Founding of Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg was founded on 27 May 1703 (16 May in the Julian calendar then used in Russia), when Peter the Great had the first earthworks laid for a fortress on Hare Island, a small island in the delta of the Neva River. The land, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, had been taken from Sweden only weeks earlier during the Great Northern War, and the fortress was meant to guard Russia's new outlet to the Baltic Sea.

The first Peter and Paul Fortress was built of earth and timber, with six bastions, in a few months. Soldiers, captured Swedes and tens of thousands of conscripted peasants worked on the low, flood-prone marshland, driving wooden piles and hauling soil and logs, often in harsh conditions. A wooden church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul was founded inside the walls the same summer; the stone fortress and the cathedral with its tall gilded spire came later.

Peter moved the capital of Russia from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712. The city remained the capital until 1918 and grew into one of the largest cities in Europe. Its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.