Editing Peter and Paul Fortress

{{short description|Original citadel of Saint Petersburg, Russia}}
{{refimprove|date = December 2017}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Peter and Paul Fortress
| image = RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Peter and Paul Fortress 02.jpg
| caption = An aerial view of the fortress
| type = Fortress and Museum
| locmapin = Russia Saint Petersburg central
| coordinates = {{coord|59.950|30.317|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia
| area = 
| built = 1703–1740
| architect = [[Domenico Trezzini]]
| architecture = 
| governing_body = 
| owner = 
}}
The '''Peter and Paul Fortress''' ({{Langx|ru|Петропавловская крепость|translit=Petropavlovskaya krepost'}}) is the original [[citadel]] of [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia, founded by [[Peter the Great]] in 1703 and built to [[Domenico Trezzini]]'s designs from 1706 to 1740 as a [[Bastion fort|star fortress]].<ref name="spenc">{{cite web|url=http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/peter-paul-fortress.asp|title=Peter and Paul Fortress|access-date=2009-06-19|work=Saint-Petersburg.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720042332/http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/peter-paul-fortress.asp|archive-date=2008-07-20}}</ref> Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s it served as a prison for political criminals. It has been a museum since 1924.<ref>spb-guide.ru [https://www.spb-guide.ru/page_7923.htm History of the Peter and Paul Fortress] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806041351/https://www.spb-guide.ru/page_7923.htm |date=2020-08-06 }}</ref>

==History==
===From foundation until 1917===
[[File:Peter and Paul Fortress.JPG|thumb|Peter and Paul Fortress]]
The fortress was established by [[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]] on {{OldStyleDate|May 27|1703|May 16}}, on small [[Hare Island (Saint Petersburg)|Hare Island]] by the north bank of the [[Neva River]]. From around 1720, the fort served as a base for the city garrison and also as a prison for high-ranking or [[political prisoner]]s.

===Russian Revolution and beyond===
[[File:Palace bridge.JPG|thumb|[[Palace Bridge]] and 'Peter and Paul' fortress]]

During the [[February Revolution]] of 1917, it was attacked by mutinous soldiers of the [[Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment]] on February 27&nbsp;(O.S.) and the prisoners were freed. Under the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]], hundreds of Tsarist officials were held in the Fortress.

The tsar was threatened with being incarcerated at the fortress on his return from [[Mogilev]] to [[Tsarskoye Selo]] on March 8&nbsp;(O.S.); but he was placed under house arrest. On July 4&nbsp;(O.S.) during the [[July Days]] demonstrations, the fortress garrison of 8,000 men declared for the [[Bolsheviks]]. They surrendered to government forces without a struggle on July 6&nbsp;(O.S.).

On October 25&nbsp;(O.S.), the fortress quickly fell into Bolshevik hands. Following the ultimatum from the [[Petrograd Soviet]] to the Provisional Government ministers in the [[Winter Palace]], after the blank salvo of the cruiser [[Russian cruiser Aurora|''Aurora'']] at 21.00, the guns of the fortress fired 30 or so shells at the Winter Palace. Just two hit, inflicting only minor damage, and the defenders refused to surrender at that time. At 02.10 on the morning of October 26&nbsp;(O.S.), the Winter Palace was taken by forces under [[Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko]]; the captured ministers were taken to the fortress as prisoners. On 28 January 1919, four grand dukes from the [[House of Romanov]] were shot within the walls of the fortress on the orders of the Presidium of the [[Cheka]] under [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]], [[Yakov Peters]], [[Martin Latsis]], and [[Ivan Ksenofontov]].

The structure suffered heavy damage during the bombardment of the city during [[World War II]] by the [[Luftwaffe]] who were laying siege to the city. It has been restored post-war and is a tourist attraction.<ref name="spenc"/>

===Public perception===
{{refimprove section|date=October 2018}}
In the years before and after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the Peter and Paul Fortress was portrayed by Bolshevik propaganda as a hellish, torturous place, where thousands of prisoners suffered endlessly in filthy, cramped, and grossly overcrowded dungeons amid frequent torture and malnutrition. Such legends had the effect of turning the prison into a symbol of government oppression in the minds of the common folk. In reality, conditions in the fortress were far less brutal than believed; no more than one hundred prisoners were ever kept in the prison at a time, and most prisoners had access to such luxuries as tobacco, writing paper, and literature (including subversive books such as [[Karl Marx]]'s ''[[Capital: Critique of Political Economy|Das Kapital]]'').

Despite their ultimate falsehood, stories about the prison were vital to the spread of Bolshevik revolutionary sentiment. The legends served to portray the government as cruel and indiscriminate in the administration of justice, helping to turn the common mind against Tsarist rule. Many inmates, after being released, wrote chilling and increasingly exaggerated accounts of life there that solidified the structure's horrible image in the public mind and pushed the people further towards dissent. Writers often purposely exaggerated their experiences to garner more hatred for the government; as writer and former Peter and Paul inmate [[Maksim Gorky]] would later state, "Every Russian who had ever sat in jail as a 'political' prisoner considered it his holy duty to bestow on Russia his memoirs of how he had suffered."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Figes|first1=Orlando|title=A People's Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution|publisher=Viking|isbn=0-670-85916-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/peoplestragedyhi00fige}}</ref>

==Sights==
The fortress contains several buildings clustered around the [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]] (1712–1733), which has a {{convert|122.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} bell-tower and a gilded angel-topped cupola.

Other structures inside the fortress include the still functioning [[Saint Petersburg Mint]] building<ref name="spenc"/> (constructed to Antonio Porta's designs under Emperor [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]]), the Trubetskoy Bastion with its grim prison cells, and the [[Saint Petersburg Museum of History|city museum]].
<gallery class="center" caption="Views of the fortress" widths="100px" heights="100px" perrow="5">
File:Peter and Paul Fortress. View across the Neva River.png|Peter and Paul Fortress. View across the Neva River
File:Ioann bridge gates 640.jpg|Entrance from Ioannovsky Bridge
File:Peter and Paul Cathedral.jpg|[[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg]]
File:PeterandPaulNeva.JPG|View of the fortress and cathedral from the Neva
File:Peter and Paul Fortress at sunset, St. Petersburg, Russia.jpg|Peter and Paul Fortress at sunset
File:Peter and Paul Fortress, Saint Petersburg, Russia.jpg|Walls
</gallery>

To the north of the fortress across the [[Kronverksky Strait]] lies the [[Kronverk]], formerly the fortress' outer defence and now home to the [[Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps]].

===Midday Cannon Shot===
[[File:2018-Ceremonial-blank-shot-Peter-Paul-Fortress-Kuznetsov-NV.jpg|thumb| Midday cannon shot on February 8, 2018 (dedicated to the birthday of St. Petersburg University, [[Nikolay_V._Kuznetsov|Prof.&nbsp;N.&nbsp;Kuznetsov]])]]
During the time of Peter the Great, a shot from the cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress was heard in honor of military victories, on holidays, and also to warn residents about the rise in the water level of the Neva.

Since 1873, the cannon is fired at noon. Residents of the city even checked their watches by the shot. The gun was silent only in times of revolutions and wars. However, nowadays the gunshot can be heard every day at 12 noon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sklyarenko |first=Daniil |date=2022-07-13 |title=Peter and Paul Fortress - the most famous landmark of St. Petersburg |url=https://www.ruslinguaschool.com/post/peter-and-paul-fortress-the-most-famous-landmark-of-st-petersburg |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Ruslingua School |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713120906/https://www.ruslinguaschool.com/post/peter-and-paul-fortress-the-most-famous-landmark-of-st-petersburg |url-status=live }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Peter & Paul Fortress}}
*[http://www.museum.ru/M112 Official webpage] {{in lang|ru}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170303132028/http://www.spbmuseum.ru/en/themuseum/museum_complex/peterpaul_fortress/ Official site of museum complex]
*[https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&om=0&z=16&ll=59.950186,30.316043&spn=0.005029,0.014505&t=h Satellite photo, via Google Maps]
*[http://tour-planet.com/articles/50 Useful information about the Peter and Paul Fortress, read on the website tour-planet.com reviews written by real travelers]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131207171411/http://spb-city.com/?p=36 Peter & Paul Fortress at www.spb-city.com]
*[http://www.visitcastles.eu/ The Association of Castles and Museums around the Baltic Sea]
*[https://peterburg.center/maps/petropavlovskaya-krepost.html Useful information about the Peter and Paul Fortress] {{in lang|ru}}

{{Saint Petersburg}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter And Paul Fortress}}
[[Category:Peter and Paul Fortress]]
[[Category:1703 establishments in Russia]]
[[Category:Forts in Russia]]
[[Category:Defunct prisons in Russia]]
[[Category:Prison museums in Russia]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Domenico Trezzini buildings and structures]]
[[Category:Local history museums in Russia]]
[[Category:Military and war museums in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:History museums in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Time guns]]
[[Category:Execution sites in Russia]]