Kronstadt

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Kronstadt

https://www.heygo.com/annaylevina

Alongside establishing the city of Saint Petersburg in the spring of 1703, emperor Peter the Great commissioned to build fortifications on Kotlin to make sure no invader could get in. Very quickly a little town of Kronstadt would be founded

Kronstadt is a town and naval base on Kotlin Island, just west of St. Petersburg, Russia. Anchor Square is dotted with military memorials. On the square, the 20th-century Byzantine-style Naval Cathedral has an ornate interior. Tree-lined Petrovskiy Park is home to the 19th-century Monument to Peter the Great. Kronstadt History Museum displays regional artifacts. Offshore is the man-made island of Fort Alexander.

The beautiful St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral - the biggest church built for the navy. It is a memorial to officers and sailors who died at sea.

The Kronstadt tide gauge measures the absolute heights of water level in the Baltic Sea. It is one of the oldest tide gauges in the global network of level posts in the World Ocean.

Not only would this town become the base of the Russian Navy and the biggest sea port in Russia but the test site of numerous engineer innovations and scientific inventions, such as dry dock from which tons of water could be removed within 24 hours, the radio, x-ray, bubonic plague vaccine and many more.



Kronstadt is full of history which Anna relayed in her usual informative way covered in two tours and always with a smile.



The first fortifications were inaugurated in 1704. These fortifications, known as Kronshlot were constructed very quickly.

During the winter, the Gulf of Finland freezes over completely. Under the command of the Governor-general workers used thousands of frames made of logs from trees filled with stones which were moved by horses across the frozen sea, and placed in cuttings made in the ice. Several new small islands were created, and forts were erected on them, virtually closing access to Saint-Petersburg by sea. Only two narrow navigable channels remained, with forts guarding them.



In 1921, a group of naval officers and men, together with soldiers and civilian supporters rebelled against the Bolshevik government in Soviet Kronstadt. The garrison previously had been a centre of major support for the Bolsheviks, and throughout the Civil War.

Their demands included freedom of speech, the end of deportation to work camps, a change in Soviet war politics, and liberation of the soviets from "party control",

After brief negotiations, the Minister of War in the Soviet Government, and the leader of the Red Army responded by sending the army to Kronstadt. The uprising was thus suppressed following a massacre.



In the late 1930s, the fortified city became the base of the Soviet Baltic Fleet. During that time it was an important training centre for the Soviet navy. The Kronstadt naval dockyard overhauled and repaired surface ships and submarines for the Baltic Fleet. All forts and batteries of the city were reconstructed.



The controversial dam that took 30 years to build (1980–2011) now links Kotlin island to the mainland from north and south, not only acts as part of the flood defences, but lets through shipping and completes the St Petersburg ring-road system, across the island.



On our virtual tours we saw several interesting public buildings.

The final part was to take a boat out on to the Gulf of Finland and visit some of the ancient forts.

This happened on the eve of The Navy Day when ships parade along the Neva river & the Gulf, we ere able to get quite close to a couple of submarines, quite an experience and all ended with a beautiful sunset.

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