Event: Russia - St. Petersburg

Peter & Paul Fortress

When:	Daily; not Wed
Where:	Peter & Paul Fortress
Opening Hours:	Thu-Tue 10am-6pm; closed Wed

On the orders of Tsar Peter I, the Peter & Paul Fortress's foundation stone was laid on 27 May 1703 on the Zaiacy (Hare) Island and rapidly became a massive castle with six bastions, designed by Domenico Trezzini. Some 30 years later the central point was dominated by the 125.5 metre bell tower of St Peter & Paul's Cathedral (burial place of all but two of the Russian Tsars from Peter I), which from then on served as a look-out. Now housing various museums to the 300-year history of the city, celebrated annually on 27 May, the fortress ses a noon gun fired every day from the Naryshkin bastion.