The Peter and Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress is the historical centre of St Petersburg. It was built to a project by Domenico Trez-zini who supervised the construction between 1703 and 1734. After his death other architects continued the construction work. In 1779-87 the walls of the citadel were clad in granite. Some structures in the fortress were built in several stages. By sad irony of fate, the fortress built as a defensive structure from outward enemies was never used for military purposes. However, it had to play the role of the Russian Bastille - the place of confinement of inner enemies, the first of which was Tsarevi-ch Alexis, son of Peter the Great.

The fortress, which is now a museum of history and architecture, unites within its walls structures of various designation and different periods. These include mighty defensive structures at the corners of the fortress walls, casemates which served as prison cells, curtain walls, the guardhouse and the Mint. The dominant feature of the fortress area is the SS Peter and Paul Cathedral, which has remained the tallest architectural structure in St Peters burg: the height of its many-tiered bell-tower with a golden spire is 122.5 metres. This spire crowned with the figure of a flying angel is a well-known symbol of St Petersburg. The foundation of the stone cathedral was laid to a project by Domenico Trezzini in 1712, on the site of the original wooden one, to be completed and consecrated in 1733- The cathedral adjoins the Grand Ducal Burial Vault built in 1896-1906 to a design by David Grimm, an adherent of the "Russian style".

Near the western entrance of the cathedral is the so-called Boathouse - a pavilion used for a long time for keeping the boat of Peter the Great, the "grandfather of the Russian Fleet", used by the then young Tsar to train in navigation on the River Yauza in Moscow and on Pereyaslavl Lake. The Boathouse and some other buildings within the fortress display rich collections of the Museum of History of St Petersburg. Not far from the cathedral is a monument to Peter the Great created by the sculptor Mikhail Chemiakin. The curtain walls have several gateways, including the Peter Gate built by Domenico Trezzini in 1714-18 and serving as the main entrance to the fortress.

The Peter and Paul Fortress marked the triumph of Russia and became a symbol of the new capital establishing itself firmly on the Baltic Sea. The first main cathedral in the city, the SS Peter and Paul Cathedral retained this title until 1859 when it was replaced by St Isaac's in this role. The cathedral is unusual in many respects. It became a new word in the history of Russian religious architecture - churches had been designed in a different way before the reign of Peter the Great in old Russia. Discarding the former cross-in-square standard of churches with narrow interiors, Trez-zini created a new type of church with large and tall windows, known as the "hall" church, with old captured banners adding a majestic and triumphal note to the decoration of the cathedral. The Baroque iconostasis is also shaped like a triumphal arch. It was carved by a group of Moscow craftsmen under the supervision of Ivan Zarudny to be assembled and covered with gold in the cathedral. Icons for the iconostasis were painted by M. Merkuryev and his assistants, while painted panels for the walls were executed by the best masters of the period - Georg Gsell, Andrei Matveyev and others. Next to the iconostasis, is an old carved lectern used to deliver sermons. It was from this lectern that the rebel Yemely-an Pugachev and the writer Leo Tolstoy were anathematized.

The SS Peter and Paul Cathedral Tomb over the burial of Peter the Great
Architect: Auguste Poirot and Andrei Gun, 1865

Carefully preserved in the cathedral were the relics of the city's royal founder: his icons and an incense-burner the Tsar himself carved on a lathe. It was here, within the yet uncompleted cathedral, that Peter the Great was buried according to his own will. Starting from Peter the Great, all the Russian Emperors and Empresses, as well as their relations, were interred in the cathedral that became the royal burial place. In 1865 the tombstones were replaced with sarcophagi of white Carrara marble adorned with precious relics and icons. The tomb of Peter the Great was decorated with a Large Gold Medal bestowed to Emperor Alexander I on the occasion of the centenary' of the city. Towards the late nineteenth century there was no more room for tombs in the SS Peter and Paul Cathedral and so a special burial vault was put up in 1901-08 to the east of the cathedral for burying the members of the royal family, grand dukes and grand duchesses. Leonty Benois built the burial vault to a design by David Grimm in the Baroque style.

In 1998, on the 80th anniversary of the murder of the imperial family, Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Fiodorovna, their children and servants were buried in the cathedral. In 1918 the last Russian monarch, who had abdicated from the throne, was shot with no trial in the Siberian city of Yekaterinburg.

Tо mark the 200th anniversary of St Petersburg in 1903, the Trinity Bridge across the Neva was built and the oldest square of the city, Trinity Square, was redesigned and improved. Near its northern border the architect Alexander von Gogen erected for Mathilda Kschessinska, a dancer of the Mariinsky Theatre, a two-storeyed mansion, which is considered to be a typical example of Art Nouveau in St Petersburg. Art Nouveau came to Russia somewhat later than to Europe, but it burst into St Petersburg bringing with it a vague and changeable atmosphere of the transitional period. It seemed to emphasize the hidden and mysterious essence of the city known about long before from Pushkin and Gogol. This elegant mansion, which looks like a small palace with ingeniously designed suite of rooms, a winter garden, a grotto and a fountain, was destined to become an arena of major historical events. Mathilda Kschessinska left Russia in March 1917 and the deserted building was occupied by the committee of the Bolshevik Party for several months. Their leader Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) addressed the revolutionary masses from the balcony of the mansion. Today Kschessinska's former mansion and the neighbouring building house the State Museum of Russian Political History.

The cruiser Aurora, put on a permanent berth near the Nakhimov Naval School at the Petrov-skaya Embankment of the Large Nevka, is another memorial associated with the revolutionary events. In 1956 a branch of the Naval Museum was opened at the cruiser. One of the best armour-plated cruisers of its time, built at the Admiralty wharf in St Petersburg in 1897-1903, Aurora took part in the famous Battle of Tsushima with the Japanese Fleet.

On 25 October 1917 its forecastle cannon made a blank shot that was a signal for the attack of the Winter Palace
where a session of the Provisional Government was then being held.