Bastion of Emperor Paul description and photo - Russia - St. Petersburg: Pavlovsk (Topic)

Bastion of Emperor Paul description and photos - Russia - St. Petersburg: Pavlovsk. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

In the city of Pavlovsk, which is 25 kilometers from St. Petersburg, there is a bastion of Emperor Paul, nicknamed by the locals the castle "Bip" - Paul's big toy.

In the 18th century, these lands were captured by Sweden, and after the victory in the Northern War, they were returned to the Russian crown. Catherine II presented here to her son Pavel and his wife Maria a small plot of land, on which, a few years later, the country castle of the heir to the throne Marienthal was built. make a military fortress out of your residence. The emperor's bastion was built in just 3 years. The citadel looked more like a knight's castle. Monumental 2-storey rectangular house with two towers, the courtyard could only be accessed by drawbridges. The miniature citadel was surrounded by ditches and ramparts, and cannons were installed on the bastions.

There was a military garrison and an artillery team in the fortress barracks. When the emperor hosted parades here, went out for a walk or gave ceremonial dinners, 28 guns were saluted with a single salute. Locals could not get used to the daily shooting for a long time, and the castle was nicknamed Paul's big toy - BIP. Once, in honor of the victory of Suvorov's army in the Italian campaign, the artillery of the castle fired 101 volleys.

The fortress made a serious impression, but everything here was more of a decoration. The heart of the citadel was a massive round tower topped with a conical dome. It was connected by a special passage with another tower, as if bristling with teeth. There was a large clock on the quadrangular tower, the sound of which was heard several miles away. Interestingly, "Bip" was not the only military fortification in Pavlovsk at the end of the 18th century. There were guardhouses in the city.

The life of the townspeople was regulated by imperial military decrees. For example, in one of them it was said that during Paul's presence in the city, shouting, whistling and idle conversations were forbidden.

Life in the fortress also resembled a barracks. On the parade ground in front of the windows of the sovereign, the military marched daily. For any even the most insignificant mistake, they were severely punished here. There were cases when employees here were killed to death.

In 1798, the Pavlovsk citadel was included in the military register of Russian fortresses. After Emperor Paul died, his widow, Empress Maria Feodorovna, often walked all alone along the river bank, not far from Bip. Old-timers recalled that somehow Maria Feodorovna met a deaf-mute little boy in these places. She was moved to the depths of her soul and, returning to the capital, issued a decree on the creation of a special school for the deaf and dumb in Paul's Bastion.

At different times there were a parish school, an infirmary, a warehouse, an orphanage, a military enlistment office. Immediately after the October Revolution, the sovdep was located in the fortress, and in 1919 the headquarters of General Yudenich's troops was located. In 1944, Paul's residence was completely burned down. In our time, restoration work is underway in the former citadel and historians are trying to restore even the smallest details that remind of that era.

The fortress "Bip" was erected by the architect V. Brenna in 1795-1797 on the site of Marienthal, where there was once a line of fortifications built by order of the Swedish general Kraniort in 1702.

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Topic: Bastion of Emperor Paul description and photo - Russia - St. Petersburg: Pavlovsk.