The St. Peter and Paul Fortress is located on the Hare Island. The foundation stone was laid by Peter the Great in Mai 1703. The fortress was always used only as political prison and never had any importance for military purposes. Such famous people as Gorki, Chernyshevski, Dostoyevski were also imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.St. Petersburg is a large beautiful city in the north-western part of Russia. It is a city of white nights, green parks, numerous channels and bridges, granite embankments and railings. Many famous Russian and foreign architects created the face of the city in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The foundation of the colossal St. Isaak`s cathedral produced many problems because of the soft soil. The construction of the cathedral lasted forty years and was finished in 1858. The French architect Monferrand erected the 101.5 meter building. The interior space of it reaches 4000 square meters.
There are very many beautiful and interesting places in St. Petersburg. Among them are the Summer Garden with its famous railing, the Hermitage, the Kazan Cathedral, the Russian Museum, the Rostral Columns, the Alexander Nevski Monastery, the Alexander Column, the Palace Square, the Triumphal Arch, the Admiralty, the Field of Mars, etc.
The Hermitage is one of the most interesting museums in St. Petersburg. It occupies six buildings. The largest and the most important building designed by Rastrelli is the Winter Palace. The St. Petersburger Hermitage has 365 rooms and more than 2.7 million various exhibits. It is the largest art museum in our country and one of the most famous art museums in the whole world.