Peter and Paul Fortress: Full of Violent History

The Peter and Paul fortress is going to turn into an highly-valued archeological site. Incredibly, a very young (by, for example, European scale) fortress founded only in 1703, appeared to contain much of history in the guise of… human remains.

In late 2009, excavating works revealed a mass grab of 16 or 17 persons who allegedly were killed in 1917. That’s a thing which hardly could occur to your mindduring your walk within the fortress now being a museum of the city’s history. But it’s worth to remember that after its foundation as a fortification to prevent the Swedish army from disturbing the building of the city and intervening Russia it served as a prison from which nobody managed to escape.

A few days ago it was announced that the remains of two persons of these 16 or 17  I’m writing about could belong to two Great dukes of the Romanovs family, then-governing house of Russia. It’s not a confirmed fact since an expertise is neeed, but it’s a version which has a solid base.

1917 was the year of two revolutions, in February and October, the former  to ruin the Romanovs house and the latter to enthrone the Bolsheviks.

The others of the Romanovs are burried here, at a special cemetery, after having been shot in 1918 in Ekaterinburg (an official version, though there are many sceptics) and then transported to St. Petersburg in 1998.

In 2004, there was another finding, the remains of a few persons who died, as the scientists guess, in 1703 and thus were the first builders of the fortress and the city. Behind the now well-looking gorgeous buildings, walls, decorated dungeon and so on, a hard part of St. Petersburg’s history including mass killings in dark times hides.

Now there is a debate on whether to turn the Peter and Paul fortress, one of the must-sees in St. Petersburg, visited by tourists, into a kind of an archeological site with great scale of excavating works.  I think it’d make some sense that you do not miss an opportunity to visit the fortress before some of its places may be closed for observation. My advice: it’s better to reserve a  whole day for it.

The site of the fortress (in Russian, though an English version also will be available) is here.

The best time to visit: 11.00-17.30 since cash-desks of many expositions are open, tickets are 60-250 roubles (depending on an exposition).

Day-off: Wednesday

Photo credit: www.vpetersburg.ru