Shlisselburg fortress. Fortress Oreshek, Shlisselburg. Fortresses of the Leningrad region. Shlisselburg Fortress (Oreshek)
Fortress Oreshek(in Russian chronicles Orekhov city; fin. Pahkinalinna, Pyakhkinalinna; Swede. Noteborg, neteborg listen)) is an ancient Russian fortress on Orekhovy Island at the source of the Neva River, opposite the city of Shlisselburg in the Leningrad Region. Founded in 1323, from 1612 to 1702 belonged to the Swedes.
Story
As part of the Novgorod Republic (1323-1468)
The Oreshek Fortress got its name from the name of Orekhovy Island, on which it was founded in 1323 by Prince Yuri Danilovich, the grandson of Alexander Nevsky. In the same year, the first treaty between the Novgorodians and the Swedes was concluded on the island - the Treaty of Orekhovsky. The Novgorod Chronicle says this:
“In the summer of 6831 (1323 AD), Novgorodtsy went with Prince Yuri Danilovich to the Neva and put the city at the mouth of the Neva on Orekhovy Island; the same great ambassadors arrived from the Sveian king and ended the eternal peace with the prince and with the New City according to the old fee ... "
In 1333, the city and the fortress were transferred to the fatherland of the Lithuanian prince Narimunt, who puts his son Alexander here (Orekhov prince Alexander Narimuntovich). At the same time, Oreshek becomes the capital of the specific Orekhovets Principality. Narimunt lived more in Lithuania, and in 1338 he did not appear at the call of Novgorod to defend him against the Swedes and recalled his son Alexander. In 1348 Oreshek was taken by the Swedes. The Novgorod boyar-diplomat Kozma Tverdislavich was taken prisoner. In 1349, after the fortress was recaptured from the Swedes, the voivode Jacob Khotov was planted here. Built in 1352 stone walls. In 1384, the son of Narimunt, Patrikei Narimuntovich (the ancestor of the princes of the Patrikeyevs), was invited to Novgorod and was received with great honors and received the city of Orekhov, the Korelsky town (Korela), and also Luskoye (the village of Luzhskoye).
As part of the Moscow principality (1468-1612)
As part of Sweden (1612-1702)
Jail
WITH early XVIII century the fortress began to be used as a political prison. The first famous prisoner of the fortress was the sister of Peter I, Maria Alekseevna (1718-1721), and in 1725 Evdokia Lopukhina, his first wife, was imprisoned here.
Notable prisoners
The Great Patriotic War
The fortress was badly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. In 1941-1943. for 500 days, a small garrison of soldiers of the 1st division of the NKVD troops and sailors of the 409th marine battery of the Baltic Fleet defended the fortress from German troops who failed to cross to the right bank of the Neva, close the blockade of Leningrad and cut off the road of life. On the territory of the fortress there is a mass grave in which 24 Soviet soldiers who died during the defense are buried. The memorial complex, opened on May 9, 1985, is dedicated to the heroic defenders of the fortress.
Oath of the Fortress Defenders
We, the fighters of the Oreshek fortress, swear to defend it to the last.
None of us will leave her under any circumstances.
They leave the island: for a while - the sick and wounded, forever - the dead.
We will stay here until the end.
Architecture
The fortress, which occupies the entire territory of the island, has the shape of an irregular triangle, elongated from east to west. There are five towers along the perimeter of the fortress walls. Of these, one - the Gate - is quadrangular, the rest are round. Inside the fortress, in its northeastern corner, the citadel rises.
There were seven towers along the outer perimeter of the fortress. Three more defended the inner citadel. Each traditionally had a name.
Perimeter towers:
- Royal
- Flag
- Golovkin
- Pogrebnaya (or Podvalnaya; Nameless since the 18th century)
- Naugolnaya (Golovina)
- Menshikov
- Gateway (since the 18th century Sovereign)
Citadel towers:
- Svetlichnaya
- Bell or Clock
- Mill
Of these ten towers, only six have survived to this day.
On August 6, 2010, the wooden tent of the Golovinskaya tower of the fortress completely burned down from a fire that arose after a direct lightning strike.
By 2013, the wooden tent and floors of the Golovina Tower were completely restored.
Archaeological excavations
Excavations in the Oreshek fortress were carried out by a detachment of the Leningrad archaeological expedition of the LOIA of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of A. N. Kirpichnikov in 1968-1970 and then continued in 1971-1975. Archaeologists have explored about 2000 sq. m. of the cultural layer, the remains of the Novgorod stone fortress 1352, the remains of the township wall of 1410 were discovered and partially investigated, and the date of construction of the fortress of the Moscow time was specified - early XVI V.
Gallery
Oreshek Fortress 03.jpg
Fortress Oreshek - view from the right bank of the Neva
Krepost Oreshek.jpg
Fortress Oreshek - view of the fortress wall from the left bank of the Neva
Krepost Oreshek 1.jpg
View from the fortress wall to Lake Ladoga
Krepost Oreshek 2.jpg
View from the fortress wall
Oath of the Oreshek Fortress Defenders
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Fragment of the memorial in the destroyed Nativity Church
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Memorial to Polish prisoners
Cathedral ruins
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Notes
Literature
- V.V. Vodovozov// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- Kirpichnikov A. N., Savkov V. M.
Links
| Nut at Wikiquote |
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An excerpt characterizing Oreshek (fortress)
- I would like to know if you loved ... - Pierre did not know what to call Anatole and blushed at the thought of him - did you love this bad man?“Don’t call him bad,” said Natasha. “But I don’t know anything…” She began to cry again.
And an even greater feeling of pity, tenderness and love swept over Pierre. He heard tears flowing under his glasses and hoped that they would not be noticed.
“Let's not talk anymore, my friend,” said Pierre.
So strange suddenly for Natasha this meek, gentle, sincere voice seemed.
- Let's not talk, my friend, I'll tell him everything; but I ask you one thing - consider me your friend, and if you need help, advice, you just need to pour out your soul to someone - not now, but when it will be clear in your soul - remember me. He took and kissed her hand. “I will be happy if I am able to ...” Pierre was embarrassed.
Don't talk to me like that, I'm not worth it! Natasha screamed and wanted to leave the room, but Pierre held her by the hand. He knew he needed something else to tell her. But when he said this, he was surprised at his own words.
“Stop, stop, your whole life is ahead of you,” he told her.
- For me? No! Everything is gone for me,” she said with shame and self-abasement.
- Everything is lost? he repeated. - If I were not me, but the most beautiful, smartest and best person in the world, and if I were free, I would this minute on my knees ask for your hand and your love.
Natasha, for the first time after many days, wept with tears of gratitude and tenderness, and looking at Pierre left the room.
Pierre, too, after her, almost ran out into the anteroom, holding back the tears of emotion and happiness that were crushing his throat, put on a fur coat without falling into the sleeves and got into the sleigh.
“Now where are you going?” asked the coachman.
"Where? Pierre asked himself. Where can you go now? Really in a club or guests? All people seemed so pathetic, so poor in comparison with the feeling of tenderness and love that he experienced; in comparison with that softened, grateful look with which she last looked at him through tears.
“Home,” said Pierre, despite ten degrees of frost, opening a bearskin coat on his wide, joyfully breathing chest.
It was cold and clear. Above the dirty, half-dark streets, above the black roofs stood a dark, starry sky. Pierre, only looking at the sky, did not feel the insulting baseness of everything earthly in comparison with the height at which his soul was. At the entrance to the Arbat Square, a huge expanse of starry dark sky opened up to Pierre's eyes. Almost in the middle of this sky above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded, sprinkled on all sides with stars, but differing from all in proximity to the earth, white light, and a long tail raised up, stood a huge bright comet of 1812, the same comet that foreshadowed as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world. But in Pierre, this bright star with a long radiant tail did not arouse any terrible feeling. Opposite, Pierre joyfully, with eyes wet with tears, looked at this bright star, which, as if, having flown immeasurable spaces along a parabolic line with inexpressible speed, suddenly, like an arrow piercing the ground, slammed here into one place it had chosen, in the black sky, and stopped, vigorously lifting her tail up, shining and playing with her white light among countless other twinkling stars. It seemed to Pierre that this star fully corresponded to what was in his blossoming towards a new life, softened and encouraged soul.
From the end of 1811, reinforced armament and concentration of forces began. Western Europe, and in 1812 these forces - millions of people (including those who transported and fed the army) moved from the West to the East, to the borders of Russia, to which, in the same way, since 1811, the forces of Russia have been concentrating. On June 12, the forces of Western Europe crossed the borders of Russia, and the war began, that is, an event contrary to human reason and all human nature took place. Millions of people have committed against each other such countless atrocities, deceptions, treason, theft, forgery and issuance of false banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which for centuries will not be collected by the chronicle of all the courts of the world and which, in this period of time, people those who committed them were not looked upon as crimes.
What produced this extraordinary event? What were the reasons for it? Historians say with naive certainty that the causes of this event were the insult inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, non-compliance with the continental system, Napoleon's lust for power, Alexander's firmness, diplomats' mistakes, etc.
Therefore, it was only necessary for Metternich, Rumyantsev or Talleyrand, between the exit and the reception, to try hard and write a more ingenious piece of paper or write to Alexander to Napoleon: Monsieur mon frere, je consens a rendre le duche au duc d "Oldenbourg, [My lord brother, I agree return the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg.] - and there would be no war.
It is clear that such was the case for contemporaries. It is clear that it seemed to Napoleon that the intrigues of England were the cause of the war (as he said this on the island of St. Helena); it is understandable that it seemed to the members of the English Chamber that Napoleon's lust for power was the cause of the war; that it seemed to the Prince of Oldenburg that the cause of the war was the violence committed against him; that it seemed to the merchants that the cause of the war was the continental system, which was ruining Europe, that it seemed to the old soldiers and generals that the main reason was the need to put them to work; to the legitimists of the time that it was necessary to restore les bons principes [ good principles], and to the diplomats of that time that everything happened because the alliance of Russia with Austria in 1809 was not skillfully enough hidden from Napoleon and that memorandum No. 178 was awkwardly written. It is clear that these and countless, infinite number of other reasons, the number of which depends on the innumerable differences of points of view, it seemed to contemporaries; but for us, the descendants, who contemplate in all its volume the enormity of the event that has taken place and delve into its simple and terrible meaning, these reasons seem insufficient. It is incomprehensible to us that millions of Christians killed and tortured each other, because Napoleon was power-hungry, Alexander was firm, the policy of England was cunning and the Duke of Oldenburg was offended. It is impossible to understand what connection these circumstances have with the very fact of murder and violence; why, due to the fact that the duke was offended, thousands of people from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of Smolensk and Moscow provinces and were killed by them.
For us, descendants, who are not historians, who are not carried away by the process of research and therefore contemplate the event with unobscured common sense, its causes appear in innumerable numbers. The more we delve into the search for causes, the more they are revealed to us, and any single cause or whole line causes seem to us equally just in themselves, and equally false in their insignificance in comparison with the enormity of the event, and equally false in their invalidity (without the participation of all other coincident causes) to produce an accomplished event. The same reason as Napoleon's refusal to withdraw his troops beyond the Vistula and give back the Duchy of Oldenburg seems to us the desire or unwillingness of the first French corporal to enter the secondary service: for if he did not want to go to the service and would not want another, and the third , and a thousandth corporal and soldier, so much less people would be in Napoleon's army, and there could be no war.
If Napoleon had not been offended by the demand to retreat beyond the Vistula and had not ordered the troops to advance, there would have been no war; but if all the sergeants did not wish to enter the secondary service, there could also be no war. There could also be no war if there were no intrigues of England, and there would be no Prince of Oldenburg and a feeling of insult in Alexander, and there would be no autocratic power in Russia, and there would be no French revolution and the subsequent dictatorship and empire, and all that , which produced French Revolution, and so on. Without one of these reasons, nothing could have happened. Therefore, all these causes - billions of reasons - coincided in order to produce what was. And therefore, nothing was the exclusive cause of the event, and the event had to happen only because it had to happen. Millions of people, having renounced their human feelings and their minds, had to go to the East from the West and kill their own kind, just as several centuries ago crowds of people went from East to West, killing their own kind.
The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose word it seemed that the event took place or not took place, were as little arbitrary as the action of every soldier who went on a campaign by lot or by recruitment. It could not be otherwise, because in order for the will of Napoleon and Alexander (those people on whom the event seemed to depend) to be fulfilled, the coincidence of innumerable circumstances was necessary, without one of which the event could not have taken place. It was necessary that millions of people in whose hands was real power, soldiers who fired, carried provisions and guns, it was necessary that they agreed to fulfill this will of individual and weak people and were led to this by countless complex, diverse reasons.
Fatalism in history is inevitable for explaining unreasonable phenomena (that is, those whose rationality we do not understand). The more we try to rationally explain these phenomena in history, the more unreasonable and incomprehensible they become for us.
Each person lives for himself, enjoys freedom to achieve his personal goals and feels with his whole being that he can now do or not do such and such an action; but as soon as he does it, so this action, committed at a certain moment in time, becomes irrevocable and becomes the property of history, in which it has not a free, but a predetermined significance.
There are two aspects of life in every person: personal life, which is all the more free, the more abstract its interests, and spontaneous, swarm life, where a person inevitably fulfills the laws prescribed to him.
A person consciously lives for himself, but serves as an unconscious tool for achieving historical, universal goals. A perfect deed is irrevocable, and its action, coinciding in time with millions of actions of other people, acquires historical significance. The higher a person stands on the social ladder, the more he is connected with great people, the more power he has over other people, the more obvious is the predestination and inevitability of his every action.
"The heart of the king is in the hand of God."
The king is a slave of history.
History, that is, the unconscious, general, swarming life of mankind, uses every minute of the life of kings as a tool for its own purposes.
Napoleon, despite the fact that more than ever, now, in 1812, it seemed to him that it depended on him verser or not verser le sang de ses peuples [to shed or not to shed the blood of his peoples] (as in the last letter he wrote to him Alexander), was never more than now subject to those inevitable laws that compelled him (acting in relation to himself, as it seemed to him, according to his own arbitrariness) to do for the common cause, for the sake of history, what had to be done.
The people of the West moved to the East in order to kill each other. And according to the law of the coincidence of causes, thousands of petty reasons for this movement and for the war coincided with this event: reproaches for non-observance of the continental system, and the Duke of Oldenburg, and the movement of troops to Prussia, undertaken (as it seemed to Napoleon) only to to achieve an armed peace, and the love and habit of the French emperor for war, which coincided with the disposition of his people, the fascination with the grandiosity of preparations, and the costs of preparation, and the need to acquire such benefits that would pay for these costs, and stupefied honors in Dresden, and diplomatic negotiations, which, in the opinion of contemporaries, were led with a sincere desire to achieve peace and which only hurt the vanity of both sides, and millions and millions of other reasons that were faked as an event that was about to happen, coincided with it.
When an apple is ripe and falls, why does it fall? Is it because it gravitates towards the earth, because the rod dries up, because it dries up in the sun, because it becomes heavier, because the wind shakes it, because the boy standing below wants to eat it?
Nothing is the reason. All this is only a coincidence of the conditions under which every vital, organic, spontaneous event takes place. And the botanist who finds that the apple falls down because the cellulose decomposes and the like will be just as right and just as wrong as that child standing below who says that the apple fell down because he wanted to eat. him and that he prayed for it. Just as right and wrong will be the one who says that Napoleon went to Moscow because he wanted it, and because he died because Alexander wanted him to die: how right and wrong will he who says that he collapsed into a million pounds the dug-out mountain fell because the last worker struck under it for the last time with a pick. IN historical events the so-called great people are labels that give names to an event, which, like labels, have the least connection with the event itself.
In the place where the Neva River originates from Lake Ladoga, stands invincible Shlisselburg fortress . Among the people, she received a simpler and more concise nickname - Oreshek fortress . vernacular name The explanation is simple: the fortress is located on Orekhovy Island.
The citadel was of extremely important strategic importance. This explains the origin of the ancient fortress walls that surround Oreshek. There are no equal to these walls in Russia.
Fortress over the yearsconverted into an analogue of the Russian Alcatraz.
For a long time there was a prison for especially important criminals, as well as for prisoners sentenced to death. During the Great Patriotic War, the fortress again turned intoimportant defensive point. Thanks to the heroism of the soldiers who stood here to death, the famous"The road of life", the last chance for salvation for the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad. In memory of the soldiers, the oath of all the fighters of the fortress, carved on iron, was preserved here, which ends with the symbolic words: "... we will stand to the end."
Fortress map
How to get to Oreshek Fortress
It is better to come here in the morning, as the last ferry departs from here at five in the evening.
The walls of the Shlisselburg fortress keep thousands of dark secrets.
Of course, a trip here cannot be compared with a trip to a water park. However, you need to be here. Feel the spirit here great country, the heroism of its inhabitants and the grandeur of architecture.
Nut located on the islandnear the small town of Shlisselburg, which39 kilometers from St. Petersburg. You can get here only with the help of water transport, but it is not difficult.Ferry to the island costs from 250 rubles, which is quite acceptable at current prices.
Oreshek Fortress working hours and ferry schedule:
In May
- Weekdays: 10:00 — 17:00 (Last ferry run at 16:00)
- Weekend and holidays: 10:00 — 18:00 (Last flight at 17:00)
June to August
- Daily (no days off)
- On weekdays: 10:00 — 18:00
- On weekends and holidays: 10:00 — 19:00
- The last trip of the ship: at 17:15 on weekdays and at 18:15 on weekends and holidays.
September to November
- Weekdays: 10:00 — 17:00 (Last flight at 16:00)
- Weekends and holidays: 10:00 — 18:00 (Last boat trip at 17:00)
The ferry to the Oreshek fortress runs every 10 minutes.
Let's look at the different options forhow to get to Shlisselburg Fortressfrom Saint-Petersburg.
Always up-to-date information on tariffs and schedules is on the pagePetersburg Museum...
By bus
Option 1
The fastest, an economical and convenient way to travel from St. Petersburg to Oreshek —by bus.
For this you need to exitat the metro station "Ulitsa Dybenko". Right here near the subway entrancethere is a stop for buses with routes511
. Departs every 20 minutes.
The journey will take forty-fifty minutes, the ticket costs from 70 rubles. B most of the buses are new, modern and well equipped. Travel time certainly will not seem like torture.
The final stop of the bus is Shlisselburg. Get out there. From here it will be difficult to get lost. Turn left andgo all the way to the Neva. As soon as see the bridgethrough the Staraya Ladoga Canal, you are almost there. From here you will see the pier (landmark - a monument to Peter I), from which departcrossing to Oreshek.
ten-minute river walk without benefits and discounts will cost250 rubles, with a discount - 200.
Option 2
Another way to get to the fortress isfrom Vsevolozhsk - route number 512.
Ask the driver to stop in the village named after Morozov at the intersection of Mira and Skvortsov streets. Get off the minibus and walk along Skvortsova Street along Magnit and the Nevis pharmacy until you hit the pier on the Ladoga shore. Travel time - 40 minutes + 12 minutes on foot.
By train
First you need to getto Finland Station. The most convenient way to do thisby metro - travel to the stop Ploshchad Lenina. From here you will needget to the station "Petrokrepost".
The Petrokrepost station is located in the village named after Morozov, on opposite side rivers from Shlisselburg.
Travel time is about an hour.
In Shlisselburg, worship the station building and exit onto the paved street Skvortsova. Follow it to the right towards Ladoga. The pier is a three-minute walk from the station.
The train schedule is on rzd.ru.
By the way, there is an interesting museum in the station building.
About ten minutes from the station, within the boundaries of the village named after Morozov, you will find the pier that you need.The fare here costs the same 250 rubles, the travel time is a little longer - an average of fifteen to twenty minutes.
By car
WITH Murmansk highway(highway R-21 "Kola"), before the viaduct, turn to the village named after Morozov. In a few minutes you will be in the village. At the traffic lights, turn right along Skvortsova Street (along the "Magnit" and the pharmacy), after 1.5 kilometers you will run into the pier.
There is parking right at the pier.
Taxi
There is nothing to say here. If you do not need to save money, it is quite possible to get to Shlisselburg by taxi. On the way, you can ask the driver to stop and take pictures of the picturesque banks of the Neva. The cost of such a walk from St. Petersburg startsfrom 600 rubles. It is better to use official taxis, especially if you are on your first day in the city.
Excursions
Another way to get to the Shlisselburg Fortress isthese are private boats. They are leavingfrom any pier in the center of St. Petersburg. There are no clear tariffs here, butprices start from 1000 rubles.
"Meteor"
From May to October from the Admiralteyskaya embankmentand to the Shlisselburg fortress begins to runship "Meteor".
This is a large and comfortable ship, on board which there are bars, animators and other additional services.Pleasure costs 1800 rubles, But in the price Includes round-trip travel and entrance ticket to the fortress, this price is not so great.
Skis
Pass the crossing on skis - that's probablythe most dubious and unsafe way to get to the fortress. However, every year a few daredevils embark on this desperate journey.The ice here is thin even in the coldest weather., and the museum itself on the island in winter period timedoes not work. Whether it's worth the risk is up to you.
How much does a ticket to Oreshek fortress cost?
Today you can visit the fortress for 250 rubles.
Students, pensioners and schoolchildren will pay 100 rubles. Children under 7 years old - free of charge.
Consider only whatto the price of entry you need to add 300 rubles for the crossing. Pensioners, students - 200 rubles, schoolchildren - 150 rubles, children under 7 years old free of charge.
*You can pay by credit card.
Where to stay in Shlisselburg
Guest House Shlisselburg
Most convenient stay V guest house Shlisselburgwhich is located right next to the pier. From the windows of this hotel you can see beautiful view on the Neva and the city of Shlisselburg. The hotel has its own restaurant.
Double room will cost2500-3500 rubles per night. You will have your own bath, TV, air conditioning and Wi-Fi. You can book a suite, but it will cost 8000 already.
Number better to book in advance on booking.com:
Hotel Atlantis
Right next to the pier there is another option - slightly cheaper: hotel Atlantis. The rooms here are a little simpler, but also equipped with TVs and private showers. The night will cost 2000-2500 rubles. This price includes breakfast. Air conditioners only in expensive rooms for 6000 rubles. Another of the pluses is free cancellation of the reservation, no prepayment.
You can book here (rooms dismantled quickly):
Hotel Petrovskaya
Another good hotel in Shlisselburg is located closer to the city center - thisHotel Petrovskaya. However, you can quickly walk to the pier along the Staraya Ladoga Canal.
For auto travelers there isfree parking.
The cost of living startsfrom 1500 rublesfor a triple room - everything is simple here.Suite will cost 3800 rublesper night, but this includes breakfast, you will have a shower in the room. Some rooms have balconies.
Mini-hotel Starhouse
Another a good option near the pier with the beach, parking and swimming pool - Starhouse mini-hotel. A night in a double room will cost1500 rubles. The place is very good and beautiful. Booking page:
Recreation center
On the opposite side of the Neva, it is best to stay at the Dragunsky Ruchey recreation center. The river is only a couple of minutes walk from here. It is very difficult to find free places in the summer, the base is popular. Try it, maybe you can:
History of the fortress
Year of foundationFortress Oreshek is considered to be1323 . It is to this time thatthe first mention of the fortress in chronicles. Shlisselburg was built in order to define and protect the borders of the Novgorod principality with Sweden. The chronicle says that in 1323 between Sweden and the Novgorod principality concludedOrekhovets world, which will be protected by the impregnable fortress Oreshek.
Soon the principality of Novgorod became part of Moscow. Until the 17th century, Oreshek was the last frontier, an outpost separating Sweden from the Moscow principality. Gradually, the impregnable fortress turned into an important center of trade. Perhaps it was because of this that it was decided to weaken the guards of the outpost. The neighboring state immediately took advantage of this, and in 1612 the Shlisselburg fortress passed into the possession of Sweden.
In the Russian Empire
The first decision of the new owners regarding the fortress was the renaming of the Shlisselburg fortress intoNuteburg. Only in 1702the year of the sovereign-emperorPeter I returned Shlisselburgpart Russian Empire. On the day of the assault on the fortress, the sovereign wrote: "The Nut was strong, but happily gnawed." On the same day, the fortress was renamed Shlisselburg, which means “city of keys” in German. In honor of the liberation of the fort, ahuge keywhich can be seen here and today.
Soon the fortress has lost its original meaningdefensive outpost. In this post, she was replaced by the famous Kronstadt. Leaving the thick walls of the fort unattended would be an unforgivable waste. That is whystarting from the 18th century, Shlisselburg turned into the darkest and most terrible prisonfor the doomed. Here, in different time were imprisonedEvdokia Lopukhina, Vera Figner, Grigory Ordzhonikidzeetc. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Oreshek turned into the main prisonfor political criminals.
World War II
September 6, 1941approached the walls of the fortressGerman troops. According to them, Shlisselburg was still considered an important outpost. In fact, Oreshek has not been such for a couple of centuries. However, the Nazis did not dare to attack. Within 500 daysNKVD troops held back the onslaught of the German invaders. It is thanks to the courage and heroism of these peoplethe fascists could not close the blockade ring.
In the 1960syears on the territory of Oreshka began large-scalerestoration work. The years have severely crippled the walls of the fort. Oreshek suffered especially terrible destruction during the Great Patriotic War. Something was never restored, but today, being here, you can fully experience the great spirit of the island.
What can be seen here
Between the thick walls of the fortress builtseven defensive towers:
- Gate (the only quadrangular),
- Golovkin,
- Flag,
- royal,
- basement,
- Golovin,
- Menshikov (all of them had a round shape).
Walls of the inner citadelguarded by three towers: Svetlichnaya, Hour and Mill.
Unfortunately, four towers failed to save, so today tourists can see only six towers of the fort.
Most often visiting the towers of the fortressstart from the Sovereign Tower. Today there is a smallmuseum of medieval architecture. Then it's best to goto the Golovin Tower. At its top is a stunningObservation deck. Climbing up here, you can see the vast expanses of the huge Lake Ladoga, which Oreshek defended for 500 days.
According to the unique idea of the architects, in the event of a breakthrough by the invaders to the outer seven towers, it was possible to hide in the wallsstrongholds, protected from the outer ring of towers by a deep moat. An exit to the lake was also provided from the citadel, which was subsequently blockedold prison building.
Go to "Secret House"(so they began to call the old prison) is a must. Here you can see the cells in which they served their sentencesDecembrists, Narodnaya Volya and other famous political criminals. The three-story building of the new prison storesmemory of famous revolutionarieswho were serving sentences here.
Monument to the defenders of Shlisselburgduring the Great Patriotic Warvery strong impression. The monument is located inside the ruins, brick walls which still retain the memory of the horrors of war.
– unique example In addition, as a monument of medieval architecture, an ordinary fort has played a huge role in the modern history of the country. You can visit here, and even everyone needs it,who is interested in the history of Russia.
Enjoying the views of the ancient towers is a mustwalk along the shore of Lake Ladoga. Then, in the late afternoon, a littlestay in Shlisselburg itself (the ferry is open until 5 pm, but buses and trains from Shlisselburg run until late at night). Here it is worth seeing located next to each otherNikolskaya Church and Cathedral of the Annunciation.
A little further away isfamous Petrovsky bridge. On the opposite side you will seeancient anchor of the era of Peter I. Here, very close to the anchor, isthe heart of Shlisselburg - Red Square. Here you can relax in one of the cafes, admire the monument to Peter the Great (slightly away from the square), etc.
Inspection of Shlisselburgyou only need a couple of hours, but it will be a good touch to end the tourto the Oreshek fortress. Have a good trip.
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The Shlisselburg Fortress (Oreshek) is one of the oldest architectural and historical monuments in the Northwest of Russia. It is located on a small island (with an area of 200 x 300 m) at the source of the Neva from Lake Ladoga. The history of the fortress is closely connected with the struggle of the Russian people for the lands along the banks of the Neva and for access to the Baltic Sea.General view of the fortress. Shlisselburg fortress.
In 1323, the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich, the grandson of Alexander Nevsky, built a wooden fortress on Orekhovy Island, called Nut. It was an outpost of Veliky Novgorod on the northwestern border of Rus'. He defended an important route for trade with the countries of Western Europe, which passed along the Neva to the Gulf of Finland.
Prince Yuri Danilovich
On August 12, 1323, the first peace treaty between Veliky Novgorod and Sweden was signed in the fortress - the Treaty of Orekhovo. The Novgorod Chronicle says this:
“In the summer of 6831 (1323 AD), Novgorodtsy went with Prince Yuri Danilovich to the Neva and put the city at the mouth of the Neva on Orekhovy Island; the same great ambassadors arrived from the Sveian king and ended the eternal peace with the prince and with the New City according to the old fee ... "
The original text of the Orekhov Treaty of 1323.
In 1333, the city and the fortress were transferred to the fatherland of the Lithuanian prince Narimunt, who placed his son Alexander here (Prince Alexander Narimuntovich of Orekhov). At the same time, Oreshek becomes the capital of the specific Orekhovets principality.
Dramatic events in the history of Novgorod Nut took place in 1348. The Swedish king Magnus Erikson undertook a campaign against Rus'. Taking advantage of the absence of the commander of the Orekhovites, the Lithuanian prince Narimont, the Swedes captured the fortress in August 1348, but did not hold out there for long.
Narimunt lived more in Lithuania, and in 1338 he did not appear at the call of Novgorod to defend him against the Swedes and recalled his son Alexander. Later, in Oreshka, the Novgorod boyar-diplomat Kozma Tverdislavich was taken prisoner by the Swedes. In 1349, after the fortress was recaptured from the Swedes, governor Jacob Khotov was planted here.
On February 24, 1349, the Russians retook Oreshek, but during the battle the wooden fortress burned down.
Stone installed in the fortress in memory of the peace of Orekhovo
Three years later, in 1352, the Novgorodians built a new fortress, this time stone, the construction of which was led by the Novgorod archbishop Vasily. The fortress occupied the southeastern elevated part of the island. The fortress walls (length - 351 meters, height - 5-6 meters, width - about three meters) and three low rectangular towers were built of large boulders and limestone slabs.
In 1384, the son of Narimunt, Patrikei Narimuntovich (the ancestor of the princes of the Patrikeyevs), was invited to Novgorod and was received with great honors and received the city of Orekhov, the Korelsky town (Korela), and also Luskoye (the village of Luzhskoye).
Oreshek Fortress. Photo: aroundspb.ru
Along the western wall of the ancient Oreshok, 25 meters from it, crossing the island from north to south, there was a channel three meters wide (filled in at the beginning of the 18th century). The channel separated the fortress from the settlement, which occupied the western part of the island. In 1410, the settlement was surrounded by a wall that repeated the curves of the coastline. The courtyard of the fortress and the settlement were closely built up with one-story wooden houses, in which warriors, farmers and fishermen, merchants and artisans lived.
Shlisselburg fortress. Early 18th century. Reconstruction by V. M. Savkov.
By the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century, firearms were invented and powerful artillery began to be used during the siege of fortresses. The walls and towers of Nut, built long before that, could not withstand the new military equipment. In order for fortifications to withstand prolonged shelling of enemy cannons, walls and towers began to be built higher, stronger and thicker.
In 1478 Veliky Novgorod lost its political independence and submitted to the Muscovite state. To protect the northwestern borders, it was necessary to reconstruct the Novgorod fortresses - Ladoga, Yam, Koporye, Oreshek. The old Orekhovskaya fortress was demolished almost to the foundation, and at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century a new powerful stronghold rose on the island. Walls and towers were placed near the water itself, so as not to leave room for the enemy to land and use wall-beating machines and other weapons. The Swedish chronicler E. Tegel highly appreciated the defense capability of Nut. He wrote in 1555: "The castle cannot be shelled and taken by storm because of its powerful fortifications and the strong current of the river."
In plan, the fortress is an elongated polygon with seven towers: Golovina, Sovereign, Korolevskaya, Flagnaya, Golovkina, Menshikova and Bezymyannaya (the last two have not been preserved), the distance between them was about 80 meters. With the exception of the rectangular Sovereign, the rest of the towers of the fortress are round, their height is 14-16 meters, thickness is 4.5, diameter interior spaces lower tier 6-8. In the 16th century, the towers were crowned with high wooden tented roofs. Each had four floors (tiers), or, as they said in antiquity, battlefields. The lower tier of each tower was covered with a stone vault. The second, third and fourth tiers were separated from each other by wooden flooring and connected by stairs placed inside the walls.
The Sovereign Tower is one of the most interesting objects of the fortress. According to its structure, it belongs to the best examples fortifications. In its first tier there is a passage to the fortress, curved at a right angle. He strengthened the defensive power of the tower and made it impossible to use rams. The passage was closed by gates in the western and southern walls and forged gratings - gers. One of them descended from the second tier of the tower, and the other from the battle course of the wall. The rise of the gers was carried out with the help of gates. The approach to the entrance arch was protected by a moat with a drawbridge thrown over it.
Sovereign Tower, 16th century.
Gate for lifting the garsa from the inside of the gate
Drawbridge of the Sovereign Tower. The lifting mechanism has also been restored.
The Sovereign Tower was restored by restorers in 1983; it houses an exposition telling about this monument of medieval architecture. To the west of the Sovereign is the most powerful of the towers - Golovin, the thickness of its walls is 6 meters. The upper part of the tower is now occupied by an observation deck, which offers a magnificent panorama of the Neva banks and Lake Ladoga.
Loophole.S.V.Malakhov
The total length of the walls of the stone Nut is 740 meters, the height is 12 meters, the thickness of the masonry at the sole is 4.5 meters. On top of the walls, a covered battle passage was arranged, which connected all the towers and made it possible for the defenders to quickly move to the most dangerous places. It was possible to climb three stone stairs located at different ends of the fortress to the battle course.
Combat move on the fortress wall between the towers of the Sovereign and Golovina
Simultaneously with the construction of the fortress, a citadel was erected in the north-eastern corner - an inner fortress isolated from the main territory by walls 13-14 meters high and three towers: Svetlichnaya, Kolokolnaya and Mill. The loopholes of the towers of the citadel were aimed inside the fortress yard.
Each of them had a specific purpose: Svetlichnaya protected the entrance to the citadel, in addition, next to it in the fortress wall there was a small room - a living room (hence the name of the tower).
A message bell was installed on the Bell Tower, which was later replaced by a clock. At the Mill Tower at the beginning of the 18th century there was windmill. Of the towers of the citadel, only Svetlichnaya has survived. In the event of an enemy breakthrough into the fortress, its defenders, being in the citadel, continued to hold the line. The citadel was separated from the rest of the fortress by a 12-meter canal, in which the water was running.
Shlisselburg fortress. Canal at the citadel. Drawing by V.M. Savkov. 1972.
In the fortress wall adjacent to the Mill Tower, a hole was preserved through which water flowed from Lake Ladoga. On the other side, the canal was connected by a wide arch (“water gates” laid out in the thickness of the wall) to the right source of the Neva.
"water" gates. S.V. Malakhov
The water gates were closed with a gersa. The channel, in addition to defensive functions, served as a harbor for ships. A wooden chain drawbridge was thrown across the canal, which was raised in moments of danger, and it closed the entrance to the citadel. The canal was filled up in 1882.
The walls of the citadel had vaulted galleries for storing food and ammunition. The galleries were laid with stone in the 19th century. All the towers were connected by a combat move, to which they led stone staircase- "climb". A well was dug in the yard. In the eastern wall, near the Royal Tower, there was an emergency exit to Lake Ladoga, closed after the construction of the Secret House (Old Prison) in 1798. Thanks to a deeply thought-out and developed defense system, the Oreshka citadel occupies a special place in the history of the development of fortification architecture.
Golovin's tower and stairs to the combat move. The fortress has not been completely restored.
Ladder to the battle
Golovin Tower.S.V.Malakhov
Royal tower. S. V. Malakhov
At present, the stairs and the combat passage between the towers of the Sovereign and Golovin have been restored. The walls and towers of Nut of the 16th century are made of limestone of different colors; the oldest masonry has a brownish-violet color, bluish-gray tones are characteristic of later masonry; their combination is in harmony with the surrounding water expanse and creates a special flavor. The stone for the construction of Oreshok was mined in quarries on the Volkhov River.
The walls of Oreshok have repeatedly witnessed the unparalleled heroism of the Russian people. In 1555 and 1581, the Swedish troops stormed the fortress, but were forced to retreat. In May 1612, after a nine-month siege, they managed to capture Oreshek. Many defenders died from disease and starvation. Having conquered the fortress, the Swedes renamed it Noteburg. In 1686-1697 they completely rebuilt the Royal Tower according to the design of the Swedish engineer and fortifier Erik Dahlberg. This is the only capital structure created during the 90-year period of Swedish rule.
General form inner space Fortress Oreshek. The destruction was caused mainly by fighting during the Great Patriotic War.
For five centuries, the towers and walls of the fortress have changed a lot. In the 18th century, the lower parts of the walls were hidden by bastions and curtains, and the upper parts were lowered by three meters in 1816-1820. Four towers out of ten were dismantled to the ground. Great damage was caused to the fortress by shelling by German artillery during the Great Patriotic War. And yet, through all the destruction and loss, the unique appearance of the former stronghold clearly emerges.
In 1700, the Northern War began between Russia and Sweden for the return of the Russian lands occupied by the Swedes and for Russia's access to the Baltic Sea. Before Peter I was a difficult task: it was necessary to master Oreshok. His release ensured further successful military operations.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the fortress of Noteburg was well fortified and completely defensible. In addition, the Swedes dominated Lake Ladoga, and the island position of the stronghold made mastering it especially difficult. The garrison, led by the commandant Lieutenant Colonel Gustav von Schlippenbach, numbered about 500 people and had 140 guns. Being protected by powerful fortress walls, he could put up stubborn resistance to the Russian troops.
On September 26, 1702, the Russian army under the command of Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev appeared near Noteburg. The siege of the fortress began on 27 September. The Russian army consisted of 14 regiments (12,576 people), including the guards Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky. Peter I participated in the battle as a captain of the bombardment company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.
Russian troops camped opposite the fortress on Preobrazhenskaya Gora, and batteries were installed on the left bank of the Neva: 12 mortars and 31 cannons. Then, under the supervision of Peter I, along the banks of the Neva, the soldiers dragged 50 boats through a three-verst forest clearing. At dawn on October 1, a thousand guardsmen of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments crossed in boats to the right bank of the Neva and captured the Swedish fortifications located there. Two batteries were installed in the recaptured positions, each of which had two mortars and six guns.
With the help of boats, a floating bridge was built across the Neva to connect the Russian troops on the left and right banks. The fortress was surrounded. On October 1, a trumpeter was sent to her commandant with a proposal to surrender the fortress on a treaty. Schlippenbach replied that he could decide on this only with the permission of the Narva chief commandant, under whose command the Noteburg garrison was, and asked for a four-day delay. But this trick was not successful: Peter ordered the immediate bombardment of the fortress.
On October 1, 1702, at 4 pm, Russian artillery opened fire, and Noteburg disappeared in clouds of smoke, “bombs, grenades, bullets hovered over the fortress with destructive fire. Horror seized the besieged, but they did not lose courage, defending stubbornly and despising the disasters of a terrible siege ... ". The shelling continued continuously for 11 days until the assault itself. Wooden buildings caught fire in the fortress, the fire threatened to explode the gunpowder warehouse. In the fortress wall between the Golovin and Bezymyannaya towers, the Russians managed to break through three large, but highly located gaps.
The assault began at 2 am on October 11 and lasted 13 hours. Guardsmen crossed the island in boats and tried to climb the walls with the help of ladders, which turned out to be short. Their length was only enough to get to the gaps in the fortress wall. Squeezed on a narrow strip of land between the fortifications and the Neva, Russian soldiers and officers, led by Lieutenant Colonel of the Semenovsky Regiment M. M. Golitsyn, heroically withstood the crushing fire of the Swedish garrison and suffered significant losses. Peter I sent an officer with the order to retreat.
Golitsyn answered the messenger: “Tell the tsar that now I am no longer his, but God’s,” and ordered the boats to be pushed away from the island, thus cutting off the path to retreat. The assault continued. When lieutenant A. D. Menshikov crossed over with a detachment of volunteers from the Preobrazhensky Regiment to help the Golitsyn detachment, the Swedes faltered. Commandant Schlippenbach at five o'clock in the afternoon ordered the drums to be struck, which meant the surrender of the fortress. “This nut was very cruel, however, thank God, it was happily gnawed,” Peter I wrote to his assistant A. A. Vinius. The victory went to the Russians at the cost of heavy losses. Over 500 Russian soldiers and officers died on the coastline of the island and 1,000 were injured. All participants in the assault were awarded special medals. The mass grave of those killed during the assault has been preserved in the fortress to this day.
On October 14, the Swedish garrison left Noteburg. The Swedes marched with a drumbeat and unfurled banners, the soldiers held bullets in their teeth as a sign that they had preserved military honor. They were left with personal weapons.
On the same day, Noteburg was solemnly renamed Shlisselburg - "Key City". On the Sovereign Tower, Peter I ordered to strengthen the key to the fortress in commemoration of the fact that its capture will serve as the beginning of further victories in the Northern War (1700-1721) and open the way to the Baltic Sea, which was 60 kilometers away. In memory of the conquest of Noteburg, a medal was stamped with the inscription: "The enemy had 90 years." Every year on October 11, the sovereign came to Shlisselburg to celebrate the victory.
Peter I attached great importance to the fortress conquered from the Swedes and ordered the construction of new fortifications - earthen bastions, which were lined with stone in the middle of the 18th century. Six bastions were built at the foot of the towers, some of them were named after the construction leaders: Golovin, Gosudarev, Menshikov, Golovkin. The bastions and curtain walls connecting them closed the lower parts of the fortress walls and towers.
Plan and facade of the cathedral church of St. John the Baptist. Drawing. 1821.
Ruins of St. John's Cathedral
In the XVIII century, a large construction was carried out in the fortress. In 1716-1728, a soldier's barracks was built near the northern wall according to the project of architects I. G. Ustinov and D. Trezzini. Outside, it adjoined a gallery with an open arcade about 6 meters high, in front of which a wide channel flowed. The height of the building was flush with the fortress wall, shed roof was at the combat stage. The combination of the fortress wall with the barracks in Oreshek can be considered the beginning of the creation of a new, more advanced type of fortification, carried out later in Peter and Paul Fortress. From the second half of the 18th century, the building began to be called Peter's "numbered" barracks, as some of the premises were turned into places of detention - "numbers".
The second building preserved in the fortress is the New (People's Volunteer) Prison
"New Prison"
The prisoners of the barracks were princes M.V. and V.L. Dolgoruky and D.M. Golitsyn, members of the Supreme Privy Council, who tried to limit the autocratic power of Empress Anna Ioannovna, her favorite Duke of Courland E.I. Biron, Emperor Ivan VI Antonovich, Chechen sheikh Mansur, Georgian prince Okropir, progressive figures of Russian culture - writer F. V. Krechetov, journalist and publisher N. I. Novikov and others.
In 1716, the construction of a mint began near the southern fortress wall, according to the project of the architect Ustinov, after the completion of construction, the building was used as a storehouse. According to the project of the same architect in 1718 was built wooden house A. D. Menshikov, in which in 1718-1721 the sister of Peter I, Maria Alekseevna, was imprisoned in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. From 1721 construction work in the Shlisselburg fortress, the architect D. Trezzini led. Under him, the barracks were completed and a canal was laid near it, the height of the Bell Tower was increased, which ended with a twenty-meter spire, vaguely reminiscent of the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
In 1722, the wooden palace of Peter I was built - the Sovereign's House. From 1725 to 1727, his captive was the first wife of Peter I, Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, imprisoned by order of Catherine I.
The first prison is the Secret House built inside the citadel (inner fortress) at the end of the 18th century.
An old photo of the Secret House from the archives.
At the end of the 18th century, the fortress lost its defensive significance. In the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, buildings were erected in the fortress yard, associated with the new appointment of the Shlisselburg fortress as a state prison. The first prison building in the citadel - the Secret House (Old Prison) - was completed by the architect P. Paton. It was a one-story structure with ten single cells. The secret house became the place of imprisonment of the Decembrists: I.I. Pushchina, V.K. Kuchelbeker, brothers M. A., N. A., A. A. Bestuzhev, I. V. and A. V. Poggio and others. Tragic was the fate of the organizer of the Polish patriotic society to fight the Russian autocracy, V. Lukasinsky. He spent 37 years in solitary confinement, including 31 years in the Secret House and 6 years in the barracks.
The first written mention of this island is found in 1228. This island did not yet have a name, they simply wrote “island”, where travelers of trade caravans stopped.
The island is located exactly on the border of Ladoga and the Neva. In former times, it represented an important point in trade and military relations, which served as a constant subject of contention between Russians and Swedes. 
The famous "Varangian Way" passed by this island.
In 1323, Grand Duke Georgy Danilovich (grandson of Alexander Nevsky) founded a fortress in the camp of Zaretsky, on the island of Orekhovo, which he called Orekhov or Nut.
No. 17 on the plan: 
The Swedes, taking advantage of the struggle of the Novgorodians with John Kalita, managed to seize the newly built fortress in August 1348 by deceit, which, however, was already taken from them by the Novgorodians on February 24, 1349. During the assault, the wooden fortress burned down. For three years, the Novgorodians rebuilt the fortress in stone. That is, they brought a stone from the Putilova mountain. The fortress was built in the southeastern part of the island, and in the western part there was a settlement.
The total length of the fortress walls was 351m, height 5-6m, thickness about 3m, there were three low corner towers. It is clear that in 1352 no one began to sketch the fortress, although many descriptions of it have been preserved. Our attention was drawn to the fact that there was a clock on the tower: 
No. 18 on the plan. Fragment of the wall and gate of 1352: 
Since there was no one but us on the island and there were few of us, we were allowed to go there. The foundation of the fortress is made of boulders, then limestone slabs from the Putilovskaya mountain were laid, lime mortar was used as a binder. 
In 1478, Oreshek, along with other Novgorod strongholds, was annexed to the Muscovite state.
At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, in connection with the development of firearms, the fortress was rebuilt anew, the height of the walls was 12m, the thickness was 4.5m. That is, the current fortress is the third in a row, it has been preserved since the end of the 15th century.
It was impossible to break through such a wall with any tools of the 16th century. The strength of the fortress was increased by towers.
Entrance to the fortress through the Sovereign Tower (No. 5). This is the only rectangular tower. The same tower was also a guard tower, its height is 16m. But it was also combat, on each floor there were 5-6 loopholes, which were called battles. 
Each tier of this tower had its own separate entrance. 
The defense system was next. First, a moat with water and a drawbridge. 
Massive oak gates were locked with logs. 
Lifting mechanism: 
But if it was possible to break through the gates and the lattice with a ram, then the enemy would be trapped, because exactly the same gates and the lattice to the fortress were at right angles. In addition, it was possible to fight here. 
This was how ammunition was raised, and during the battle this door was always open, since the powder gases are poisonous. 
Staircase to the gallery: 
The fortress had 6 towers so that everything could be shot through.
Golovin tower: 
Royal tower: 
It is known that the Royal Tower was rebuilt by the Swedes. It turns out that they did not know how to build vaults, so pyramids were made inside the tower. Inside the King's Tower: 
Inside the fortress there is another small fortress, a fortress within a fortress, a citadel. This is the last stronghold of the defenders. That is, from the very beginning it was assumed that the fortress could conduct internal battles, but this has never happened in the history of the fortress. The citadel had three of its inner towers. 
Inside the citadel is an old prison where the Decembrists were kept. The only surviving tower of the citadel, Svetlichnaya, is visible: 
In addition, the fortress had its own own channels. When the enemy came, not only people, but also ships took refuge in the fortress. They got through special gates that have been preserved.
The gate and part of the canal are visible: 
Documents have been preserved, scouts wrote that it was impossible to take this fortress by storm, only by hunger or a friendly agreement. So it was, the fortress passed from hand to hand, but only one person managed to take this fortress by storm. But the Germans could not do it at all, although the blockade of the fortress lasted 498 days.
In 1555 Oreshek was, in mid-September, besieged by Swedish troops. After a 3-week siege, the Swedes launched an assault, but were repulsed. During this time, the nutlet carried on considerable trade; from the charter of 1563 it is clear that merchants from Novgorod, Tver, Moscow, Ryazan, Smolensk, Pskov, Lithuania, Livonia and Sweden came here. In 1582, Nut was subjected to a new siege by the Swedes, led by the famous commander Delagardie. When part of the fortress wall was blown up (October 8), they attacked, but were repulsed.
In 1611, the Swedes, after two repulsed attacks, managed to take Oreshek by deceit. In 1655, the governors of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich again captured the fortress, but under the Treaty of Kardis in 1661, it was returned to the Swedes, who renamed it Noteburg (Nut-city).
Peter I, starting to conquer the Izhora land, initially (in the winter of 1701 - 1702) intended to attack the fortress on ice, but this was prevented by the onset of thaws. In the summer of 1702, a grocery store was set up in the city of Ladoga, siege artillery and an engineering park were assembled; a transport service was organized by water and by land from Novgorod to Ladoga and Noteburg; measures were taken to divert the attention of the Swedes towards Poland and Livonia, revitalizing the activities of Augustus II and Sheremetev's troops; a flotilla was made for action against the Swedes on Lake Ladoga and the Neva; a detachment of troops with a strength of up to 16 ½ thousand was assembled on the Nazii River. At the end of September, siege work began against the southwest. Parts of the fortress, and for its full taxation are accepted the following measures: 50 boats were sent by portage from Lake Ladoga, which were placed on the Neva, below Noteburg; a special detachment (1 thousand) was transferred to the right bank and, having captured the fortifications located there, interrupted the communications of the fortress with Nyenschanets, Vyborg and Kexholm; the flotilla blocked it from the side of Lake Ladoga; by plane (flying bridge) a connection was established between both banks of the Neva.
The garrison of the fortress was 600 people. They were given an ultimatum "Surrender!". The Swedes did not accept the ultimatum, they knew that the fortress was impregnable.
From October 1 to October 11, the fortress was bombarded and breached; teams of hunters, equipped with assault ladders, were distributed among the courts on October 9, and on the 11th at two in the morning an assault was launched. The troops were led by Mikhail Golitsyn.
But the collapses turned out to be inconvenient to climb, the assault ladders turned out to be short, they did not reach those holes that were made, the enemy fire was not weakened enough. There were heavy losses, they were shelling from all sides, there was nowhere to go, it was impossible to rise. Peter gave Golitsyn the order to retreat. Golitsyn, in the heat of battle, did not obey the order, said - "tell the king that I no longer belong to him, I belong to God." After that, Golitsyn ordered the boats to be pushed back and the assault continued. The assault lasted 13 hours. Then another landing party led by Menshikov came to the rescue. There was a fire, few survived. The Swedes realized that the Russians could not be stopped.
The drum roll beat and the Swedes themselves opened the gates to the fortress.
86 Swedes survived, 107 wounded. They were allowed to come out with banners and guns unfurled, each with a bullet in his mouth. This meant that they had not lost their military honor. So humanely Peter treated the prisoners.
Noteburg was renamed Shlisselburg and its fortifications were restored. About the capture of Noteburg or Nut, as the Russians continued to call it, Peter wrote: "True, this nut was very cruel, however, thank God, it was happily gnawed."
Several towers were damaged after the assault, so Peter ordered only three towers to be restored. In addition, he ordered the construction of new fortifications, earthen bastions, just like in the Peter and Paul Fortress. These bastions were faced with stone in the middle of the 18th century. In addition, barracks, a mint, Menshikov's house, and Peter's wooden palace were erected here.
Plan of the fortress in 1740: 
Drawing 1813 
This is how it looks now. Barracks No. 22 
No. 11. New (Narodnaya Volya) prison: 
No. 14. Fourth prison complex: 
No. 13. St. John's Cathedral: 
Memorial complex in the altar part: 
Oreshek Fortress (in the Russian chronicles, the city of Orekhov; Swedish Nöteborg - Noteburg) is an ancient Russian fortress on Orekhovy Island at the source of the Neva River, opposite the city of Shlisselburg in Leningrad region. Founded in 1323, from 1612 to 1702 belonged to the Swedes. Previously, the fortress was connected to Shlisselburg by ferry, now there is a private boat route - Shlisselburg - Fortress - Morozovka (150 rubles round trip ticket).
As part of the Novgorod Land (1323-1468)
The Oreshek Fortress got its name from the name of Orekhovy Island, on which it was founded in 1323 by Prince Yuri Danilovich, the grandson of Alexander Nevsky. In the same year, the first agreement between the Novgorodians and the Swedes was concluded on the island - the Peace of Orekhovsky. The Novgorod Chronicle says this:
“In the summer of 6831 (1323 AD), Novgorodtsy went with Prince Yuri Danilovich to the Neva and put the city at the mouth of the Neva on Orekhovy Island; the same great ambassadors arrived from the Sveian king and ended the eternal peace with the prince and with the New City according to the old fee ... "
In 1333, the city and the fortress were transferred to the fatherland of the Lithuanian prince Narimunt, who placed his son Alexander here (Prince Alexander Narimuntovich of Orekhov). At the same time, Oreshek becomes the capital of the specific Orekhovets principality. Narimunt lived more in Lithuania, and in 1338 he did not appear at the call of Novgorod to defend him against the Swedes and recalled his son Alexander. Later, in Oreshka, the Novgorod boyar-diplomat Kozma Tverdislavich was taken prisoner by the Swedes. In 1349, after the fortress was recaptured from the Swedes, governor Jacob Khotov was planted here. Stone walls were built in 1352. In 1384, the son of Narimunt, Patrikei Narimuntovich (the ancestor of the princes of the Patrikeyevs), was invited to Novgorod and was received with great honors and received the city of Orekhov, the Korelsky town (Korela), and also Luskoye (the village of Luzhskoye).
As part of the Moscow principality (1468-1612)
In the 15th century, after the submission of the Novgorod Republic to the Moscow Principality, the fortress was completely rebuilt. Later, until 1612, the city-fortress Oreshek was the center of the Orekhovsky district in Vodskaya Pyatina. Novgorod land. During the Russian-Swedish wars, it was repeatedly attacked by Sweden. One of these attacks was the assault on Oreshok in 1582, the failure of which led to the conclusion of peace in the Livonian War.
As part of Sweden (1612-1702)
In September 1611, Swedish troops under the leadership of Delagardie besieged the fortress, and in May 1612 the fortress was starved out. Of the 1300 defenders of the fortress, about 100 people remained alive, dying of hunger, but never surrendered. The Swedes called the fortress - Noteburg (Nut City). According to legend, the defenders of the fortress walled up the icon of the Kazan Mother of God in the hope that it would help the Russians return their land.
As part of Russia (since 1702)
During Northern war On September 27, 1702, the Russian army under the command of Boris Sheremetev laid siege to the fortress. On October 11, after a long bombardment, the Russian troops launched an assault that lasted 13 hours and won. Peter I personally participated in the siege as a scorer-captain. “It is true that this nut was very cruel, however, thank God, it was happily gnawed ... Our artillery did its job very wonderfully,” Peter I wrote then to the Duma clerk Andrei Vinius. In honor of this event, a medal was cast with the inscription: "He was with the enemy for 90 years." At the same time, the fortress was renamed Shlisselburg - “the key-city”.
With the construction of Kronstadt in 1703, the fortress loses its military value, transforming into a political prison.
Jail
From the beginning of the 18th century, the fortress began to be used as a political prison. The first famous prisoner of the fortress was the sister of Peter I, Maria Alekseevna (1718-1721), and in 1725 Evdokia Lopukhina, his first wife, was imprisoned here. Emperor Ivan VI was kept in the fortress and in 1764 was killed by guards while trying to free him.
In 1798, according to the project of the architect Paton, the “Secret House” was built, the prisoners of which in 1826 were many Decembrists (Ivan Pushchin, Wilhelm Kuchelbeker, the Bestuzhev brothers, etc.).
Since 1907 Oreshek served as a central hard labor prison (hard labor central). Reconstruction of old and construction of new buildings began. By 1911, the 4th Corps was completed - the most large building fortress, where 21 general and 27 single cells were arranged. Many famous political criminals (especially Narodniks and Social Revolutionaries) and terrorists, as well as many Poles, were kept in the fortress. A. I. Ulyanov (Lenin's brother), who attempted to assassinate Alexander III, was executed here.
The Great Patriotic War
The fortress was badly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. In 1941-1943. for 500 days, a small garrison of soldiers of the 1st division of the NKVD troops and sailors of the 409th marine battery of the Baltic Fleet defended the fortress from German troops who failed to cross to the right bank of the Neva, close the blockade of Leningrad and cut the road of life. On the territory of the fortress there is a mass grave in which 24 Soviet soldiers who died during the defense are buried. The memorial complex, opened on May 9, 1985, is dedicated to the heroic defenders of the fortress.
Oath of the Fortress Defenders
We, the fighters of the Oreshek fortress, swear to defend it to the last.
None of us will leave her under any circumstances.
They leave the island: for a while - the sick and wounded, forever - the dead.
We will stay here until the end.
Architecture
The fortress, which occupies the entire territory of the island, has the shape of an irregular triangle, elongated from east to west. There are five towers along the perimeter of the fortress walls. Of these, one - the Gate - is quadrangular, the rest are round. Inside the fortress, in its northeastern corner, the citadel rises.
There were seven towers along the outer perimeter of the fortress. Three more defended the inner citadel. Each traditionally had a name.
Perimeter towers:
Royal
Golovkin
Pogrebnaya (or Podvalnaya; from the X "" VIII century Nameless)
Naugolnaya (Golovina)
Menshikov
Gate (from the XVIII century. Sovereign)
Citadel towers:
Svetlichnaya
Bell or Clock
Mill
Of these ten towers, only six have survived to this day.
On August 6, 2010, the wooden tent of the Golovin tower of the fortress completely burned down from a fire that arose after a direct lightning strike.
Archaeological excavations
Excavations in the Oreshek fortress were carried out by a detachment of the Leningrad Archaeological Expedition of the LOIA of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of A.N. Kirpichnikov in 1968-1970 and then continued in 1971-75. Archaeologists have explored about 2000 sq. m. of the cultural layer, the remains of the Novgorod stone fortress of 1352 were discovered, the remains of the township wall of 1410 were discovered and partially investigated, and the date of construction of the fortress of the Moscow era was specified - the beginning of the 16th century.
