Landmark Europe
Peter and Paul Fortress
The Peter and Paul Fortress sits on a small island in a big river. The city of Saint Petersburg began right here!
The Peter and Paul Fortress stands on Zayachy (Hare) Island in the Neva River, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was founded on 27 May 1703, and that day is counted as the birthday of the city. Its walls and six bastions follow the shape of the island.
The Peter and Paul Fortress, founded on Zayachy Island in the Neva delta on 27 May 1703 (16 May, Old Style), is the oldest engineering and architectural sight of Saint Petersburg, and its founding day is taken as the city's own. First built of earth and timber, it was rebuilt in brick and stone from 1706, with the architect Domenico Trezzini overseeing the work. Today it is part of the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg.
Photo: Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Peter and Paul Fortress
This fortress is on a small island in the Neva River. The island is called Hare Island.
The fortress was the very first part of the city of Saint Petersburg, in Russia.
The fortress stands on Zayachy Island, whose name means Hare Island, in the widest part of the Neva River. The island is about 900 meters long and 500 meters wide.
The fortress was founded on 27 May 1703, and Saint Petersburg counts that day as its founding day. Seen from above, the fortress is a stretched six-sided shape that follows the shape of the island.
The Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg calls the fortress the historical center of the city, a monument of military engineering and its oldest engineering and architectural sight. It was founded on 16 May 1703 (27 May, New Style) on Zayachy Island, which covers 28 hectares in the broadest part of the Neva; this day is considered the date of Saint Petersburg's foundation.
Its official name was St. Petersburg Fortress; the name Peter and Paul Fortress, after its cathedral, became established in 1917, and people in the city also call it Petropavlovka.
- Where
- Zayachy (Hare) Island, Neva River, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Founded
- 27 May 1703
- Bastions
- 6
- Island
- 28 hectares; 900 m long, 500 m wide
Where a city began
Long ago, in 1703, people began building a fort on the island. They used earth and wood.
Later they built strong walls of brick and stone.
In 1702 and 1703, Russia gained control of the Neva River, which flows into the Gulf of Finland. Tsar Peter the Great planned a fortress on the island to guard it. The first walls were made of earth and timber, built very quickly.
In 1706, when an attack by Sweden no longer seemed likely, work began to replace the earth walls with stone ones. The fortress became the historical center of Saint Petersburg.
Tsar Peter the Great outlined the plan of the fortress. Its first designs were made in 1703 by the Saxon engineer V. A. Kirschtenstein, who led the building until 1705, and the French engineer J. G. Lambert de Guerin. The first bastions of earth and timber went up 'in a frantic hurry' under the supervision of Peter the Great and his associates, which is where the bastions' names come from.
On 30 May 1706 the rebuilding in brick and stone began at the Menshikov Bastion. The architect Domenico Trezzini oversaw the work from 1706 to 1734. The Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg dates the end of the rebuilding to 1734, while the museum says it was completed in the 1740s.
Bastions and thick walls
The fortress has six pointy corners called bastions. Long walls join them together.
The walls are very thick!
The fortress has six bastions: big pointed corners that stick out from the walls. Long straight walls, called curtain walls, join them together. The museum gives the walls a height of 32 to 39 feet (about 10 to 12 meters) and a thickness of 65 feet (about 20 meters).
Inside the walls were rooms for storing supplies and barracks for soldiers. Later, two V-shaped outer walls, called ravelins, were added on the east and west sides.
The ground plan is a stretched hexagon that repeats the shape of the island. Six massive bastions, named after Peter the Great and his closest associates, are linked by curtain walls that the museum gives as 32–39 feet high and 65 feet thick; the casemates inside held stores and soldiers' barracks. In 1705 a crownwork, the Kronverk, was added to guard the north.
In the 1730s two V-shaped masonry ravelins were raised in the east and west. From 1779 to 1785 three bastions and two curtain walls facing the Bolshaya Neva were faced with granite, and the bastions and curtain walls were rebuilt again between the 1840s and the 1890s.
A cathedral, a mint and a boat house
In the middle of the fortress is a big church with a very tall, thin golden spire.
There is also a building where coins are made!
In the middle of the fortress stands Peter and Paul Cathedral, built from 1712 to 1733 and designed by Domenico Trezzini. Its bell tower, with a tall spire, is 402 feet (about 123 meters) high.
The fortress also holds the Mint, from 1805, which still makes coins, medals and badges. A Boat House was built to keep a boat that Peter the Great sailed as a young man.
Peter and Paul Cathedral, built in 1712–1733 as the city's main cathedral, was designed in the Baroque style by Domenico Trezzini; its belfry is 402 feet high. Inside the fortress also stand the Engineers' House and the Commandant's House, both from the 1740s and, the museum says, unique examples of the early Baroque style in Russia.
The Mint (1805), which the museum calls the oldest enterprise in Saint Petersburg, still produces coins, medals and badges. The Boat House was built to store the boat Peter the Great sailed in his youth. The main entrance, the Petrovskie Gates, was designed by Trezzini in 1716–1718.
- Cathedral built
- 1712–1733
- Bell tower
- 402 feet (about 123 m)
- Mint
- 1805
A museum on an island
This photo was taken from high above. You can see the walls, the golden spire and the river all around!
Today the fortress is a museum. Many people come to visit.
This aerial photo was taken on 14 July 2016. It shows the whole island: the fortress walls and bastions, the cathedral's golden spire in the middle, a sandy shore on the left and boats at a small pier.
By the early 1800s the fortress was no longer important for defense. Today it is part of the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg, and city fairs and open-air festivals are often held there.
The photograph (14 July 2016, by Andrew Shiva) looks down on Zayachy Island from the air: the ring of bastions and curtain walls, the cathedral and its spire at the center, a sandy shore, a boat pier on the Neva, and the city beyond the narrow Kronverksky Strait.
The Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg notes that the fortress had lost its military significance by the early 19th century. Many buildings were damaged during the Second World War; in 1951 restoration work began, together with the setting up of museums in the fortress, and the fortress is now part of the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg.
Amazing facts
-
Saint Petersburg's birthday is the day this fortress was started: 27 May 1703!
The fortress was founded on 27 May 1703, and that day is considered the founding date of Saint Petersburg.
The fortress was founded on 16 May 1703 (27 May, New Style), and this day is considered the date of Saint Petersburg's foundation.
-
Coins are still made inside this old fortress!
The Mint inside the fortress, from 1805, still makes coins, medals and badges.
The Mint (1805), which the museum calls the oldest enterprise in Saint Petersburg, still produces coins, medals and badges.
-
The six bastions are named after Peter the Great and his helpers!
The six bastions take their names from Peter the Great and his closest associates, who supervised their building.
The bastions (Gosudarev, Naryshkin, Trubetskoy, Zotov, Golovkin and Menshikov) take their names from Peter the Great and the associates who supervised their construction in 1703.
Words to know
- fortress
- a large, strong building or group of buildings with thick walls, built to defend a place
- bastion
- a pointed part of a fortress wall that sticks out, so defenders can see along the walls
- curtain wall
- a straight wall of a fortress that joins two bastions
- ravelin
- a V-shaped outer wall built in front of a fortress wall
- mint
- a place where coins are made
- spire
- a tall, pointed top on a tower
Discovery challenge
-
Where is the Peter and Paul Fortress?
The fortress stands on an island in which river?
Zayachy Island, home of the fortress, lies in which river's delta?
- The Neva
- The Volga
- The Danube
Show the answer
The Neva
On an island in the Neva River!
The Neva.
The Neva.
-
Which city began with this fortress?
The fortress's founding day is counted as the birthday of which city?
The founding of the fortress on 27 May 1703 is taken as the foundation date of which city?
- Saint Petersburg
- Moscow
- Helsinki
Show the answer
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg!
Saint Petersburg.
Saint Petersburg.
-
How many big pointy corners, called bastions, does the fortress have?
How many bastions does the fortress have?
How many bastions, linked by curtain walls, make up the fortress?
- 6
- 4
- 10
Show the answer
6
Six!
Six.
Six, named after Peter the Great and his associates.
-
What were the first walls made of?
What were the fortress's first walls built from in 1703?
Before the rebuilding in brick and stone began in 1706, what were the first bastions made of?
- Earth and wood
- Glass
- Steel
Show the answer
Earth and wood
Earth and wood!
Earth and timber.
Earth fill and timber.
-
What is still made in a building inside the fortress?
What does the Mint inside the fortress still make?
The Mint, from 1805, still produces what?
- Coins and medals
- Cars
- Bread
Show the answer
Coins and medals
Coins!
Coins, medals and badges.
Coins, medals and badges.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain why fortresses were built on islands and rivers.
- Describe what bastions and curtain walls are and how they fit together.
- Explain how a city can grow up around a fortress.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Saint Petersburg counts the day its fortress was founded as its birthday. What day might your town call its birthday?
- Why do you think the builders first used earth and wood, and then stone?
- The fortress is now a museum and a place for festivals. How can old buildings find new uses?
Try at home or in class
- Draw a six-sided fortress with a pointed bastion at each corner, then draw an island shape around it.
- Find Saint Petersburg and the Neva River on a map, and follow the river to the Gulf of Finland.
Key vocabulary: fortress, bastion, curtain wall, ravelin, mint, spire
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Peter and Paul Fortress: History , State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg
- St. Peter and Paul Fortress , Saint Petersburg Encyclopaedia
- File:RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Peter and Paul Fortress 02.jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.