The Presidential Library spotlights the anniversary of Kronstadt

May 18, 2019 marks 315 years since the founding of Kronstadt by Peter the Great. On May 18 (7th old style) 1704, a fortress on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea was consecrated and named Kronslot (the Dutch name of the castle). Subsequently, Kronstadt (the crown city) emerged on the island.

The Presidential Library’s portal features the collection “Kronstadt - the city of naval glory of Russia”, which includes electronic copies of rare historical documents, town-planning projects, ancient maps, postcards from different years, dedicated to the city. We will focus on the most interesting of them.

The book of V. Voronevsky “The Kronstadt fortress is the key to Leningrad” (1926) reflects how Peter the Great built up these places: “Having advanced to the sea and stood on the sea routes to Europe, Peter had to take care of the protection of the window he opened to Europe" - Petersburg - from the attacks of such a strong enemy as the Swedish fleet ..."

Only Kotlin Island could be a place of defence. To the north of it, the fairway was considered impassable due to the large number of shoals and rocks. From the southern - Oranienbaum coast - to the north stretched stranded, which reached the island and left a narrow but deep canal, serving for large ships the only passage from the sea at the mouth of the Neva.   

Shortly after the foundation of St. Petersburg in 1703 and after the Swedish squadron left the mouth of the Neva, Peter himself went to Kotlin Island and chose a place to build a fortification.

The publication “Materials for the history of construction business in Russia. The builders of Petrov time and their work: Peter the Great Canal in Kronstadt" (1862) by N. Durov says that Peter the Great, after the first inspection of the island of Kotlin, "found it convenient for the device harbors and to strengthen, in order to protect St. Petersburg from the sea". And in the second half of 1718, the Russian Tsar "began to dig the Kronstadt Canal with his own hands" then reassigning these works to Colonel Lyuberas. The canal was built until 1751. And one of its builders was engineer Illarion Golenishchev-Kutuzov - father of the future field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov.

The Historical Sketch of the Kronstadt Fortress (1904) by A. Shelov describes the importance of the fortress for Russia and Russian military art. “It was the first coastal fortification of the country and gained military glory at the beginning of its existence, when the Swedes considered it possible to capture it. Convinced of its inaccessibility, none of the warring powers even made attempts to attack Kronstadt, except the siege of 1855, which ended with the retreat of the enemy without prejudice to the fortress. But at the same time, every war somehow reflected on Kronstadt, so the fortress, like a barometer, shows the state of our policy. It is also impossible not to mention the importance of the fortress as a transit point for the entire Baltic coast and as a testing ground for great experiences in later years. As the most important seaside point, the Kronstadt fortress was always ahead of others, and therefore its progress showed the technical development of both naval, artillery, and engineering art”, - the author writes.

A number of publications on the Presidential Library’s portal are dedicated to the Saint Andrew’s Cathedral and for a long time serving as its prior John of Kronstadt (1829–1909), in the 20th century, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

“From the beginning of the 80s, besides the inhabitants of the city of Kronstadt, the cathedral was diligently visited by foreigners, not to mention the closest neighbors - Petersburgers. St. Andrew’s Cathedral can count thousands of pious pilgrims who come to it from the outskirts of Siberia and the Caucasus and all the central provinces of our vast fatherland for the blessing of Fr John”, - they wrote about this place at the end of the 19th century.

The article “The Kronstadt Naval Cathedral: the stone chronicle of the Russian fleet” from the magazine “Russian Reporter” № 24 for 2014, also available in the electronic collections of the Presidential Library, tells about the construction of another temple, which has now become the hallmark of Kronstadt, the Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas.

“Our city, the first naval stronghold of the motherland, never acquired a solid temple”, - complained John of Kronstadt when the country celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Russian fleet. “But the church is the same ship that the God controls...

These words hurt the sovereign emperor, and in the same 1896, Nicholas II ordered the naval department to develop an architectural plan for the cathedral in Kronstadt. Of the many projects, the option of Professor V. A. Kosyakov has been chosen: according to his plan, the building should have become not just a temple, but a monument to all Russian sailors who gave their lives for the Fatherland. So it happened.

Finally, the Presidential Library’s portal features a large number of photographs from Kronstadt.