Peter & Paul Fortress

Duration: 3 hours

We call Peter & Paul Fortress the Heart of the city since it is the very first structure started on this marshy lands that gave birth to St. Petersburg. The day of May 27^th 1703, when the first stone of the fortress was put down, marked the beginning of the new Russian capital, and still nowadays each year we celebrate the birthday of St. Petersburg on May 27^th. The fortress was originally designed to protect these lands Peter fought back from Sweden in the Northern War, but soon it was turned into political prison where many brilliant Russians experienced what a solitary confinement is. Among the most famous ones was Fedor Mikchailovich Dostoevsky…The prison still exists as a museum, which gives you a chance to see the conditions prisoners suffered in and learn about political regimes in Imperial times.

But besides the prison, there is another reason most of the guests of St. Petersburg find it a must to visit the Fortress – that is Peter & Paul Cathedral, the burial Chapel of Russian Royal Family. Most of the Romanovs, starting with Peter the Great, to Catherine the Great and the family of the last Russian Tsar Nicolas II are buried in this beautiful gilded Church. You will ask if Anastasia is there? Well, come and see…