no titel (St. Petersburg)

Title

no titel (St. Petersburg)

Description

Very decorative vie of St. Petersburg from the Peter and Paul fortess. The fortress was established by Peter the Great in 1703 on small Hare Island by the north bank of the Neva River, the last upstream island of the Neva delta. Built at the height of the Northern War in order to protect the projected capital from a feared Swedish counterattack, the fort never fulfilled its martial purpose. The citadel was completed with six bastions in earth and timber within a year, and it was rebuilt in stone from 1706-1740.

ca. 1897

Artist

Anonymus

Historical Description

In the area of St. Petersburg since the 10th century representatives of various Finno-Ugric peoples lived mostly on agriculture. At the beginning of the 14th century, Sweden and Novgorod quarreled over the area. A Swedish settlement at this place, handed down as Landskrona, was allegedly destroyed in 1301. After that, it was agreed that the region should be considered as a buffer zone between the spheres of influence, where no fortresses could be built. In the following centuries, the area was used at least as a landing place for ships sailing on the Neva River, and possibly as a trading center. The latter certainly applies to the period of renewed Swedish dominance in the region after the construction of the Nyenschanz fortress in 1611 and the Nyen settlement that soon surrounded it. Both were located in the urban area of present-day Saint Petersburg on the northern (or right) bank of the Neva River. There is evidence of major urban development ambitions of the Swedes for Nyen in the 17th century. However, these suffered a severe setback when the settlement and fortress were destroyed by Russian troops in 1656 during the Second Northern War. Reconstruction was soon followed by the final conquest of Nyenschanz on May 1, 1703, during the Great Northern War, by the Russians under Sheremetev, who were advancing down the Neva. Nyen had already been preemptively cleared and partially destroyed by the Swedes themselves by this time. The end of Nyen and Nyenschanz simultaneously marked the beginning of the city history of Saint Petersburg in 1703, the year in which the foundation stone for the Peter and Paul Fortress, named after the Tsar's namesake, was laid on an island opposite Nyenschanz in the Neva Delta.