Founded on 27 May 1703 (the date is celebrated by the locals as the city’s birthday) to ward off the enemy raids, the fortress was the city’s very first structure. It never served as a defensive bastion, though, as Peter the Great defeated his enemies before the fortress was completed. Instead, it became a prison, through which passed many political enemies of the Tsars.

The museum complex includes: Peter and Paul Cathedral, Prison Trubetskoy Bastion, Boat House, where an exact copy of Peter’s little boat (often called “the grandfather of the Russian Navy”) is kept, and other buildings. The gilded spire of the Cathedral’s bell tower, with Cross and Angel on the top, is the symbol of St.Petersburg. Built by Tresini in 1722-33, the Cathedral is still city’s tallest building noted for magnificent gilded wooden iconostasis. It was here that in 1725 Peter the Great was buried.

Since then on the Cathedral was the burial place of all the Romanovs, including the last Tsar Nicolas II and the members of his family (all were brutally killed by Bolsheviks in the Urals in 1918). The remains of them were brought to St.Petersburg and buried in the Cathedral in July 1998. The last burial ceremony took place in the fortress in September 2006, when the remains of Maria Fyodorovna, the Denmark-born Nicolas II’s mother (died in Copenhagen in 1928), were reburied in the Cathedral.

Max. number of visitors in a group – no limit

Open: Fortress 10:00 – 22:00
          Museums 11:00 - 18:00
          Cathedral 11:00 - 18:00

Closed on Wednesdays

Address: 3, Petropavlovskaya Krepost.

The nearest metro station: Gorkovskaya

Phone: +7 (812) 232 94 54

Entrance to the fortress is free. Admission is for museums only.

www.spbmuseum.ru