The Peter and Paul fortress

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The Peter and Paul fortress

The Peter and Paul fortress This fortress was built in 1703 on the little island of Zayatchy, the original centre of the city. It was the St. Petersburg's first building. P.de Franqueville

The original centre of the city, on small Zayatchy island, the Peter and Paul fortress was Saint Petersburg's first building, built in 1703. Flanked by twelve Vauban-style bastions, it aimed at protecting the main access from the sea into Russia. But, for want of defending the country, it was mostly used as a prison for the opponents to the absolutistic regime. Saint Peter's gate, the main entrance to the fortress, is decorated with a two-headed eagle, the symbol of the tsars, and topped with a relief representing the apostle Peter overthrowing King Simon. Every day, at noon, a canon is fired from one of the bastions and rings throughout the city. Situated in the centre of the fortress, SS Peter and Paul's cathedral was built by Trezzini in 1712. Its gilded steeple, 120 m high, is topped with an angel holding a cross. Inside the cathedral, an iconostas includes 43 magnificent icons. The collegial church houses numerous imperial sepulchres, in particular Peter the Great's and Catherine of Russia's. On Petrogradsky island, to the other side of Troiski bridge, from which you have an incomparable view of the city, you can notice that at n# 2 on Petrovskaia embankment, stands Peter's pretty house from which the tsar could keep an eye on the building of his fortress. The house now holds a museum dedicated to the tsar. At the end of the embankment, in front of the Naval Academy, the famous cruiser Aurora lies at anchor - it had been used in the Japan-Russia war of 1904 and had been the starting point of the 1917 revolution.