ST.PETERSBURG RUSSIA'S "WINDOW ON EUROPE BY AWAKE! WRITER IN RUSSIA

"I love thee, work of Peter's hand!/I love thy stern, symmetric form:/The Neva's calm and queenly flow/Betwixt her quays of granite-stone." -ALEXANDRSERGEYEVICH PUSHKIN.

PUSHKIN'S famous poem about St.Petersburg, partially quoted here, draws attention to the city's founder and to its location in the far north, where the Neva River enters the Baltic Sea.  'But how,' you may wonder, 'did this major city of the world come into existence in a northern marshland?' 

By the late 17th century, Russia's growth was stymied by its lack of access to the sea.  The dream of Russian's young czar, Peter the Great, was to establish for Russia a "window on Europe" in the form of an outlet to the sea. To the south, access to the Black Sea was blocked by the Ottoman Empire. So Peter turned his attention north to where Sweden possessed the territory that borders the Baltic Sea.

To fulfill his dream, in August 1700, Peter declared war on Sweden. Although his military efforts were at first repelled, he did not give up. By November 1702, Peter had forced a Swedish withdrawal  from Lake Ladoga.  This largest lake in Europe is connected by the Neva River to the Baltic Sea, about 40 miles away. The Swedes became entrenched in a fortress on a tiny island near where the Neva flows from the lake.  Peter was able to wrest this island fortress from Swedish control and rename it Shlissel'burg. 

Later  the Swedes took their stand in a fortress called Nienshants, near where the Neva  flows into the Baltic. In May 1703, the Swedish garrisons there was overwhelmed. This victory put the Russians on control of the entire delta. Immediately, Peter began building a fortress on nearby Zayachy Island for defending the mouth of  the Neva. Thus on May 16,1703, about 300 years ago, Peter the Great laid the first stone of what is known today as the Peter-Paul Fortress.  This is the accepted date of the founding of St.Petersburg, named after the czar's patron saint, the apostle Peter.

Next time:  ST. PETERSBURG RUSSIA'S "WINDOW ON EUROPE BY AWAKE! WRITER IN RUSSIA 

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