The Peter and Paul Fortress is one of the most interesting and oldest architectural monuments in St. Petersburg.
The Peter and Paul Fortress is located in the center of St. Petersburg on Zayachy Island.
Since 1924, the entire Peter and Paul Fortress is a state museum and belongs to the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg.
Today, the fortress is a complex of historical objects, which are located, including museums, expositions and exhibitions. In addition to permanent museums and expositions, temporary (rotating) exhibitions, as well as festivals, concerts, lectures and events for children are held on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Permanent Museums of the Peter and Paul Fortress
Peter and Paul Cathedral and the Grand Ducal Tomb
The Peter and Paul Cathedral and the adjacent Grand Ducal Tomb are the heart of the fortress.
The stone Peter and Paul Cathedral was built from 1712 to 1733 on the site of a wooden church designed and supervised by the Swiss architect DomenicoTresini.
Today, the Peter and Paul Cathedral is a monument of architecture of the early Russian (or so-called Peter's) Baroque style.
The main decoration of the cathedral is its multi-tiered high tower-bell tower, decorated with a long gilded spire, which is crowned by a weather vane-the figure of a guardian angel (archangel).
The cathedral is connected by a covered gallery with the Grand Ducal Tomb, built at the cathedral in 1896-1906 by architects D. I. Grimm, A. O. Tomishko and L. N. Benau for the burial of the grand dukes.
In the cathedral itself, the crowned representatives of the Russian Imperial House are buried, and in the Grand Ducal tomb - persons who had the title of grand dukes and princesses, as well as princes of the imperial blood and members of families related to the Romanovs.
Today, the cathedral and the Grand Ducal Tomb function as a single museum, the entrance to which is paid.
In the bell tower of the cathedral there is an observation deck, which can be visited for a fee with the excursion route "Three Centuries above the city". Read more about the Peter and Paul Cathedral with the Grand Ducal Tomb and the bell tower of the cathedral…
The exhibition "History of St. Petersburg-Petrograd. 1703-1918"
The exhibition "History of St. Petersburg-Petrograd. 1703-1918" tells the story of St. Petersburg in 1703-1918, as the ceremonial capital of the Russian Empire and the largest industrial metropolis of Russia, through the once daily life of the city.
The museum has several backsides, each of which is dedicated to a separate theme in the history of the city: trade and banking, apartment building life and transport, urban costume and multinational cuisine, communications and the subject world of the Art Nouveau era, urban amenities and the emergence of cinema.
The halls feature collections of paintings and drawings, furniture and porcelain; costumes, architectural details, household items and various models that tell about the history of St. Petersburg.
The exhibition is located in the historic commandant's house, which was built in 1743-1746 and later underwent changes.
Inhale at the exhibition for a fee. Learn more about the commandant's house and the exhibition…
Museum of Science and Technology
The Museum of Science and Technology houses a collection of items related to various fields of technology and scientific knowledge - a kind of retrospective of household, measuring, computing, optical devices, vehicles and other technical devices used by St. Petersburg-Leningraders in their work and in everyday life from the mid-19th to the end of the 20th centuries.
The museum is partially interactive - some exhibits can be tested in person.
The museum's exposition includes more than 600 items. The exposition is divided into three parts corresponding to the main sections of physics: "Mechanics", "Electromagnetism" and "Optics".
The museum is located within the walls of Naryshkin bastion, the construction of which took place in stone in 1725-1728 according to the project of architect and fortifier engineer D. Trezzini and military engineer B.-H. Minikh.
Entrance to the museum is paid. Learn more about the Museum of Science and Technology...
V. P. Glushko Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology
The Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology named after V. P. Glushko is dedicated to the history of Russian cosmonautics and rocket technology and the role played by St. Petersburg-Leningrad scientists, engineers and designers in the development of this area of Russian science and technology.
In the halls of the museum there are information stands with descriptions of cosmonautics and rocket technology, models of rockets, aircraft and rocket engines; reconstructions of designers ' offices (including the office of V. P. Glushko) and workshops; documents and photographs related to the activities of the GDL; models of satellites and spacecraft; models of the Moon, the lunar rover and the ISS; food reception areas and hygiene rooms in the service module "Zvezda" of the Russian segment of the ISS.
The museum is located in the premises of the north wing Ioannovsky Ravelin (former auxiliary defensive structure) Peter and Paul Fortress, where in the late 1920s and early 1930s the II Department of the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) - the first Russian experimental design organization for the development of rocket engines-was located. There were also test stands for electric and liquid rocket engines.
The GDL department in the Peter and Paul Fortress was headed by Valentin Petrovich Glushko, after whom the museum is named.
Entrance to the museum is paid. Read more about the Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology...
Museum of Architectural Art Ceramics
The exposition of the Museum of Architectural art ceramics "KERAMARCH" presents the history of the development of decorative ceramics in the architecture and interior decoration of the 18th-early 20th centuries and has more than 200 exhibits.
Among the exhibits of the museum: a variety of stoves and fireplaces; examples of decoration of the facades of famous buildings in St. Petersburg; icons painted on a ceramic base and enclosed in multicolored ceramic kiosks; Dutch tile tiles, etc.
The museum is located in The sovereign bastion, which was a defensive structure of the Peter and Paul Fortress, intended for conducting frontal and flanking fire.
Entrance to the museum is paid. More about the Museum of Architectural art ceramics…
Exhibition " History of the Peter and Paul Fortress»
The exhibition is dedicated to the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress, which is a historical and architectural monument and one of the main attractions of St. Petersburg.
The exhibition, located in several halls, presents more than 500 exhibits, including:
- archaeological finds: bricks, roof tiles, ends for paving bridges and various parts of the structures in the fortress, found on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress and which to a greater or lesser extent can characterize the level of development of construction equipment in the 18th and 19th centuries;
- architectural graphics;
- Russian and Swedish plans and maps of the early 18th century, showing the strategic location of the fortress;
- engravings, photographs and icons;
- collection of construction and carpentry tools;
- models and other materials on the basis of which the elements of fortifications that were lost during the more than three hundred years of the monument's existence were recreated.
The exhibition is located in Neva Curtain, which is part of the fortress wall and the former defensive structure of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Entrance to the exhibition is paid. Read more about the exhibition " History of the Peter and Paul Fortress»…
Trubetskoy Bastion Prison
Trubetskoy Bastion Prison - a former prison in the Peter and Paul Fortress, which existed for almost 50 years and was the main place of detention of political prisoners in tsarist Russia.
Today, the prison houses a museum, the exposition of which is dedicated to the history of the main political prison of tsarist Russia.
The museum's exposition tells about the history of the Trubetskoy Bastion prison: the fate of the prisoners who passed through its cells, about the peculiarities of the regime and conditions of detention of prisoners. A separate section of the museum is dedicated to prisoners of the Soviet era.
The museum has two floors, along the corridors of which there are former cells of prisoners under investigation and convicts with an imitation of the situation of the cells, you can also see the reception room, the prison chapel, the library and the punishment cell.
The museum is located in the walls of the Trubetskoy bastion of the fortress.
Entrance to the museum is paid. More about Trubetskoy Bastion and museum…
Exhibition " The Subject world of Modernity»
The exhibition is also known as the exhibition "Collection of furniture of the 18th-early 20th centuries".
The exhibition brings together more than 200 items, is dedicated to the Art Nouveau era in St. Petersburg (the turn of the 19th-the beginning of the 20th centuries) and presents collections of decorative and applied art made in this style: furniture, lighting, porcelain and glass products (vases, figurines, dishes, decorative items), household items made of metal, stained glass windows.
The exhibition is located in St. Nicholas Curtain, which is part of the fortress wall and the former defensive structure of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Entrance to the exhibition is paid. Read more about the exhibition " The Subject world of Art Nouveau»…
Please note!
All of the above museums and expositions are part of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg.
You can buy individual tickets for each of the expositions or to the museum, or a comprehensive ticket to visit all of the above museums and expositions of the Peter and Paul Fortress. A visit to the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is not included in the package ticket - it is paid separately.
Some expositions and museums offer guided tours, which are included in the price of individual or complex tickets.
Tickets can be purchased at the museum's ticket offices located on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress: in the St. John's Ravelin and the Botny House, which also operate information centers.
During the year, there are days when the entrances to museums and exhibitions (all or some) are free.
We recommend that you check the opening hours of the exhibitions and museums, the time of excursions to the exhibitions and museums, the cost and conditions of the visit, as well as other information on the official website of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg.
Museum website: spbmuseum.
Other museums and exhibitions in the Peter and Paul Fortress
In addition to the listed ones, other exhibitions and expositions also function on the territory of the fortress:
- collection of porcelain and glass of the 18th and 21st centuries-an exhibition from the collection of ceramics and glass of the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg, which presents about 5,000 items of porcelain and glass of Russian and Western European production.
Among the exhibits: decorative vases, tableware, small plastic, glass packaging (glass containers for dairy products, branded bottles for wine and beer, pharmacy utensils, perfume bottles) , etc.
The collection is located on the left side Peter's Curtain;
- exhibition "Inquisition. Medieval instruments of torture", which presents a number of models of medieval instruments of torture: the Nuremberg maiden, the witch's chair, the rack, the iron gag (mouth expander), the iron boot, the heretic's fork, etc.
Including devices used as instruments of punishment under the sentence of the court: a shameful mask, a blasphemer's mask, penitential shirts, shackles, a muzzle, a noisy flute, a gossip girl's violin; and also used directly for the execution of the death penalty: a wheel, a hand saw, a stake.
The exhibition is located in the building of the former karetnik;
- exhibition of wax figures "Historical mosaics", which shows wax figures created by St. Petersburg masters.
The exhibition is located in The artillery museum of the fortress and presents the story in the faces: sixty wax figures from John the Terrible to Leon Trotsky.
Also on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress can work and other exhibitions and expositions, some of which are commercial. Entrances to the exhibitions are paid.
The fortress regularly hosts changing expositions and exhibitions. As well as various events and festivals.
All exhibitions and events in the Peter and Paul Fortress can be found on the website of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg (the site is listed above in this article).
Exhibition " The History of Money»
In the building of the Cavalier Anna Ioannovna (Anninsky Cavalier), next to the Golovkin bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress, there is an exhibition "The History of Money", which presents, among other things, unique giant coins: gold and silver commemorative coins weighing 5 kg., each of which is the largest and heaviest commemorative coins ever issued in Russia. The coins were minted at the St. Petersburg Mint, a branch of Goznak JSC.
This is a separate museum, since some rooms on the territory of the fortress belong, including the Mint.
Museum website: museum.goznak.
Viewing route "Nevsky panorama»
The Neva Panorama is a sightseeing walking route that runs along the roofs of the former fortifications of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
The walking route "Nevsky Panorama" has a length of 300 meters and is laid on wooden bridges on the roof of the former fortress wall of the Peter and Paul Fortress-the Neva curtain: from the Gosudarev to the Naryshkin bastions.
The route offers panoramic views of the Peter and Paul Fortress itself, the Neva River and part of the historical center of St. Petersburg, including: The Palace Embankment with the Winter Palace, the Arrow of Vasilievsky Island, Troitsky and Palace bridges, which are drawbridges, and St. Isaac's Cathedral and The Admiralty.
Every day at 12: 00 hours from the bridges of the "Nevsky Panorama" you can see the ceremony of the symbolic midday shot, which is made from the Naryshkin bastion and announces the onset of the half-day in St. Petersburg.
A visit to the Nevskaya Panorama sightseeing route is possible for a fee.
Ticket offices are located on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress at the Gosudarev and Naryshkin Bastions. Learn more about the Nevsky Panorama…
Bot House
Botny Dom - a small building (pavilion) on the territory of the fortress, built in 1762-1765 by the architect of German origin Alexander Frantsevich Vista to store the national relic (ship) - the boat Peter 1, which is known as the"Grandfather of the Russian Fleet".
Today, the place of the "Grandfather of the Russian Fleet" in the Botny House is occupied by its exact copy-a reconstruction model created in 1996-1997 to mark the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Russian Fleet.
Entrance to the Bot House is free (free of charge). Within its walls, in addition to the model-reconstruction of the boat of Peter I, there are: ticket offices, an information center and a souvenir shop. Learn more about the Bot House and the bot house…
Military-historical Museum of Artillery
On the north side of the Peter and Paul Fortress - behind the Kronverksky Strait (Petrograd side) is the kronverk with the arsenal, which were also an integral part of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Today, the Kronverk arsenal houses the Military History Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Troops, which has valuable collections of artillery weapons and ammunition, small arms and cold weapons, military engineering equipment, military communications equipment, battle banners, military uniforms, works of battle paintings and graphics, awards and badges, as well as archival documents that testify to the history of the development of artillery of the Russian army and the military exploits of the defenders of the Fatherland.
Entrance to the museum is paid.
Museum website: artillery-museum.
Practical information
The entrance to the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress is free (free of charge).
Entrance to museums and exhibitions, as well as to the Peter and Paul Cathedral with a tomb and viewing platforms - paid.
You can also visit the Peter and Paul Fortress with one of the excursions
Nearest metro stations: "Gorkovskaya" and "Sportivnaya".
All accommodation facilities in St. Petersburg, including in the city center and near the Peter and Paul Fortress, can be viewed and booked here
