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Peter and Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress, in the form that we see it today, was completed during the reign of Catherine the Great, with only the overall layout remaining from Peter the Great’s day. Viewed from the air, the fortress presents a six-sided form stretching from west to east, with six bastions placed at each corner. According to legend, the foundations of the fortress were laid by Peter himself on 16 (27) May, 1703, and this day is considered to mark the foundation of the city itself. The weathervane, created in the form of a golden angel with a cross, is one of the main symbols of the city. Working bells have been fitted in the bell tower. Members of the Romanov family have been buried in the cathedral: emperors and empresses and 26 grand dukes and duchesses. In 1998, in the St. Catherine’s Side Chapel, the remains of the last emperor Nicholas II and his immediate family, shot in Yekaterinburg in 1918, along with their doctor, cook, footman, and maid, have been buried. A gallery links the cathedral with the grand ducal burial-vault (David Grimm, Antony Tomishko, Leonty Benois, 1906), which contains the remains of grand dukes and their families.

To the right of the exit from the burial-vault stands the Botny Domik (“Boat House”), built at the beginning of Catherine the Great’s reign especially for the “grandfather of the Russian fleet” – the boat on which Peter the Great learnt the art of navigation. Today, the fortress only preserves a copy of the famed vessel, with the original lying in the Naval Museum.

You can go in for free, but to enter the church and exhibitions you need tickets. You can get a combo ticket for everything, or you can just enter the church. Other than the church, which is where the all of the Romanov Czars of Russia from Peter the Great (bar two or three) are buried, the other things on the island aren't terribly impressive, so it might be worth it to just see the church.