Hare Island - the historical heart of St. Petersburg

A lot of tourists both from the CIS, and from foreign countries, annually rush to St. Petersburg. Excursions around this city will allow you to plunge into the history of both tsarist and modern Russia. One of the most interesting places here is the Hare Island, which is the historical heart of St. Petersburg. Here is the Peter and Paul Fortress, which houses the Grand Ducal Tomb, where most Russian emperors are buried.

In general, the Zayachiy Island in size pulls more to the "island", because its length is only 750 meters, and the width - 400 meters. It is located on the widest stretch of the Neva River, in the place where it flows into the Gulf of Finland. At one time, the Swedes called this site a Merry Island, because they loved to spend here festivities and holidays. After a while the island began to be called "Devil's", as during the flood killed all the people who were on it. Hare the same island was with the light hand of Peter I. According to legend, the construction of St. Petersburg builders worked very slowly. The king was angry and came to the island to severely punish the negligent workers. But at that moment, when Peter the Great disembarked from the boat, a hare jumped unexpectedly onto his boot. The king was very amused and led to a good mood, thanks to which he abolished all the punishments and called the island of the Hare. By the way, not far from it on one of the pillars of the Ioannovsky Bridge a small monument to the "bunny who escaped from the flood" was recently installed, whose height is only 58 cm. Tourists visiting the Hare Island throw a coin to the monument to return here again.

Located on the island of Peter and Paul Fortress was founded in 1703. According to the legend, it was at this place that Peter I put two cut strata of the earth in a criss-cross and proclaimed: "Here to be a city!" The legend also says that at that moment an eagle descended from the sky, which the king put on his hand and entered with him In the city that did not exist then. True, in the truth of this version, ornithologists strongly doubt that the eagles never lived in the area. But the legend assures that the eagle lived in the new city for a long time and even received the honorary status of his commandant.

Thus, the first structure of the new city was the fortress, which was designed to protect the Russian lands from the Swedes. It is an irregular hexagon with bastions in the corners and was developed personally by Peter the Great. At first the fortress was wooden, but after three years the tree was replaced everywhere with a brick. In 1731 a tower was erected here, which was raised at dawn, and the Russian flag was lowered with sunset. This tradition continued until the proclamation of Soviet power. Now the flag is fluttering over the fortress, but it is no longer lowered. Another interesting old tradition, which has survived to our times, is a shot from a cannon from the Naryshkinsky bastion, which is produced exactly at noon. Many tourists try not to miss the opportunity to arrive at the Hare Island by noon to hear the shot. By the way, the cannon shoots very loudly, and from the roar you can lose your hearing for a couple of minutes.

The island will be interesting not only for adults. Special excursions are organized here for children, in which they are introduced in the game form to the history and culture of the city.