Day 15: The Field of Mars and Peter & Paul Fortress

As in Moscow, I tried to alternate days between the extremely packed days and the somewhat less packed days.  Dad and I left early in the morning to go visit the Artillery, Engineering, and Signal Museum while Lance and Liz decided to relax a bit and spend some time with Jasper.  We decided to walk instead of taking the subway so we could get a better feel for the city and so we ended up passing by the Russian Museum (housed in the Mikhailovsky Palace containing such fabulous works of art such as “Black Square”) on our way to the Neva River.

A statue of Pushkin outside the Russian Museum.

As we neared the river we came across a park with an eternal flame in the middle, a place known as the Field of Mars.

A group of French tourists appreciate the eternal flame for more practical reasons than its designers intended…

The monument in the Field of Mars is the “Memorial to Victims of the Revolution” which marks a mass grave of 180 people who died in the February Revolution.  The February Revolution was the revolt which deposed the czar, as opposed to the October Revolution which brought the Bolshevik communists to power.  The field itself got its name from the 19th Century when the field was used as a military parade ground. 

The Church on the Spilled Blood as seen from the Field of Mars.

We proceeded to cross the Neva River on one of the large draw bridges leading to the north side of the river.  The draw bridges open across the city at various times during the night (usually between 0200-0500hrs) which means if you’re out late partying, you’re liable to be stuck until the morning.  Across the river, Peter and Paul Fortress is distinguished by the high steeple of Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Peter and Paul Fortress and Peter and Paul Cathedral.

The fortress had its start as a classic Vauban-style angled bastion fortress (with low, thick walls angled so that any attacker attempting to storm the walls is exposed to fire from both the front and the flank) and was the original starting point of the city with the first stone laid by Peter the Great on May 27, 1703. Over time, its original purpose as a fortress to guard against the Swedes became less important and it came to be used as a prison.

Today, there are numerous attractions within and without the walls, ranging from a narrow beach along the Neva and the Romanov necropolis to the cathedral itself or the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg.  They also fire a cannon every day at noon, which had its origin back at the beginning of the city when the cannon would be fired to announce the beginning and end of the working day or special events.  Due to time constraints, Dad and I did not stop inside the fort and continued to the Artillery museum.

A sailing ship restaurant similar to the “Flying Dutchman” (anchored on the other side of the fortress) which contains both a restaurant AND a fitness center.	St. Isaac’s Cathedral and one of the Rostral Columns as seen from Peter and Paul Fortress.