Cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul of the Peter and Paul Fortress (photo tour). Peter and Paul Cathedral Vyborg clock tower

Somehow I never set out to get to the Bell Tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. I didn't really know that it was possible to get there. It's embarrassing, of course. It turns out that you can get there only with a guided tour and at a certain time (Tours start at 11.30 Moscow time, 13.00 Moscow time, 14.30 Moscow time, 16.00 Moscow time) The cost of tickets for adults is 130 rubles, students - 70 rubles, pensioners - 60 rubles. The number of tickets sold is limited .

The oldest church in St. Petersburg is Peter and Paul Cathedral. A small wooden church in the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul was founded on Hare Island a little more than a month after the founding of the city, on July 12 (June 29), 1703, and on April 14, 1704, it was completed and consecrated in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she was "a kind of cruciform and about three spitz, on which on Sundays and public holidays pennants were raised, it was painted in a stone look with yellow marble. "In 1712, when St. Petersburg became the capital of the Russian Empire, construction began on its place
stone Peter and Paul Cathedral designed by the first architect of the city Dominico Trezzini. Peter hurried the builders with the erection of the bell tower, and already in August 1721 he and his associates climbed the bell tower and admired the city under construction and the panorama of the banks of the Neva and the Gulf of Finland. Chamber junker F. V. Berkhholz, who visited St. Petersburg at that time, wrote in his diary: “The fortress church ... it has a bell tower in a new style, covered with copper, brightly gilded sheets, which are unusually good in sunlight. But inside this temple is not yet completely finished..

Work on the construction of the wooden spire was completed by the end of 1724, and at the same time, chimes were installed on the bell tower, bought by Peter I in 1720 in Holland for huge money at that time - 45,000 rubles. The historian Ruban says this about this clock: “there are 35 large and small sentry bells on this clock. Each bell has two hammers and one tongue. Clock chimes play with hammers, and noon chimes play with tongues, driven by human hands.

The top of the spire of the bell tower was crowned with the figure of the patron angel of the city. Domenico Trezzini proposed to install an angel on top of the bell tower. The architect made a drawing according to which the work was done. That angel was different from the one that exists now. It was made in the form of a weather vane, the figure of an angel held the axle with two hands, in which the turning mechanisms were placed.

authentic frame and turning mechanism of an 1858 weather vane angel.

The height of the Angel is 3.2 meters, and its wingspan is 3.8 meters.

Even the angel on the spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress could have looked different (in the photo - Trezzini's original drawing), and the fortress itself was taken at least three times - and in 1925, by the decision of the Leningrad City Council, it was almost demolished, like the Paris Bastille. Fortunately, the project of the stadium, which was going to be built in its place, was never approved.

The second angel of the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral died during a hurricane in 1778. A strong wind broke the figure, the turning mechanism was damaged. The third angel was designed by Antonio Rinaldi. He combined the center of gravity of the angel and the cross, now the figure did not "fly" holding the cross with both hands, but seemed to be sitting on it. In addition, the angel ceased to function as a weather vane. He continued to rotate under the influence of the wind, but the effort for this had to be applied much more. The rotation of the figure was now only necessary to reduce its windage. The construction of the cathedral itself continued until 1733 (21 years). In 1733 the cathedral was consecrated under the Empress Anna Ioannovna. The completion of the construction of the cathedral was led by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The grand opening and consecration of the cathedral took place on June 29, 1733.

The height of the bell tower is 122.5 meters. Volutes seem to serve as a continuation of the western wall, repeating the outlines of the decorative eastern wall. They create a smooth transition from the volume of the cathedral to the first tier of the bell tower; the outlines of the next two volumes of the bell tower, placed one on top of the other, smoothly pass through a small dome and a drum cut through by windows into a light, swift spire. The original height of the bell tower was 106 meters; in the 19th century, the wooden structure of the spire was replaced by a metal one. The spire was lengthened at the same time by 16 meters, which emphasized the slenderness of the bell tower, without violating the general proportional relationships.

The wooden spire did not have a lightning rod, and fires were repeatedly caused by lightning strikes. A particularly strong fire was on the night of April 29-30, 1756. The spire that caught fire collapsed, and the chimes perished. The fire engulfed the attics and the wooden dome (the iconostasis was quickly dismantled and carried out), the masonry of the walls gave cracks, and the bell tower was forced to be dismantled to the windows of the first tier.
In 1766, it was decided to restore the bell tower "... to do it exactly as it was before, since all other plans are not so beautiful." The work continued for 10 years. During the restoration, the size of the dome was reduced, the shape of the roof was simplified.

In 1776, a chiming clock was installed on the bell tower

The chimes of the Peter and Paul Cathedral are the oldest outdoor clock in the city of St. Petersburg.
It is almost a mechanical computer from the middle of the 18th century.
Every quarter they beat the quarter chime. Four different musical phrases.
Every hour they play the melody "How glorious is our Lord in Zion", and
every six hours - "God save the king."
And everything happens automatically!”

Empress Elizaveta Petrovna ordered the Chancellery to take care of the construction of court houses and gardens to create new clocks similar to those that had burned down. In a letter dated May 11, 1856, the Chairman of the Chancellery on the Construction, Count Fermor, asked the envoy to Holland, Privy Councilor Count Golovkin, to find ready-made clocks for placing them in the Peter and Paul Fortress. If it was not possible to find ready-made ones, it was supposed to order them again from the best masters. At that time, O. Crassus was very famous. It was he who in 1750 created the famous perpendicular clock for the elector in Cologne. The Governing Senate entrusted him with the creation of a new watch, ordering Count Golovkin to conclude a contract with him on the terms that Crassus submitted to the Governing Senate for consideration.

The contract was concluded on July 7, 1757, and O. Crass set to work. Already in November 1759, he notified Count Golovkin that by April next year the work on creating the clock mechanism would be fully completed and asked that by that time everything be ready in St. Petersburg for installing the clock on the Peter and Paul Bell Tower. In addition, Oort Krass expressed doubt that one apprentice would be enough for him to successfully install the clock on the bell tower, as was stipulated in the contract. Therefore, he asked Count Golovkin for permission to take four more apprentices to St. Petersburg and take their maintenance, as well as salaries, to the account of the Russian government. Count Golovkin agreed and on December 11, 1759 concluded an agreement with Crassus, which, due to the count's illness, was signed by his son and sealed with the seal of the embassy.

In 1760, as promised by the master Crassus, the clock was completely ready. After the clock arrived in Petersburg, Crassus was in for great grief. The bell tower, for which the clock was created, was not only not completed, but the construction did not even begin. Therefore, to accommodate the clock, it was decided to build a wooden house 4 soots wide. and a height of 6 ars. Oort Crassus was instructed by the office of the building to collect and force to put into action the entire complex huge mechanism, which was intended for a tower 26 sazhens high, in this small house. Therefore, many details that were created based on a high bell tower had to be completely redone.
Crassus was promised a reward only after the clock was set. The master stayed in St. Petersburg, spent all the money to maintain the mechanism in working condition, due to serious troubles in April 1764. Crassus fell very ill and died on May 27 of the same year .. So sadly ended his life in a foreign land, an outstanding mechanic who was known throughout Europe.
His death stopped the final setting of the clock for a long time. In 1765, a free watchmaker Johann Ridiger was found in St. Petersburg, who was instructed to assemble the clock and then install it on the bell tower. After inspecting the watch, Ridiger announced that the design of the watch was very successful and that it would take no more than 2 months to bring its movement into action. However, Ridiger's conditions were accepted by the Chancellery on the structure only in 1776.

At the end of 1776, the inhabitants of the capital again heard the music that they had lost in a fire exactly 20 years earlier. According to Ruban, the chime of the clock was as follows:
- half a quarter clock strikes a few bells a little;
- a quarter of an hour a few bells strike a small chime;
- for half an hour they play many bells a small chime in half a tone;
- the hour chimes play all the bells in full tone;
- a small bell is beaten for half an hour;
- at the end of the hour, the big bell is struck.

To this day, the clock mechanism has come down almost unchanged.

True, in 1856 it was overhauled, and minute hands were installed on the dials of the bell tower. Before that, it was possible to determine the time by the chimes only approximately: clockwise and a quarter chime. The only element that has been touched by technological progress is the mechanism for lifting weights, they set in motion musical drums and the clock itself. For almost two hundred years, four weights weighing 450 kilograms each were lifted by hand using a winch. Since the forties of the last century, this work has been performed by an electric motor.

In Soviet times, watches tried to teach new songs. Soviet ideologists could not allow the sound of “God Save the Tsar” to be heard over Leningrad. And from 1937, the chimes began to play the "Internationale", and from 1952 to 1989 - the anthem Soviet Union. True, not every hour, but only four times a day (at 6 am, at 12 noon, at 6 pm and at 12 am). In addition, apparently, for ideological reasons, the chiming mechanism was then connected not to the Dutch belfry, as it was before the revolution, but to the Russian one. On Russian bells, unlike Dutch ones, it is impossible to play melodies by notes. They "sound like a chord" and are intended exclusively for church chimes. Therefore, playing the "Internationale" and the anthem of the Soviet Union, the chimes were desperately out of tune. Then, for more than ten years, the chimes did not sing at all - they only chimed the time and quarter chimes.

The melodies originally intended for chimes resounded over Petropavlovka only five years ago.

But in 1830 there was a daredevil - a roofer Petr Telushkin. Having shown resourcefulness and fearlessness, he managed to climb the spire without any scaffolding with the help of ropes. At the base of the cross, he fixed a rope ladder and climbed the spire daily for six weeks to repair the figure of the angel and the cross.

In 1829, during a storm, the sheets were torn off the cross, and the wings of the angel were damaged. An expensive restoration with the preliminary construction of scaffolding was coming. At this time, the roofing master Pyotr Telushkin submitted a written statement that he undertakes to repair all the damage in the cross and the angel of the cathedral without building scaffolding. Telushkin, like a poor artisan, having no collateral required for contractors for construction work, “mortgaged,” as Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti put it, “his life to secure the work he had taken over.” He did not appoint a certain remuneration for his work, leaving the authorities to establish its value, but asked only for the issuance of 1471 rubles for the materials that he would need in the manufacture of repairs. Telushkin's proposal was accepted, although no one believed in a favorable outcome of his enterprise. Nevertheless, Telushkin did the job he had taken on, showing extraordinary physical strength, dexterity and quick wits.

For his work he was paid from one to five thousand rubles in banknotes. President of the Academy of Arts A.N. Olenin introduced Telushkin to Tsar Nicholas I, who rewarded the brave roofer with money and a silver medal on the Annensky ribbon with the inscription "For Diligence".

There is a legend that Telushkin was also presented with a letter, seeing which they were obliged to pour for free in any tavern, but he lost it; then he was given a special brand under his right cheekbone, on which Telushkin, when he came to a drinking establishment, snapped his fingers - from here a characteristic gesture denoting drinking alcohol allegedly went. The event described in the legend would be quite probable for the reign of Peter I, but it is unlikely for the reign of Nicholas I, so it is most likely an element of urban folklore.

In 1857 - 1858, the wooden structures of the spire were replaced with metal ones according to the project of the prominent scientist and engineer D. I. Zhuravsky. Metal structures were made in the Urals at the Votkinsk plant, they were transported in parts to St. Petersburg, partially assembled on the square in front of the cathedral, and then raised to the bell tower. The spire is made of a metal frame sheathed with gilded copper sheets. Its height was 47 meters, weight - 56 tons. Inside there is a staircase for 2/3 of the height, then there is an exit to the outside, brackets lead to the end of the spire. The total height of the spire with the cross and the figure of an angel was 122.5 meters. It is still the tallest architectural structure in St. Petersburg. The design is designed for vibrations in the horizontal plane up to 90 centimeters. Due to the rotation of the Earth, it sways constantly, but for all the time the spire has shifted to the side by only 3 centimeters. They replaced the figure of an angel, the figure slightly changed its appearance, it is in the form created then that you can see the angel to this day. When replacing the structures of the spire, the chimes are also reconstructed. A minute hand is added to the clock, the chimes are reconfigured to play two melodies ("How glorious is our Lord" and "God save the Tsar").

The multi-tiered bell tower of the cathedral is crowned with a spire upholstered in gilded copper sheets, which ends with a weather vane in the form of a figure of a flying angel with a cross. The Peter and Paul Cathedral is the tallest building in St. Petersburg, except for the tower of the TV center. The height of the cathedral is 122.5 meters, the height of the spire is 40 meters, the height of the figure of an angel is 3.2 meters, and its wingspan is 3.8 meters.

In the summer of 2001 in St. Petersburg, one of the most beautiful and powerful instruments in the world was installed on the bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul: 51 bells, designed for four octaves. Such a carillon was presented by Flanders to our city.

We still consider the word "carillon" foreign, although Peter I brought the first carillons from Holland to St. Petersburg - to the bell tower St. Isaac's Cathedral and to the Peter and Paul Fortress (both have not been preserved), - explained Sergey Alekseevich Starostenkov, vice-president of the Russian Bell Art Association, Researcher Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Peter the Great (Kunstkamera). - The second carillon for Petropavlovka was cast in 1760 and ceased to sound more than 150 years ago (now it is being restored). Both in Europe and in St. Petersburg, the same bells were used for playing by means of the keyboard (carillon) and for mechanical ringing (chimes). Therefore, contemporaries perceived the carillon as part of the chiming clock and called it differently: "playing clock", "playing machine", "manual chimes", "colossus that is controlled by hands and feet", "organ clock", etc.

The construction of a new, Flemish carillon began in 1994 on the initiative of Mr. Jo Haasen, director of the Royal Carillon School named after Jef Deneuin (Mechelen, Flanders, Kingdom of Belgium). He fell in love with our city so much that he not only married a Petersburger and learned Russian, but also raised 300 thousand dollars to make a carillon from 353 sponsors from all over the world - from Flanders, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, England, France, the USA, New Zealand and even Japan. The Belgian Queen Fabiola donated 1 million Belgian francs for the largest of the bells (diameter 1695 mm, weighs more than 3 tons!) , and ordinary Flemings gave one or two francs. Many bells were cast with private donations, including the smallest one (diameter 190 mm, weight 10.3 kg). Bell number 31 bears the name of Jo Haazen and his wife Natasha - as well as other donors. Among the sponsors are several Russian ones, including Mikhail Peskov, soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra. In the Royal Bell Foundry "Petit & Fritzen" (Netherlands), whole slogans were also cast on the bells, for example: "Let this bell ring for the glory of Russia!" Eternal memory to the Russians and Flemings who fell in Krasnoe Selo in the war of 1941-1945" (note: they fought on opposite sides of the front ...).

Most of all in St. Petersburg I love the Peter and Paul Fortress. The air is cleaner here, the atmosphere is different, the water is different, the people are different, with a different mentality, - expressively explains Jo Haazen. - Some kind of mysticism ... Maybe it's all because of the angel on the spire. Maybe because of the extraordinary beauty! Or maybe due to the fact that my last name is translated into Russian as "Zaitsev" - that's why Zayachy Island is especially close to me ...

The carillon is not a Catholic instrument, but a secular instrument, Mr. Jo Haazen explained. - You can play different melodies on the carillon: original baroque music, romantic music of the 19th century and modern rhythms, music of the 20th century, even folklore motifs ... My favorite music is from the opera "Prince Igor" by Borodin, and many, I know, like lyrical melodies. And the carillon has such a wide range of sound that it allows you to play any music. We have carillon concerts in Mechelen on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, it has long become a city tradition. I hope that soon the same tradition will appear in St. Petersburg - carillon concerts in the Peter and Paul Fortress will become regular, I will do my best for this.

Now on the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral there is a unique building, the only one in the world, with three levels of ringing: two carillons (new Flemish and old Dutch, XVIII century, its 18 bells will soon "work" as chimes) and an Orthodox belfry, 22 more bells, about hundreds of bells!

Above the carillon is the so-called church bell or, as it is mistakenly called, the “Russian belfry”, although the belfry is not a set of bells, but a bell-bearing structure, made in the form of a wall with bells hanging on it.

The bell ringing of the Peter and Paul Cathedral includes one of the heaviest surviving historical bells of St. Petersburg - a 5-ton evangelist. This bell was cast under Nicholas II in Gatchina at the Lavrov bell foundry and brought to the cathedral. And at the same plant, medium and small bells of Russian bell ringing were cast.

Due to some circumstances that are not clear to us now, the church bell ringing Peter and Paul Cathedral and before the revolution was in some desolation. Many bells were broken, many hung uselessly. And the ringing itself was quite "motley". The history of the largest bell is interesting. It was cast from an old bell cast under Tsars Ioann Alekseevich and Pyotr Alekseevich around the 80s of the 17th century. By the will of Tsar Peter the Great, he was moved from somewhere to the new capital, St. Petersburg.

Russian bells adapted for performance melodies of the anthem of the Soviet Union

Big Annunciation Bell clock hammer attached to it

The bell set of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is one of the few that survived after the revolution, and in fact most of the bells were melted down in the late 20s and early 30s. The "second wave" of the death of bells - the years of the so-called "thaw", they are also the period of exacerbation of the persecution of the Church.

It is difficult to say why the bells were preserved in the Cathedral of Peter and Paul. Perhaps they hung too high. Or maybe they were not of particular value for remelting: their total weight is only 8 or 9 tons, which is not much.

Above the Russian church bells, in an octagonal superstructure under the spire, there is another completely unique set of bells - the Dutch tuned chimes of the middle - late XVIII century, during the reign of Catherine II.

Under the Soviet regime, it was decided that the clock of the Peter and Paul Cathedral should play the anthem of the Soviet Union - "Unbreakable Union of Free Republics." But the local party organs forbade the anthem to be performed on the upper bells, specially tuned for the performance of hourly melodies, because they considered it a flagrant disgrace to perform the USSR anthem on foreign-made bells.

And an unheard-of decision was made: for the performance of the melody of the anthem of the Soviet Union, to adapt the bells of the Russian church ringing. They were added in quantity, outweighed, undermined, connected to a specially made clock mechanism ... A hammer was attached to a large 5-ton evangelist - and it struck the clock. For the first time the anthem of the USSR was performed on these bells in 1952.

The first clock-chimes appeared on the first wooden Peter and Paul Church built in 1703-04. Actually, the clock itself was intended for the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Moscow, but if Peter decided to move the capital closer to the borders of his possessions, then the clock was ordered to be delivered to St. Petersburg and placed in the bell tower ... However, the life of the first St. Petersburg clock-chimes was short-lived ...
For reference: in those years, the clock was significantly different from what we are used to now - the dial was divided into 17 parts, the minute hand, as such, was absent (what for, you ask?), the battle was made by one large bell and several small bells. Watches were an indispensable attribute of developed cities.

In 1714, the construction of the stone Peter and Paul Cathedral began under the strict guidance of the architect Domenico Trezzini. For the new bell tower, Peter I acquires another clock in Holland during his last trip to Europe. Soon they are installed on the bell tower by watchmaker Andrey Ferzen, but ... the office, considering that the artisans no longer need to be kept at the clock (and what will happen to them, with the clock, then?), They fire everyone and the clock mechanism, having lost proper care, soon breaks down. .. This is what Trezzini addresses to the Office of City Affairs: “It is now necessary to disassemble and repair the large clock that is placed on the bell tower of the Holy Church of Peter and Paul, for which cleaning is necessary for weapons ... blacksmiths who used to be in that case or the other four man at the request of the watchmaker Andrey Ferzen".

We immediately stumble upon the graves of the royal relatives. These were buried during the life of Peter - the second grave of the son of the king - Alexei Petrovich.

Where do you think the tradition of burying those close to power in the walls came from?))
Interestingly, the clock installed on the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral was equipped with a special mechanism - a carillon, with which various melodies could be played on the bells. The word "chimes" comes from the French word "carillon" meaning a set of bells of different sizes and systems. The bells were placed on the bell tower, and were connected to the mechanism of the clock tower or the keyboard by a cable system.
The clock of the Peter and Paul Cathedral had 35 bells, and all of them had two hammers and one tongue - that is, the clock itself, the carillon and the bell ringer issued a separate chime. Russian bells were not suitable for carillon, so all the bells were cast in Holland.

Rising even higher...

In 1756, the wooden spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral burned down, and with it the bells and chimes burned down. Queen Elizaveta Petrovna, who ruled at that time, ordered Count G.I. Golovkin to find and buy a finished watch or order a mechanism from some master. Soon, the enterprising Golovkin finds watchmaker Bernard Ootkras in Holland and concludes a contract with him for the manufacture of clocks for the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. If the master had known that now his whole life would become a complete nightmare, he would have run away from the strange Russian and his no less strange and amazing proposal...

But, having a different mentality, Oortkras meticulously, scrupulously, completed the order on time. On April 22, 1760, the watch was examined and found fit for use. August 28, 1760, on a chartered Dutch ship "Frau Maria", Oortkras delivers them to St. Petersburg.

And, finally, we reach a height of 16 meters from the ground (or from sea level?) - there is a small exhibition on the history of the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral - right in front of us is the skeleton of an angel on the spire. The frame is completely real. The angel stood for about 140 years and was completely replaced by the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg

According to the terms of the contract, the terms of work on the clock were strictly stipulated, but upon arrival at the installation site, it suddenly turns out that there is no trace of the bell tower yet. The clock (so that the mechanism would not deteriorate) was placed in a small wooden house, which was built especially for them on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress, but, as usual, everything went wrong - either there were not enough boards, or they were stolen ... The house turned out to be much less than expected. The oversized watch barely fit in it. On top of that, Oortkras was ordered to wind up the clock in order to check its performance. Reluctantly, fulfilling the terms of the contract, the master rebuilds the house at his own expense and carries out all the manipulations with the mechanism.

From here begins the staircase inside the bell tower itself.

In order for the stubborn Dutchman to behave more quietly, he was assigned as an overseer, the watchmaker Drunk Miller, who experienced professional envy of his talented colleague and could not forgive the master that the order for the manufacture of chimes "floated" from his hands. In every possible way preventing Oortkras from working, unscrupulously accusing him of theft, incompetence, laziness and negligence, Miller ensured that the master was no longer paid a salary. As a result, Oortkras worked for free for two years and died in poverty from nervous exhaustion on May 27, 1764, without ever seeing his brainchild on the bell tower.

After the death of its creator, the clock lay idle for several years. In 1776, they were entrusted to the Viennese watchmaker Rediger, who completed them, noting that "they do honor to their creator." In the same year, the chimes were placed in the tower, and from that time on, the inhabitants of St. Petersburg began to hear the chimes emitted by the clock. The chimes worked without any significant intervention and repair for almost 64 years.

16 meters above ground, balcony above the colonnade of the west porch.
Pay attention to the swastika.))

There is a legend that before the start of the war (the Great Patriotic War), intelligence reported to Hitler about this beauty at the cathedral in the very center of the city of Leningrad. Hitler sees this good sign, forbade shooting at the cathedral on pain of death, which was done. Of course, random shells hit the territory of the fortress, but the cathedral remained intact.
True or false - who knows - correct!
In 1854, the clock was pulled out of the bell tower, the spire of which, by that time, had tilted significantly. They were placed until better times in the Kronverk bastion. In 1857, the architect D.I. Zhuravsky began to replace the wooden spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral with a metal one, with a partial reconstruction of the lower dome of the bell tower, on which the chimes were placed. And since the watch, which had already served for over 81 years, did not have a major overhaul, it was decided to carry it out. Leading watch companies in Russia tried to get this order, but Zhuravsky preferred the Butenop Brothers firm. The company undertook to fix, update and improve the mechanism, install minute hands (which simply did not exist), make an internal dial on which one could put the hands on the outside. A new pendulum was made and the bell ring was reconstructed.

October 29, 1858 the clock was installed on the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The manufacturer left a two-year warranty on them, as well as detailed instructions for use, settings and amendments - in Russian.
After 48 years of continuous operation, the clock was again repaired, which lasted from June 26 to July 12, 1906. After the 1917 coup, the clock was stopped.
The revolutionary-minded masses, under the leadership of the composer M.I. Chulaki, tried to set them up for the performance of the Internationale, but failed ... the bells were mechanically processed, due to which some of them were ruined.

In 1947, steeplejacks carried out work on the automation of the winding of the clock-chimes, which until that time were wound manually, with the help of several healthy serfs or, later, prisoners of the fortress. The plant was enough for a day.
At the same time, quarter chimes were launched and, in fact, the striking of the clock, tying the chimes to the lower, so-called "Russian" belfry.
The melody performance mechanism was launched in 2002. The “Russian” belfry was given to the ringers, and the clock began to “play” the Dutch bells, on the “Dutch” belfry, which is located just above the clock faces. Every hour, the chimes play the melody "How glorious is our Lord in Zion", and every six - "God save the king." Because of this motive, the Bolsheviks at one time, violently shot dials and bells with rifles. In some places there were holes and marks - for a long, good memory ...

Left below.

And we are going higher. Staircase to the "Russian" belfry...

And above - in hours.

Russian bells - now only the ringer plays them.

Small bells on the "Russian" belfry.

Clock mechanism. Size rather big - 3 x 3 meters!
Located at a height of 45 meters from the ground, indoors. The room temperature is maintained positive around the clock, with the help of several thermal fans, otherwise the clock freezes and starts to behave unpredictably.

The inscription "the clock was remade in 1858 by the Butenop brothers in Moscow" is clearly visible - for overhaul they were dismantled and sent in parts to Moscow. I can hardly imagine how they were pulled out and then, lifted and collected. You must have unmeasured strength, and heroic health - after all, there is no elevator in the bell tower.)) Up and down - everything is on the stairs ...

A gear that tracks the sound of a large hour bell.

Inner dial added by the Butenop brothers in order to see the position of the hands on the outdoor dials, of which there are four pieces, oriented to the cardinal points. One floor above there is a distribution mechanism.

Escape gear and balancer - do not let the clock rush.

Another gear.

Well, it was necessary to come up with this ... It doesn’t fit in my head. Everything here is quite complicated, but it works like clockwork.))

Bass drum melodies centrifugal regulator. Before starting to play hourly melodies, the mechanism cocks itself and begins to rotate at a frantic speed. This crap kills speed. When it breaks for some reason, it starts to gouge several times faster, it turns out some kind of parody of the chimes.

Centrifuge from the snare drum in charge of the quarter beat.

The quarter beat drum is a kind of music box.

The music box is more serious. Drum with dialed melodies "How glorious is our Lord in Zion" and "God Save the Tsar".

Well, everything seems to be ... it's time to say goodbye to the clock, I'm going down, but then I notice one more interesting detail ...

Behind the clock is a spiral staircase to the switchgear, and in front of it is one of eight internal rods that support the spire in a vertical position.

She's closer...

And eight more rods inside the wall (they are considered external). The engineering genius of Dmitry Zhuravsky, who replaced the wooden spire with a metal structure, built on the principle of bridge trusses, still arouses genuine admiration. After all, if for some reason the spire deviates from its vertical axis, it can always be returned to its previous position with the help of ...

Here is this sickly wrench)))
But they have never been used. The construction of the spire is very durable. In strong winds, which St. Petersburg is famous for, the spire, together with the angel-weather vane, "walks" about half a meter on the sides.

Well, I got out of the cathedral.

London's Big Ben, the Prague Eagle, the Kremlin chimes and many of their equally famous counterparts in the "watch shop" in many cities around the world adorn towers, palaces, stations and squares. And they do not just decorate, but help the ever-hurrying residents of megacities to find out the most accurate (well, or almost exact) time. Of course, the Northern capital of Russia can rightfully be proud of the masterpieces of watchmaking masters - both ancient and quite modern. Let's name the most famous chimes of present-day St. Petersburg.

Clock of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

It was here, in the Peter and Paul Fortress, on the now non-existent wooden church in 1704, the first outdoor mechanical clock in Russia appeared, the mechanism for which was made by the Russian master Nikifor Arkhipov. These were “still those” chimes - their main bell beat the time every hour, and weighed more than two hundred pounds. But Peter, who prefers everything European, replaced this clock in 1720 with a clock brought from Holland, with 35 bells. But, alas, they died in a fire in 1756, along with the bell tower on which they were installed.

However, the Peter and Paul Fortress did not remain without chimes. In 1760, in Holland, a new watch was bought from master Bernard Oort Krase, which was delivered to St. Petersburg. True, they were installed only in 1776. And since that time, the inhabitants of St. Petersburg began to hear (and still hear) their famous chimes.

I must say that the clock worked properly, being repaired only in 1858 and 1906. But after the October Revolution, they stopped, not submitting to the "revolutionary will", which tried to impose on them the execution of the "Internationale". This had to be done in 1937. In 1947, the chimes, which had suffered during the war, were repaired, the steeplejacks carried out work to automate their "factory", which until that time was carried out manually once a day. And from 1952 to 1989, the clock played the anthem of the USSR: at 6, 12, 18 hours and at midnight. Then they were silent for more than a dozen years, beating only time and quarter chimes.

And in 2002, over the Peter and Paul Fortress, the melodies originally intended for watches sounded again: “How glorious is our Lord in Zion” and the anthem of the Russian Empire (1833-1917) “God save the Tsar, strong, sovereign, reign for glory ...”.

Where are: Peter and Paul Fortress, Cathedral Square, 1

Clock on the tower of the Main Admiralty

In 1711, a clock appeared on the tower of the Main Admiralty, which served the city faithfully for more than a century. And the clock we know today, made by the well-known St. Petersburg firm Friedrich Winter, was installed only in 1869. Then the mechanism in the clock was connected to the bells that chimed. So it was in the full sense of the word chimes. Their mechanism worked until 1907, the time when it was stopped in order to connect the dial to new electrical appliances.

During the blockade, the clock on the tower of the Main Admiralty did not work. But already in 1944, their shooters "ran" again. It should be noted that these clocks are perceived rather than as a means of telling the residents of the city the exact time, but as a wonderful element of decor, just like the clock on the pediment of the Winter Palace.

Where are: Admiralteisky pr., 1.

Clock on the tower of the City Council

According to some reports, the tower erected by Giacomo Ferrari already initially had a clock. Which ones are unknown. It is only known that when F. Trepov, who held the position of mayor in the 70s of the 19th century, suddenly decided to organize night lighting of these clocks, they were examined and found out that the clock had fallen into absolute disrepair. And this means that they urgently needed to be replaced with new ones.

New chimes in June 1883 and ordered the master Friedrich Winter. The contract was such that if the clock made by the watchmaker began to fall behind by more than two minutes per month, he was to be fined. Winter himself wound up the watch mechanism - for 50 rubles a year. The chimes "celebrated" not only every hour, but also "quarter", that is, 15 minutes. The clock was distinguished by its precise movement and melodic chime of bells.

It is known that the clock was repaired several times, but already in Soviet times. The state of emergency was also connected with them, which the newspapers of that time dubbed "the clinical death of the main Leningrad avenue." This is when one drunken comrade entered the clock tower and for some reason unscrewed the nut from the clock mechanism. The nut was put back in place.

But today the clock on the tower is still running, and with a rate deviation of no more than 30 seconds per week. And this is despite the fact that the current mechanism basically retained the old design. The clock is still driven by a chain structure with weights located in a 20-meter-deep shaft. One "factory" watch is enough for a week. Moreover, even today you can hear the sound of these chimes. True, at a very close distance. After all, today's Nevsky is far from the quietest place.

Where are: Nevsky prospect, 33/Dumskaya street, 1-3

Clock on the arch of the General Staff Building

It is impossible to ignore the city clock under the arch of the General Staff building due to their history and uniqueness. They were installed in 1890 as mechanical by the same firm "F. Winter. But with the advent of the new century, their fate changed dramatically. In 1900, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, who was the custodian scientist for the Main Chamber of Measures and Weights, proposed to install an electric mechanism in this clock, synchronized with the reference clock of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures. This project has been implemented. The synchronizing electrical signal was transmitted over a specially laid cable several kilometers long.

It should be noted that the modern clock on the arch of the General Staff building has a Swiss mechanism, donated to the city for the 300th anniversary. Two huge dials, 2 meters in diameter each, are today an adornment of the Northern capital and another opportunity for St. Petersburg residents and guests of the city to “check their watches”.

Where are: Palace Square, 6-10.

Clock on the tower of the Moscow railway station

Where else is a watch always urgently needed? That's right - at the station. And when in 1851 the construction of the Nikolayevsky (later Moskovsky) Station, built for the needs of the railway connecting St. Petersburg and Moscow, was completed, it became obvious that a very important architectural accent in the appearance of the new building is the quadrangular tower above the entrance. Of course, with a watch on it. By the way, the clockwork with the bell was made by the same notorious firm “F. Winter. For those who were late for the train, the clock tower not only indicated the exact time, but also the direction of the main entrance.

Where are: Nevsky prospect, 85.

Clock on the tower of Vitebsk railway station

When in 1904, according to the project of the academician of architecture S.A. Brzhozovsky, a modern building of the Vitebsk railway station was built in the “modern” style, then the “clock tower” was also not forgotten, and, of course, the clock on it. She decorates left side the main, northern, facade of the building overlooking Zagorodny Prospekt. In the niches of the tower, owls comfortably “settled down”, spreading their wings over the clock faces.

Where are: Zagorodny avenue, 52.

Electronic clock-barometer on Malaya Konyushennaya

This miracle mechanism appeared quite recently - only at the end of the 90s of the last century - at the time when Malaya Konyushennaya Street was being equipped, turning it into a pedestrian zone. This modern watch is so charming that it certainly deserves attention. In addition, they are also unique, as their elegant cabinet contains a barometer, thermometer and clock at the same time.

Where are: st. Malaya Konyushennaya.

Clock-fountain "Flood"

As a matter of fact, this is not a city clock in its purest form, since it is not located on a building, street or square, but in the atrium of the Petrovsky Fort business center. But this is a unique clock of our city! Therefore, we simply cannot pass by them.

So, the fountain clock "Flood", having a dial diameter of 6 m, was made by the company "Chronotron" for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg and installed in 2003 in the newly opened business center "Petrovsky Fort". The design of the “Flood” watch was developed by the honored architect of Russia V. Struzman, the chief artist of St. Petersburg I. Uralov, as well as architects V. Shprits, A. Mikhalev, artists S. Repin, V. Sukhov, N. Fomin.

In fact, we have a fountain in front of us: the clock itself is installed in its bowl at an angle of 13 degrees to the horizon in such a way that part of the rotating map of St. It is believed that this is the largest clock in the world. Until now, the clock in Maruyama Park (Kasai, Japan) was considered the largest.

Where are: business center "Petrovsky Fort", the intersection of Pirogovskaya embankment and Finlyandsky prospect.

What melody is played by the clock - chimes at the Peter and Paul Cathedral - name and who is the author?

The chimes of the Peter and Paul Cathedral are the oldest outdoor clock in the city of St. Petersburg.
It is almost a mechanical computer from the middle of the 18th century.
Every quarter they beat the quarter chime. Four different musical phrases.
Every hour they play the melody "How glorious is our Lord in Zion", and
every six hours - "God save the king."
And everything happens automatically!”

The well-known Dutch watchmaker Bernard Oorto Krass made and brought to St. Petersburg chimes and a set of bells in 1761. True, the master did not have to see his creation in action. The construction of the stone bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, instead of the burnt wooden one, turned into a long-term construction. Crassus was promised a reward only after the clock was set. The master remained in St. Petersburg, spent all his money on maintaining the mechanism in working condition, and a few years later died in poverty. The chimes were launched only in 1776.

To this day, the clock mechanism has come down almost unchanged.

True, in 1856 it was overhauled, and minute hands were installed on the dials of the bell tower. Before that, it was possible to determine the time by the chimes only approximately: clockwise and a quarter chime. The only element that has been touched by technological progress is the mechanism for lifting weights, they set in motion musical drums and the clock itself. For almost two hundred years, four weights weighing 450 kilograms each were lifted by hand using a winch. Since the forties of the last century, this work has been performed by an electric motor.

In Soviet times, watches tried to teach new songs. Soviet ideologists could not allow the sound of “God Save the Tsar” to be heard over Leningrad. And since 1937, the chimes began to play the "Internationale", and from 1952 to 1989 - the anthem of the Soviet Union. True, not every hour, but only four times a day. In addition, apparently, for ideological reasons, the chiming mechanism was then connected not to the Dutch belfry, as it was before the revolution, but to the Russian one. On Russian bells, unlike Dutch ones, it is impossible to play melodies by notes. They "sound like a chord" and are intended exclusively for church chimes. Therefore, playing the "Internationale" and the anthem of the Soviet Union, the chimes were desperately out of tune. Then, for more than ten years, the chimes did not sing at all - they only beat the time and quarter chimes.

The melodies originally intended for chimes resounded over Petropavlovka only five years ago.

No, I won't tell you about Peter and Paul Fortress or myself Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. To do this, you need to deeply understand history. I, as an ordinary tourist, had an amazing opportunity to climb observation deck Belfry of the Peter and Paul Cathedral and I got up. In this article, I would like to, so to speak, lend you my eyes for a while. Just look, admire those amazing views that open from a height. Perhaps, when you yourself find yourself in St. Petersburg, you will also want to climb the bell tower, because not a single photograph conveys the fullness of the atmosphere of soaring "above the city". In the meantime... are you ready to climb? Then follow me!

Spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral hard not to notice. It can be seen from almost anywhere in the historical part of the city. Of course, it does not shine through the walls of houses, but you will go out onto the banks of the Neva and - here it is! Height - 122 meters!

Being in St. Petersburg for the first time after a forty-year absence, without knowing the rules, I did not even imagine that you could even enter the Peter and Paul Fortress, let alone climb the bell tower. No wonder I thought so. It was enough to stumble upon two closed doors:

to understand that the entrance there is either completely closed to mere mortals, or it is available only to some special people, or for a lot of money. Over time, it became clear that the gates at that particular moment were closed only because I rushed to the Peter and Paul Fortress at 6 o'clock in the morning.

In fact, the entrance to the territory is completely free. A detailed overview of the territory of the complex will be presented in a separate article, but now let's move on to the topic observation deck on the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

When, wandering not far from the mint, I suddenly noticed a man upstairs, I had the idea that if he could somehow find himself there, next to the bells, then maybe I could somehow succeed?

Here, on the square in front of the bell tower, I made this unexpected discovery. By the way, pay attention to the benches - this is a place where you can listen to the sound of a very special musical instrument - carillon. A little later we will see him and listen to the music, but for now, just so you know. A carillon is a musical instrument with a keyboard whose sounding parts are bells.

And then in the window under the clock I suddenly saw a man. Yes, look, he is looming there now!

Overwhelmed by a timid hope for the seemingly unattainable, I walked across the square straight to the entrance to the cathedral. They immediately made me happy: Yes, you can go up, but for this you must first buy a ticket to the cathedral itself (450 rubles), and then, after going inside, buy another ticket to the bell tower (150 rubles).

In vain, foaming at the mouth, I exhorted the aunt at the turnstile that the cathedral itself did not interest me very much, but I needed to "go there, upstairs." The attendant was as impregnable as the Trubetskoy Bastion and sent me for a ticket.

No matter how sorry it was to part with the money that was prepared for a snack in the canteen, I had to choose - either daily food, or spiritual food. Based on the fact that you are reading this report, it is not difficult to guess what exactly outweighed that wonderful autumn evening.

Tickets were sold in a separate building, which has a strange name " Botny house".

Yes Yes. Here is this yellow building with columns (entrance from reverse side). Thinking about the origin of such a strange name, at first I thought that everyone was "booted" there, or at least "bottomed" used to be. In practice, it turned out that inside, oddly enough, there is a real boat, albeit a small one. It's nothing but Boat of Peter I. After the end of the Northern War in 1721, Peter I decided to transfer his small boat to St. Petersburg. First, a simple shed was built for him, and then a whole building was built.

Moreover, the building was first built, and then they began to think, "how can we now drag this boat inside?" Naturally, she did not pass through doors and windows. I had to dismantle a part of the wall and drag the "grandfather of the Russian fleet" - that was the name of the Botik of Peter I - into the room through the resulting opening. In a word, they did everything right :). And it's still a common thing to this day. First we do, then we think.

And here he is - Botik:

In fact, this fragile little ship has a very interesting story. Unfortunately, within the framework of this article it is impossible to cover it completely. Therefore, if you are interested, ask Wikipedia. Everything is written there briefly, but clearly.

In addition to the bot itself, the building has an extensive trade in souvenirs. And what is not here:

It's nice that you can pay by card. An unpleasant moment - the prices here are simply indecent. There is also a ticket office here. Here are the prices valid until the end of October 2016:

I immediately realized how important have information. The fact is that up to this point I had already visited the Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocketry, paying 150 rubles for admission. Now, to visit the cathedral, I had to pay another 450 rudders. That is, together it already turns out - 600.

For the same price, one could buy a so-called "complex ticket" and visit several more interesting expositions. A combined ticket does not have to be used on the same day. It is valid for two days and allows you to visit all these museums once. Alas, I did not know about this, therefore, without knowing it, I limited my possibilities. And to myself and to you, because I can not show reports on other exhibitions. I'll be smarter next time. And you also keep in mind.

The same applies to excursions in St. Petersburg. It is important to know where to buy them so as not to overpay intermediaries.

Ascent to the observation deck of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

But now, finally, all the formalities have been settled, the ticket to the Peter and Paul Cathedral is in hand. It's time to go. Unfortunately, my ascent took place in the late afternoon, so the pictures that you will see from a height will be more evening.

Here let me give you one important piece of advice. If one of the goals of your ascent to the bell tower is photography, then it is better for you to climb from morning to afternoon. At this time, the sun illuminates the part of the panorama that you can photograph. After lunch, the sun will shine in your eyes and you may not get good photos. In any case, the lighting will no longer be so interesting.

Let's go! It all starts with the fact that you pass through the turnstile. There your ticket will be redeemed, and you yourself will have two plans for the further development of events.

1. You immediately go straight to the Peter and Paul Cathedral
2. You buy another ticket to the bell tower, first go there, and then to the cathedral.

A ticket to the bell tower is bought on the spot and costs an additional 150 rubles.

After buying a ticket (attention! cards are not accepted here!) You can start climbing on your own. It's comfortable. The fact is that you can still climb to the observation deck on the bell tower as part of an organized tour. I already felt what a crowd of people in a confined space is on the example of climbing the bell tower of the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral. Therefore, the prospect of independent ascent more than suited me.

First, the ascent goes along a narrow corridor:

Of course, here the passage is wider than, say, in Pereslavl-Zalessky. There certainly two people can not disperse! The Peter and Paul Bell Tower is a little more spacious, but in any case, a group of people will have to move in single file.

In total, we have to overcome about 270 steps to the observation deck. I won’t say more precisely, while I was counting, I lost it a couple of times, but total number something like this. To imagine such a staircase, try walking up to the 13th floor of a high-rise building. For some people, this is not an easy task. It's good that you can climb in several stages. The first room that we will meet on the way is the "attic" of the bell tower. Here is an exposition on the history of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Here, for example, you can find out that initially the statue of an angel on the spire of the bell tower was conceived quite differently than the one we are used to seeing. You can see the frame of the statue in full size:

Just here, in the attic, I was met by a young man who checked and tore up my ticket. Further, for some reason, he followed me until the moment when I left the tower. Probably we, tourists, still need to be looked after. And then we are! Suddenly, God forbid, we touch the bell, but this cannot be done in any way. Appropriate strict declarations are found here at every turn.

In principle, he did not interfere with me, he did not sniff over my ear, he simply stood aside and "was present." However, to survey the panorama of the city under the supervision of an attendant, who is only waiting, "until this idiot has seen enough and taken pictures" was somehow uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I completed the filming program completely. I shot everything that I was going to, with all the lenses that are in this case were appropriate. You'll see for yourself soon.

Pay attention to the steps of the stairs. Each of them has an overlay made of natural stone. On the one hand, this is good - they are more durable. On the other hand, they are polished with the soles of more than one million feet. Therefore, be careful and try to hold on to the handrails. Under adverse conditions, you can slip.

During the ascent at this stage in the middle of the room we will be accompanied by a massive wooden frame. It stretches in the middle of the tower and goes somewhere up:

After passing a few more spans, we can consider a musical curiosity. This is Carillon. A musical instrument made from bells connected to a keyboard mechanism. By the way, what do you think is the name of the musician who plays the carillon? The trumpeter plays the trumpet, the drummer plays the drum. We also know guitarists, harpists, violinists, etc. Who plays the carillon? I give you a few paragraphs to think about.

This is what this rarest musical instrument looks like (I could not resist taking a kind of selfie with a carillon :):

51 bells with a total weight of 15 tons are installed on a massive frame. However, you can read more about this tool on the plate:

From myself I can add the following amusing information. When this carillon was installed in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, it suddenly became clear that there was no one to play it. And even send no one to study. The Peter and Paul Fortress "does not have a full-time carilloner." By the way, here is the answer: a carillonaire is a musician who plays the carillon.

I'm afraid to assume the worst, but it is not there now. Therefore, concerts of carillon music are performed by an ordinary "boy" who simply selects the next melody on a smartphone. So, the music that you will hear in the next video is not played by a person, but by a Samsung smartphone according to a predetermined program. I have seen it happen myself.

Video. Concert of carillon music (to tear off your hands)

The quality of performance, of course, does not stand up to criticism. I'm not going to claim. Maybe this is not always the case. Maybe in the season the maestro in a tailcoat really rises here and captivates the onlookers gathered below with his art. Alas, I saw a slightly different approach to business.

To prevent visitors from falling down and being killed by the bells of the carillon, in addition to the railing, a net is additionally stretched along the stairs. Higher and higher we rise inside the tower. Looking out the windows we are in a state of pleasant excitement. After all, very soon we will be on the observation deck and see this !!!

That is the end goal of our journey. I confess at first, when I saw the closed staircase, I was a little confused:

It turned out that we were on the platform, which is on the left. This is where the fun began.

The first thing that surprised me very much, and not to say pleasantly, is the grid. She covered the entire opening through which one could admire the city:

It is clear that the height is large - 43 meters. Probably theoretically possible to fall. But... it was so unexpected! To be honest, I was not prepared for this turn of events. During my travel history, I have repeatedly climbed the high bell towers (Previous in Suzdal, Bogoyavlenskaya in Pereslavl-Zalessky), there also existed a theoretical possibility to fall down.

But nowhere did you have to look at the landscape through the Rabitz grid. What is there to see. And how do you order to take pictures through it?

The second ambush - of the four "windows" facing in different directions of the horizon, you can only approach one. For the rest, unfortunately, the passage is closed.

I thought, now I’ll shoot a full 360-degree panorama of St. Petersburg, as I once did in Suzdal. And here, not only is only one window available, they also pulled the grid! In a word, on the observation deck of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, I had to, pardon the banality, descend from heaven to earth.

Stumbling in indecision, I decided at least something, at least somehow to photograph. Just to show that I really was here. First, I clicked a little on the inside of the bell tower:

Out of frustration, he decided to break the ban and touched the tongue of the bell. It was at this point that I noticed that there was a gap in the reticle where I could fit my 77mm lens. By the way, it - this gap - is a little visible in the previous photo. See, on the background of the river on the left? True, the hole was clearly made by some midget. It was at my waist level. But... you know, sometimes to do good photos people go to more serious hardships. I had to shoot in a "G" shape.

What to say: art requires sacrifice (and destruction). I attached the correct lens to the camera and the work began to boil. Next you will see a number of photos taken from the observation deck. In fact, there are many more. The best ones have just been selected.

This is the famous St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Admiralty and the Palace Bridge across the Neva. On the right side, you can barely see the monument to Peter I on horseback:

This is Birzhevoy Bridge, Makarov Embankment, in the foreground is a horseshoe-shaped building - the Archives Building (on the site of the Secret House):

This is the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island - the place where the Neva is divided into two large branches. It turns out the Neva (goes to the left) and Malaya Neva (to the right, from where the Meteor floats):

Saint Isaac's Cathedral. Alas, the top is under restoration. In the foreground - the Admiralty and the Palace Bridge:

Here is the same view, but already taken with a telephoto lens. Here you can see the stairs, along which the tourists climb to the observation deck of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Alas, this time I didn’t get to it (but I promise to improve):

One of the famous Rostral columns. It is interesting that at the very top there are gas burners that are lit on holidays. In one of the following articles, I will show you the burner up close, but for now, look at the Rostral Column from a distance:

Ships sail along the Neva every now and then, bringing variety to the landscape:

This photo shows the stadium on Krestovsky Island. It will not be completed by the 2018 FIFA World Cup. On the right is the future skyscraper - the Lakhta Center. When it is built to the end, you will get the tallest building in Europe with a height of about 460 meters:

Here are some more photos of St. Petersburg in the evening:

And here are the guns from which the famous midday shot is fired. This tradition is very old. In 1865, exactly at noon on February 6 (18), the first midday shot was fired in St. Petersburg. Moreover, at first, a signal gun was installed in the courtyard of the Admiralty. In 1872 it was transferred to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

In general, the very first midday shots were fired in Sevastopol and Nikolaev as early as 1819. Their goal was not to scare the crows at all, as it might seem, but to give a clear signal, according to which clocks on ships and in the admiralty were compared.

The right to fire a midday shot is sometimes granted to especially honored guests of the city. Since I am still very far from such a status, I have to limit myself to a simple contemplation of two guns.

Descent from the observation deck of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

You can stay here for a very long time. In general, it would be interesting to climb here several times - at night, in the morning, in the afternoon, in different weather. For all the immutability of the landscape, the pictures will be interesting in their own way every time. But then the moment came when it was necessary to think about the way back. After all, I still had to have time to visit the Peter and Paul Cathedral itself (in vain did I buy a ticket).

Having put my ammunition in my backpack, I begin a careful descent. Why careful? It's simple. Remember, I wrote about stone overlays on every step? These slabs polished with many soles are very insidious:

It is worth gaping and slipping ... at best, a pair of broken hands. At worst - a magical flight, a fateful meeting with a carillon and a farewell BOMMM! But it’s really interesting around, I want to take a look around during the descent. So it's better to hold on to the handrail, like in the subway. And in general, they say that the height "tightens". Although there is a railing, a grid, but still a large space under the feet gives rise to an amazing and hitherto unknown desire. Desire to fly :)

On the way, you still manage to get to the windows on the lower floors and, albeit through the grid, take interesting photos. This is the dome of the Peter and Paul Cathedral itself. In the background is Kuibyshev Street.

Alas, it was not possible to come close to the grid - the passage was closed. Just in case, keep in mind a simple rule: the closer the lens is to the reticle, the less visible it is. The camera focuses on the background, and the grid on the front is blurred and becomes almost invisible.

Then - a small exhibition of bells (which are forbidden to touch with hands):

Gradually descending, we find ourselves in the attic of the bell tower, where the museum exposition is located. Alas, there was simply no time to look at it for a long time:

The last flight of stairs, and we get to the entrance to the Peter and Paul Cathedral:

Here you can immediately go outside or proceed to the cathedral. Naturally, I chose the second option. I had a ticket!

However, I would like to give a description of the Peter and Paul Cathedral and photographs from it in a separate article.

And now, it's time to say goodbye and sum up some results.

Conclusion

Climbing to the observation deck of the Peter and Paul Cathedral for me personally was the brightest and most interesting event when visiting the Peter and Paul Fortress. Of course, it is worth going up only in good weather. In strong wind and rain, I think the pleasure will be somewhat dampened.

If you go there yourself, take a good camera. Maybe binoculars. The view from above is excellent.

It is very important to choose the right time to visit. The sun beating directly into the eyes in the afternoon can spoil the impression of the ascent no worse than a heavy rain.

If you are a big fan of excursions, you should buy a ticket and go up with a guide. Such organized ascents occur four times a day (alas, I did not specify the time). Hiking has its pros and cons.

The advantage is that you do not have to pay 450 rubles for visiting the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The tour is much cheaper. In addition, you will listen to the speech of the guide, learn a lot of new and interesting things.

Minus - you will crowd, stand in line for a hole in the grid to take good photos. You will have to work in a hurry, so the result may be far from expected.

If photography is the main thing for which you climb the observation deck, then it is better to go on your own. It will turn out a little more expensive, but you can stay at the top as long as you want and calmly do whatever you have in mind.

I wish you successful ascents and pleasant memories.