Many happy returns! St. Pete landmark joins the party
Published 30 May, 2008, 04:23
St. Petersburg celebrates its 305th birthday this week, and so too does one of the city’s most famous landmarks. Founded by Peter the Great to defend the new capital against the Swedes, the Peter and Paul Fortress has seen a lot.
The building has been disfigured by scaffolding in recent years, but restoration work has been completed in time for the Northern Capital’s anniversary.
For ten years, from 1917 to 1927, the clock in the tower showed the same time – and the reason? The Bolsheviks had taken a strong dislike to the mechanism's choice of music, so they put a bullet through the clock!
“Imagine the Bolsheviks entering the fortress and hearing the clock play ‘God Save the Tsar’. Their first reaction was to shoot the clock,” says Andrey Kudryavtsev, clock engineer of the Petropavlovsky Cathedral.
This state of affairs lasted until 1927, when the mechanism of the clock, including the chimes, was repaired. However, the bells now rang out with a new tune – ‘the Internationale’ could now be heard in place of the old Tsarist anthem.
However, one old tradition was revived – the daily ringing of the bells at noon sharp. What's more, these days the chimes can play a wide choice of tunes.
A massive complex, for two centuries the fortress was used as a jail. Its 'guests' included Dostoyevsky, Trotsky and Gorky. Housed within it, is a Cathedral – the final burial place of all Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II.
Now the fortress is a popular tourist destination, with thousands flocking to the city for the birthday celebrations this week.
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