This nut was very cruel. “It is true that this nut was very cruel, however, thank God, happily

Odessa is the pearl of the Black Sea. St. Petersburg is the pearl of the Neva. At first glance, these cities are very different, but this is only at first glance. In this article I will try to find out what these two magnificent cities were called on old maps, assuming that St. Petersburg was built not by Peter, but by Odessa-Richelieu, what they have in common, and what inconsistencies there are in the official version of the founding of Odessa (Peter has already been written about so many). So, let's begin.

The wonderful Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin left impressions of Odessa and St. Petersburg in his works. In one case, this is an additional chapter to his famous "Eugene Onegin", in the other - the poem "The Bronze Horseman". This is what the addition to Onegin sounds like:

I lived then in dusty Odessa:
There the skies are clear for a long time,
There's a lot of busy bargaining there
He lifts his sails;
Everything there breathes and blows with Europe,
Everything shines with the south and is colorful
Lively diversity.
The language of Italy is golden
It sounds cheerful on the street,
Where the proud Slav walks,
French, Spanish, Armenian,
Both the Greek and the Moldavian are heavy,
And the son of Egyptian soil,
Retired corsair, Morals.

And here’s how Alexander Sergeevich describes going to the opera:

But the blue evening is getting dark,
It's time for us to go to the opera quickly:
There is delightful Rossini,
Europe's darling is Orpheus.
Not heeding harsh criticism,
He is forever the same, forever new,
He pours sounds - they boil,
They flow, they burn,
Like young kisses
Everything is in bliss, in the flame of love,
Like a hissing ai
Golden stream and splashes...
But, gentlemen, is it allowed
Equate do-re-mi-sol with wine?
Is there only charm there?
What about the investigative lorgnette?
What about backstage dates?
And prima donna? and ballet?
And the box, where, shining with beauty,
Young merchant
Proud and languid,
Surrounded by a crowd of slaves?
She both heeds and does not heed
And cavatina, and prayers,
And half a joke with flattery...
And her husband is dozing in the corner behind her,
When the odds are awake, they will scream,
He will yawn and snore again
The finale thunders; the hall is emptying;
The traffic is noisy and in a hurry;
The crowd ran to the square
With the shine of lanterns and stars,
Sons of Ausonia happy
They lightly sing a playful tune,
Having involuntarily hardened it,
And we roar a recitative.
But it's too late. Odessa sleeps quietly;
And lifeless and warm
Silent night. The moon has risen
Transparent-light curtain
Encompasses the sky. Everything is silent;
Only the Black Sea is noisy...

And then I come across a brochure dedicated to the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater. There, after these verses, it is written, I quote: “It does not matter that the very theater that Pushkin recalled in his Mikhailovsky exile is long gone. The poet was not painting a building. He was recreating the atmosphere of a theatrical festival.”
Just like that. It turns out that Pushkin was a great dreamer, and described what he did not see? Was he also considered an inventor, just like Piranesi and Hubert? As we know, the poet spent 13 months in Odessa - from July 3, 1823 to July 31, 1824. Here he wrote two and a half chapters of "Eugene Onegin", completed " Bakhchisarai fountain"and much more. And here is a description of the first city theater (note that it is never called an “opera theater”):

The building of the first city theater was built according to the design of the Italian Francesco Frapolli, and changes to the plan were made by the Frenchman Thomas de Thomon, who erected many buildings in the then capital Russian Empire- St. Petersburg. On February 10, 1810, the grand opening of the theater took place. It was a snow-white building like an ancient temple, facing the port. The hall had 800 seats (at that time 12.5 thousand people lived in the city). There were 44 seats on three tiers of boxes, behind which there was a large semicircular space from where about 700 more spectators could enjoy the performance while standing, as in the old Italian theaters.

From memoirs: “The hall of the old theater was three-tiered, with seventeen boxes, and the gallery was right under the ceiling, but so low that the audience almost touched it with their heads. There was no chandelier; it was hung later. The hall was illuminated by kenkets, that is, five-candle candelabra attached to the outer walls of the boxes. The candles were tallow and wax. The stage was lit by large oil lamps. There was no lighting at all in the gallery, as a result of which the light of the hall and stage seemed simply dazzling to us sitting in the gallery. The theater had its own special, specific smell from the soot of candles and ladies’ perfume.”

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

And so, after a fire in 1873, in which the theater burned to the ground, completely, and there could be no talk of any restoration, a certain F. Felmer (Ferdinand) and G. Helmer (Herman) were instructed to draw up a project for a new theater (interesting names, is not it). Of course, the chief architect of Odessa with the typically Russian surname Bernardazzi, and the architects Dmitrenko and Gonsiorovsky, according to whose designs most of the buildings in Odessa were built, put a lot of effort into the construction of the new building. Legend has it that F. Fellner, who arrived in Odessa for the opening ceremony, exclaimed: “This is the best theater in the world!” This is the kind of megalomania Mr. Felmer had. This is what the opera house looks like today, built in the 19th century for some reason in a typical Baroque style:

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

It seems to me, or was the old theater in a different place than the current opera house? If you look closely at the photographs, you can see that the long house on the right, which can be clearly seen in the photograph of the old theater, has disappeared, and the area is not the same... Maybe there was already an opera house, but it wasn’t an opera house yet? And it wasn’t a theater at all? By the way, the opera house in Dresden, built in 1841 according to the design of who do you think? No, wrong, not Fellner, but Gottfried Semper. Plagiarize, however, Mr. Fellner (by the way, even the sculptures on top are stolen. This is not good)

]]>
]]>

To see that Odessa is an ancient city, along with St. Petersburg, I opened old maps (you can download them) and was surprised to find that in the place of modern Odessa there is... the city of Ochakov, and then only the largest ones were indicated on those maps cities that were part of Great Tartary. And the current city of Ochakov is located 60 kilometers east of Odessa. Here's the map:

]]>
]]>

I highlighted key cities, which have retained their names to this day and are on almost all old maps. And now - attention to the screen.

]]>
]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]>
]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

The first map dates back to 1550, the last - 1665. The list can be continued for a very long time. Until about 1770, this city is on almost every map. And the top of the collection is the city of Odessa on the map of the 17th century.

]]>
]]>

Ordessos... Moreover, there is another one - Ordesos (a little higher), which most likely indicates that this is a designation of cities of the same type, and not the name of a specific city.

As can be seen from the maps, the city of Ochakov is located exactly on the site of present-day Odessa, to the south is Kilia, then higher up - Belgorod (now Belgorod - Dnestrovsky) and near it a little higher - Ochakov. Here's what Wikipedia says about modern Ochakov:

Back in the 14th century, on the site of modern Ochakov, Genoese colonists built the Lerich fortress. The Genoese also founded their trade center and port here. Since the situation in the region was turbulent due to the constant raids of the Crimean Tatars, the Genoese from Lerić sought protection from the hospodars of the Principality of Moldova, who were gaining increasing power in Europe.

The renewed Ochakov was founded in 1492 by the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, on the site of the Lithuanian fortress Dashev, which was founded in 1415, and was originally called Kara-Kermen (Black Fortress). In 1737, the army of the Russian Empire laid siege to Ochakov, viewing it as the main outpost on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Ochakov was taken by Field Marshal Christopher Minich, but a year later he was abandoned and returned to Turkey.

The second siege of Ochakov took place in 1788 and was glorified in Derzhavin’s ode. By that time, the city's garrison numbered 20 thousand soldiers. The fortress was defended by 300 cannons. In the western suburbs there was the castle of Hassan Pasha (Battery Cape).

It’s interesting why, under the “Genoese” and under the Turks, the fortress was called the typical Russian name - Ochakov. Wikipedia, however, tells us that the Turks called this fortress “Özi” or “Achi - kale”, which translated from Turkish means achi - corner, kale - fortress. They are very much not saying something, hiding behind the “Russian-Turkish” wars, although on the old maps of the 16th, 17th and even 18th centuries there is no indication anywhere that this land was owned by the Turks. After approximately 1700, Europe finally ceases to be Tartary, the names of cities change on the maps, and, the most interesting thing is that I noticed (this is not my discovery, but I will still emphasize) that the Caspian Sea changes its shape. Here, for example, is what it looks like before about 1700:

]]>
]]>

And here’s how after (our usual form):

]]> ]]>

And personally, I wondered - how were cartographers able to figure out that the huge sea had changed shape? There were no flying machines in the 18th century, and even with the tools with which outstanding cartographers drew maps that coincide almost exactly with Google maps... But this is a completely different story.

And here is how St. Petersburg was depicted on old maps. If it was built before Peter, then it should be indicated on all maps of that time... And indeed, in the place where Peter now stands, the city of Oreshek is located. Here is a modern map:

]]>
]]>

Just like the previous time, I marked the central cities.

]]> ]]>

]]>
]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]>
]]>

]]> ]]>

]]> ]]>

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

Gradually, Oreshek becomes Notteburg, Notburg, and in 1702 it completely disappears from all maps, and the majestic St. Petersburg grows in this place in record time. By the way, in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, if you look at the Google map, you can see the remains of perfectly straight streets, in some of the “remains” of the city there are now small villages and settlements with perfectly straight streets. And here's something else interesting:

]]>
]]>

In memory of the deeds of days gone by, there are the villages of Oreshek 1, 2 and 3, right next to Lake Ladoga.

Here is the version about Oreshek and Notburg after the conquest of these lands by Peter:

Oreshek Fortress (in Russian chronicles the city of Orekhov; Swedish Nöteborg - Noteburg) is an ancient Russian fortress on Orekhovoy Island at the source of the Neva River, opposite the city of Shlisselburg in the Leningrad region. Founded in 1323, from 1612 to 1702 it belonged to the Swedes. During the Northern War, the Russian army under the command of Boris Sheremetev besieged the fortress on September 27, 1702.

On October 11, after a long bombardment, Russian troops launched an assault that lasted 13 hours and won. Peter I personally took part in the siege as a bombardier-captain. “It is true that this nut was very cruel, but, thank God, it was happily chewed up... Our artillery very miraculously corrected its work,” Peter I wrote then to the Duma clerk Andrei Vinius.

In honor of this event, a medal was cast with the inscription: “Was with the enemy for 90 years.” At the same time, the fortress was renamed Shlisselburg - “key city”. With the construction of Kronstadt in 1703, the fortress lost its military significance and was converted into a political prison.

Here is a modern view of this fortress:

]]>
]]>

A logical question arises: would a small island be put on maps along with Constantinople, Rome, Athens, Moscow, Veliky Novgorod, Vienna, Prague, Kiev and many other large cities that have survived to this day (and very few have survived, mainly on in places of large cities that are shown on maps and have not reached us, there are perfectly straight lines - the layout of streets, blocks, squares... but without buildings, cathedrals, bridges, fortifications)...

Like St. Petersburg, Odessa was built according to the canons of an “ancient” city: a colonnade on almost every building, characteristic architectural elements (more details in the next article), a lot of statues in almost every opening - supposedly a distinctive feature of the Baroque, and much more. If you compare these two seemingly dissimilar cities, you get an interesting picture. This is Odessa:

]]>
]]>

And this is Peter:

]]>
]]>

. The complete pattern looks like this:

]]>
]]>

Cathedrals:
Kazansky, Peter

]]>
]]>

And Odessa Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral:

]]>
]]>

According to the layout:

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

Lions and griffins of St. Petersburg and Odessa. Guess where it is:

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

]]>
]]>

Odessa:

]]>
]]>

Here is the coat of arms of Ukraine in St. Petersburg:

]]>
]]>

And who the actual monument is in Odessa you can read here: ]]> http://atlantida-pravda-i-vimisel.blogspot.com/2013/11/8.html ]]>

And finally - why the current city of Odessa was nicknamed Ochakov, I cannot say for sure, but regarding St. Petersburg - Oreshok - I have one guess...

]]>
]]>

Peter got a tough nut to crack... Just like in The Nutcracker.
I wish everyone health and a sober mind)

]]> ]]>

Shlisselburg Fortress(Oreshek) was founded by the Novgorod prince Yuri Danilovich, grandson of Alexander Nevsky, in 1323on Orekhovoy Island at the source of the Neva as an outpost on the border with Sweden.

In XIV-XVII centuries The fortress withstood fierce assaults more than once. In 1612After a nine-month siege, the fortress fell and within 90was under Swedish rule for years. Then it was named Noteburg(Nut City).

During the Northern War 1700-1721. Peter I decided to take possession of the Neva, capturing Noteburg on Ladoga and the Nyenschanz fortress near the Gulf of Finland.

The siege of Noteburg began on 27 September (8 October) 1702 under the personal leadership of PeterI. The garrison of the fortress consisted of 450 people at 148 guns. After a 10-day artillery bombardment of the fortifications from 52coastal and naval guns, soldiers of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments, as well as volunteers from other Peter the Great regiments for 50boats under fire crossed to the island and began an assault on the fortress walls.

11 (22) October 1702 After a 13-hour stubborn battle, the Swedish garrison surrendered. 12(23) October Russian ships entered the Neva. Reporting victory, PeterI wrote: “The Fatherland fortress was returned, which was in unjust hands 90years... it is true that this nut was extremely cruel, but, thank God, it was happily chewed up. Our artillery has corrected its work very miraculously.”

Peter I renamed Noteburg to Shlisselburg, which means “key city,” as a sign that this fortress is the key to the Baltic Sea. In the XVIII-XIXcenturies, the glory of the “Russian Bastille” was assigned to the Shlisselburg fortress. Disgraced members of the royal family, pretenders to the throne, political criminals and terrorists were kept here. WITH 1907 the fortress became centralconvict prison.

In August 1928 A museum was opened in the Shlisselburg Fortress - a branch of the Museum of the October Revolution. During the Great Patriotic War, almost 500 defenders of the fortressdefended it for days, maintaining access to Lake Ladoga and preventing Leningrad from being completely cut off from Mainland. Artillery shelling caused significant destruction in Shlisselburg, many monuments turned into ruins.

Since 1965 The Shlisselburg Fortress became a branch of the State Museum of the History of Leningrad.

Lit.: Kirpichnikov A. N., Sapkov V. M. Fortress Oreshek. L., 1979;Fortress Oreshek [Electronic resource] // State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. B. d. URL: http://www.spbmuseum.ru/themuseum/museum_complex/oreshek_fortress/; Fortress Oreshek [Electronic resource] // Small towns of Russia. 1999-2005. URL: http://www.towns.ru/other/oreshek.html.

The Oreshek fortress was one of the most important bridgeheads for the defense of the Russian Empire until World War II. For a long time it served as a political prison. Due to its strategic location - at the source of the Neva from Lake Ladoga - it took part in various battles more than once and changed hands many times.

The fortress is located on Orekhovoy Island, dividing the Neva into two branches. They say that the current here is so strong that the Neva does not freeze even in winter.

The first wooden fortress on the island was built in 1323 by Prince Yuri Danilovich, the grandson of Alexander Nevsky. In the same year, the Orekhovetsky Peace Treaty was concluded here - the first peace treaty establishing borders between the Novgorod land and the Kingdom of Sweden. After 20 years, the wooden walls were replaced with stone ones. At that time, the fortress occupied a small area in the eastern part of the island.

In the 15th century, the old fortress was dismantled to its foundations. Instead, new 12-meter walls were built around the perimeter of the island. In those days, Oreshek was an administrative center - only the governor, clergy and other service people lived inside the fortress.

In the 17th century, the Swedes made several attempts to capture the fortress, but all of them were unsuccessful. Only in 1611 did the Swedes manage to capture Oreshek. For almost 100 years, the fortress, renamed Noteburg (which means “Nut City” in Swedish) belonged to the Swedes, until it was taken by Russian troops under the leadership of Peter I in the fall of 1702. Peter I wrote about this: “It is true that this nut was extremely cruel, but, thank God, it was happily chewed.”

Peter I renamed the fortress Shlisselburg, which translated from German means “Key City”. The key to the fortress was fixed on the Sovereign Tower, symbolizing that the capture of Oreshok is the key that opens the way to further victories in the Northern War and to the Baltic Sea. During the 18th century, the fortress was completed; stone bastions were built near the walls on the shore.

With the founding of St. Petersburg, the fortress lost its military significance and began to serve as a prison for political criminals. Over the next 200 years, several prison buildings were built. It existed as a prison until 1918, after which a museum was opened in the fortress.

From the bank of the Neva there is a beautiful view of Lake Ladoga.

A lone guard of the fortress looks out for enemy ships in the fog.

View of the fortress from the right bank of the Neva from the village of Sheremetyevka. You can only get to the fortress by boat, with local fishermen willingly helping everyone.

The Sovereign's Tower is the main entrance to the fortress. In front of the tower there is a moat with a drawbridge.

The tower is crowned with a key - the symbol of Shlisselburg.

View of the fortress yard. In the center is St. John's Cathedral, behind it is the New Prison. On the left is the Menagerie with the Citadel.

Menagerie. One of the prison buildings. It got its name thanks to open chambers with galleries.

Ruins of the Svetlichnaya Tower.

To the right of the entrance to the fortress is Building No. 4, which housed the prison office, workshops and criminal prison. Built in 1911, Building No. 4 is the last building built inside the fortress. All the ruins are a result of World War II.

Next to Building No. 4 are the ruins of the former Overseer Corps.

View from one of the floors of the Supervisory building to the Sovereign Tower.

Corridors of the Oversight Corps.

From the top floor there are excellent views of the territory of the fortress courtyard.

Here you can immediately go to the fortress wall.

Ruins of St. John's Cathedral.

Marine coastal weapon, bearing the name of its creator Kane.

Memorial to the valiant defenders of the Oreshek fortress, who were at the forefront of defense for 500 days and never lost the fortress to the enemy.

Oath of the defenders of the Oreshek fortress:
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: temporarily - sick and wounded, forever - dead.
We will stand here until the end.

View of Building No. 4 from St. John's Cathedral. In the foreground are 45 mm guns used in the defense of the fortress during World War II.

Under the green canopy are the remains of the walls of the first Novgorod fortress.

Stone in memory of the Orekhovetsky Peace of 1323.

A cross on the site of a mass grave of Russian soldiers who died during the storming of the fortress in 1702.

The building of the new prison, or Building No. 3, also bears the name Narodnaya Volya Prison, since it was originally built for members of the revolutionary organization “Narodnaya Volya”, convicted in 1885.

The interior layout of the prison is designed according to a typical progressive American model.

There were 40 solitary cells on two floors of the prison.

Inner courtyard of the Citadel. The white one-story building is the Old Prison, also known as the Secret House, the main political prison of the Russian Empire. It was built at the end of the 18th century. Inside there were 10 solitary cells, which, by the way, were quite enough to maintain state security at that time. In the background is the Royal Tower.

Memorial in honor of the revolutionaries executed here in 1887. Among them was Vladimir Lenin’s brother, Alexander Ulyanov.

Chapter Three

TASTE OF BURNED NUT

... Let us exalt our language,

Our lips are with us: who is the Lord to us?

Psalm 11, v. 5

It is true that this nut was extremely cruel, but, thank God, it was happily chewed up.

A certain mystical sign is seen in the fact that the blockade of Oreshok coincided with the imprisonment of Patriarch Hermogenes. Martyrdom came to the starved saint on February 17, 1612, but the besieged Oreshek held out longer - the Swedes captured the fortress only on May 12.

“May those who go to cleanse the Moscow state be blessed,” Saint Hermogenes prayed before his death, turning to the image of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. “And you, damned Moscow traitors, be damned!”

Before the surrender of Oreshok, the defenders walled up an icon of the Kazan Mother of God into the wall in the hope that it would help return the fortress to Russia.

Slowly but inevitably, networks that are disastrous for our country are intertwined in the depths of centuries. But the danger is still far away, and they are already looking for something that can overcome the impending disaster.

Fitting into the space of two years, two dates converged.

In 1578, Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, the future liberator of Moscow, was born. And on next year found the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, which received the name Kazan...

These are the events from which the salvation of our Fatherland was to grow from the destructive Troubles into which it was plunged by lust for power and greed, depravity and self-will...

Like many things in Rus', the history of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God begins during the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible...

After a terrible fire that destroyed the entire settlement in Kazan on June 23, 1579, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to the daughter of the Kazan archer Matryona, indicating the place on the ashes where Her icon was located. At this place, on July 8, 1579, they dug up a miraculous image wrapped in old cherry cloth - it was a single-row sleeve... The icon itself - there were no such things in Rus'! - was unusual, and all of it “wonderfully shone with lordship”: the dirt of the earth had not yet touched the image.

They immediately sent to notify the Kazan Archbishop Jeremiah, but he considered it unnecessary to examine the find of the foolish girl, and instead of him, a priest from the Nikolo-Gostinodvorskaya Church, closest to the fire, came to the fire. This priest was the first to raise the icon to bless the people with it.

The priest's name was Ermolai...

The very next day the healing began. Before the icon, the Kazan blind Nikita received his sight... But it turned out that the image of the Kazan Mother of God also bestows spiritual insight.

And the very first miracle from him was a self-witness, as he later called himself, priest Ermolai, who raised a miraculous image from the blackness of the ashes to show it to the people.

He then turned 50 years old, but it was as if they had never existed - the life of Priest Ermolai was hidden in the impenetrable twilight of time. And only when he took in his hands the miraculous image of the Kazan Mother of God, the veil fell from the eyes of the Russian people - the image of the great saint, the future Patriarch Hermogenes, appeared before them in all its spiritual power.

And of course, no one guessed then that the miracle that the icon performed, turning Priest Ermolai into a formidable saint, was only a prototype of the miracle performed on October 22, 1612, when the Russian people, separated by political sympathies and antipathies, suddenly woke up before the most pure face of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and, feeling themselves to be a united people, they threw off, along with the faintness of the Troubles, the yoke of foreign invaders.

Then the bells rang in Moscow churches - and the warriors of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin moved to storm Kitay-Gorod.

Kitay-Gorod was taken in a single attack, and the Poles took refuge in the Kremlin, only to surrender to the mercy of the victors three days later.

Rumors about the unusual icon and the miracles that were revealed from it spread throughout Rus' even before the liberation of Moscow. Back in 1594, by order of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, a stone church of the Most Pure Mother of God was laid in honor of the appearance of the miraculous image.

Well, after the liberation of Moscow from the Poles, national glory came to the icon. And its celebration began not only in Kazan on July 8, but also in Moscow on October 22.

Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, at his own expense, built the Kazan Church on Red Square in Moscow, where for a long time the very list from the icon was kept, in front of which the warriors who went to liberate Moscow prayed. Three and a half decades later, on October 22, 1648, on the feast of the “miraculous icon of Kazan, during the all-night singing,” the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Dmitry, was born, and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered to celebrate the Kazan icon “in all cities throughout the years,” as if editing This is the content of the holiday itself.

But the first-born of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich soon died, and the holiday - the autumn veneration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God became popular - remained in its former meaning.

From this time on, the real celebration of the miraculous images of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God begins throughout the country.

In 1661, the Kazan Icon was found in Tobolsk. The clerk of the monastery was instructed in a dream to take the image of the Kazan Mother of God, which had been neglected in a closet in one of the churches, and place the icon in the new church, erecting it in three days. The command of the Mother of God was fulfilled - the heavy rains immediately stopped in the region, and the sick began to receive healing from the miraculous image.

In 1689, the image of the Kazan Mother of God appeared in the village of Kaplunovka, Kharkov diocese. Peter the Great prayed in front of this image on the eve of the Battle of Poltava.

In 1695, during the all-night vigil in the cathedral, the Tambov Icon of the Kazan Mother of God began to shed tears.

A similar miracle happened in Shlisselburg in 1702.

The sentry standing guard noticed a light coming from the wall.

The next morning a crack appeared in the wall, and when they opened the brickwork, they saw the Baby emerge from the wall, stretching out his hand for a blessing, and they saw the Mother of God bowing her head to the Son.

This was the image of the Kazan Mother of God walled up here in 1612.

“This local shrine,” wrote the last rector of the Shlisselburg fortress Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, Archpriest John Florinsky, “remaining in a land of other faiths, could have disappeared without a trace, just as the Orthodox churches themselves disappeared in Oreshek, with their decorations and utensils, if for the caring hand of one of The zealots of Orthodoxy who remained in Oreshka did not hide this spiritual value from the eyes of non-believers. The icon was walled up in the wall of an ancient Russian fortress church, and here it was preserved for almost a century. The Orthodox Orekhovites hoped in this way to protect the precious image of the Heavenly Lady from the desecration of foreigners, firmly believing that the Queen of Heaven Herself would free Her image from temporary imprisonment and return the temple belonging to Her and the ancient Russian region protected by Her into the hands of the Orthodox.”

Apparently that was the case...

Perhaps the copy of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God did not have time to be taken out of Oreshek when the Stolbovo Peace Treaty was concluded, according to which the fortress went to Sweden, but most likely, the defenders walled up the icon in the hope that it would help return Russia to its Neva stronghold.

It is appropriate to remember here that the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, which floated on June 26, 1383 in the sky near Shlisselburg, was also walled up in the wall of the Pantocrator monastery in order to save it from the iconoclast heretics.

In this repetition of history, which casts a wondrous light on the very appearance of the Shlisselburg Icon, a deep mystical meaning is revealed. The Shlisselburg icon, as it were, combines two icons, one of which, Tikhvin, is called the guardian of the northern borders of Russia, and the other, Kazan, is the savior of our Fatherland.

The Tikhvin icon - then it was called the Blachernae icon - was released after 60 years.

The Shlisselburg icon remained in stone captivity for 90 years...

Attempts to liberate Oreshek were made during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. In the fall of 1656, Noteburg was besieged by the army of governor Peter Ivanovich Potemkin. The 40-year-old commander had already taken both Polish Lublin and Swedish Nyenschanz, burned Swedish settlements on Kotlin, destroyed Swedish ships, but things didn’t work out for him with Oreshok.

Although Peter Ivanovich began bombarding the fortress, installing guns on Monastyrsky Island, the Swedes held firm.

“It’s easier to bite through an apple and a pear than a nut like this!” - responded the commandant of the fortress, Major Frans Grave, to the offer of surrender, and the ancestor of the great Grigory Potemkin was forced to withdraw his troops.

The Prado Museum in Madrid exhibits a portrait of Pyotr Ivanovich Potemkin, which Juan Carreno de Miranda painted a decade after the Noteburg failure.

There is a lot of gold brocade and expensive fur in the portrait, and even more - the importance that the Tsar’s ambassador Pyotr Ivanovich Potemkin seems to bring, but the gray beard, similar in color to the autumn Ladoga water, washes the face of the Russian steward, who was unable to crack the Swedish nut.

Peter I had to chew it up.

He considered the capture of Noteburg an extremely important task, and preparations for the assault were carried out extremely carefully.

Some historians believe that the legendary dragging of ships along the Sovereign Road from the White Sea to Lake Onega was also associated with preparations for the assault on Oreshok.

Then, in two months, men and soldiers dragged the ships “Holy Spirit” and “Courier” through the forests and swamps, and, having passed along Onega, Svir and Ladoga, these ships allegedly approached the mouth of the Neva, although it is not clear what they were doing here during the assault Noteburg.

Well, real Russian troops approached Noteburg on September 26, 1702. In total, Peter I assembled 14 regiments on the banks of the Neva, including the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky guards.

The Russian camp was set up on Preobrazhenskaya Mountain.

The siege - the garrison of Noteburg, led by the commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Gustav von Schlippenbach, numbered about 500 people and had 140 guns - was carried out according to all the rules.

Under the direct supervision of Peter I himself, boats were dragged along a three-verst forest clearing from Lake Ladoga to the Neva. On these boats, soldiers of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments crossed to the right bank of the Neva and captured Swedish fortifications there. Then a floating bridge was built from the boats, connecting the banks of the Neva.

When the siege ring closed, a trumpeter was sent to the commandant of Noteburg with an offer to surrender the fortress to an agreement. Gustav von Schlippenbach asked for a delay of four days in order to communicate with the Narva chief commandant, to whom he was subordinate. In response, on October 1, Russian batteries opened artillery fire on the fortress.

The bombing continued continuously for 11 days. Wooden buildings began to burn, the lead roofs of the towers melted, at night the Neva was illuminated by the glow of the fire, and it seemed that the river was filled with blood. The current carried the lightning blood to the Gulf of Finland, to the Swedish fortress of Nyenschanz. On October 3, the parliamentarian-drummer conveyed the request of the wives of Swedish officers, who begged to be released from Noteburg for the sake of great concern from fire and smoke.

- If you deign to leave, you would deign to bring your dear spouses with you in droves! – Peter I gallantly answered the Swedish ladies.

“This compliment seemed annoying to the noble besieged people,” says the Book of Mars, and the bombardment of Noteburg resumed.

In total, over 15 thousand cannonballs and bombs were fired at the fortress.

Huge gaps appeared in the fortress wall, through which 20 people could march in a row. True, these holes were too high above the ground, but Peter I, who was viewing Noteburg from Preobrazhenskaya Mountain, was pleased with the results of the artillery barrage.

“Our artillery has miraculously corrected its work,” he reported in a letter to A.A. Vinius.

Traces of Peter's bombing of Noteburg can still be found today.

“Under the turf there were fresh reminders of the past war: broken bricks, gravel, mine fragments,” A.N. writes in his book “Fortress Oreshek.” Kirpichnikov and V.M. Savkov. – Below we began to come across fragments of cannonballs, which under Peter I were used to fire at the fortress from the mainland in 1702. And here is an unexploded three-pound mortar bomb - one of 3 thousand fired at the Swedish garrison. A particle of 268-year-old gunpowder recovered from inside managed to ignite. It burned with colorful sparks..."

Three signal shots scattered with the same multi-colored sparks, announcing the beginning of the assault on the night of October 11.

The drums hit.

Through the darkness of the night the boats went to the fortress, illuminated by the flames of the fires. They were carried away by a strong current, and the rowers leaned on their oars.

Thus began the assault.

The capture of Noteburg (Oreshok) is one of the most striking and significant victories of Peter I.

The preparations for the assault were carried out thoroughly, but the Russian regiments, cramped on a strip of land between the fortress walls and the water, still suffered huge losses.

In addition, the prepared stairs turned out to be too short, and the paratroopers were unable to climb to the holes and immediately break into the fortress.

Meanwhile, the Swedes deployed their guns and began to attack directly.

And there was a moment when Peter I hesitated and even sent an officer to the island with an order to the commander of the assault detachment, Lieutenant Colonel of the Semenovsky regiment Mikhail Golitsyn, to retreat.

“Tell the Tsar that now I am no longer his, but God’s,” Golitsyn answered the messenger and, climbing onto the shoulders of a soldier standing at the top of the stairs, climbed into the gap. - Go ahead, guys!

The bloody battle lasted endlessly, but the Swedes could not stand it.

“The enemy was tired from the multitude of our musket and cannon fire in those 13 hours, and, seeing the last courage, immediately struck the chamad...” It was at five o’clock in the afternoon that Gustav von Schlippenbach ordered the drums to be beaten, which meant the surrender of the fortress.

Noteburg was taken.

Lists of Russian soldiers who died during the storming of the fortress have been preserved.

Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment

Major - Davyd Gast.

Captains - Prince Ivan Lvov, Ivan Rukin, Andrey Walbrecht.

Lieutenants - Yakov Borzov, Dmitry Yemtsov, Vasily Ivanovsky, Pavel Belyaev.

Sergeants - Andrey Rebrikov, Alexey Lomakin, Semyon Kotenev.

Privates - Afanasy Loboz, Yakov Tibeev, Grigory Sokolov, Semyon Mishurov, Ivan Chesnokov, Klim Varenikhin, Gavrilo Bashmakov, Ivan Pisarev, Nikifor Lyablitsov, Kozma Fomin, Ilya Kondakov, Maxim Demyanov, Pyotr Zherebtsov, Andrey Posnikov, Foma Sledkov, Vasily Vorobyov, Pyotr Bulkin, Pyotr Belosh, Stefan Tyapkin, Alexey Dubrovsky, Fyodor Ostavtsov, Pavel Kopylov, Ivan Fomin, Sergey Kondratiev, Luka Alexandrov, Pyotr Aksentiev, Fedor Efimov, Frol Churin, Erofey Pylaev, Yakov Golev, Ivan Sidorov, Nikifor Kotlovsky, Prokofy Korotaev , Andrey Kotenev, Savva Tikhonov, Ivan Zlobin, Parfen Palkin, Efim Cherkasheninov, Prokofy Yuryev, Vasily Chirikov, Yakov Buta, Grigory Pykhotsky, Fyodor Bulatov, Nikita Efimov, Ivan Romanov, Fyodor Putimtsev, Ivan Lebedev, Matvey Cherkasov, Trofim Titov, Ivan Chebalov, Tikhon Lelnev, Yakov Tikhomirov, Ivan Bykov, Fedot Korotaev, Yakov Otavin, Savely Lisitsyn, Ivan Volk, Ivan Ershov, Miron Neustroyev, Fedor Belyaev, Lavrenty Putilov, Semyon Kazakov, Fedot Makhov, Fedor Kazakov, Ivan Mozalev, Petr Kryukov, Anton Remezov, Efrem Bykov, Ivan Drozdov, Boris Domkin, Ivan Erofeev, Nikifor Lapin, Agafon Ulanov, Ivan Zhukov, Kozma Sainikov, Grigory Brovikov, Vikul Zablotsky, Kozma Nosov, Martyn Dudyrin, Jonah Kabin, Ivan Nagaev, Timofey Zhdanov, Ivan Ivanov , Pyotr Shevelev, Ivan Fedotov, Danila Bavin, Dmitry Solovyov, Nestor Titov, Tit Baturin, Fedor Badaev, Kozma Sobolev, Semyon Serbin, Panteley Matveev, Mikhailo Medvedev, Agafon Tolankov, Anisim Posnyakov, Mikhailo Poprytaev, Andrey Kudryakov, Grigory Zykov, Matvey Polchaninov, Kozma Kuzovlev, Leonty Smolyaninov.

Drummer: Nikifor Pankov.

Life Guards Semenovsky Regiment

Major - Kondraty Meyer.

Captain - Egor Kolbin.

Lieutenants - Fyodor Likharev, Prince Alexei Shakhovsky, Ivan Dmitriev-Mamonov.

Corporal - Gavrilo Shapilov.

Privates - Fedor Strunin, Semyon Borzov, Grigory Kamensky, Egor Tumenev, Ivan Pavlovsky, Yakov Kudryavtsev, Ivan Danilov, Alexey Urakov, Spiridon Belyaev, Ivan Bogatyrev, Grigory Kudryavoy, Vasily Martyanov, Ivan Oborin, Andrey Kirillov, Nikifor Korzhavin, Sergey Nagaev, Fyodor Bychkov, Zinovy ​​Parshin, Grigory Ovsyannikov, Ivan Volokh, Maxim Paponov, Danilo Nikiforov, Dmitry Sharov, Larion Dedelin, Terenty Belousov, Pavel Chebotarev, Fyodor Zakharov, Leonty Vorobyov, Ivan Nizhegorodov, Anisim Chistyakov, Timofey Stushkin, Ivan Baskakov, Timofey Borzov , Ivan Nikitin, Ivan Zerkovnikov, Egor Kharitonov, Boris Gryzlov, Mikhailo Osanov, Kondraty Lytkov, Dmitry Volokh, Frol Zaitsev, Sidor Frolov, Fedor Starichkov, Danilo Shatilov, Eremey Shchegolev, Stepan Shatakov, Larnok Sukharev, Kozma Lukorensky, Afanasy Torovorov, Kondraty Ernev, Konstantin Glazunov, Yakav Ushakov, Vasily Panov, Ivan Dubrovin, Stepan Khabarov, Ivan Zavarziy, Kozma Fedotov, Pyotr Bratin, Tikhon Kazimerov, Ivan Radivilov, Kondraty Manzuryev, Afanasy Farmos, Osip Abramyev, Fedor Vasiliev, Efim Glazunov, Akim Korotky, Mikhailo Kudrins, Vasily Vlasov, Terenty Lobotkov, Ivan Bystrov, Semyon Pobegalov, Evstifey Ivanov, Sofron Shemaev, Gordey Bogdanov, Stepan Grebenkin, Kirila Solovyov, Kozma Medvedev, Trofim Sudoplatov, Grigory Katov, Andrey Korovin, Mikhailo Dbyakov, Vasily Mamontov, Afanasy Podshivalov , Gerasim Rotunov, Ivan Sorokin, Anisim Zverev, Alexey Shabanov, Ivan Volobaev, Samoilo Zvyagin, Pavel Ivanov, Fedor Zamolnev, Mikhailo Shepelev, Ivan Lutoshny, Kirill Belikov, Ignatiy Evseev, Nikifor Minin, Artamin Mordvinov, Vasily Trubach, Matvey Sosedov, Peter Bezchasnoy, Matvey Kluzhetov, Roman Maslov, Vasily Lykov, Dmitry Filatov, Sergey Barkov, Gavrilo Osipov, Ivan Priezzhey, Anisim Somarokov, Danil Leontyev, Akim Gigmonov, Afanasy Ievlev, Andrey Lebedev, Dmitry Lyubimov, Petr Zverev, Grigory Zorin.

There is so much uniqueness in the sound of these names and surnames, so much wonderful beauty, so much heroic strength that this entire list sounds like music, like the anthem of Russia.

It feels like you are in some kind of protected grove.

It is interesting to compare this list with the list of Shlisselburg prisoners, at least the same Narodnaya Volya members.

Nikolay Morozov, Mikhail Frolenko, Mikhail Trigoni, Grigory Isaev, Mikhail Grachevsky, Savely Zlatopolsky, Alexander Butsevich, Mikhail Popov, Nikolay Shchedrin, Egor Minakov, Meyer Gellis, Dmitry Butsinsky, Mikhail Klimenko, Fedor Yurkovsky, Pyotr Polivanov, Ludwig Kobylyansky, Yuri Bogdanovich , Aizik Aronchik, Ippolit Myshkin, Vladimir Malavsky, Alexander Dolgushin, Nikolai Rogachev, Alexander Shtromberg, Ignatiy Ivanov, Vera Figner, Lyudmila Volkenshtein, Vasily Ivanov, Alexander Tikhanovich, Nikolai Pokhitonov, Dmitry Surovtsev, Ivan Yuvachev, Kallinik Martynov, Mikhail Shebalin, Vasily Karaulov, Vasily Pankratov, Mikhail Lagovsky, Ivan Manucharov, Ludwig Varynsky, Ludwig Yanovich, Pakhomiy Andreyushkin, Vasily Generalov, Vasily Osipanov, Alexander Ulyanov, Pyotr Shevyrev, Mikhail Novorussky, Joseph Lukashevich, Pyotr Antonov, Sergey Ivanov, Vasily Konashevich, German Lopatin, Nikolai Starodvorsky, Boris Orzhikh, Sofia Ginsburg, Pavel Karnovich, Sergei Balmashov, Foma Kachura, Mikhail Melnikov, Grigory Gershuni, Egor Sazonov, Ivan Klyaev, Alexander Vasiliev, Khaim Gershkovich, Yakov Finkelstein, Mikhail Aschenbrenner...

And although there are many worthy people on this list, it is difficult to get rid of the feeling that you are either walking through a fire, or through an old clearing, overgrown with who knows what.

And what does it matter if the first list contains hero soldiers, and the second (“We have the criminals we deserve,” said the prison doctor of the Shlisselburg fortress, Evgeniy Rudolfovich Eichholtz) - state criminals? No, in the first list are people who belonged to the former Moscow Holy Rus', and in the second are people who, thanks to Peter I and his reforms, had not heard and did not want to hear about Holy Rus'.

The Swedish garrison left the fortress with four cannons and unfurled banners. It consisted of 83 healthy and 156 wounded - the rest fell during the siege and assault. The soldiers walked with personal weapons, with bullets in their mouths - as a sign that they had preserved their military honor.

Russian losses amounted to 538 killed and 925 wounded.

The heroes who fell during the assault were buried inside the fortress.

In 1902, a plaque with their names was installed on the wall of the Church of John the Baptist26, but in 1939 this plaque was taken to the Museum of the History and Development of Leningrad.

Well, the main hero of the assault, Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn, of course, could not even guess then that he had taken the fortress, which in a few years would become a prison for his brother, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn.

To celebrate, Peter I renamed Noteburg to Shlisselburg - “key city”.

It is believed that this key opened the way to the Baltic Sea, but it is obvious that Peter also put a broader meaning into this name - the key to victory in the war.

All the first days after the capture of Shlisselburg, Peter I was in rapture from the miracle that had happened.

“I declare to your honor,” he writes to Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin, “that with the help of the victorious God, this fortress, after a cruel and extreme, difficult and bloody attack (which began at four o’clock in the morning and ended at four o’clock in the afternoon) surrendered to the chord by which Commandant Schlippenbach and his entire garrison were released. Truly, I declare to your grace that through every human opinion this was done, and to be attributed only to God alone in honor and miracle.”

This message, although in the future Peter I did not forget to share his military victories with God, nevertheless stands out for its increased and, in general, religious exaltation, which was unusual for Peter.

It is explained by the fact that Peter I clearly understood not only the strategic significance of the victory, but also its historical and mystical meaning.

His grandfather, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, the first in the Romanov dynasty, was crowned 90 years ago, after the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow. Peter I, his grandson, has now liberated the last fortress lost during the Time of Troubles.

How could one not rejoice?

It is no coincidence that by decree of Peter I, in memory of the capture of Oreshok, a medal was struck with the inscription: “I was with the enemy for 90 years.”

The words of Peter I that “through every human opinion (the capture of Oreshok. - N.K.) was done, and only to one God in honor and a miracle to be attributed,” - the words of the Russian Tsar.

When the guard soldier saw the light of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God flickering from under the brickwork, he looked through the eyes of a Russian soldier.

And it was clearly revealed to both the king and the soldier how the eras were closing...

In 1612, before going on the assault, the warriors Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky prayed in front of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

Having delayed for 90 years, the year 1612 came to the ancient Russian fortress of Oreshek. And here, completing the liberation of Rus' from foreign invaders, the Most Pure Mother of God appeared with her Kazan face!

We have already said that the priest Ermolai, who was the first to see the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, turned into Saint Hermogenes.

We do not know who the soldier became who was the first to see the Shlisselburg image of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Maybe he died in Peter’s endless wars, or maybe he ended his life in bondage.

Another era, another time has come...

As you know, soon Peter I will completely prohibit miracles on Russian soil.

Peter I - only vague mentions of his order to place the found icon in the fortress chapel have been preserved - in fact, did not react in any way to the find, did not want to consider the great significance that was hidden in the discovery of the Shlisselburg Icon of the Kazan Mother of God.

Why didn’t he want to see this miracle?

It is tempting to explain the change that took place in the sovereign with the Shlisselburg tragicomic episode that led to the break of Peter I with his mistress Anna Mons.

On April 15, 1703, in Shlisselburg, “a very unfortunate incident occurred: first Doctor Leil, and then Koenigsek... suddenly drowned.”

This unfortunate but not very significant event nevertheless left a mark on history, because a love letter from Anna Mons was found in the pocket of the Saxon envoy Koenigsek.

Anna's betrayal - let us recall that for her sake Peter I forced his wife, Queen Evdokia, to take monastic vows! – Peter did not expect and never forgave his mistress until the end of his life.

Anna Mons herself, as you know, was put under arrest, and only in 1706 was she allowed to attend the Lutheran church. Matryona Ivanovna Balk, who helped her sister in her affair with Koenigsek, also suffered. For her troubles, Matryona Ivanovna had to serve three years in prison.

Well, two decades later – we’ll talk about this later – the head of Anna’s brother, William Mons, will roll off the chopping block.

The poet Andrei Voznesensky described the execution of Anna Mons, although it was not she who was executed, but her brother, in “The Frontal Ballad”27:

The king is terrible: like a nag, skinny,

Blackened like anthracite

Eyes sweep across the face,

Like a skidding motorcycle.

And when the head is off the hatchet

The boots rolled to the socks,

He takes her above the crowd

Just like a turnip with red tops!

Fingers dug into my cheeks like pincers,

The bridge of my nose is crunching,

Blood pours from my throat onto my trousers.

He kisses her on the mouth.

Only Red Square will gasp,

Stunned by a quiet groan:

“A-a-ankhen!..”

She answers him:

“My boy, great sir,

I don't judge your guilt.

But why are your hands sticky?

Baba I am the whole fault.

My states are in my mouth.

I'm trembling with lingonberry blood

On your sovereign mustache.

During the days of construction and fire

How much love is there?

You kiss me, Power,

Your lips are in my blood.

Fume, borscht, peas

Your generous kiss smells like it.

How you love me, Epoch,

I adore you, king!..”

Of course, the author of the poems was helped by his lack of knowledge of history to unite Anna and William Mons into a single object of love and reprisal of Peter I, but the logic of Peter’s mythology also worked here. Any atrocity that Peter I committed or did not commit was explained and justified in advance by this mythology by the very atmosphere of the “days of construction and fire” of the Peter I era.

Perhaps, while visiting Shlisselburg, Peter I recalled the bitterness of the humiliation he experienced while reading a love letter from Anna Mons taken from the pocket of the drowned Koenigsek.

But personal annoyance alone, no matter how deep it was, was not enough to begin the construction of a new state mythology.

The first step towards the creation of this mythology, which, although it came into contact with previous Russian history, did not so much continue as transform it into a new, Petrine way, Peter I took by renaming the ancient Russian Oreshek to Shlisselburg.

The key to the fortress was strengthened on the Sovereign Tower, which meant: the capture of Oreshek opens the way to the Baltic Sea.

However, this key was not used for long.

Already on May 1, 1703, Nyenschanz, located at the confluence of the Okhta and the Neva, was taken, and Peter I began to look for a place to build a new Russian fortress at the mouth of the Neva.

On this day, Peter I, as stated in the anonymous essay “On the Conception and Building of the Reigning City of St. Petersburg,” was sailing on boats and from the water “saw a convenient island for the structure of the city...” As soon as the sovereign landed on the shore, there was a noise in the air - and everyone saw the “soaring eagle.” The sound of its wings soaring was heard. The sun was shining, the cannons were firing, and the eagle was soaring over the sovereign on Pentecost, when, after consulting with the fortifiers accompanying him - the French general engineer Joseph Gaspard Lambert de Guern and the German engineer Major Wilhelm Adam Kirschtenstein, Peter I rejected a place not subject to floods at the confluence of the Okhta to the Neva and founded a new fortress on Hare Island.

Then the sovereign was accompanied by the clergy, generals and civil servants. In front of everyone, after the prayer service and blessing of water, Peter I took a baguette28 from a soldier, cut out two pieces of turf and, laying them crosswise, said: “Here should be a city!”

Then the ark with the relics of St. Andrew the First-Called was buried in the ground. A stone lid was built over the ark with the inscription: “From the incarnation of Jesus Christ on May 1703, 16, the reigning city of St. Petersburg was founded by the great sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, autocrat of all Russia.”

And again the eagle appeared in the sky - “with a great noise of soaring wings, it descended from the height and soared over this island.”

However, the foundation of the city was not limited to this.

After some thought, Peter I ordered to “punch two holes into the ground and, having cut down two birch trees, thin but long, and rolled up the tops of those birches,” inserted the trees into the ground like a gate.

The eagle descended from a height and “sat on this gate.”

Corporal Odintsov took the eagle from the gate and presented it to the sovereign, who bestowed the proud bird with the rank of commandant29.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin does not have eagles in his famous description of these events:

On the shore of desert waves

He stood, full of great thoughts,

And he looked into the distance. Wide before him

The river was rushing, poor boat

I strove for it alone,

Along mossy, marshy banks

Blackened huts here and there,

Shelter of a wretched Chukhonian.

And the forest, unknown to the rays

In the fog of the hidden sun,

There was noise all around. And He thought:

“From here we will threaten the Swede!

The city will be founded here

To spite an arrogant neighbor."

And all the same, although everything here is emphatically realistic, the first stanzas of the introduction to “The Bronze Horseman” take us into Peter’s mythology faster than the tame eagles on which more than one generation of Russian historians honed their wit.

Reading Pushkin’s lines, we imagine Peter I standing on land that no Russian had ever set foot on, and as a result, light hand poet in public consciousness There was a strong belief that the lands around St. Petersburg in pre-Petrine times represented an unknown and alien territory to Orthodox Rus'.

And this happens contrary to our knowledge! After all, reading Pushkin, we remember that the light of Orthodoxy shone over Ladoga long before the baptism of Rus', and it was from here, from the ancient Valaam monastery even then that St. Abraham went to baptize the pagans of the Rostov land. And the fact that the very first capital of Rus', Staraya Ladoga, is also located two hours away from St. Petersburg is an indisputable fact. And the Russian fortress Oreshek, which Peter I recaptured from the Swedes just six months before the founding of St. Petersburg, also stood here for almost four centuries!

But all these facts, and along with them the entire Russian land that had been prayed for for centuries, that surrounded the site of the foundation of the future capital of the Russian Empire, were moved away from St. Petersburg only by the power of Pushkin’s genius.

However, Pushkin would not have been Pushkin if he had limited himself to the limits set for him. You read “The Bronze Horseman” and you understand that A.S. Pushkin also immersed himself in Peter's mythology in order to depict the internal state of Peter I, in order to explain the choice made by the first Russian emperor.

The place where St. Petersburg soon rose was indeed empty. Due to constant floods, nothing was built here except the miserable huts of Chukhon fishermen.

But such an empty place was what Peter I was looking for.

St. Petersburg was founded by him as a city - a symbol of rupture new Russia with ancient Russia.

This is amazing, but this is the whole essence of Peter’s reforms...

They were imposed on Russia, in no way consistent with its Orthodox traditions and history, and at the same time they were blessed by the Russian Church humiliated and insulted by Peter.

Perhaps subconsciously, but Peter I chose for the city precisely that place of the ancient land, which indeed had always been empty, which could not be inhabited by anyone due to vulnerability from natural disasters.

This is where Peter I took the empire he was creating, here, on the land flooded by floods, he tried to hide his faith in God, his patriotism liberated from Orthodoxy, from the Holy Rus' he did not love!

It was impossible to carry out what was planned, and although Peter I made every effort to achieve his goal, everything turned out not as he intended, but as it should have been.

Peter I did not want to attach significance to the state event to the miraculous discovery of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God in Shlisselburg... Apparently, he did not want to begin the history of the new capital with the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, since this evoked memories and parallels that did not fit into his new mythology.

But the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, as we know, still came to St. Petersburg.

The widow of Peter I's elder brother and co-ruler, John V, Tsarina Praskovya Feodorovna, known for her Old Moscow piety, brought, upon moving to St. Petersburg, an enlarged copy of the Kazan Icon of the Virgin Mary, made to her order.

Queen Praskovya Feodorovna placed this icon in a chapel not far from her residence, on Gorodovoy Island (Petrograd Side), and this chapel began to be called Kazan.

Since 1727, the image brought to St. Petersburg by Tsarina Praskovya Fedorovna began to be recognized as miraculous, and decades later one of the main St. Petersburg churches, the Kazan Cathedral, was built for it.

So, contrary to the willfulness of Peter I, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the new Russian capital. So, because of the self-will of Peter I, the Shlisselburg image of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which had waited behind the brickwork for almost a whole century for a person who would liberate the local land from the enemy and return the icon to Russia, still remained behind the walls of the fortress.

Peter I, who took Noteburg, believed that he was not liberating, but conquering these lands. The difference is insignificant if we talk about the result of the military campaign, but extremely significant if we return to the spiritual meaning of the war, which was then waged on the banks of the Neva.

Then they began to say that Peter I had cut a window to Europe.

In fact, the window to Europe has always been here - you just had to tear off the old Swedish boards with which it was boarded up.

But Peter did everything himself, and even when he did what was predetermined by the entire course of Russian history, he acted as if there was no history before him and it all began only with him. This is the disease of all reformers in our country!

And this is the answer to the question why Peter did not want to learn about the miraculous appearance of the Shlisselburg Icon of the Mother of God...

No, it was not the Russian Oreshek who was liberated by Peter, but he took the Swedish fortress of Noteburg - and immediately founded his Shlisselburg here. How could the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God fit here, it is unknown when, appeared here before any glorification?!

And the Shlisselburg Icon of the Kazan Mother of God remained in the fortress.

She was also here when the convict Bartholomew Stoyan (Fyodor Chaikin) was brought to Shlisselburg. This man (if one can call such a blasphemer a man) on July 12, 1904, together with his accomplices, stole the prototype of the miraculous Kazan Mother of God from the summer church of the Mother of God Convent in the city of Kazan, tore off the precious robe from it, and burned the holy icon itself.

Next to the Shlisselburg image of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, this villain had to serve his prison sentence.

However, this too will be discussed further.

After the capture of Noteburg in 1702, Peter I expected a Swedish counterattack and considered the restoration of the fortress on Orekhovy Island a priority. A sketch of the bastions with which it was necessary to strengthen the fortress, made by Peter’s hand, has been preserved.

The port tower at the entrance gate was renamed by Peter I to the Sovereign, the Focht tower was named Princely, in honor of Princess Menshikova, the Schwartz tower - Royal, the Kirch tower - Corner (later - Golovina), the Konoselits tower - Svetlichnaya, the Krut tower – Melnichnaya, Koms Tower – Kolokolnaya.

All bastions were erected simultaneously under the leadership of N.M. Zotova, F.A. Golovina, G.I. Golovkina, K.A. Naryshkina.

The general management of the fortification of Shlisselburg was initially carried out by Peter I himself: “The Tsar of Moscow... ordered the fortress to be greatly improved in everything, walls and towers, and put 2 thousand people in the fortress with cannons”30, but later A.D. took over the leadership of the work. Menshikov, appointed commandant of Shlisselburg and governor of Ingria, Karelia and Livonia.

Either because Peter dressed all of Russia in European clothes, not suitable for the local climate, or because he set extremely difficult and sometimes completely incomprehensible tasks, or because of the general callousness of the era, but never before, it seems, has they froze as much in our country as during the decades of Peter the Great’s reign.

Even A.D. Menshikov, who showed such desperate courage during the storming of Shlisselburg, was unable to adapt to permanent life in the fortress.

“We have severe frosts and severe winds here,” he complained to Peter. “We leave the gates with great need; we can barely live in the mansions.” But if it was unbearable for the commandant and the governor to be in Shlisselburg, how could ordinary working people live here?

We have already said that during the storming of the fortress, Russian losses amounted to 538 people killed and 925 wounded.

Restoring the fortress was much more expensive. Construction losses overtook the military in less than a year.

As can be seen from the report of the head of the Office of City Affairs U.A. Sinyavin, out of 2 thousand 856 people herded to Shlisselburg, 1 thousand 504 worked - the rest were sick or died.

“You wrote to me about the Olonchans, about the 200 people who are at work in Schlutelburgh, that their supplies are meager, and I am surprised at you that, seeing the very need, without which it is impossible to live, you write to me,” answered to this U.A. Sinyavin A.D. Menshikov. “Order to give them bread and provisions for their brothers, and in advance of that, see to it that they do not die of hunger.”

It would seem that with the start of the construction of St. Petersburg, Shlisselburg should have lost its importance, but construction work in the fortress not only does not curtail, but, on the contrary, is picking up pace.

In 1715, the last, fifth bastion was built in front of the Menshikov Tower, and then the construction of a soldiers’ barracks began, and the following year - a mint.

Both the barracks and the mint were built by the architect I.G. Ustinov, and after his departure to Moscow, the chief architect of St. Petersburg, Domenico Trezzini, took over the management of the work.

In 1718, construction began on the wooden palace of A.D. Menshikov, and three years later - the construction of the wooden palace of Peter I, or the Sovereign's house.

Peter I clearly had no intention of abandoning Shlisselburg.

In the fortress there was then a Swedish kirk, rebuilt from a church erected and consecrated by Archbishop Vasily of Novgorod in 1352. Now the kirk was ordered to be converted back to Orthodoxy. But since it was small in size for the huge garrison of the fortress, it was ordered to attach wooden parts of the temple to the stone walls of the pickaxe, and from the pickaxe itself to build an altar and dedicate the temple in honor of the Nativity of John the Baptist31.

“Let,” said Peter I, giving these orders, “the capture of Noteburg be the forerunner of my victories over the Swedes.”

Peter I tried to come to the island every year on October 11 to celebrate the anniversary of the capture of the fortress.

Accompanied by senators, ministers and generals, he walked around the fortress and, remembering Noteburg shrouded in clouds of smoke, said that “under the breach there was no space at all in which the troops could gather and prepare for an attack, and meanwhile the Swedish garrison exterminated them with grenades and stones "

According to established custom, on the day and hour of the capture of the fortress, a bell rang on the island.

And on every visit, Peter I always climbed the tower and looked at Ladoga for a long time.

And about the cracked nut too.