Shlisselburg
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Shlisselburg (Russian: Шлиссельбу́рг; German: Schlüsselburg) is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated at the head of the Neva River on Lake Ladoga, 45 km east of St. Petersburg. From 1944-1992 it was known as Petrokrepost. The town's population was 12,401 as of the Russian Census of 2002. The fortress and the city center are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
[edit] The fortress
Built as a fortress named Oreshek ("Nutlet") by the Novgorod Republic in 1300, it had a key strategic position guarding Novgorod and access to the Baltic Sea. The fortress is situated on Orekhovets Island, whose name refers to nuts in Swedish, Finnish (Pähkinäsaari, "Nut Island"), and Russian.
In 1323, after numerous Russo-Swedish conflicts, a peace treaty was signed in Orekhovets between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic (Treaty of Nöteborg), which was the first agreement on the border between Eastern and Western Christianity, running through present-day Finland.
The fort was captured by Sweden in 1611 during the Ingrian War. As part of the Swedish Empire, the fortress was known as Nöteborg ("Nut-fortress") in Swedish or Pähkinälinna in Finnish, and became the center of the north-Ingrian Nöteborg county (slottslän).
In 1702, during the Great Northern War, the fortress was taken by Russians under Peter the Great in an amphibious assault. It was then given its current name, Shlisselburg, a transcription of Schlüsselburg. The name, meaning "Key-fortress" in German, refers to Peter's perception of the fortress as the "key to Ingria".
During the times of Imperial Russia, the fortress was used as a notorious political prison; among its famous prisoners were Wilhelm Küchelbecher, Mikhail Bakunin and, for 38 years, Walerian Łukasiński. Ivan VI of Russia was murdered in the fortress in 1764, and Lenin's brother, Aleksandr Ulyanov, was hanged there too.
Out of ten towers, the fortress retains only six (five Russian and one Swedish). The remains of a church inside the fortress were transformed into a memorial to the fortress's defenders. There is also a museum of political prisons[[1]] of the Russian Empire, and a small collection of World War II artillery.
[edit] The town
The town on the mainland opposite the island fortress was founded in 1702 by Peter the Great. It does not retain many historical buildings, apart from a handful of 18th-century churches. Perhaps the most remarkable landmark is the Old Ladoga Canal, started at the behest of Peter I in 1719 and completed under the guidance of Fieldmarshal Munnich twelve years later. The canal stretches for 104 versts; its granite sluices date from 1836.
During World War II, the town (not the fortress) was seized by Nazi Germany. The recapture of Shlisselburg in 1943 by Soviet forces reopened access to besieged Leningrad. Between 1944 and 1992, the town's name was Russified as Petrokrepost (literally: "Fortress of Peter"). Shlisselburg regained its former name after the fall of the Soviet Union.
[edit] See also
| Fortresses of Western Russia |  |
|---|---|
|
Gdov | Ivangorod | Izborsk | Kirillov | Koporye | Korela | Kronstadt | Ladoga | New Dvina Fort | Novgorod | Oreshek | Porkhov | Pskov | Smolensk | Solovki | St Petersburg | Trångsund | Vyborg | Yamburg |
 |
Cities and towns in Leningrad Oblast |  |
| Administrative center: Saint Petersburg (administratively separate) Boksitogorsk | Gatchina | Ivangorod | Kamennogorsk | Kingisepp | Kirishi | Kirovsk | Kommunar | Lodeynoye Pole | Luga | Lyuban | Nikolskoye | Novaya Ladoga | Otradnoye | Pikalyovo | Podporozhye | Primorsk | Priozersk | Sertolovo | Slantsy | Sosnovy Bor | Svetogorsk | Shlisselburg | Syasstroy | Tikhvin | Tosno | Volosovo | Volkhov | Vsevolozhsk | Vyborg | Vysotsk |
