Strength is a tough nut to crack. Nut strength

Founded by the Novgorodians, it belonged to the Moscow principality, managed to be under the rule of the Swedes, but then returned to its origins (from 1702 it again began to belong to Russia). What the walls of this fortress did not see, what kind of people they did not hide and “execute”.

Milestones of history

The fortress was founded by Yuri Danilovich (grandson of Alexander Nevsky) on an island called Orekhovy in 1323. The island received its name because of the numerous thickets of hazel (hazel) throughout its territory. Over time, a city was built under the protection of the fortress, which was named Schlisserburg. In the same year, an agreement on “eternal peace” was concluded with the Swedes. From here begins the centuries-old history of the fortress.

When the Novgorod Republic began to belong to the Moscow Principality, the fortress was radically rebuilt and fortified. The Swedes tried to take it several times, but in vain. The fortress had a very important strategic location - a major trade route to the Gulf of Finland passed through it, so whoever owned the citadel had the opportunity to control this route.

For almost 300 years, Oreshek belonged to Rus' and served as an outpost on the Swedish border, but in 1612 the Swedes managed to take the fortress, and then by starvation (the siege lasted almost 9 months). Of the 1,300 people who stood on the defensive, only 100 survived - weakened, hungry, but not broken in spirit.

It was then that Oreshek became Noteburg (literal translation - Nut City). There is a legend that the remaining defenders walled up an icon of the Kazan Mother of God into one of the fortress walls - it was a symbol of faith that sooner or later this land would return to Russian control.

And so it happened - in 1702 the fortress was recaptured by Peter I. The assault lasted almost 13 hours. Despite the fact that the Swedes had an advantage in military strength and Peter the Great gave the command to retreat, Prince Golitsyn disobeyed him and, at the cost of numerous losses, the fortress was taken.

From that moment on, the name was changed to Shlisserburg, which meant “key city” (the symbol of the fortress was the key, which is installed on the Sovereign Tower to this day). From that moment on, the road to the mouth of the Neva and the construction of the great St. Petersburg was open.

At the end of the 18th century. The strategic importance of the fortress was lost, and it turned into a political prison, where especially dangerous criminals and dissidents were kept in custody, and in the 19th and 20th centuries. was completely turned into a convict prison.

The walls of the fortress “remember” such personalities as Maria Alekseevna (sister of Peter I) and Evdokia Lopukhina (his first wife); John VI Antonovich; Ivan Pushchin, brothers Bestuzhev and Kuchelbecker; Alexander Ulyanov (brother of V. Lenin) and many others.

The fortress played a special significance during the Second World War, when for almost two years (500 days) soldiers of the NKVD troops and the Baltic Fleet defended Shlisselburg from the Nazis, covering the so-called “Road of Life” along which people were transported from besieged Leningrad.

Architectural features Oreshek fortress

The size of the island on which the fortress is located is relatively small - only 200 * 300 meters. It was originally built from earth and wood. In 1349 there was a fire that destroyed literally all the buildings. After this, it was decided to replace stone walls (up to 6 m high, more than 350 m long) and 3 not very high rectangular towers.

A complete reconstruction of the fortress was carried out in 1478, when it came into the possession of the Moscow principality. New fortifications were erected right at the very edge of the water, which made it impossible for the enemy to land on the shore and use battering guns.

In 1555, one of the Swedish chroniclers wrote that it was impossible to get to the fortress due to the strong current of the river in that place and powerful fortifications.

In its shape, the citadel resembles an elongated polygon, the walls of which connect 7 towers along the perimeter: Flagnaya and Golovkina, Golovina (or Naugolnaya), Menshikovaya and Gosudareva (originally Vorotnaya), Bezymyannaya (formerly Podvalnaya) and Korolevskaya.

6 towers were round, height up to 16 m, width - up to 4.5 m, Gosudareva - square. There were 3 more citadel towers: Melnichnaya, Chasovaya (or Bell) and Svetlichnaya. Only 6 of the 10 towers have survived to this day.

The Sovereign's Tower is one of the most interesting buildings of the fortress. The entrance to it was located in such a way that it was impossible to use a ram, but at the same time the defenders could easily fire at their opponents.

After the complete reconstruction of the fortress, the total length of the walls was more than 700 m, and the height increased to 12 m. The thickness of the base was increased to 4.5 m.

Now the territory of the fortress is a historical and cultural monument open to the public. On its territory there is a mass grave of fallen defenders since the time of its capture by Peter I. Many buildings have been destroyed, reflecting the echoes of many military battles, especially during the Second World War, when the fortress was shelled almost end-to-end, but was not surrendered to the Nazis. It is impossible not to visit it while being near its buildings.

Shlisselburg had important strategic significance only in the coming years of the Northern War; during the capture of the Neva (1703) it 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) it served as a base for Bruce’s detachment. After the capture of Kexholm and Vyborg and the construction of fortifications in St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, the importance of Shlisselburg as a fortress fell. The fortress was turned into a prison.

In 1725, Evdokia Lopukhina, Peter’s first wife, was here. She was kept 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 the secret house in it. The Secret House was rebuilt in 1908 on the existing foundation:

From 1756 to 1764, Ivan Antonovich 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 it is covered with green film:

Ioann Antonovich was kept very strictly. After Catherine II met with Mirovich, she added the last 10th point to the instructions. After this, “during an attempt to liberate” Ivan 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 storming of 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 and was in the Ivangorod and Shlisselburg fortresses and in the Solovetsky Monastery. In 1741 he was released. Dolgorukov Vasily Lukich (1670-1739), was ambassador to Poland, France, Sweden, Denmark. Arrested in 1730, executed by sentence of the Senate in 1739.

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

This 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 decree of Catherine II, he was sentenced to a “hopeless stay” in the Shlisselburg fortress. He tried to escape, but was captured. He died in the fortress in 1794.

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

The Decembrists did not stay here long, from a month to a year. But one man here was 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 years old. 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 Joseph Viktorovich in Shlisselburg and tell his daughter that her husband had died. She didn’t believe it, she wrote to all authorities and even to Nicholas I. She wanted to know where he was. After all, while the Decembrists were under investigation, they relied only on what their relatives sent them. All her letters remained 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 tell him 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 Zamosc 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; he spent a total of 46 years in prison. There is a Wiki article about him, but they told us a different story. They simply forgot about him. Then someone got the hang of it and asked who this old man is who lives here. He was transferred to a brighter cell because his vision began to become difficult. And they forgot again.

The punishment cell was also located in the Old Prison.
A group of Alexander Ulyanov’s comrades were also here, 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 clemency. Ulyanov’s mother came to Shlisselburg and begged him to write his petition. He didn't write. Then on the night of May 8, 1887, they were hanged, which is very strange; usually they were shot here.

Mikhail Frolenko (died 1938) one of the last generation of Narodnaya Volya. Lived to be 88 years old. When the Narodnaya Volya regime was softened, 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, documents revealed that executions took place in the citadel, so the apple tree was planted again. Second Frolenko apple tree:

Narodnaya Volya members were brought here to the new (People's Will) prison in October 1884:

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

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

The bed was raised during the day and locked with a padlock, because a person had no right to occupy a horizontal position.

There was also a washbasin in the cell:

Heating was central from the very beginning. There was no sewerage in this building, the guards took out a bucket

After the murder of Alexander II, his son ordered the elite to be executed, and everyone else to life imprisonment in the Shlisselburg fortress. People's Volunteers were kept very strictly. Three conditions must be met. A regime of complete silence was observed. The guards wore special soft shoes. Conversations were also not allowed. Knocking was not allowed, but it was impossible to stop them. They were able to conduct conversations through six cameras.
The second condition is complete isolation from the outside world. We 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 inaction.
Under such conditions, several people went crazy. Most of the Narodnaya Volya people stayed here for 18-20 years in such conditions.

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

He was brought here in 1884 on a stretcher as a seriously ill man. Before this, he fell ill with tuberculosis in Alekseevsky ravelin. The archive contains a note from the doctor that this man is not a tenant, the prognosis is pessima. There is another note that the doctor wrote after some time, “he conquered his death.” Somehow he held his breath and was cured.
Morozov was the son of a rich merchant from Yaroslavl. For some reason, he became interested in the ideas of revolution and was the most ardent supporter of terrorism. He quarreled with his comrades over this, went abroad, managed to get married there, and had a daughter. 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, and were allowed to read and write. There was a wonderful library here. They were allowed to work and garden.
Morozov took up science, the list of which is endless. Learned almost all European languages. He wrote a work on chemistry for which Mendeleev, and he corresponded with him, awarded him an academic degree.
Nicholas II, under public pressure, 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.

Shlisselburg Fortress (Oreshek) is one of the oldest architectural and historical monuments in North-West Russia. It is located on a small island (area 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 lands along the banks of the Neva and for access to the Baltic Sea.

General view of the fortress. Shlisselburg fortress.

In 1323, Moscow Prince Yuri Danilovich, grandson of Alexander Nevsky, built a wooden fortress on Orekhovy Island, called Oreshk. It was an outpost of Veliky Novgorod on the northwestern border of Rus'. He defended the important route for trade with the countries of Western Europe, which ran 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 Orekhovsky Peace Treaty. The Novgorod Chronicle says it this way:

“In the summer of 6831 (1323 A.D.) Novgorodtsi went with Prince Yuri Danilovich to the Neva and set up a city at the mouth of the Neva on Orekhovoy Island; The same ambassadors arrived from the king of Sweden and completed eternal peace with the prince and with the New City according to the old duty ... "

The original text of the Orekhovsky Treaty of 1323.

In 1333, the city and the fortress were handed over to the Lithuanian prince Narimunt, who installed his son Alexander (Orekhovsk prince Alexander Narimuntovich) here. At the same time, Oreshek became the capital of the appanage Orekhovetsky principality.
Dramatic events in the history of Novgorod Oreshek occurred in 1348. The Swedish king Magnus Erikson launched a campaign against Rus'. Taking advantage of the absence of the Orekhovtsy military leader, the Lithuanian prince Narimont, the Swedes captured the fortress in August 1348, but did not last long there.
Narimunt lived more in Lithuania, and in 1338 he did not come to the call of Novgorod to defend it against the Swedes and recalled his son Alexander. Later, in Oreshka, the Novgorod boyar-diplomat Kozma Tverdislavich was captured by the Swedes. In 1349, after the fortress was recaptured from the Swedes, governor Jacob Khotov was imprisoned here.
On February 24, 1349, the Russians recaptured Oreshek, but during the battle the wooden fortress burned down.

Stone installed in the fortress in memory of the Orekhovsky Peace

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 made of large boulders and limestone slabs.
In 1384, the son of Narimunt Patrikei Narimuntovich (the ancestor of the Patrikeev princes) was invited to Novgorod and was received with great honors and received the city of Orekhov, the Korelsky town (Korelu), as well as Luskoye (the village of Luzhskoye).

Oreshek Fortress. Photo: aroundspb.ru

Along the western wall of ancient Oreshek, 25 meters from it, crossing the island from north to south, there was a three-meter wide canal (filled up at the beginning of the 18th century). The canal separated the fortress from the settlement, which occupied the western part of the island. In 1410, the settlement was surrounded by a wall that followed 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. Beginning of the 18th century. Reconstruction by V. M. Savkov.

By the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries, firearms were invented and powerful artillery began to be used during the siege of fortresses. The walls and towers of Oreshok, built long before, could not withstand the new military equipment. So that fortifications could withstand prolonged shelling from 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 Moscow state. To protect the northwestern borders, it was necessary to reconstruct the Novgorod fortresses - Ladoga, Yam, Koporye, Oreshek. The old Orekhovskaya fortress was dismantled almost to its foundation, and a new powerful stronghold rose on the island at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. Walls and towers were placed near the water so as not to leave room for the enemy to land and use battering machines and other weapons. The Swedish chronicler E. Tegel highly appreciated Oreshk’s defense capability. He wrote in 1555: "The castle cannot be bombarded or taken by storm because of its strong fortifications and the strong current of the river."

In plan, the fortress is an elongated polygon with seven towers: Golovina, Sovereign, Royal, Flagnaya, Golovkina, Menshikova and Bezymyannaya (the last two have not survived), the distance between them was about 80 meters. With the exception of the rectangular Sovereign, the remaining towers of the fortress are round, their height is 14-16 meters, thickness - 4.5, the diameter of the internal premises of the lower tier is 6-8. In the 16th century, the towers were topped with high wooden tent roofs. Each had four floors (tiers), or, as they said in ancient times, battles. 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 located inside the walls.

The Sovereign's Tower is one of the most interesting objects of the fortress. In terms of its design, it is one of the best examples of fortification structures. In its first tier there is a passage leading to the fortress, curved at a right angle. It 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 bars - gers. One of them descended from the second tier of the tower, and the other from the battle passage of the wall. The gers were raised using gates. The approach to the entrance arch was protected by a moat with a drawbridge thrown over it.

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

Loophole. S.V. Malakhov

The total length of the walls of the stone Oreshok is 740 meters, the height is 12 meters, the thickness of the masonry at the base is 4.5 meters. A covered battle passage was built along the top of the walls, which connected all the towers and enabled the defenders to quickly move to the most dangerous places. The battle passage could be reached by three stone stairs located at different ends of the fortress.

Battle passage on the fortress wall between the Gosudareva and Golovina towers

In the north-eastern corner, simultaneously with the construction of the fortress, a citadel was erected - an internal fortress isolated from the main territory by walls 13-14 meters high and three towers: Svetlichnaya, Kolokolnaya and Melnichnaya. The loopholes of the citadel towers were aimed inside the fortress courtyard.
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 svetlitsa - a living space (hence the name of the tower).
A messenger 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 defense. The citadel was separated from the rest of the fortress by a 12-meter canal with running water.

Shlisselburg Fortress. Canal near the citadel. Drawing by V.M. Savkova. 1972.

"water" gate. S.V. Malakhov

The water gate was closed with a gersa. The canal, in addition to its 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 in in 1882.
Within the walls of the citadel there were vaulted galleries for storing food supplies and ammunition. The galleries were laid with stone in the 19th century. All the towers were connected by a battle passage, to which a stone staircase led - “vzlaz”. 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 fortress architecture.

Golovin's tower and stairs to the battlefield. Not all of the fortress has been restored.

Ladder to the battlefield

Golovin Tower. S.V. Malakhov

Royal Tower. S.V. Malakhov

Currently, the staircase and the battle passage between the Gosudareva and Golovin towers have been restored. The walls and towers of Oreshek from the 16th century are made of limestone of different colors; the oldest masonry has a brownish-violet color, bluish-gray tones are characteristic of later masonry; their combination harmonizes with the surrounding expanse of water 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, 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 hunger. 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 Erik Dahlberg. This is the only capital structure created during the 90-year Swedish rule.

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

Over 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 of the ten towers were dismantled to the ground. The fortress was greatly damaged by German artillery shelling 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 Russian lands captured by the Swedes and for Russia's access to the Baltic Sea. Peter I faced a difficult task: he had to take possession of Oreshok. His release ensured further successful military operations.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the Noteburg fortress was well fortified and completely defensible. In addition, the Swedes dominated Lake Ladoga, and the island position of the stronghold made its capture 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 offer stubborn resistance to 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 September 27. The Russian army consisted of 14 regiments (12,576 people), including the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky guards. Peter I took part in the battle as captain of the bombardment company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

Russian troops camped opposite the fortress on Preobrazhenskaya Mountain, and installed batteries on the left bank of the Neva: 12 mortars and 31 cannons. Then, under the supervision of Peter I, the soldiers dragged 50 boats along the bank of the Neva along a three-verst forest clearing. At dawn on October 1, a thousand guardsmen of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments crossed by boat 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 cannons.

Using boats, they built a floating bridge across the Neva to communicate Russian troops on the left and right banks. The fortress was surrounded. On October 1, a trumpeter was sent to its commandant with an offer to surrender the fortress to an agreement. Schlippenbach replied that he could only decide on this with the permission of the Narva chief commandant, under whose command the Noteburg garrison was, and asked for a delay of four days. But this trick was not successful: Peter ordered the immediate bombardment of the fortress.

On October 1, 1702, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Russian artillery opened fire, and Noteburg disappeared in clouds of smoke, “bombs, grenades, bullets hovered over the fortress with destructive fire. Horror gripped the besieged, but they did not lose courage, defending themselves stubbornly and despising the disasters of the terrible siege...” The shelling continued continuously for 11 days until the assault. Wooden buildings in the fortress caught fire, and the fire threatened to explode the powder magazine. 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 a.m. on October 11 and lasted 13 hours. The guards crossed to the island in boats and tried to climb the walls using ladders, which turned out to be short. Their length was only enough to reach the gaps in the fortress wall. Sandwiched on a narrow strip of land between 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 an 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 second lieutenant A.D. Menshikov crossed with a detachment of volunteers from the Preobrazhensky Regiment to help Golitsyn’s detachment, the Swedes wavered. Commandant Schlippenbach at five o'clock in the afternoon ordered the drums to be beaten, which meant the surrender of the fortress. “This nut was extremely cruel, however, thank God, it was happily chewed,” wrote Peter I to his assistant A. A. Vinius. The Russians achieved victory at the cost of heavy losses. On the coastal edge of the island, over 500 Russian soldiers and officers were killed and 1000 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 drums beating and banners flying, 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 the key to the fortress to be strengthened to commemorate the fact that its capture would serve as the beginning of further victories in the Northern War (1700-1721) and would open the way to the Baltic Sea, which was 60 kilometers away. In memory of the conquest of Noteburg, a medal was struck with the inscription: “Was with the enemy for 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 curtains connecting them covered 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

The second building preserved in the fortress is the New (People's Will) 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 Tsarevich 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 design of the architect Ustinov; after completion of construction, the building was used as a workshop. According to the design of the same architect, in 1718 the wooden house of A.D. Menshikov was built, in which in 1718-1721 Peter I’s sister Maria Alekseevna was imprisoned in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. Since 1721, 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 - the Sovereign's House - was built. 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 related to the new purpose of the Shlisselburg fortress as a state prison were erected in the fortress courtyard. The first prison building in the citadel - the Secret House (Old Prison) - was completed according to the design of the architect P. Paton. It was a one-story building with ten solitary cells. The secret house became a place of imprisonment for the Decembrists: I.I. Pushchina, V.K. Kuchelbecker, brothers M.A., N.A., A.A. Bestuzhev, I.V. and A.V. Poggio and others. The fate of the organizer of the Polish patriotic society to fight the Russian autocracy, V. Lukasinsky, was tragic. He spent 37 years in solitary confinement, 31 of them in the Secret House and 6 years in the barracks.

Let's remember which of the interesting sea forts we visited:

I don’t know whether the Shlisselburg Fortress can be considered a sea fort or not, but let’s add it to our collection and try to carefully examine it, having learned its eventful history. Moreover, this is our history, generously watered with the blood of our ancestors, and we must know it.

Prince Yuri Danilovich

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

Dramatic events in the history of Novgorod Oreshek occurred in 1348. The Swedish king Magnus Erikson launched a campaign against Rus'. Taking advantage of the absence of the Orekhovtsy military leader, the Lithuanian prince Narimont, the Swedes captured the fortress in August 1348, but did not last long there.

Narimunt lived more in Lithuania, and in 1338 he did not come to the call of Novgorod to defend it against the Swedes and recalled his son Alexander. Later, in Oreshka, the Novgorod boyar-diplomat Kozma Tverdislavich was captured by the Swedes. In 1349, after the fortress was recaptured from the Swedes, governor Jacob Khotov was imprisoned here.
On February 24, 1349, the Russians recaptured Oreshek, but during the battle the wooden fortress burned down.

In 1384, the son of Narimunt Patrikei Narimuntovich (the ancestor of the Patrikeev princes) was invited to Novgorod and was received with great honors and received the city of Orekhov, the Korelsky town (Korelu), as well as Luskoye (the village of Luzhskoye).

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

Our days.

Clickable

In the north-eastern corner, simultaneously with the construction of the fortress, a citadel was erected - an internal fortress isolated from the main territory by walls 13-14 meters high and three towers: Svetlichnaya, Kolokolnaya and Melnichnaya. The loopholes of the citadel towers were aimed inside the fortress courtyard. 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 svetlitsa - a living space (hence the name of the tower). A messenger 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 defense. The citadel was separated from the rest of the fortress by a 12-meter canal with running water.

In the fortress wall adjacent to the Mill Tower, there is a hole through which water flowed from Lake Ladoga. On the other side, the canal was connected by a wide arch (“water gate” laid out in the thickness of the wall) with the right source of the Neva. The water gate was closed with a gersa. The canal, in addition to its 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 in in 1882. Within the walls of the citadel there were vaulted galleries for storing food supplies and ammunition. The galleries were laid with stone in the 19th century. All the towers were connected by a battle passage, to which a stone staircase led - “vzlaz”. 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 fortress architecture.

and for five centuries the towers and walls of the fortress have changed greatly. 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 of the ten towers were dismantled to the ground. The fortress was greatly damaged by German artillery shelling during the Great Patriotic War. And yet, through all the destruction and loss, the unique appearance of the former stronghold clearly emerges.

Clickable, Assault on the Noteburg fortress on October 11, 1702. A. E. Kotzebue, 1846.

The assault began at 2 a.m. on October 11 and lasted 13 hours. The guards crossed to the island in boats and tried to climb the walls using ladders, which turned out to be short. Their length was only enough to reach the gaps in the fortress wall. Sandwiched on a narrow strip of land between 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 an 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 second lieutenant A.D. Menshikov crossed with a detachment of volunteers from the Preobrazhensky Regiment to help Golitsyn’s detachment, the Swedes wavered. Commandant Schlippenbach at five o'clock in the afternoon ordered the drums to be beaten, which meant the surrender of the fortress. “This nut was extremely cruel, however, thank God, it was happily chewed,” wrote Peter I to his assistant A. A. Vinius. The Russians achieved victory at the cost of heavy losses. On the coastal edge of the island, over 500 Russian soldiers and officers were killed and 1000 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.

In the 18th century, extensive construction was carried out in the fortress. In 1716-1728, a soldiers' barracks was built near the northern wall according to the design of architects I. G. Ustinov and D. Trezzini. Outside, it was adjoined by a gallery with an open arcade about 6 meters high, in front of which a wide canal flowed. The height of the building was level with the fortress wall, the pitched roof was at the level of the battle passage. The combination of a fortress wall with a barracks in Oreshka can be considered the beginning of the creation of a new, more advanced type of fortification, which was later implemented in the Peter and Paul Fortress. From the second half of the 18th century, the building began to be called Peter’s “numbered” barracks, since some of the premises were turned into places of detention - “numbers”. 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 Tsarevich 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 design of the architect Ustinov; after completion of construction, the building was used as a workshop. According to the design of the same architect, in 1718 the wooden house of A.D. Menshikov was built, in which in 1718-1721 Peter I’s sister Maria Alekseevna was imprisoned in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. Since 1721, 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 - the Sovereign's House - was built. From 1725 to 1727, his captive was the first wife of Peter I, Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, imprisoned by order of Catherine I.

Since 1884, the Shlisselburg fortress became a place of life imprisonment for leaders of the revolutionary organization “People's Will”. In the fortress courtyard, near the wall facing Lake Ladoga, a prison building for forty prisoners was built in 1884. It was called the New Prison in contrast to the Old Prison - the former Secret House. The cells of the Old Prison were turned into punishment cells, where P. I. Andreyushkin, V. D. Generalov, V. S. Osipanov, A. I. Ulyanov, P. Ya. Shevyrev spent their last days and hours before execution (1887), S. V. Balmashev (1902), 3. V. Konoplyannikova (1906) and others.

In August-October 1884, L.A. Volkenshtein, I.N. Myshkin, N.A. Morozov, V.N. Figner and other Narodnaya Volya members were delivered from the Peter and Paul Fortress to Shlisselburg on barges. Many of them were in prison for 18-20 years. The cruel regime of detention led prisoners to death: they died from madness, exhaustion, and consumption. In total, in 1884-1906, 68 people served imprisonment in the fortress, of which 15 were executed, 15 died of illness, 8 went crazy, 3 committed suicide. Nowadays the Old and New Prisons are museums; solitary confinement cells from the 18th and 19th centuries have been restored. The exhibition presents documents telling about the prisoners. The places of executions on the territory of the fortress are marked with memorial plaques.

In 1907, the creation of a new convict prison began in the fortress: the soldiers’ barracks, which had existed since 1728, was rebuilt into a prison building (No. 1), which prisoners called the “menagerie”. This name was explained by the special arrangement of common cells, separated from the corridor by a solid iron grate from floor to ceiling.

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.

Prison cell from the times of the Decembrists in the Secret House

Camera before 1896.

Drawing of convict A.I. Sukhorukov - a cell in 1912.

In 1907-1908, the Old Prison was rebuilt, and a two-story building with 12 common cells (building No. 2) was erected on the same foundation. The new prison remained unchanged and became building No. 3.

In 1911, construction of the largest building No. 4, designed for 500 prisoners, was completed. About 1,000 people could be imprisoned in the fortress at the same time. The prisoners of the fortress were representatives of many revolutionary parties in Russia: social democrats, socialist revolutionaries, anarchists, maximalists, participants in the revolution of 1905-1907 and others. Along with political prisoners, criminals were also held in Shlisselburg.

After the February Revolution of 1917, on February 28 and March 1, all prisoners of the huge Shlisselburg prison were released. In 1925, the fortress was taken under state protection, and in 1928 a branch of the Leningrad Museum of the October Revolution was opened in it, which operated until the start of the Great Patriotic War.

On September 8, 1941, the Germans captured the city of Shlisselburg on the left bank of the Neva. The blockade of Leningrad began. The Oreshek fortress was on the front line of the Leningrad Front. For almost 500 days from September 8, 1941 to January 18, 1943, a garrison of 350 soldiers defended staunchly. Despite numerous attempts made by the fascist troops, they failed to cross to the right bank of the Neva.

The defense of Oreshk was led by the commandant of the fortress, Captain N.I. Chugunov, and Commissioner V.A. Marulin. The garrison consisted of rifle units and the 409th naval artillery battery of the Baltic Fleet, commanded by P. N. Kochanenkov, the military commissar was A. G. Morozov. The soldiers of the rifle company equipped firing points between the Flazhnaya, Golovkin and Golovin towers in the southern fortress wall facing Shlisselburg occupied by German troops. To install machine guns, embrasures were punched in the wall. Four 45 and two 76 mm artillery guns took up fighting positions in the loopholes of the Royal Tower and on the bastion.

The fortress garrison was located in the lower tiers of the towers: in Korolevskaya there were sailors of the 409th battery, in the towers of Golovkin, Golovin and Flazhnaya there were infantry units, in Svetlichnaya there was a medical center. The Nazis systematically fired at the fortress with cannons and mortars around the clock. On some days, such as June 17, 1942, more than 1,000 shells and mines were rained down on the fortress. The walls and towers of Oreshok were badly damaged, all buildings were destroyed. Stone and brick turned to dust. A dense brown cloud hung over the island all the time.

A permanently operating boat crossing between the island and the right bank of the Neva, where units of Soviet troops were located, provided the garrison with food and ammunition. Under enemy fire, the rowing team performed deadly work. As a symbol of the invincibility of the garrison, a red flag flew over the fortress, which is now kept in the Central Naval Museum. As a result of brutal shelling by fascist artillery, the garrison suffered significant losses in personnel. The list of wounded and killed soldiers includes 115 people.

Enemy shelling did not break the fortitude of Oreshok’s defenders. Among them were true heroes: fighters V. N. Kasatkin, S. A. Levchenko, V. M. Trankov, E. A. Ustinenkov, sailors N. V. Konyushkin, V. V. Konkov, K. L. Shklyar and other. It is not for nothing that the commissar of the fortress garrison, V. A. Marulin, titled his memoirs: “The stone was collapsing, but the people stood...”.

In January 1943, after the liberation of the city of Shlisselburg and the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad, the defense of the fortress was completed. Its defenders fulfilled their duty with honor.

After the Great Patriotic War, the dilapidated Shlisselburg fortress, although not a museum, was protected as a historical monument, restoration work was carried out in it, and excursions were held. In 1965, the fortress became a branch of the Museum of the History of Leningrad, its scientific study began, and archaeological research began.

In 1968-1969, Leningrad archaeologists under the leadership of Doctor of Historical Sciences A. N. Kirpichnikov found the remains of the walls of the fortress from 1352. A fragment of the northern wall and gate tower has been preserved and has become a valuable object of museum exhibition.

Archaeological excavations continued in the fortress for several years. Things found in the cultural layer of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries told about the life and activities of the islanders. Archaeologists have excavated five layers of wooden pavement flooring. In residential buildings they found a variety of household and household equipment: furniture parts, an ax with a whole ax handle, birch bark products, wooden and earthenware, leather shoes, bronze rings, amber crosses. Many things (floats, sinkers, hooks, frames, oars, rowlocks) indicate that the population was engaged in shipping and fishing. The discovery of a men's felt hat from the 15th century was a great success.

In 1972, under the leadership of the experienced restorer architect V. M. Savkov, a master plan for the restoration of the fortress was developed, which determined the value of each period in the 700-year history of Oreshok and the main directions of restoration. The artist-architect, Doctor of Art History I. D. Bilibin, proposed a museumification plan, in accordance with which museum exhibitions were created in the Old and New Prisons and the Sovereign Tower. A memorial complex, opened on May 9, 1985, is dedicated to the defenders of Oreshok. Its authors are the artist-architect I. D. Bilibin, the sculptors Honored Artist of the RSFSR G. D. Yastrebenetsky and L. G. Dema, the artist A. V. Bogdanov. Every year on May 9, Victory Day, a solemn meeting is held at the war memorial in the Oreshek fortress.

In 2002, a memorial sign was opened dedicated to the peace treaty of 1323 between Veliky Novgorod and Sweden, created with the participation of the Consulate General of Sweden in St. Petersburg and the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg. In 2002, in connection with the 300th anniversary of the victory of Peter the Great’s troops near Noteburg, the name “Oreshek” was given to a small planet in the constellation Cetus, discovered by the astronomer of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory L.V. Zhuravleva.

The entire history of St. Petersburg and surrounding areas is connected with a special geographical location. In order to prevent these border Russian territories from being captured, the rulers created entire networks of fortifications and fortresses. Today, many of them are museums and are considered historical monuments.

Vyborg Castle

Fortresses as well as the first cities and monasteries built on its territory are among the oldest structures of the Russian state. They arose in the busiest places, where water and trade routes connected Scandinavia and Europe with the East and the Mediterranean, the Christian and ancient worlds.

The fortresses of the Leningrad region, monasteries and other ancient buildings became disseminators of the culture of the Slavic people, as well as conductors of the religion of Christianity over a vast territory.

A remarkable example of the Western European military trend in architecture is the Vyborg Fortress, which is also called a castle. The history of this building is inextricably linked with the Swedes. It was they who founded Vyborg during the third crusade (1293).

Initially the fortress played a defensive role. The Swedes took refuge behind its walls from the Novgorod troops trying to regain the captured territory. Over the centuries, the functions of the fortress changed. This structure served as the site of the royal residence as well as the military headquarters. At one time, the fortress was the administrative center of the city, a barracks for the Swedish crusaders, and a prison.

In 1918 it came under the jurisdiction of Finland and was completely reconstructed. Since 1944, this territory became part of the USSR. Already in 1964, the first steps were taken to create a local history museum in the fortress. Today, Vyborg Castle is open to visitors. There is a museum here that offers guests an acquaintance with a dozen different compositions describing the history of this place.

On the territory of the fortress there is an observation tower of St. Olaf. From here you can admire the amazingly beautiful landscape. The tower offers views of the seaport and the Gulf of Finland, as well as the treetops of Mon Repos Park.

Staraya Ladoga Fortress

This building is located one hundred twenty-five kilometers from St. Petersburg. The fortress near the village of Staraya Ladoga was founded on the border of the 9th-10th centuries. These were the times of Prophetic Oleg. The structure was located in the place where Ladozhka flows into the high bank. The original purpose of the fortress was to protect the prince and his squad. Somewhat later, it became one of those defensive structures that blocked the enemy’s path from the Baltic.

Today, on the territory of the Staraya Ladoga Fortress there is an archaeological and historical-architectural museum-reserve. There are two expositions for visitors. One of them is ethnographic, and the second is historical. The main exhibits of the exhibitions are objects found during archaeological excavations.

Koporye

To date, seven fortresses have survived on the territory of the Leningrad region. Only one of this list (Yam, located in Kingisepp) represents separate fragments of shafts and carries a minimum of information about the past. Six others are of undying interest to history buffs. One of these fortresses is Koporye.

It is located in close proximity to St. Petersburg. More than others, the Koporye fortress has retained its medieval image to this day, since it has not recently been subjected to radical alterations.

Korela

This fortress is located north of St. Petersburg, on the territory of the Karelian Isthmus. At this point, the northern branch flows into the During the 13th-14th centuries, Korela was a Russian border post, which was repeatedly attacked by the Swedes. Currently, the fortress is considered a monument that allows one to study ancient Russian military and defensive art in more detail. In this building, which is open to visitors, the spirit of adventure and antiquity has been preserved to this day. This became possible due to the fact that the fortress was not modernized or rebuilt for many years. Two museums have been opened on the territory of the former defensive post. In the first of them you can get acquainted with the general history of the fortress. The second museum is the Pugachev Tower, the courtyard of which has been put in order, despite the partial destruction of the external walls.

Ivangorod Fortress

This building is a monument of Russian defensive architecture dating back to the 15th-16th centuries. was founded in 1492 on the Narva River to protect Russian lands from attacks by Western enemies. Over its five-century history, this defensive fortification has often been the site of fierce battles. The fortress also suffered during the war with the fascist invaders. After the capture of Ivangorod by enemy troops, the Germans set up two concentration camps on its territory in which they held prisoners of war. Retreating, the Nazis blew up most of the internal buildings, six corner towers, as well as many sections of the walls. Currently, most of the fortifications have been restored and restored.

"Nut"

The Shlisselburg Fortress is located on the shores of Lake Ladoga, at the very sources of the Neva. This architectural monument of the first half of the 14th century is currently a museum.

Due to its location on Orekhovy Island, the Shlisselburg Fortress also has a second name - “Oreshek”.

Museum

The Shlisselburg Fortress is a complex architectural ensemble. Today it is open to visitors. The Oreshek fortress belongs to the Museum of the History of the City of St. Petersburg. Visitors are invited to familiarize themselves with the main historical stages of the Russian state during those periods when this defensive structure was in any way involved.

Story

The Shlisselburg fortress was built in 1323. Evidence of this is the mention in the chronicles of Novgorod. This document indicates that the grandson of Alexander Nevsky - the prince - ordered the construction of a wooden defensive structure. Three decades later, a stone fortress appeared on the site of the former fortress. Its territory was significantly increased and became nine thousand square meters. The dimensions of the fortress walls also changed. They reached three meters in thickness. Three new rectangular towers appeared.

Initially, a settlement was located near the walls of the defensive structure. A three-meter canal separated it from Oreshok. Somewhat later, the ditch was filled with earth. After this, the settlement was surrounded by a stone wall.

The fortress has experienced perestroika, destruction and revival more than once throughout its history. At the same time, the number of its towers constantly increased, and the thickness of the walls increased.

The Shlisselburg fortress already in the 16th century became an administrative center in which government officials and the highest clergy lived. The simple population of the settlement settled on the banks of the Neva.

The Oreshek fortress (Shlisselburg fortress) was in the hands of the Swedes from 1617 to 1702. At this time it was renamed. They called her Noteburgskaya. Peter I recaptured this defensive structure from the Swedes and returned it to its former name. Grandiose construction began again in the fortress. Several towers, earthen bastions and prisons were erected. From 1826 to 1917, the Oreshek fortress (Shlisselburg Fortress) was a place of imprisonment for Decembrists and Narodnaya Volya. After the October Revolution, this building was turned into a museum.

War period

"Oreshek" played an important role during the defense of Leningrad. The Shlisselburg fortress made it possible for the “Road of Life” to exist, along which food was transported to the besieged city, and the population of the Northern capital was evacuated from it. Thanks to the heroism of a small number of soldiers who withstood the siege of the fortress, more than one hundred human lives were saved. During this period, “Oreshek” was practically razed to the ground.

In the post-war years, it was decided not to reconstruct the fortress, but to erect memorial complexes along the “Road of Life”.

Defensive structure. Modernity

Today we visit the Oreshek fortress on excursions. On the territory of the former defensive structure you can see the remains of its former greatness.

The Oreshek fortress, the map of which will tell tourists the right route, looks like an irregular polygon on the plan. Moreover, the corners of this figure are extended from west to east. Along the perimeter of the walls there are five powerful towers. One of them (Gate) is quadrangular. The architecture of the remaining towers uses a circular shape.

The Oreshek fortress (Shlisselburg) is a place where museum exhibitions were opened in honor of the heroes of the Second World War. On the territory of the former citadel there are museum exhibitions. They are located in the "New Prison" and "Old Prison" buildings. The remains of the fortress walls have been preserved, as well as the Flagnaya and Vorotnaya, Naugolnaya and Royal, Golovkin and Svetlichnaya towers.

How to get to the fortress?

The easiest way to get to the quiet provincial town of Shlisselburg is by car. Then it is preferable to get to the fortress by boat. There is another option. A motor ship runs from the Petrokrepost station, one of the stopping points of which is the Shlisselburg Fortress. How to get to the former defensive structure directly from St. Petersburg? Excursions are regularly held from the Northern capital to the Oreshek fortress. Travelers are transported on high-speed, comfortable Meteor ships.

Perhaps someone will be happy with a trip on bus route No. 575, which runs to Shlisselburg from the Ul. Dybenko." Then a boat will help you get to the island.

If you decide to visit the Oreshek fortress, you should definitely know the operating hours. The museum on the territory of the former citadel opens in May and welcomes tourists until the end of October. During this period it is open daily. Opening hours - from 10 to 17.