The Tsar’s Bastion

Laid down on May 16, 1703, marking the beginning of the construction of the original wooden-earth fortress on Hare Island and the founding of Saint Petersburg. The construction of the bastion was overseen by Tsar Peter I, in whose honor it was named the Tsar’s Bastion. It was built under the direction of engineer V. A. Kirstenstein, presumably following a design created by engineer J. G. Lambert de Guerin with the personal involvement of Peter I.

Between 1717 and 1732, according to the project of architect Domenico Trezzini and with the participation of military engineer Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, the Tsar’s Bastion was rebuilt in stone.

Inside were two-tiered combat casemates.

In 1752, a vaulted stone ramp was added to the bastion’s gorge for bringing artillery onto the walls. Between 1782 and 1784, the Neva-facing facade of the bastion was faced with granite slabs according to the design of engineer R. R. Tomilov. In the mid-19th century, the casemates were rebuilt into a single tier, with corresponding changes to the appearance of the artillery embrasures.

In October 1703, upon completion of the fortress’s earthen ramparts, the fortress Kaiser flag was raised on the Tsar’s Bastion, and in 1704 the city’s first lighthouse was lit. In the 18th century, workshops, a tobacco pipe warehouse, and powder magazines were housed in the casemates. From 1726 to 1766, one of the bastion’s rooms stored Peter I’s small boat — the “Grandfather of the Russian Navy.”

In the mid-19th century, the casemates served as barracks, a hospital for military prisoners, and warehouses, while under the ramp was a prisoners’ bathhouse.

In the 1920s, these premises were occupied by the services of the Leningrad Military District. During the Great Patriotic War, rangefinders were installed on the bastion to detect enemy aircraft approaching the city.

In 1954, the bastion was transferred to the State Museum of the History of Leningrad (since 1991 — Saint Petersburg). Between 1999 and 2003, the postern and walkways “for the passage of sentries” from the Tsar’s Spitze to the Naryshkin Bastion were restored. On May 27, 2003, a commemorative plaque “To the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg” was unveiled on the Tsar’s Bastion.

The bastion appeared in the films “Gardemarines, Forward!” (the execution of Anna Bestuzheva) and “Treasure Island” (Port Bristol).

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