History of the St. Petersburg

Soon after the victory of the October Socialist Revolution, organs of Soviet power began to implement special measures for the preservation of the Peter and Paul Fortress as a historical and architectural complex.

The St Petersburg (Peter and Paul) Fortress went down in the history of the Russian revolutionary movement not only as a prison, but also as a primary military object, always figuring in the strategies of both revolutionaries and their opponents. On December 14, 1825, only a few hours following the armed anti-governmental uprising, the Emperor Nicholas I ordered that the fortress gates be locked and that the guns be loaded with buck-shot.

From the very beginning of its existence, the fortress maintained for more than 200 years, besides the above-mentioned functions, yet another one, that of a prison. A study of the fortress prison records shows that major criminals were kept here on several occasions.

Early on the fortress became one of the main centres of the celebration of Russian military victories. As already mentioned, the first salute from the fortress walls rang out in 1704 in honour of the victory on Lake Peipus, and this tradition continues even today. In 1710, during the celebration of the taking of Vyborg, captured Swedish banners were carried into the wooden fortress cathedral, and this ceremony marked the beginning of the collection in the Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral of relics of Russian military valour.

During the War of 1812 the main force of the invading French army under the Emperor Napoleon I was directed at Moscow. However, preparations were made in the northern capital as well, and the St Petersburg Fortress was once again made battle-ready.

As reported on July 22, 1705, in the Moscow newspaper Vedomosti, on May 16 in Vyborg a captured Russian captain “alleged that the St Petersburg Fortress was well fortified and could therefore be regarded as the main fortress.” In June the Swedish Lieutenant-General Georg Johan Maydell made an attempt to seize the fortress from the north.

The Peter and Paul (St Petersburg) Fortress is the historical nucleus of the City on the Neva as well as one of its most interesting and beautiful architectural complexes. From as far away as the Gulf of Finland one can see the distant gilded spire of the fortress cathedral, one of the main features of the Leningrad skyline.