WHEN AND HOW WAS ST. PETERSBURG FOUNDED?

Birthday of St. Petersburg. Primitive conditions of life and work. Difficulties of the first settlers.

During the Northern War with Sweden the Russian armies have gradually moved from the Ladoga Lake down the Neva River to the Swedish fort of Nienchanz. After an 8-day siege on May 1, 1703 the Swedish garrison surrendered. To protect the reconquered territories the Neva delta Peter the Great needed a fortress, but Nienchanz was small and badly damaged. And the fort itself was rather small. Looking for a site for his new fortress, Peter the Great chose the island of Enisaari, which was known to the Russians as Zayachii Ostrov. Here was the Peter and Paul Fortress on May 16, 1703 established. This day (May 27 by the modern calendar) became the official birthday of the city. Several days later a wooden house of Peter the Great was placed here to initiate the building of the new established St. Petersburg.

The primary walls and bastions of the fortress were completed by the end of the summer of 1703 under the eye of the tsar and his close associates. The builders of the fortress (mostly soldiers and peasants) worked from dawn till dusk in very primitive conditions, since the climate was very damp, good housing non-existent and food in very short supply. Working they died in great numbers, but the war still went on and the fort had to be completed as soon as possible despite all losses and additional costs. By August 1703 the new settlers have already encountered the infamous St. Petersburg floods. The area was considered unhealthy for a town, but it had strategic importance. For the first few years the St. Petersburg was a small town around the fortress, mainly provided the needs of the fortress. The situation turned upside down when in 1712 Peter the Great decided to make it the new capital of Russia and it gave new sources and opportunities for city development.