tree died during the war. In the 1960s, it turned out from the documents that the executions took place in the citadel, so the apple tree was planted again. Frolenko's second apple tree:

Here in the new (Narodnaya Volya) prison in October 1884, the following people were brought:

There are forty solitary cells here. The building is built in such a way that all doors are visible from any point.

All chambers are the same - five paces long, four paces wide. The chair and stool are attached to the wall.

During the day, the bed was raised and locked, because a person had no right to occupy a horizontal position.

There was also a washbasin in the cell:

Heating has been central from the start. There was no sewerage in this building, the guards carried out the bucket

After the assassination of Alexander II, his son ordered the top to be executed, all the rest to life imprisonment in the Shlisselburg fortress. The Narodnaya Volya were kept very strictly. Three conditions must be met. Complete silence was observed. The guards walked in special soft shoes. Conversations were also not allowed. Tapping was not allowed, but it was impossible to stop them. They were able to carry on conversations through six cameras.
The second condition is complete isolation from the outside world. They walked for 15 minutes a day, but so that they did not see each other. Reading and writing were not allowed. True, there was a Bible and a prayer book in every cell.
The third condition is complete inactivity.
Under such conditions, several people went crazy. Most of the Narodnaya Volya in such conditions stayed here for 18-20 years.

We were told about a man with an amazingly stable nervous system. It was Nikolai Morozov. He was in Shlisselburg from 1884, spent 29 years in prisons, 21 of them in Shlisselburg, lived a long life, died at the age of 92 in 1946.

He was brought here in 1884 on a stretcher as a seriously ill person. Before that, he fell ill with tuberculosis in the Alekseevsky ravelin. A doctor's note has been preserved in the archive that this person is not a tenant, the forecast is pessimistic. There is another note that the doctor wrote after a while, "he conquered his death." Somehow he held his breath and was cured.
Morozov was the son of a wealthy merchant from Yaroslavl. For some reason, he was carried away by the ideas of the revolution, he was the most ardent supporter of terrorism. He quarreled with his comrades because of this, went abroad, managed to get married there, a daughter was born. Then Figner called him here and as a result he ended up in the fortress.

Later, the conditions of stay were softened, as many people died. They were allowed to walk longer and together, they were allowed to read and write. There was a wonderful library here. They were allowed to work, gardening.
Morozov took up sciences, the list of which is endless. Learned almost all European languages. He wrote such a work on chemistry, for which Mendeleev, and he corresponded with him, awarded him a degree.
Nicholas II, under pressure from the public, closed the prison here. Therefore, after Shlisselburg, Morozov spent another six years in another prison. Then he taught. He was the first director of the Lesgaft Institute.
A village on the right bank of the Neva opposite Shlisselburg is named after him.

Figner died at the age of 92.

The fortress got its name from the city of Shlisselburg, located nearby on the banks of the Neva. There are several ways to get to Oreshok from St. Petersburg:

By private car

On the Murmansk highway you need to get to the Ladoga bridge, after which immediately turn right. Further, guided by the signs, turn around under the bridge and go onto the road leading to the city. The distance from the Ladoga bridge to the entrance to the city is approximately 2 km. The total length of the route from St. Petersburg to Shlisselburg is about 32 km. At the only pier, located not far from the central, Cathedral Square, you can buy a ticket for a boat that shuttles to Oreshok and back, or you can use the services of private owners of boats and boats.

By regular bus to the city of Shlisselburg, then by boat to the Oreshek fortress

Two regular buses run from St. Petersburg to the city of Shlisselburg.

• Bus number 575 departs from the metro station Ulitsa Dybenko. It runs on schedule approximately every 20 minutes. The fare in 2015 was 55 rubles, the travel time was 45-60 minutes. The final stop is Cathedral Square. From it you need to go forward along the bridge over the Staraya Ladoga Canal, turn left and, after walking about 200 m more, there will be a pier. Next, you need to buy a ticket for a scheduled boat or negotiate with private owners of boats.
• Bus number 440 departs from Proletarskaya or Rybatskoye metro stations. The interval of movement is 30-40 minutes. The fare in 2015 was 90 rubles, the travel time was 1.5 - 2 hours. The bus also makes its final stop at Cathedral Square. Further on the pier, you can use a regular boat or the services of private cabs.

The fare on a shuttle boat in 2015 was 250 rubles. for one adult, 200 rubles. for a child, children under 7 years old - free of charge. Travel time is 5-10 minutes. The boat departs every 20-30 minutes. Please note that this ticket entitles you to sail to the island and return to Shisselburg, so do not throw it away when you arrive at Oreshek Fortress.

For the information of travelers: if you choose a ground mode of transport, then you should take into account the regular wiring of the Ladoga bridge, which takes place twice a day.

On a cruise meteor from St. Petersburg to the Shlisselburg Fortress

There are several cruise companies in St. Petersburg that organize excursions to the Shlisselburg Fortress. At 2015 prices, a similar tour, starting at one of the marinas of St. Petersburg, costs an average of 1,800 rubles. for an adult, 1500 rubles. - for privileged categories of citizens, 750-900 rubles - for children, children under 3 years old travel free of charge. The cost of the trip usually includes the services of a guide, an entrance ticket to the Oreshek fortress, excursion services, and an afternoon snack on board the meteor. The duration of the tour is approximately 5 hours.

Shlisselburg Fortress: opening hours, ticket prices, excursion services

Fortress-Museum Oreshek is an open-air museum, therefore, excursions are not provided during the winter period.

Opening hours: on weekdays from 10:00 to 18:00, on weekends and holidays from 10:00 to 19:00.

Tickets

The entrance to the Oreshek fortress - Shlisselburg fortress, as well as to many museums, is paid. Tickets are purchased at the pier in a small pavilion, their cost for adults is 180 rubles, for children and pensioners - 80 rubles. The ticket price includes excursion services: once every 1.5 hours at the Sovereign Tower, the guide gathers a group of travelers and, passing through the fortress, talks about the sights.

Upon prior request, the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg organizes comprehensive excursion tours, including the crossing and excursion services. You can check the information on the museum website http://www.spbmuseum.ru/themuseum/museum_complex/oreshek_fortress/

Sights of the Oreshek fortress

The tour starts at the Sovereign Tower. At the same time, interesting details about its structure are told: having run into the tower, the enemies ran into a grate, and immediately a second grate fell behind them. It was impossible to get out of this trap.

The next story of the guide is about the life, imprisonment and death of the infant sovereign John VI Antonovich.

Then travelers climb the steep stairs to the gallery, which stretches almost along the entire perimeter of the fortress walls. Through the narrow windows-loopholes, an amazing view of the Neva and Lake Ladoga opens up.

An unforgettable impression is made by an excursion to the Citadel and the Secret House.

In the courtyard of the Old Prison at the place of execution of Alexander Ulyanov, an apple tree was planted and a memorial plaque was erected.

The guide will tell you that the first fortress was much smaller than the modern one, and show you the excavations on the site of the ancient fortress wall. On a huge boulder there is an inscription "In memory of the Treaty of Orekhovets between Novgorod and Sweden".

The next part of the tour is dedicated to the New Prison. The building was built in the image of American prisons - two-story, with cameras placed around the perimeter.

A separate chapter in the history of the Shlisselburg fortress Oreshek is defense during the Great Patriotic War. The memorial includes a monument-ball, cannons from the time of war, a sculptural group of the island's defenders, a bronze commemorative plaque with the oath of the participants in the defense of the fortress.

After the tour, everyone can independently re-visit the sights, relax on the territory of the fortress or admire the panorama of Lake Ladoga from the steep bank.

There are no shops on the territory of the Shlisselburg Fortress and Orekhovy Island, water and food must be taken with you in advance. The sewage system built two centuries ago has now been destroyed, and several dry closets have been installed in the fortress.

After visiting the fortress, there is a feeling of peace and tranquility. Touching the age-old history once, you want to come back here again and again.

Shlisselburg Fortress (Oreshek) is one of the oldest architectural and historical monuments in the North-West of Russia. It is located on a small island (with an area of ​​200 x 300 m) at the source of the Neva from Lake Ladoga. The history of the fortress is closely connected with the struggle of the Russian people for the lands along the banks of the Neva and for access to the Baltic Sea.

General view of the fortress. Shlisselburg fortress.

In 1323, the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich, the grandson of Alexander Nevsky, built a wooden fortress on Orekhovy Island, called Nut. It was an outpost of Veliky Novgorod on the northwestern border of Russia. He defended an important route for trade with the countries of Western Europe, which passed along the Neva to the Gulf of Finland.

Prince Yuri Danilovich

On August 12, 1323, the first peace treaty between Veliky Novgorod and Sweden was signed in the fortress - the Treaty of Orekhovo. The Novgorod Chronicle says this:

“In the summer of 6831 (1323 AD), Novgorodtsy went with Prince Yuri Danilovich to the Neva and put the city at the mouth of the Neva on Orekhovy Island; the same great ambassadors arrived from the Sveian king and ended the eternal peace with the prince and with the New City according to the old fee ... "

The original text of the Orekhov Treaty of 1323.

In 1333, the city and the fortress were transferred to the fatherland of the Lithuanian prince Narimunt, who placed his son Alexander here (Prince Alexander Narimuntovich of Orekhov). At the same time, Oreshek becomes the capital of the specific Orekhovets principality.
Dramatic events in the history of Novgorod Nut took place in 1348. The Swedish king Magnus Erikson undertook a campaign against Russia. Taking advantage of the absence of the commander of the Orekhovites, the Lithuanian prince Narimont, the Swedes captured the fortress in August 1348, but did not hold out there for long.
Narimunt lived more in Lithuania, and in 1338 he did not appear at the call of Novgorod to defend him against the Swedes and recalled his son Alexander. Later, in Oreshka, the Novgorod boyar-diplomat Kozma Tverdislavich was taken prisoner by the Swedes. In 1349, after the fortress was recaptured from the Swedes, governor Jacob Khotov was planted here.
On February 24, 1349, the Russians retook Oreshek, but during the battle the wooden fortress burned down.

A stone installed in the fortress in memory of the peace of Orekhovo

Three years later, in 1352, in the same place, the Novgorodians built a new fortress, this time a stone one, the construction of which was supervised by the Novgorod archbishop Vasily. The fortress occupied the southeastern elevated part of the island. The fortress walls (length - 351 meters, height - 5-6 meters, width - about three meters) and three low rectangular towers were built of large boulders and limestone slabs.
In 1384, the son of Narimunt, Patrikey Narimuntovich (the ancestor of the princes of the Patrikeyevs), was invited to Novgorod and was received with great honors and received the city of Orekhov, the Korelsky town (Korelu), and also Luskoye (the village of Luzhskoye).

Oreshek Fortress. Photo: aroundspb.ru

Along the western wall of the ancient Oreshok, 25 meters from it, crossing the island from north to south, there was a channel three meters wide (filled in at the beginning of the 18th century). The channel separated the fortress from the settlement, which occupied the western part of the island. In 1410, the settlement was surrounded by a wall that repeated the curves of the coastline. The courtyard of the fortress and the settlement were closely built up with one-story wooden houses, in which warriors, farmers and fishermen, merchants and artisans lived.

Shlisselburg fortress. Early 18th century. Reconstruction by V. M. Savkov.

By the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century, firearms were invented and powerful artillery began to be used during the siege of fortresses. The walls and towers of Nut, built long before that, could not withstand the new military equipment. In order for fortifications to withstand prolonged shelling of enemy cannons, walls and towers began to be built higher, stronger and thicker.

In 1478 Veliky Novgorod lost its political independence and submitted to the Muscovite state. To protect the northwestern borders, it was necessary to reconstruct the Novgorod fortresses - Ladoga, Yam, Koporye, Oreshek. The old Orekhovskaya fortress was demolished almost to the foundation, and at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century a new powerful stronghold rose on the island. Walls and towers were placed near the water itself, so as not to leave room for the enemy to land and use wall-beating machines and other weapons. The Swedish chronicler E. Tegel highly appreciated the defense capability of Nut. He wrote in 1555: "The castle cannot be shelled and taken by storm because of its powerful fortifications and the strong current of the river."

In plan, the fortress is an elongated polygon with seven towers: Golovina, Sovereign, Korolevskaya, Flagnaya, Golovkina, Menshikova and Bezymyannaya (the last two have not been preserved), the distance between them was about 80 meters. With the exception of the rectangular Sovereign, the rest of the towers of the fortress are round, their height is 14-16 meters, their thickness is 4.5, the diameter of the interior of the lower tier is 6-8. In the 16th century, the towers were crowned with high wooden tented roofs. Each had four floors (tiers), or, as they said in antiquity, battlefields. The lower tier of each tower was covered with a stone vault. The second, third and fourth tiers were separated from each other by wooden flooring and connected by stairs placed inside the walls.

The Sovereign Tower is one of the most interesting objects of the fortress. According to its structure, it belongs to the best examples of fortifications. In its first tier there is a passage to the fortress, curved at a right angle. He strengthened the defensive power of the tower and made it impossible to use rams. The passage was closed by gates in the western and southern walls and forged gratings - gers. One of them descended from the second tier of the tower, and the other from the battle course of the wall. The rise of the gers was carried out with the help of gates. The approach to the entrance arch was protected by a moat with a drawbridge thrown over it.

Sovereign Tower, 16th century.

Gate for lifting the garsa from the inside of the gate

Drawbridge of the Sovereign Tower. The lifting mechanism has also been restored.

The Sovereign Tower was restored by restorers in 1983; it houses an exposition telling about this monument of medieval architecture. To the west of the Sovereign is the most powerful of the towers - Golovin, the thickness of its walls is 6 meters. The upper part of the tower is now occupied by an observation deck, which offers a magnificent panorama of the Neva banks and Lake Ladoga.

Loophole.S.V.Malakhov

The total length of the walls of the stone Nut is 740 meters, the height is 12 meters, the thickness of the masonry at the sole is 4.5 meters. On top of the walls, a covered battle passage was arranged, which connected all the towers and enabled the defenders to quickly move to the most dangerous places. It was possible to climb three stone stairs located at different ends of the fortress to the battle course.

Combat move on the fortress wall between the towers of the Sovereign and Golovina

In the northeast corner, simultaneously with the construction of the fortress, a citadel was erected - an inner fortress isolated from the main territory by walls 13-14 meters high and three towers: Svetlichnaya, Kolokolnaya and Mill. The loopholes of the towers of the citadel were aimed inside the fortress yard.
Each of them had a specific purpose: Svetlichnaya protected the entrance to the citadel, in addition, next to it in the fortress wall there was a small room - a living room (hence the name of the tower).
A message bell was installed on the Bell Tower, which was later replaced by a clock. There was a windmill on the Mill Tower at the beginning of the 18th century. Of the towers of the citadel, only Svetlichnaya has survived. In the event of an enemy breakthrough into the fortress, its defenders, being in the citadel, continued to hold the line. The citadel was separated from the rest of the fortress by a 12-meter canal, in which the water was running.

Shlisselburg fortress. Canal at the citadel. Drawing by V.M. Savkov. 1972.

In the fortress wall adjacent to the Mill Tower, a hole was preserved through which water flowed from Lake Ladoga. On the other side, the canal was connected by a wide arch (“water gates” laid out in the thickness of the wall) to the right source of the Neva.

"water" gates. S.V. Malakhov

The water gates were closed with a gersa. The channel, in addition to defensive functions, served as a harbor for ships. A wooden chain drawbridge was thrown across the canal, which was raised in moments of danger, and it closed the entrance to the citadel. The canal was filled up in 1882.
The walls of the citadel had vaulted galleries for storing food and ammunition. The galleries were laid with stone in the 19th century. All the towers were connected by a fighting passage, to which a stone staircase led - "climb". A well was dug in the yard. In the eastern wall, near the Royal Tower, there was an emergency exit to Lake Ladoga, closed after the construction of the Secret House (Old Prison) in 1798. Thanks to a deeply thought-out and developed defense system, the Oreshka citadel occupies a special place in the history of the development of fortification architecture.

Golovin's tower and stairs to the combat move. The fortress has not been completely restored.

Ladder to the battle

Golovin Tower.S.V.Malakhov

Royal tower. S. V. Malakhov

At present, the stairs and the combat passage between the towers of the Sovereign and Golovin have been restored. The walls and towers of Nut of the 16th century are made of limestone of different color shades; the oldest masonry has a brownish-violet color, bluish-gray tones are characteristic of later masonry; their combination is in harmony with the surrounding water expanse and creates a special flavor. The stone for the construction of Oreshok was mined in quarries on the Volkhov River.

The walls of Oreshok have repeatedly witnessed the unparalleled heroism of the Russian people. In 1555 and 1581, the Swedish troops stormed the fortress, but were forced to retreat. In May 1612, after a nine-month siege, they managed to capture Oreshek. Many defenders died from disease and starvation. Having conquered the fortress, the Swedes renamed it Noteburg. In 1686-1697 they completely rebuilt the Royal Tower according to the design of the Swedish engineer and fortifier Eric Dahlberg. This is the only capital structure created during the 90-year period of Swedish rule.

General view of the inner space of the Oreshek fortress. The destruction was caused mainly by fighting during the Great Patriotic War.

For five centuries, the towers and walls of the fortress have changed a lot. In the 18th century, the lower parts of the walls were hidden with bastions and curtains, and the upper parts were lowered by three meters in 1816-1820. Four towers out of ten were dismantled to the ground. Great damage was caused to the fortress by shelling by German artillery during the Great Patriotic War. And yet, through all the destruction and loss, the unique appearance of the former stronghold clearly emerges.

In 1700, the Northern War began between Russia and Sweden for the return of the Russian lands occupied by the Swedes and for Russia's access to the Baltic Sea. Before Peter I was a difficult task: it was necessary to master Oreshok. His release ensured further successful military operations.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the fortress of Noteburg was well fortified and completely defensible. In addition, the Swedes dominated Lake Ladoga, and the island position of the stronghold made mastering it especially difficult. The garrison, led by the commandant Lieutenant Colonel Gustav von Schlippenbach, numbered about 500 people and had 140 guns. Being protected by powerful fortress walls, he could put up stubborn resistance to the Russian troops.

On September 26, 1702, the Russian army under the command of Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev appeared near Noteburg. The siege of the fortress began on 27 September. The Russian army consisted of 14 regiments (12,576 people), including the guards Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky. Peter I participated in the battle as a captain of the bombardment company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

Russian troops camped opposite the fortress on Preobrazhenskaya Gora, and batteries were installed on the left bank of the Neva: 12 mortars and 31 cannons. Then, under the supervision of Peter I, along the banks of the Neva, the soldiers dragged 50 boats through a three-verst forest clearing. At dawn on October 1, a thousand guardsmen of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments crossed in boats to the right bank of the Neva and captured the Swedish fortifications located there. Two batteries were installed in the recaptured positions, each of which had two mortars and six guns.

With the help of boats, a floating bridge was built across the Neva to connect the Russian troops on the left and right banks. The fortress was surrounded. On October 1, a trumpeter was sent to her commandant with a proposal to surrender the fortress on a treaty. Schlippenbach replied that he could decide on this only with the permission of the Narva chief commandant, under whose command the Noteburg garrison was, and asked for a four-day delay. But this trick was not successful: Peter ordered the immediate bombardment of the fortress.

On October 1, 1702, at 4 pm, Russian artillery opened fire, and Noteburg disappeared in clouds of smoke, “bombs, grenades, bullets hovered over the fortress with destructive fire. Horror seized the besieged, but they did not lose courage, defending stubbornly and despising the disasters of a terrible siege ... ". The shelling continued continuously for 11 days until the assault itself. Wooden buildings caught fire in the fortress, the fire threatened to explode the gunpowder warehouse. In the fortress wall between the Golovin and Bezymyannaya towers, the Russians managed to break through three large, but highly located gaps.

The assault began at 2 am on October 11 and lasted 13 hours. Guardsmen crossed the island in boats and tried to climb the walls with the help of ladders, which turned out to be short. Their length was only enough to get to the gaps in the fortress wall. Clamped on a narrow strip of land between the fortifications and the Neva, Russian soldiers and officers, led by Lieutenant Colonel of the Semenovsky Regiment M. M. Golitsyn, heroically withstood the crushing fire of the Swedish garrison and suffered significant losses. Peter I sent an officer with the order to retreat.
Golitsyn answered the messenger: “Tell the tsar that now I am no longer his, but God’s,” and ordered the boats to be pushed away from the island, thus cutting off the path to retreat. The assault continued. When lieutenant A. D. Menshikov crossed over with a detachment of volunteers from the Preobrazhensky Regiment to help the Golitsyn detachment, the Swedes faltered. Commandant Schlippenbach at five o'clock in the afternoon ordered the drums to be struck, which meant the surrender of the fortress. “This nut was very cruel, however, thank God, it was happily gnawed,” Peter I wrote to his assistant A. A. Vinius. The victory went to the Russians at the cost of heavy losses. Over 500 Russian soldiers and officers died on the coastline of the island and 1,000 were injured. All participants in the assault were awarded special medals. The mass grave of those killed during the assault has been preserved in the fortress to this day.

On October 14, the Swedish garrison left Noteburg. The Swedes marched with a drumbeat and unfurled banners, the soldiers held bullets in their teeth as a sign that they had preserved military honor. They were left with personal weapons.

On the same day, Noteburg was solemnly renamed Shlisselburg - "Key City". On the Sovereign Tower, Peter I ordered to strengthen the key to the fortress in commemoration of the fact that its capture will serve as the beginning of further victories in the Northern War (1700-1721) and open the way to the Baltic Sea, which was 60 kilometers away. In memory of the conquest of Noteburg, a medal was stamped with the inscription: "The enemy had 90 years." Every year on October 11, the sovereign came to Shlisselburg to celebrate the victory.

Peter I attached great importance to the fortress conquered from the Swedes and ordered the construction of new fortifications - earthen bastions, which were lined with stone in the middle of the 18th century. Six bastions were built at the foot of the towers, some of them were named after the construction leaders: Golovin, Gosudarev, Menshikov, Golovkin. The bastions and curtain walls connecting them closed the lower parts of the fortress walls and towers.

Plan and facade of the cathedral church of St. John the Baptist. Drawing. 1821.

Ruins of St. John's Cathedral

In the XVIII century, a large construction was carried out in the fortress. In 1716-1728, a soldier's barracks was built near the northern wall according to the project of architects I. G. Ustinov and D. Trezzini. Outside, it adjoined a gallery with an open arcade about 6 meters high, in front of which a wide channel flowed. The height of the building was flush with the fortress wall, the shed roof was at the level of the battle course. The combination of the fortress wall with the barracks in Oreshka can be considered the beginning of the creation of a new, more advanced type of fortification, which was later carried out in the Peter and Paul Fortress. From the second half of the 18th century, the building began to be called Peter's "numbered" barracks, as part of the premises were turned into places of detention - "numbers".

The second building preserved in the fortress is the New (People's Volunteer) Prison

"New Prison"

The prisoners of the barracks were princes M.V. and V.L. Dolgoruky and D.M. Golitsyn, members of the Supreme Privy Council, who tried to limit the autocratic power of Empress Anna Ioannovna, her favorite Duke of Courland E.I. Biron, Emperor Ivan VI Antonovich, Chechen sheikh Mansur, Georgian prince Okropir, progressive figures of Russian culture - writer F. V. Krechetov, journalist and publisher N. I. Novikov and others.

In 1716, the construction of a mint began near the southern fortress wall, according to the project of the architect Ustinov, after the completion of construction, the building was used as a storehouse. According to the project of the same architect, in 1718 a wooden house by A. D. Menshikov was built, in which in 1718-1721 the sister of Peter I, Maria Alekseevna, was imprisoned in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. Since 1721, the construction work in the Shlisselburg fortress was led by the architect D. Trezzini. Under him, the barracks were completed and a canal was laid near it, the height of the Bell Tower was increased, which ended with a twenty-meter spire, vaguely reminiscent of the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
In 1722, the wooden palace of Peter I was built - the Sovereign's House. From 1725 to 1727, his captive was the first wife of Peter I, Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, imprisoned by order of Catherine I.

The first prison is the Secret House built inside the citadel (inner fortress) at the end of the 18th century.

An old photo of the Secret House from the archives.

At the end of the 18th century, the fortress lost its defensive significance. In the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, buildings were erected in the fortress yard, associated with the new appointment of the Shlisselburg fortress as a state prison. The first prison building in the citadel - the Secret House (Old Prison) - was completed by the architect P. Paton. It was a one-story structure with ten single cells. The secret house became the place of imprisonment of the Decembrists: I.I. Pushchina, V.K. Kuchelbeker, brothers M. A., N. A., A. A. Bestuzhev, I. V. and A. V. Poggio and others. Tragic was the fate of the organizer of the Polish patriotic society to fight the Russian autocracy, V. Lukasinsky. He spent 37 years in solitary confinement, including 31 years in the Secret House and 6 years in the barracks.

Location: Leningrad Region, Source of the Neva, Nut Island

Oreshek Fortress - an ancient Russian fortress, founded in 1323 by Prince Yuri Danilovich of Novgorod, is a unique architectural and historical monument. The fortress got its name not because of its impregnability, but because of the name of the island on which it is located - Nut Island. The island itself divides the Neva into two almost equal parts in this place, and the current here is so strong that the water in the river does not freeze even in the most severe frosts.

At present, the Oreshek fortress is primarily a monument of Russian antiquity, which contains various historical exhibits dedicated to the history of this region and the fortress itself. Nut has the status of a branch of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg.

To this day, the fortress has not survived in its original form, but some parts of it have been restored and now look pretty good. For example, the walls and towers, 6 of which are still standing today (a total of 10), built presumably at the end of the 15th century, as well as bastions and curtain walls built in the 19th century, have been preserved in good condition. One of the best-preserved towers is named after the Sovereign Tower, and it is in it that the museum exposition is located. During the 70s and 80s, a large-scale restoration was carried out, the bastions, part of the walls, and several of the best preserved towers were restored. The internal buildings of the fortress were also partially restored, and another exposition was located in the building of the former prison of the fortress.

Story

The Oreshek Fortress was built primarily as a border fortress and its history is the history of wars and sieges. Ten years after the construction, the fortress was transferred to the possession of the Lithuanian governor Narimut and became the center of the Orekhov principality. Already 25 years after its foundation, in 1348, Oreshek was taken by the Swedes, but they did not last long there and a year later they were driven out of it. During the siege by the Russian troops, the fortress was partially destroyed by fire, since initially the walls of the fortress were wooden, but in 1352, stronger stone walls were built. From that moment, Oreshek became the most important key point of the border between the Novgorod principality and Sweden, and also eventually became the main city in this area, the center of administration, trade and crafts.

In the 15th century, Novgorod became part of the Moscow Principality, and since that time, a serious strengthening of the fortress towers and walls began, since the walls of the fortress could no longer protect it from artillery fire. It was completely rebuilt and became one of the most powerful fortresses in the north of Russia, the walls grew to a height of 12 meters, and their thickness was 4.5 meters. The towers of the fortress were also seriously strengthened, their height became 16-18 meters, powerful walls protected from artillery, and the four-tier structure made it possible to fight along the entire height of the tower.

The fortress suffered its first siege after the reconstruction in 1555. The Swedes besieged the city for three weeks, but quickly realized the futility of their actions. And in one of the sorties, Russian troops were even able to capture several ships.

In 1582, the fortress experienced the most serious siege in its history, and at first it was not in favor of the garrison. The siege was commanded by the famous Swedish commander Pontus Delegardi. His artillery managed to make a hole in one of the walls, opposite it he built his ships in a row from coast to coast, thereby forming a road along which the Swedish troops went on the assault. The Swedes managed to capture one of the towers, but they were driven out by a counterattack. A week later, the garrison of the fortress, numbering 500 people, received serious reinforcements, and the subsequent siege of the fortress became pointless. The Swedes would have been able to capture the fortress only at the cost of huge losses, which they did not dare to take. As a result, it was not possible to capture Oreshek, and this slightly improved the terms of the peace treaty after the long Livonian War.

It withstood sieges and assaults many times and surrendered to the Swedes only once, in 1611, during the Time of Troubles, when Russia simply could not resist the invaders and there was nowhere to wait for help from the defenders. After a 9-month siege, the fortress surrendered, out of 1300 defenders, only a hundred soldiers remained by the end of the siege. According to the peace treaty of 1617, this territory was ceded to the Swedes for almost a hundred years and the fortress was named Noteburg, which means walnut city.

They recaptured the Oreshek fortress in 1702 during the Northern War. After a long 10-day artillery shelling, the Russian troops took Noteburg after a 12-hour assault. Peter I himself took part in the attack on the city. The assault on the city was so cruel and difficult that all the fighters who took part in it received special medals for the capture of Noteburg. It was then that Oreshek was renamed Shlisselburg, and after the construction of Kronstadt in 1703, it lost its key importance among the northern fortresses, and after the end of the war it ceased to be a border one at all and began to be used as a prison for political prisoners, and many famous people languished and were executed within its walls. personalities of the 18th and 19th centuries.

However, the military glory of the fortress did not end with the end of the Northern War, and two centuries later, during the Great Patriotic War, it was successfully defended by the Red Army for 500 days and did not allow the ring to be closed around Leningrad, preserving a small road of life to the city and water and ice. Day and night, the German troops were shelling the stronghold, but they could not suppress the resistance of the defenders, despite the fact that they practically razed the fortress to the ground.

How to get there

The fortress is located on an island and can only be reached by ship. On the route Shlisselburg - Orekh - Morozovka, there is a route on which you can easily get to Oreshok. The ferry runs at about an hour, a kind of water taxi for local residents also works, phones can be found there on the pier.

Excursions are constantly organized to the fortress and signing up for one of them is not a problem.

It is worth remembering one moment, the museum is open from 10-00 to 17-00 and you need to plan a visit exactly at this time.

The history of the Oreshek fortress has more than seven centuries. Walnut Island got its name due to the thickets of hazelnuts growing there. The Novgorod chronicle states that in 1323, Prince Yuri Danilovich, the grandson of Alexander Nevsky, built a wooden fortress here. Fortress Oreshek stood on the border with Sweden and was repeatedly attacked by the Swedes. In the 15th century, when the Novgorod Republic was annexed to the Moscow Principality, the wooden fortress was demolished, and a stone structure was erected in its place, which included several 16-meter towers and high defensive walls. Two centuries later, in the 17th century, the fortress was captured by the Swedes, who destroyed almost all of its defenders. The legend says that the surviving Russian soldiers walled up the icon of the Kazan Mother of God in the fortress wall, being sure that it was she who would help return the island to Russia. However, after the conclusion of a peace treaty with Sweden, the fortress became Swedish and was renamed Noteburg, that is, “nut city”.

In 1702, Peter I conquered the Oreshek fortress and gave it a new name - Shlisselburg, "the key-city". The fortress became a reliable defensive line on the border of St. Petersburg. In the 18th century, a prison began to be built in the Shlisselburg fortress, since this area was the most suitable for keeping dangerous criminals. In the last years of the century, the “Secret House” was built here, and later the famous fortress was dubbed the “Russian Bastille”. It was here that the most important political figures, Decembrists, prominent revolutionaries and even the royal family were imprisoned. In the Shlisselburg fortress, Vladimir Lenin's brother A.I. Ulyanov was executed.

In the "Secret House" there was a punishment cell, famous for its horrors, nicknamed the "stone bag". It was here that the heir to the throne, John Antonovich, was kept, who was imprisoned in early childhood, and, according to legend, did not see a single person during his entire stay in the fortress.

In pursuit of the goal of complete isolation of especially dangerous political criminals, in the Shlisselburg fortress, the gendarmes acted according to a specially created instruction, the most cruel requirement of which was the prohibition of mental and physical labor. The prisoners were not allowed to talk to their cellmates. When you get acquainted with the requirements for the behavior of prisoners and their content, it becomes clear that being in this prison was a slow and painful death penalty. The prisoners fought for their rights and achieved that they were allowed short walks and reading, and then a library and a garden were organized on the territory of the prison.

During the Second World War, the Shlisselburg Fortress fulfilled its original purpose, for 500 days opposing the closing of the blockade ring around Leningrad by the Germans. In the post-war years, restoration was carried out here, and the Oreshek fortress became one of the branches of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg.