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The Peter and Paul Fortress, originally conceived as an outpost in the defense of St. Petersburg, never took part in hostilities. Only a cannon firing every day at noon reminds of the purpose of the fortress and the exact time.

A few years later, after the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress was completed, it began to be used as a prison fortress, mainly for political prisoners. One of the first prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress was the son of Peter the Great, Tsarevich Alexei. The prince was suspected of conspiring against his father, and together with those who were considered participants in the conspiracy, they brought him to the fortress with him. In the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, Tsarevich Alexei was tortured for a long time and cruelly, and after torture he was executed.

Further, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many prisoners for political reasons visited the Peter and Paul Fortress. In the fortress, many of them were tortured, some were executed. In the fortress, in one of the rooms of the Commandant's House, there was the Supreme Criminal Court, which conducted investigations and sentenced the prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The Decembrists, who stirred up tsarist Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, were imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Five of them, recognized as leaders of the Decembrist uprising, heard their death sentence in the Peter and Paul Fortress. These people are known to everyone, the first fighters for the constitution in Russia Ryleev K.F., Pestel P.I., Muravyov-Apostol S.I., Bestuzhev-Ryumin M.P., Kakhovskiy P.G.

Famous prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress were also Russian classics, Chernyshevsky, Herzen. In 1849, being a 28-year-old novice writer, F.M. Dostoevsky. Fyodor Mikhailovich was put in the Peter and Paul prison along with other people. Those involved in the Butashevich-Petrashevsky case. Soon after the trial, Dostoevsky was released.

Before the revolution of 1917, one of the last prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress were the soldiers of the Pavlovsky regiment, who went against the tsarist government during the February revolution. True, they were soon released at the end of February, since the garrison of the Peter and Paul Fortress revolted. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, members of the provisional government were placed in the fortress.

In addition to prison functions, the Peter and Paul Fortress was also the burial place of Russian emperors. The graves of Russian tsars will rest in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The first of them is the grave of Peter 1, which is decorated with regimental banners of those regiments that, together with Peter, smashed the Swedes during the Northern War of 1700-1721. In addition to the emperors, the grand dukes are also buried in the tomb. All the sarcophagi under which the royal persons are buried are made of white marble.

The graves of Emperor Alexander II and his wife Maria Alexandrovna, nee Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, are decorated differently. The fact is that the workers of the factories of the Urals. In gratitude for the abolition of serfdom, they brought colored Ural jasper and rhodonite from the Urals, and decorated the graves of the emperor and his wife with these stones. Perhaps this is not just a monument to the great Russian Tsar, it is a monument of human gratitude.

The last, many years after his death, in 1998, in the aisle of St. Catherine, was buried the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, and members of his family, who were shot by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg in July 1918.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century. To be more precise, since 1924 a museum has been opened in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The entire territory of the fortress became a museum, and its shores became a city-wide beach. Visitors and tourists were the first to see the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the former prison of the Trubetskoy Bastion. Now the administration and the main pavilions of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg are located on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The entire Peter and Paul Fortress breathes with the centuries that have passed since the day it was founded, the presence of great people who have visited it is felt everywhere.

The Peter and Paul Fortress is located 10 minutes from the metro station "Gorkovskaya"

Attraction photo: Peter and Paul Fortress

View of the Peter and Paul Fortress

View of the Peter and Paul Fortress from the Neva

• The Zanht-Peter-Burkh fortress was founded on May 16 (27), 1703 according to the plan of Peter I. The official name is St. Petersburg (in 1914-1917 - Petrogradskaya) fortress.


• On November 8, 1925, the Leningrad Council decided to destroy the Peter and Paul Fortress and build a stadium in its place. The decision was soon reversed.
• The first triumphal monument in St. Petersburg in honor of the victories of Russian weapons - Peter's Gate - the main entrance to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The gates were built in 1708 according to the project of D. Trezzini from wood and, as it was traditionally believed, in 1717-1718. they also rebuilt in stone. However, the latest research provides a different, earlier date for the construction of the stone gate - 1714-1717.

  

  The new gates were richly decorated, in which the idea of ​​divine patronage of St. Petersburg was affirmed, and Christian symbols were combined with images of ancient mythology. For example, a bas-relief of K. Osner was transferred here from the wooden gate, in the niches on the sides of the arch they installed the figures of the goddess of war Bellona and the patroness of crafts, sciences and arts Minerva, personifying the statesmanship and military talent of Peter I. In 1720, a two-headed "state eagle", cast from lead by master F. Vassu.
  The original decoration of the gate has not come down to us completely. "State Eagle" in the second half of the XIX century. replaced with the lead coat of arms of the Russian Empire. Five wooden carved statues by N. Pino, which stood in the first half of the 18th century, have not been preserved. on the attic. Despite the ceremonial decoration, the gates also had defensive significance. Under the arch, there are traces of a gap for a gersa - a special lattice, which, during the assault on the fortress, could fall, blocking the path of the enemy.



• The Peter and Paul Fortress has the largest number of bells in the world. In 2001, a carillon was installed on the first tier of the bell tower - a gift from Flanders to St. Petersburg, consisting of 51 bells with a range of 4 octaves. It costs about 300 thousand dollars and was purchased by the director of the Dutch Mechelen Carillon School, Jo Haazen, with donations from 352 sponsors from dozens of countries. Among the donors are the Romanov Foundation and the Belgian royal couple, thanks to whom the heaviest bell weighing more than three tons appeared in the carillon.

  

  A unique complex of Dutch and Russian bells was formed on the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Of the 103 bells located on the four levels of the cathedral bell tower, 31 bells date from 1757 - this is the surviving part of the second Dutch carillon.
  The history of the clock of the Peter and Paul Cathedral with chimes and chimes began in 1720, when a clock mechanism, a set of 35 bells and a carillon keyboard were delivered to St. Petersburg from Holland. In 1725, a Russian belfry was built on the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the second tier. Blagovest, heard from the Peter and Paul Cathedral, served as a signal for the beginning of the bell ringing in all St. Petersburg churches.
  By the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian bells of the belfry were dilapidated, and 27 new bells for the belfry were made in 1905 by A.S. Lavrov. After the October Revolution, the clock stopped. In 1937, they unsuccessfully tried to set them up for the performance of the Internationale. Some of the bells were machined and damaged. In 1947, the restoration of the chimes of the Peter and Paul Cathedral began, and five years later, the Russian bells of the former belfry began to call the first measures of the anthem of the Soviet Union. The anthem was played four times a day until 1989, when the chimes were again stopped for complex restoration work.



• In St. Petersburg there is the highest cathedral in Russia, it is also the tallest building in the historical part of the city - this is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the tomb of the Romanovs. The height of its bell tower with a gilded spire topped with a figure of a flying angel is 122.5 meters.


• The angel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral has long become a symbol of the city. Its height is 3.2 meters, wingspan - 3.8 meters.

  

  According to some sources, it appeared only under Catherine II, according to others, already under Peter I. One legend even claims that the practical Peter made the Angel spin, combining two functions at the same time - decorative and meteorological. In fact, it was made to rotate later, after being fixed motionless, it bent several times under the pressure of hurricane winds.
  In 1829, during a strong storm, the Angel with the cross tilted so much that it was about to fall. For a long time, while looking for a way to restore it without expensive scaffolding, it remained bent at the base. Pyotr Telushkin agreed to fix this. He managed only with the help of a rope to get to the Angel and repair the spire. According to rumors, for this Telushkin received the right to a free glass of vodka for life in all state taverns. To do this, he had to flick his finger on the indelible brand that was placed on the right side of his chin. And, according to folklore, it was from here that the characteristic gesture came, inviting to drink.



• The Peter and Paul Cathedral (1712-1733) occupies a special place among the churches of St. Petersburg: it is the tomb of the imperial house of the Romanovs. In 1725, the founder of St. Petersburg, Emperor Peter I, was buried in the unfinished cathedral. All Russian emperors are buried in the cathedral, except for Peter II and the dethroned John Antonovich. They say that there are no other cities in the world with such otherworldly rapprochements as in St. Petersburg. In the Peter and Paul Cathedral lie next to a son-killer, a man-killer and a parricide: Peter the Great, who tortured his son, the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, on the rack; Catherine the Great, whose husband Emperor Peter III was strangled in Ropsha with her tacit consent; Alexander I, a participant in the conspiracy of 1801 and therefore the murderer of his father, Emperor Paul I.

  
  The hearse erected in the Peter and Paul Cathedral over the coffins of Peter III and Catherine II, according to drawings by Brenn. All tombstones were installed in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1865. Paul I ordered that the following inscriptions be made on the grave of his parents: "Emperor Peter III, born February 10, 1728, buried December 18, 1796. Empress Catherine II, born April 21, 1729, buried December 18, 1796." Dates of death are not given.

  From 1740 to 1831, only crowned persons were buried in the cathedral, and later other members of the imperial family were buried here. At the end of the 19th century, the necropolis of the Peter and Paul Cathedral grew so much that a special building of the Grand Duke's burial vault was built for the burial of members of the imperial family (construction was completed in 1908).
  Many burials in the Peter and Paul Cathedral are considered by the people as sacred. Prayer at the gravestone of Paul I is considered saving and helps with failures in the service, in court, with bad luck in love and family problems. And touching his cheek to the lid of his sarcophagus cures toothache.
  From 1915, when Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov was buried in the tomb, until 1992, for obvious reasons, no burials were made in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. In 1992, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, who died in Miami, was buried in the Grand Duke's tomb. And in 1995, next to him, his parents also found their last resting place - the reburial of the remains of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich and Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, previously buried in Saxe-Coburg in Germany, took place here. In July 1998, the remains of Emperor Nicholas II and his family, now canonized as holy martyrs, were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. In order to conduct a comparative genetic examination in 1994, the ashes of one of the brothers of Nicholas II were disturbed. This was only the second case of opening a grave in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The authenticity of the remains of Nicholas II and his family members is too controversial. The Russian Orthodox Church never recognized them, citing, among others, the following argument - for several years, no healing miracles happened near the "holy" grave.
  Since 1999, negotiations have been underway on the reburial in St. Petersburg of the remains of Empress Maria Feodorovna, who died in 1928 in Copenhagen (where she lived after leaving Russia) and was buried in the crypt of the tomb of the Danish Royal House in Roskilde near Copenhagen. In 2004, the final decision was made to hold the ceremony of reburial of the remains of Maria Feodorovna next to the grave of her husband, Emperor Alexander III. This ceremony took place in the cathedral on September 28, 2006.

The Peter and Paul Fortress is the historical center of St. Petersburg, located on Hare Island.

Peter-Pavel's Fortress It was founded on May 16, 1703 according to the plan of Peter I. Initially, the fortress was called Zankht-Peter-Burkh, in 1914-1917 - the Petrograd fortress.

The plan of Peter I implied the presence of 6 bastions connected by curtains, 2 ravelins and a crownwork (originally made of wood and earth, in the 30s-40s and 80s of the 18th century they were dressed with stone).

In 1703 Zayachy Island was connected to the Petrograd side by the Ioannovsky Bridge.

There are such animals on the island)

The Peter and Paul Fortress has never been used for its intended purpose. It functioned as a prison for political prisoners.

On November 8, 1925, the Leningrad Council decided to destroy the Peter and Paul Fortress and build a stadium in its place. The decision was soon reversed.

The Peter and Paul fortress has its prototype - the Novodvinsk fortress at the mouth of the Northern Dvina, near Arkhangelsk. It was built by Peter I a year earlier - in 1702. Today, almost nothing remains of her.

The Peter and Paul Fortress is a historically unique defensive structure with extraterritorial supporting defensive points

Today, the Peter and Paul Fortress is part of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. From the Naryshkin bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress, a midday shot of a signal gun is fired daily.

In 1991 on the territory Peter and Paul Fortress a monument to Peter the Great by sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin was erected. Ugly monument))

Since the beginning of the 21st century, various entertainment events have been held on the beach of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

I will simply list the main sights of the fortress, sometimes with a brief description - otherwise the article will be too long and boring =) So, on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress there are:

Kronverkskie

Nikolsky

Petrovsky

Eagle close up

I did not find a photo of the Vasilyevsky Gates

Bastions Peter and Paul Fortress:

Sovereign

Naryshkin

Menshikov

Trubetskoy

I did not find a photo of the Golovkin bastion)

Ravelins:

Alekseevsky

Ioannovsky

Vasilyevskaya

Catherine's

Kronverkskaya

Nikolskaya

Petrovskaya

Engineering structures:

Nevskaya (Komendantskaya) pier

Kronverk Canal Peter and Paul Fortress

The history of the life of the city begins with the history of the creation of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Since 1700, Russia waged the Northern War with Sweden, by 1703 the Neva lands were recaptured. To protect them from the attack of the Swedes, it was necessary to gain a foothold here, to build a new fortress. The former Nienschanz fortress (at the confluence of the Neva Okhta) was considered insufficiently suitable for protecting the Neva, a new place was chosen on Hare Island.

On Finnish and Swedish maps, this island, 750 meters long and 400 meters wide, was called Enisaari (from Finnish - Hare), or Lust-holm (from Swedish - Merry). Stories have been preserved that when the Swedes lived here, a garden was arranged on the island for recreation and entertainment, from which it was called Merry. It is from here that the entrances to the branches of the Neva from the Gulf of Finland are visible, which can explain the choice of a place for the construction of a new fortress.

On May 27, 1703, the fortress of St. Petersburg was laid on Hare Island. There is no consensus on whether Peter I was present at the laying of the fortress or not. On the one hand, some documents indicate that it was then at the Olonets shipyard. On the other hand, such an important event simply could not take place without the presence of the sovereign. In any case, this day began to be considered the day of the founding of the city. The construction was headed by Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, the closest assistant of Peter I. It is believed that the drawing of this first earthen fortress belongs to Peter I himself. The French fortifier Lambert performed the mathematical calculation of the plan. The fortress was built by soldiers, captured Swedes, serfs were sent from each province. The earthen fortress was completed on October 1, 1703. This event was celebrated both in Moscow and on the banks of the Neva. However, after a severe flood, part of the earthen ramparts was destroyed.

Almost simultaneously with the beginning of the construction of the fortress, the construction of the first temple began - the Peter and Paul Cathedral (designed by D. Trezzini).

The plan of the stone fortress was made by the German architect Kirshtein. Since 1704, additional space has been washed up to Hare Island, the island went into the Neva by about 30 meters. Under the leadership of Kirshtein, the restructuring of structures into stone began, but at the end of 1704 the architect left Russia. In 1706, Domenico Trezzini headed the construction. Perestroika starts from the northern part of the fortress, as it was considered the most vulnerable to attack by the Swedish troops. A completely new principle for the construction of fortifications is being applied. Bastions are being built, the thickness of the walls of which is about 20 meters (5–6 meters of a brick wall outside and inside, between them is an earthen backfill with crushed bricks), the height of the walls is 12 meters. About 40,000 piles were driven under the walls of the fortress. Each bastion is equipped with 50-60 guns. The walls between the bastions (curtains) include casemates for the maintenance of the garrison. It was originally planned to store gunpowder in the casemates, but due to dampness, this had to be abandoned. In the middle of the 18th century, ramps were built to raise the cannons on the walls. Initially, they were built of wood, later they were converted into stone.

Construction of bastions supervised by Peter I and his associates. The curators named the fortress bastions: Trubetskoy, Naryshkin, Sovereign, Menshikov, Golovin, Zotov. When the Sovereign's bastion was laid, Peter I was present, and either Prince Menshikov or Tsarevich Alexei followed the construction. Companions of Peter not only followed the construction of the bastions, but also often supplied building materials and financed the work.

In the Peter and Paul Fortress, underground passages (sortia) were provided. They served for the landing of troops outside the fortress walls. There are secret passages in the walls of the fortress, the so-called paterns. They also served for the sudden appearance of soldiers behind enemy lines. The exit from them was laid with one layer of bricks, only trusted officers knew the place of exit.

In 1705–1708, Kronverk was erected from the north of the fortress - earthen ramparts in the form of a crown (hence the name, “crown” - crown, “werk” - fortress) to protect against a possible attack from land. The earthen ramparts were torn down in the 1850s, and a special building was built in their place to house a collection of weapons, banners, orders, medals and other relics of the Russian army. The channel to the north of the fortress is called Kronverksky.

The gates that open the Peter and Paul Fortress from the east, Petrovsky, were built in 1710 according to the project of D. Trezzini, originally they were wooden, decorated with a bas-relief (sculptor K. Osner). In 1718, the wooden gates were replaced with stone ones, and the bas-relief was transferred to a new base. The plot of the bas-relief contains an allegory for Sweden and Russia. “Sorcerer Simon climbed to heaven in unrighteous ways. The Apostle Peter asks God to throw Simon out of there. The double-headed eagle attached to the gate weighs a little over a ton and is made of lead. In the niches of the gates there are statues of goddesses of wisdom and war.

Between the Naryshkin Bastion and the Peter and Paul Cathedral is the Commandant's House (built in 1743-1746). The commandant of the fortress lived here, his apartment and office were in the house, prisoners were interrogated. It was in the Commandant's House in 1826 that the verdict of the Supreme Criminal Court was announced to the Decembrists. The commandant's house was originally built on one floor, in 1892 a second one was added. At the eastern wall of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is the Commandant cemetery. From 1720 to 1914, eighteen commandants of the Peter and Paul Fortress were buried here. Next to the Commandant's House is the guardhouse building. In the 18th century, there was a square in front of it with a special place for punishing soldiers. In 1907–1908, a four-column portico was added to the Guardhouse. To the left of the Petrovsky Gates is an engineering house for the engineering and construction team of the fortress, built in 1747-1749. The project of this house is an example of a typical house for the "wealthy". According to the same project, public buildings (living rooms and post yards) were built in the city at the beginning of the 18th century. At the end of the 19th century, there were living rooms in the engineering house.

The construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress was fully completed by 1740. In the 1730s, under Anna Ioannovna, ravelins (fortifications to the east and west) were built. A moat breaks through between the ravelins and the fortress walls, the water level in which could be artificially regulated (filled up at the end of the 19th century). The western ravelin is named Ioannovsky (in honor of the elder brother of Peter I Ivan Alekseevich), the eastern one - Alekseevsky (in honor of the father of Peter I - Alexei Mikhailovich). The first bridge in the city is the bridge between Ioannovsky ravelin and Trinity Square. The bridge is also named after the ravelin - Ioannovsky. This bridge has been repeatedly rebuilt, but on the whole it has retained its original appearance.

In 1704, a moat was dug through the entire Peter and Paul Fortress from east to west to supply the fortress with water during a possible siege. The moat was filled in in the 1880s.

Peter and Paul Fortress - "Russian Bastille"

In 1731, the Flag Tower was built on the Naryshkin Bastion, on which the flag (guis) was hoisted. This bastion was rebuilt into stone as a front bastion, which is why the tower appeared here. And initially the flag was raised on the Sovereign's bastion, since it was the first to be rebuilt. The flag was raised at dawn, lowered at dusk. In Soviet times, this tradition was not carried out, in the 1990s it was revived. They tried to raise and lower the flag as before, but later decided to keep it constantly on the mast. It is from the Naryshkin bastion that a cannon shot is heard every day at 12 o'clock - the custom has been to celebrate noon since the 1730s. Except at noon, the shot marked the beginning and end of the working day. The beginning of this action was laid by the decree of Prince Menshikov. In the 18th century, not all townspeople had their own watches, and they checked the time by the sun and the ringing of bells. This time was approximate, and only at exactly 12 o'clock a cannon shot was heard from the Naryshkin bastion. They began to shoot constantly in 1873. Since then, the saying “just like from a cannon” has appeared in the city. Shooting was stopped in 1934, and the tradition was revived in 1957. Until recently, the guns fired blanks towards the Winter Palace. However, at the request of the Director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, they are deployed, now looking towards the Gulf of Finland. In the 19th century, an orchestra played on the territory of the fortress from 11 am to 12 noon. In 2005, a grand piano was installed in the flag tower. From time to time, famous musicians are invited here to play.

The boat house was built according to the project of A.F. Vista in 1762–1766. It was originally made of wood, later converted to stone. The house was built for the boat of Peter I - "Grandfather of the Russian Navy". The ship was donated to the royal family by the British embassy. It was found by Peter in the village of Preobrazhensky, he personally restored it, in childhood Peter sailed on it along the Yauza. The boat was brought here from Moscow in 1723, immediately after the end of the Northern War. Especially for his meeting, a pier (Komendantskaya) and gates (Nevsky) were built. At first, a simple shed was built for the ship. When a special house was built for him, it turned out that the doors of the building were too narrow to carry a small boat inside. Then I had to dismantle part of the wall. They say after that A.F. Vista was expelled from Russia forever, remembering the collapsed bell tower of St. Andrew's Cathedral of his own construction. In 1724, Peter I staged a naval parade, that is, he showed the “grandfather of the Russian fleet” the entire Russian fleet then available. This was later repeated by Alexander I. There was a guard at the Boat House. Anyone could, under the supervision of an officer, inspect the boat, thus the first memorial museum in Russia was organized here. The guard officer was obliged to tell the visitor about the exhibit. In 1891, a statue of Navigation by D.I. Jensen. In 1940, the bot was transferred to the Naval Museum, which opened in the Stock Exchange building; a copy of it is located in the Boat House. A copy was made in 1996 at Petrozavod, the new ship took part in the celebration of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

In 1779–1785, the northern part of the Peter and Paul Fortress was faced with granite. By this time, the left bank of the Neva here was already dressed in granite. According to legend, Catherine II, once looking out the window of the Winter Palace, was indignant at the “simple appearance” of the fortress walls and immediately ordered to bring them into the appropriate form. Of course, her wish was fulfilled, but everything that was invisible from the offices of the Winter Palace remained red.

According to the project of Lvov, in 1784-1787 the Nevsky Gates were rebuilt into stone, and a little later - the pier. From the middle of the 19th century, the boat of the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress stood here, the pier began to be called Komendantskaya. It was from this pier that 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 Gate, the Chronicle of Catastrophic Floods is framed. It recorded the highest water rises in 1752, 1777, 1788, 1824, 1924 and 1975.

In 1798-1806, according to the project of A. Porto, the buildings of the Mint were built. The mint was transferred from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1724, before the construction of a special building, coins were minted in the premises of the Trubetskoy and Naryshkin bastions. Until recently, all metal coins, all orders and medals (with the exception of handmade orders) were produced only here. Since the late 1990s, coins have also been minted in Moscow.

To the right of the Petrovsky Gates in 1801-1802, a weapons depot (artillery arsenal) was built.

The Peter and Paul Fortress did not take a direct part in hostilities, as it almost immediately found itself in the center of the city itself, which it was supposed to protect. Not a single combat shot was fired from its walls. Subsequently, it began to be used as the main political prison in Russia. One of the first prisoners was Tsarevich Alexei, son of Peter I. Princess Tarakanova was also imprisoned here. In the 1790s, Radishchev, the author of the work "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", was kept in the fortress prison. This book was sold in the Great Gostiny Dvor, one of the copies fell into the hands of Catherine II, after which she ordered the arrest of Radishchev. The court sentenced him to death, but the empress changed the sentence to exile. Radishchev was able to return to St. Petersburg only under Paul I. Under Paul I, a prison was built on the territory of the Alekseevsky ravelin, with almost no foundation for 20 solitary cells. This prison was guarded by 50 soldiers who had no right to leave the territory of the ravelin. The first known prisoners here were the Decembrists, the Bestuzhev brothers. In this prison, during his imprisonment, Chernyshevsky wrote his novel What Is to Be Done. Alekseevsky ravelin was imprisoned without trial, only by decision of the tsarist authorities. The longest sentence in this prison is 20 years. In 1870, the prison was dismantled due to dilapidation. In its place, a building was built for the administration of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

A new prison building was organized inside the Trubetskoy bastion. To do this, the wall of the bastion was partially dismantled from the inside, from 20 meters only 2–3 were left. With an indentation of 1–1.5 meters from the wall, a 2-storey building of the Trubetskoy Bastion prison was built. 69 identical solitary cells were organized here. They kept people under investigation, more than two years the prisoners were not here. At the end of the investigation from here, the prisoners were either sent to settlements or to hard labor, or they carried out the death sentence.

Death sentences have never been carried out on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress. This sentence was carried out either on the parade ground of the Semyonovsky regiment (in front of the Youth Theater), or in the Shlisselburg fortress.
Peter and Paul Fortress - one of the main museum complexes of St. Petersburg

Since 1924 the fortress has become a museum. During the Great Patriotic War, anti-aircraft guns stood on the territory of the fortress. The spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral was covered with a camouflage net. There were no shells hitting the cathedral, but the walls of the fortress itself were damaged. In 1951-1953, railings and lanterns in the form of obelisks and beams of spears were installed on the Ioannovsky Bridge, according to the project of A.L. Rotach and P.V. Bazhenov. On December 25, 1975, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Decembrist uprising, a pink granite obelisk was erected near Kronverk. Here in 1825 K. Ryleev, P. Pestel, S. Muravyov-Apostol, M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P. Kakhovsky were executed.

In 1991, a monument to Peter the Great by Mikhail Shemyakin appeared on the square in front of the Guardhouse.

How to get to the Peter and Paul Fortress, how to find, address:

St. Petersburg, Gorkovskaya metro station,
metro Sportivnaya,
Rabbit Island

The Peter and Paul Fortress is one of the main assets on the Neva. In fact, the Peter and Paul Fortress is the core of the city, a historical, architectural and military engineering monument. It was from the fortress that the construction of the city of Petrov began. The history of the Peter and Paul Fortress began on May 16, 1703. Since then, the history of the fortress and St. Petersburg has been counted down.

There is some confusion about the exact name of the fortress. Initially, it was called St. Petersburg. Many more liked to call the fortress Peter and Paul. This name comes from the name of the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, which is located on the territory of the fortress.

The bastions of the Peter and Paul Fortress are named after the closest friends and associates of the emperor - Menshikov, Golovkin, Zotov, Trubetskoy, Naryshkin, Sovereign bastions. The Peter and Paul Fortress is a cascade of architectural structures. Defensive structures of the Peter and Paul Fortress: walls, bastions, ravelins, curtains. Front doors: Peter and Paul Gates, the Boat House, the building of the Mint, the Engineering House, the Commandant's House.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral is located in the center of the architectural ensemble of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The bell tower of the cathedral also served as a clock tower. It was she who became a kind of symbol of the formation of a new Russian city. The bell tower reaches a height of 122.5 meters and remains the tallest building in the city. The interior of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is decorated with a carved gilded iconostasis. Peter and Paul Cathedral, the necropolis of the Romanov dynasty. Russian emperors are buried here from to .

At the eastern walls of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is the Commandant's Cemetery. 19 commandants of the Peter and Paul Fortress are buried here, there were 32 in total.

On the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress there are expositions of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. There used to be a prison in the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Her prisoners were: Tsarevich Alexei, Chernyshevsky, Kostyushko and, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Bolsheviks and Narodnaya Volya, Decembrists.

In 1917, the February Revolution took place in Russia. Then, ministers became prisoners of the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress. After the October events, ministers of the Provisional Government were kept here. In 1921, the participants of the Krondstadt uprising were imprisoned here.

In the Commandant's House of the Peter and Paul Fortress, in 1975, the exposition "History of St. Petersburg" was opened. The exposition will make the tourist plunge into history and find himself on the lands of the Neva long before the founding of the city of Petrov.

It is noteworthy that every day, from the Naryshkin bastion at noon, a cannon shot is heard. On the day of the city, the Peter and Paul Fortress becomes the center of city festivities.