Western kotlin and fort "shanets". Unknown Kronstadt. Fort "Shanets" Fort "Shanets"

When Peter the Great laid new town under the very noses of the Swedes, with whom he was then at war, he had to carefully consider the defense system. IN Gulf of Finland there are many islets. They, with reasonable use, could serve as a reliable defense of St. Petersburg. Kotlin is the furthest island from the city. He was supposed to protect the entrance to the bay from the Swedish ships. Since Kotlin took the first blow of a potential enemy, he had to be well fortified. In 1703 Peter the Great personally laid the first stone of the Kronshloss fortress. Around the same time, the king also founded a city on the island of Kotlin. It was named Kronstadt. According to the military canons of that time, the fortress had to be additionally guarded by earthen fortification ramparts - trenches. A few of them have survived to this day, in worse or better condition. We invite you to take a virtual tour of one of them - Fort "Shanz".

How to get to Kronstadt

To get acquainted with the sights of the fortifications of St. Petersburg, you first need to come to the boat. Until the 80s of the last century, this could only be done by water. So the trip largely depended on weather conditions in the Neva Bay and the Gulf of Finland. Now the island is connected to the mainland by a dam. The most convenient way to get to Kotlin to see the Shanz Fort is by bus number 101, which departs from the Staraya Derevnya metro station. In an hour you will be there. Other options: minibus K405 runs from the Chernaya Rechka metro station; from the c / m "Prospect of Education" - K407; from the shopping center "Mega-Parns" - bus number 816. If you prefer railway transport, then electric trains quite often run from the Baltic Station towards Kalishte and Oranienbaum-1. But even there you will need to transfer to bus number 175. If you want to turn the journey to Kotlin Island into an exciting excursion and do not regret 700 rubles for this, then you can get to Kronstadt the old fashioned way - by water. But these are not regular ships, which have been canceled due to unprofitability since the commissioning of the dam. Excursion meteors during the navigation period (April-October) depart from Vasilyevsky Island, from

Fort "Shanz" (Kronstadt): how to get there

Whole ground transport arrives in the central part of the city. The final stops of minibuses from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt are Grazhdanskaya Street, Roshal Square or Dom Byta. Kotlin Island is not very large in size, so you can get to its fortifications on foot. But why not use local transport? Moreover, one of the city buses goes directly to the fort "Shanz" (Kronstadt). How to get to the sights of interest to us? We get first to the Leningrad pier. There we take bus number 2. The fare costs 15 rubles and is paid by the driver. Fortification "Shanz" is the final point of this route. If you are traveling by car, you should move from Zosimova street along the Kronstadt highway.

Construction history

Fort "Shanz" is one of the first defensive redoubts of the Kronshloss fortress. It was founded in 1706 and proved to be in action during the Great Northern War. Subsequently, the fort was repeatedly rebuilt and strengthened. The oldest part is on the right flank of the modern redoubt. It was called "Alexander the Shanets". Then the fort was supplemented with the redoubts "Mikhail", "Nikolai" and "Litera V" ("Kurtinnaya"). All these fortifications were collectively called the Alexander Battery. At the end of the nineteenth century, the last large-scale restructuring took place, which was aimed at strengthening the defensive significance of Fort Shanz. It was then that the line of fortifications received its name.

Modern history of fortifications

But after the First World War, it became clear that in the current conditions of warfare, the forts are useless. The vacated casemates were used for basing headquarters. During the Second World War, the fort "Shanz" in Kronstadt served as the location of the railway battery of gunners. After 1945, all the fortifications on Kotlin and the surrounding islands fell into disrepair. In some of them, tests of combustible and explosive substances were arranged. They say that an ampoule with a plague virus is buried in one of the forts. In any case, it is better not to wander through the fortifications without a guide. Indeed, despite the fact that the forts have been declared objects of cultural heritage and taken under state protection, their condition is assessed as extremely unsatisfactory. There is a danger of collapse of the ceiling and collapse of the ceiling.

What is this attraction of Kronstadt

And yet it is definitely worth visiting the Alexander Battery at least once. Despite the complete desolation and traces of vandalism, it will be of interest to lovers of fortification architecture. The battery completely covers the northern spit of Kotlin Island, serving as protection from the north not only to St. Petersburg, but also to a city with such beautiful name- Kronstadt. Fort "Shanz", built at the end of the nineteenth century on the site of outdated redoubts, is a long and high earthen rampart. It connects all three concrete batteries. The central one was designed for cannons, and mortar redoubts were located along the flanks. Twelve open artillery positions were installed on top of the shaft, which were covered by a high parapet of concrete. The courtyards in which the guns stood were separated by a two-tiered traverse. You can see the shelter bunkers for the artillery brigade and the ammunition depot.

Fort "Shanz" (Kronstadt): beach

Swimming in the Gulf of Finland is a pleasure for everyone. But there are also very hot days in St. Petersburg. And then you want to dip and swim. Few people know that there is a long sandbank behind Fort Shanz. The water here warms up quickly, so swimming will bring true joy, so your vacation will seem like paradise.

Fort "Shanz" ("Shanets") is a semi-abandoned defensive fortification in Kronstadt. It is located on the western outskirts of Kotlin Island. It is a protected historical and architectural monument. The northern part belongs to the military, the rest is open to year-round visits. IN modern form The fort has existed since the end of the 19th century.

In 1706, the main defensive structure became an earthen redoubt. Later on south coast islands, a wood-and-earth battery appeared. An infantry redoubt was equipped from the earthen rampart to the battery. In 1855 the complex was rebuilt and improved. The northern and southern batteries were called "Alexander-Shanets" and "Nikolay-Shanets", respectively.

At the end of the 19th century, the construction of more modern batteries began in their place, so the old buildings were obsolete. As a result, the fort "Shanz" consisted of the northern and southern cannon batteries and the central mortar battery. By 1930, the weapons were removed, and a command post was equipped in the casemates. During the Great Patriotic War, the complex was practically not used.

Now the territory of the fort is mostly abandoned. In the tall grass, you can not see the entrance to the ventilation shaft, and there are quite a few of them, so you should be careful.

2 km from the fort "Shanz" is a truly abandoned fort "Reef". A road leads to it through the Western Kotlin nature reserve, formed in 2012. Driving is prohibited.

How to get to the fort "Shanz"

From the center of Kronstadt, a local bus No. 2 (No. 2Kr) runs straight to the fort "Shanz".

When driving from St. Petersburg, you need to turn right from the ring road onto the Krondstadt highway. There is a parking lot near the checkpoint.

Coordinates : 60°01′32″ s. sh. 29°40′26″ in. d. /  60.025556° N sh. 29.673889° E d.(G) (O) (I)60.025556 , 29.673889

Fort "Shanz"(aka Aleksandrovskaya battery, aka Alexander and Nikolai Shantsy) - a monument of history and architecture of the 18th century. Located on the western outskirts of Kronstadt. Created to protect the city from the Swedes during the Northern War - in, rebuilt several times. It is under state protection.

History

In 1706, a little ahead of the current right flank of the battery, the Alexander-Shanets earthen redoubt was erected, which for a long time was the main defensive structure on the island. At the beginning of the 19th century, a wood-and-earth “Aleksandrovskaya” battery was built nearby, on the southern bank of the Kotlin. Additionally, to protect the approaches to both fortifications, a small infantry redoubt "Mikhail" was placed between them. All these structures were radically rebuilt in the summer of 1855 during the hasty strengthening of Kronstadt in connection with the threat of an attack by the Anglo-French squadron. Battery No. 7 (“Alexander-Shanets”) was now located on the northern bank, battery No. 8 (“Nikolay-Shanets”) was now located on the southern bank, and between them was a battery of letters “B” (later called “Kurtinnaya”).

Without any serious modernization, the fortifications existed until the end of the 19th century, when it was decided to build a group of long-term batteries in their place, called "Shanz" (Fort "Shanz"). The construction of the northern (cannon) and central (mortar) batteries began in 1897 and lasted 5 years. The buildings were made of concrete according to the projects of forts "A" and "B" adopted as a basis, in which the necessary changes were made according to local conditions. In addition to the main armament, four cannons were installed on the cannon battery, designed to deal with possible enemy landings. To illuminate the adjacent section of the raid, a searchlight was placed on the right flank, hiding, if necessary, in the mine. After some time, on the left flank of the group, a southern (cannon) battery was erected, similar in construction, weapons and equipment to the northern one.

By 1930, the Shants battery had lost its combat value, the armament was removed, and in part of the vacated casemates it was decided to equip the command post of the Commander of the Coastal Defense Baltic Sea. During the Second World War, no stationary coastal guns were installed on the Shants battery, at the same time, the Separate railway artillery battery No. 19-A (2 guns of 180 mm caliber) was based here, cruising along the Kronstadt - Reef branch.

Transport

Bus No. 2 terminus

Notes

Literature

• City names today and yesterday: Petersburg toponymy / comp. S. V. Alekseeva, A. G. Vladimirovich, A. D. Erofeev and others - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - St. Petersburg. : Lik, 1997. - 288 p. - (Three centuries of Northern Palmyra). - ISBN 5-86038-023-2

If you look at the map, then Kronstadt, together with the completed dam, now resembles an arrow aimed towards the east. At the very tip is Fort Reef, occupied by the military, and Fort Shanz a mile and a half closer to the west.

In order to get to the fort, we leave the Ring Road at the sign for Kronstadt, and then we turn 180 degrees and, bypassing the Kronstadt cemetery and vegetable gardens with greenhouses, we drive until we run into a powerful earthen rampart with an arch. This is Fort Shanz. The island in this part is quite narrow, low-lying, overgrown mainly with alder, moderately littered and cluttered. In the summer, there are probably a lot of mosquitoes here.

Shants covers the island across, from south to north, in one part there is some kind of radar part, and the second is accessible and does not survive better times. There were quite a lot of people on a fine Sunday afternoon: picnics from below, interested people from above.

On the territory of the fort, special devices for playing paintball were built.

Shants is also used for all kinds of festivals, graduations. It seems to be good that it is not for military defense, but the safety of the fort leaves much to be desired - there are gaping holes in the ventilation shafts, into which you can easily fall ...

Inside a pile of rubbish, broken glass...

I immediately remembered the recently visited Belgian citadel in Dinan

http://website/16433.html
No words...
A few words about the history of the fort. Our restless tsar Peter 1, in addition to founding Kronstadt, laid five coastal batteries on the island, which were quickly built by 1705. And a year later, on the site of the Tolbukhinskaya battery, the fortress of St. Alexander - "Alexander Shanets" was built.

In subsequent years, it was rebuilt, but the famous flood of 1824 finished off the fort and, along with it, the entire island of Kronstadt.

But the flood gave a new stage in the life of the Kronstadt forts - they began to be built in stone. In this form, the fort existed until the end of the 19th century, when a new feature appeared - high-explosive shells and concrete. The fort was rebuilt according to the trend of the times in concrete, in addition, they were armed with cannons, equipped with a searchlight, mines and other bells and whistles were built.

By the beginning of the 1930s. the Shants battery lost its combat value, the armament was removed, during the war a railway artillery battery was based here. After the war, the fort shared the sad fate of the other forts - dilapidation, littering, destruction ...
We also walked to the Reef along a broken road, in the potholes of which a well-preserved cobblestone is visible. This part of the island favorite place recreation for locals and visitors. The people are actively picnicking, fishing, driving on the fragile April Fool's ice in cars and snowmobiles. The shores are solid parking lots.

It was not possible to penetrate the Reef, warriors with angry dogs and machine guns are not allowed to enter. We looked at the fort from a distance.

Nearby are the fragments of the bunker scattered by the explosion.

Fort Shanz was the third of the visited forts.
Impressions of the Gray Horse and Krasnaya Gorka are described here:
http://frosya-hod.livejournal.com/14622.html#cutid1

Fort "Shanz" (aka "Alexander-shanets") is located in the western part of Kotlin Island, about 3 km from the Ring Road and 6 km from the center of the city of Kronstadt. This post will focus on its central battery. All photos were taken in the summer of 2017.

There are 20 photos under the cut (as always, all are clickable and linked to the map).

For the first time, a fortification on this site was built in 1706 to protect against the Swedes, and it was called "Alexander-shanets" (a trench is a closed earthen field fortification, usually equipped with tools, like a fort, only "weaker"). Subsequently, new batteries and other fortifications were built here, which were repeatedly rebuilt and expanded. They were, for the most part, wood-and-earth.
In 1897-1902, concrete casemated batteries were erected: Northern and Central, and a little later also Southern. They are interconnected by an earthen rampart, thus blocking the island of Kotlin from coast to coast. All this together is called the fort "Alexander Shanets" (another name is "Shanz").
More information can be found at the information board:

Plan of the fort "Shanz"


The central battery was armed with mortars, while the northern and southern batteries were armed with cannons.
The northern battery is still occupied by a military unit, so there is no access to it, but you can walk freely along the South and Central.

central battery.
Like the other two, it is a two-tier concrete casemated building for 12 guns (probably 9-dm (229-mm) mortar model 1877 on Durlyakher machines) in open courtyards.
View of the right flank of the battery:


The guns are separated in pairs by wide casemated traverses, and such pairs of guns are separated from each other by traverses in the form of a concrete wall (so it turns out, as it were, 5 "double" gun yards, and 2 "single" ones on the flanks).

View from above:

Far right traverse with courtyards on the sides:

Yard of the extreme right gun

Second and third patios from the right

Base of the gun (second from right)

The same courtyard from a different angle

Casemated traverse second from the right. On the wall of the first tier, there is a icon case for a battery icon.

Traverse close up

Fourth patio from the right

In the 1930s the fort, as having completely lost its military significance, was disarmed. But a command post for the coastal defense of the Baltic Sea was set up on it.
This command post includes a large rubble-concrete casemate erected in the center of the battery.

corridor inside

The interior of the "central casemate"
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