The Neva Gate is a gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg, located in the Neva curtain between the Tsar’s and Naryshkin bastions. It connects the fortress with the Commandant’s Quay. It is a monument of classical architecture.
Between 1714 and 1716, the first wooden gate and pier were built here. In the early 1720s, the gate was rebuilt in stone by the architect Domenico Trezzini.
In front of the Neva Gate on August 30, 1723, a ceremony was held to permanently preserve Peter I’s small boat in the fortress: the boat came under its own power, fired a welcoming salute, and was carried by hand through the gate into the Tsar’s bulwark.
On March 13, 1731, an order was issued to build “a gate with architectural decorations on the water side of the fortress.” Every few years, the boat was taken out and ceremonially launched, but for these ceremonies the gate still looked too modest.
In 1746–1747, another reconstruction of the gate was carried out, and it was faced with Pudost stone, probably according to a modified Trezzini design. This design has been preserved in the current appearance of the gate on the side facing the Peter and Paul Cathedral: a four-meter arch with a keystone is flanked by pilasters and topped with a triangular pediment, which is decorated with a relief composition depicting a coat of arms shield, banners, and military armor.
Between 1762 and 1767, architect D. Smolyaninov and engineer N. Muravyov developed a project for a granite pier to replace the wooden one. The project was only realized in 1777 during the facing of the fortress walls, when engineer R. T. Tomilov built a grand three-arched granite pier with parapets, icebreakers, and a platform with three stairways leading to the water.
In 1780, architect Nikolay Lvov was invited to create a new design for the Neva Gate. The new gate was built according to this design between 1784 and 1787, and it has survived to this day (on the Neva side). The height of the new gate is 12 meters, and the width is 12.2 meters. They rest on a plinth almost one meter high. On the right and left of the arch are paired Tuscan order columns with diamond rustication, supporting a triangular pediment. The plinth, columns, and pediment are made of polished silvery-white Serdobol granite. The pediment is decorated with a relief image of an anchor with crossed palm branches and a flowing ribbon (an unknown sculptor based on Lvov’s drawing, alabaster). At the edges of the pediment are two bombs with tongues of flame.
Under the arch vault are marks of floods from the years 1752, 1777, 1788, 1824, 1924, and 1975.
Although in some publications the Neva Gate is classified as a triumphal arch, among the people it had another, now forgotten, second name. The Neva Gate was called the “Gate of Death” because condemned prisoners were led through it to the pier to be sent by the Neva River to the place of execution — Shlisselburg.
The gate was restored in 1952–1953.
Sources:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Невские_ворота_Петропавловской_крепости
