So, I've already mentioned that Priozersk is a small city. It's situated 145 kilometers to the north from Saint-Petersburg. One can get there either by suburban train (from Finlyandsky train station) or along the highway by car.
In this album we'll turn to its main sight - the Korela fortress. If going by car - it'll be soon after entering the city on your left hand.
Korela is surrounded by water - Vuoksa, as any respected fortress should be.
The other bank. Or rather Spassky island.
The earthen bank - that's the remains of the so called New Fortress. The sanatorium of the Leningrad military region is situated there at present. The yellow building is the psychiatric clinic. Built in 1908-1910.
And here is the fortress itself
These walls apparently date back to the XVI-XVII centuries
The Round (Pugachevskaya) tower
Built by swedes (under the direction of Jacob van Stendel) in 1582-1585.
What "1795" means - that I don't know
Though the fortress itself is considered to be the monument of the novgorod architecture if XIV century (the city used to be the "suburb" of Great Novgorod as well as, for instance, Oreshek, Koporie, Old Ladoga), however it was often rebuilt owing to the storms and fires.
The attacks of swedes were repulsed here in 1314, 1322, 1337 and 1338, and then in the XVI century. In 1610 the fortress was conquered (only a hundred citizens out of 3 thousands survived). The defense was directed by Ivan Mikhailovich Pushkin (the poet's ancestor).
In such a way Korela and the bordering lands happened to be under the rule of Sweden from 1617.
In 1710 (under Peter the I) swedes were defeated by our forces and gave up these territories forever.
From XVIII the fortress was used as the prison. Two wives of Pugachev and his children were imprisoned here. They served a term for about 30 years, after that they gave place to decembrists.
(the gates on the shot used to be padded with the swedish cuirasses, but then it was replaced with the usual one. The old gates is kept inside the tower)
In 1917 the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution on freedom of Finland (at its own instance).
Accordingly, the city passed to Finland. It was called Kyakisalmi then. And the border was not far from Lembolovo.
After the soviet-finnish war, according to the peace treaty of 1940 Karelian isthmus passed to the USSR (including the future Priozersk). At that the border was moved 100 kilometers away from Leningrad, and finns were deprived of the outlet to Ladoga.
During the Great Patriotic war the city was conquered again (from 1941) and then it was won back only in 1944.
That's how the fortress looks from inside.
The Round tower is in the left. Next to it is the Old Arsenal (contemporary of the tower). The white building in the right is the New Arsenal (including the powder magazine).
The museum of local lore has been situated in the New Arsenal (built in 1769-1776) since 1939, but on a closer examination it turned out to be closed (I don't know if it's forever or not). They invite you to see the exhibition of the wax figures (Belmondo, Schwartsnegger etc.) instead.
The Round tower from the opposite side
It was impossible to get inside but according to the TV reporting and pictures on the web it's rather interesting there.
The gates into the small building between the Old and the New Arsenals.
The fortress walls, view from inside the fortress
And such grooves (probably, concrete - at any case, look like modern) can be seen on the walls. I wonder, what are they for? Since the military functions of the fortress were lost long ago.
This little "pedestrian subway" leads through the wall. Its exit is closed with the bars, so you can't get out on the other side.
But it allowed me to take a couple of shots.
In reality it's absolutely dark there, but the exposure of 8 seconds works wonders :-)
1310 is the year of the new earthen banks construction. The fortress as such existed here before that.
The monument was established not far from the fortress on the 5th of May 2000 - in the memory of the battles for Karelian Isthmus.
The sign on the monument says: "Tank IC-3 of 1945 type. Established in the honor of the 55th anniversary of the Victory of soviet people in the Great Patriotic war of 1941-1945".
Also you can see the panorama shot inside the fortress.
The next album will contain some views of the city.
