The Swedish authorities owe the existence of a powerful fortress in Landskrona to their rivals from Denmark: southern Sweden has passed from hand to hand more than once, and both sides of the conflict quite in their own way considered this territory their own. The next stage of the confrontation came during the reign of King Christian III, whose engineers did their best to build an extremely powerful citadel, built according to the last word of the fortification thought of the mid-16th century.
The defenders had at their disposal both zigzag bastions, convenient for conducting flanking fire, and a ditch, barracks casemates, outbuildings in case of a long siege, and other structures. But all this military splendor was not at all useful either to the Danes or to the Swedes who replaced them: the fortress did not take part in active hostilities. This, if you look from the other side, is even good, because now we can see the building in all its pristine power, without cuts or late "inserts".
The fortress was originally conceived exactly as a fortress, and not a lush palace with increased defenses. It was not even adapted for living, although in 1589 the local governor ordered the addition of a small residential wing to the fortress.
At the same time, it becomes a baton in the battles between the Swedes and the Danes for these lands: in 1644 it ends up in the hands of the Swedes, but only for a year. After the Roskilde Peace Treaty in 1658, it again passed to the Swedes. This time the Swedes are not wasting time: in 1667 and 1675. construction work is underway, as a result of which the fortress becomes the most modern.
However, a year later, a new war between Denmark and Sweden reaches. The Swedish commander Hieronymus Lindeberg is responsible for the defense of the fortress, surrounded by 1,600 highly qualified and loyal soldiers. The Danes begin a siege of the fortress and literally shower it with cannonballs for several days. And then - to the surprise of everyone - Lindeberg gave the order to surrender. The Danes enter the citadel, which from that moment becomes the most important defensive point of Sweden's southern neighbor.
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For surrender, regarded as high treason, Lindeberg was brought before a military tribunal - no one could understand why the commandant surrendered the most powerful fortress instead of “fighting to the last soldier”. In his defense, Lindeberg only said that he felt sorry for his wife: they say, the deafening noise of exploding shells acted on her nerves, and she, unable to bear him, forced her husband to capitulate.
The people, however, got accustomed to another version: Lindeberg, negotiating with the Danes, asked for the opportunity to send his sick wife from the fortress, but was refused. The wife, having learned about this, gave birth to twins from fear, but she herself died during childbirth. Distraught with grief and despair, Lindeberg could hardly give account of his actions and surrendered the fortress without a fight. I must say that the rumors about the death of his wife were greatly exaggerated: she significantly outlived her husband and even received a pension from the royal treasury as a widow.
Lindeberg was executed in December 1677. Two years later, it was again in the hands of the Swedes.
In general, many interesting stories are told about the citadel. For example, in 1685, indignation began to grow among local residents due to the fact that it was their duty to constantly free the ditches from ice - it is unfair that the same neighbors of the Landskrunians were not involved in such work. Then the king issued a decree to collect the neighboring city of Helsingborg, an annual tribute in the amount of 30 silver dalers - a measure that permanently brought “icy” discord in relations between neighbors.
Another story that evokes compassion and sympathy for some, and for some laughter, is associated with one of Sweden's most famous animals, the elk. A Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist (1546-1601) said in a letter dated 1591 that a tame elk lived in his Landskrona castle. Once there was a dinner party in Landskrona, and a moose was brought into the hall to show the guests. The guests did not fail to fill their glasses to the cravings and treat their pet with the strongest drinks. The elk, not calculating the strength, could not stand on long legs and fell down the stairs, breaking his leg. Despite proper care and all efforts, the life of the animal could not be saved, and the pet died in the castle in torment from a hangover and pain in the leg.
In 1724, it was recognized as the best defensive fortification in Sweden, but this did not prevent the king, 20 years later, from issuing a secret decree on the construction of additional structures around the bastion. The main task of the monarch was to protect the ever growing harbor, and therefore the eastern end of the sandbank - Graon - was chosen as the central place of work.
However, every year the work required more money - initially 5 barrels of gold were allocated for the new fortress, but it soon became clear that the final costs would cost the treasury more than 300 barrels! In addition, the pace of work left much to be desired: according to preliminary calculations, the project should have been completed by 2110. The commission evaluating the construction, moreover, stated that it was no longer the most important border point requiring such careful strengthening as before - now it was quite possible get by with a small modernization of the old bastion.
Nevertheless, it took the Swedes another half century to permanently stop the construction that had begun. At about the same time, the first prisoners appear; since 1827, there are hundreds of life-sentenced prisoners here, and at the beginning of the 20th century. women of easy virtue were brought here for correctional work. After World War II, the bastion became a temporary refuge for refugees, whose number reached 22,000 by 1953.
In recent years, the citadel has been famous for organizing lavish celebrations, a restaurant with exquisite dishes and a museum exhibition dedicated to the history of the fortress.
The entrance to the fortress is free, so it is not forbidden to enter the territory on a wooden bridge in the daytime and look at the area. In addition, the crests of the bastions offer a good view of the area - the Baltic coast is very close.
But an interesting thing, when I was looking for information on the Internet about this fortress, in 90% of cases I came across another similar fortress - Landskrona - a fortress founded by the Swedes at the mouth of the Okhta River in 1300. In 1301 it was taken by Russian troops and completely destroyed. Coordinates: 59 ° 56'39 ″ s. sh. 30 ° 24'25 ″ east d. / 59.944167 ° N sh. 30.406944 ° E d. 59.944167, 30.406944
During excavations in 2008, a Neolithic settlement with a burial of 90 people (presumably Indo-European), household items was discovered at this place. Until now, it remains unclear why the settlers of that time chose this islet between two rivers, but the fact remains.
In the Novgorod Chronicle of the elder and the younger, it is said that in 1300 the Swedes laid a fortress at the mouth of the Neva, "confirming it with an unspeakable firmness." It was made by a "deliberate" master who was originally from Rome. That is, this fortress is two centuries ahead of the work of Italian architects, whom Ivan III invited to Moscow to build the Kremlin. Nienschanz is the earliest Italian fortress built on the territory of Ancient Rus.
However, why did the Swedes, who were in charge of these places, invite the Italians (who were considered unsurpassed masters of fortification at that time) ??? And why was "the fortification of unspeakable hardness" needed ???
After the Swedes conquered Southwestern and Central Finland in the second half of the 12th - first half of the 13th century, their expansion was suspended for several decades. A new series of Russian-Swedish clashes began only in the 80s of the XIII century. In 1283, the Swedes, passing through the Neva, raided the Novgorod lands, but on the way back they were intercepted by the Novgorodians on the Neva River. The next year, a new detachment of Swedes was defeated by the Novgorodians at the mouth of the Neva. 1292 was marked by mutual raids by Russians and Swedes.
The Third Swedish Crusade in 1293 marked the beginning of a new phase of hostilities. The official goal of the campaign was to convert the "pagans" to the Christian faith, but the real one was to strengthen the Swedish rule in South-West Karelia. As a result of the campaign, the city of Vyborg was founded, which for a long time was the center of Swedish rule. Soon there were 14 Karelian communities under his rule. The city intercepted a busy trade route along the Vuoksa River from the Baltic Sea to Lake Ladoga and threatened with the mouth of the Neva River, which was the main outlet for Russians to the sea. Due to internal Russian strife, the Novgorodians managed to organize a campaign to Vyborg only in the winter of 1294, but even then they were able to allocate relatively small forces for it, as a result of which the campaign ended in failure.
In 1295, the Swedes tried to gain a foothold at the other end of the Vuoksa waterway, capturing the city of Korela, located at the second mouth of the Vuoksa River, which flows into Lake Ladoga. Thus, the Swedes not only strengthened their domination on the Karelian Isthmus, but also cut off the Finnish tribes from direct communication with the Novgorod Republic. Taught by bitter experience, the Novgorodians immediately sent out an army, took the city and killed the entire garrison, from which only two people escaped.
Having failed in the Ladoga area, the Swedes decided to move the edge of the blow to the banks of the Neva. The seizure of the main outlet of the Russians to the sea put under Swedish control all trade and economic life of Veliky Novgorod and a significant part of Russia.
The Novgorodians in those years did not have any fortifications at the mouth of the Neva. It was two or three days' journey from the nearest fortresses of Koporye, Ladoga and Korela to the mouth of the Neva, and from Novgorod it took more than a week. The maintenance of a Russian fortress there would be costly and at the same time it would constantly be in danger of being captured from the sea.
The Swedish plan was to build a strong fortress under the cover of a large army during the summer season, the garrison of which would be able to withstand the attack of the Novgorodians during the winter, when the main part of the Swedish army returned to Sweden.
The Swedes decided to secure their territory with the help of such a fortified point, they wanted to assert their power here, in order to have their own exit from the Neva to the Baltic, to influence trade routes. This is a strategically important location. The so-called "Baltic issue" - Russia and Sweden have been solving it for many centuries. The first laid fortress "Landskrona" (the Crown of the Earth, in its own way translating the name of the Novgorod village that stood there until then - Venchishche) was stone and wood, and a year later, it was taken by the Novgorodians, headed by the son of Alexander Yaroslavich (Nevsky), Prince Andrei Gorodetsky, after which the fortress was destroyed.
This is understandable, because this alerted the Novgorod authorities, because in front of everyone's eyes a piece of state Novgorod land was cut off. This was a formidable step on the part of the Swedish government, the response to which was not long in coming.
It is difficult to say exactly when exactly after the destruction of Landskrona this land was re-populated, but the Scripture Book of Vodskaya Pyatina in 1500 mentions a trading settlement located there, "a village on Ust Okhta on the Neva"
Further, historical references to the events around Nyenskans disappear, apparently there was no time for the Russian princes to solve territorial issues, inclining more and more to internal strife.
However, from the beginning of 1702, the construction of warships began at the shipyards created by Peter in Lodeynoye Pole on the Svir River and on the Syasi River. In 1703, the first Baltic squadron of 6 frigates was launched. At the end of April 1703, the infantry with an artillery detachment and a squadron that entered the Neva launched an offensive against Nyenskans. On April 26, Peter went to the mouth of the Neva and landed three companies on the Vitusaari (Gutuevo) island. With this he closed the entrance to the Neva from the Gulf of Finland to the Swedes. Russian troops landed on the coast at Nyenskans, captured the outer earthworks, installed artillery pieces and bombarded the fortress for 10 hours. On May 1, 1703, Nyenschantz surrendered, and under the terms of surrender, the garrison left the fortress; the inhabitants of the city were taken prisoner. Peter renamed Nienschanz to Schlotburg (“castle town”).
On this, the history of the settlement ended its run, and Peter with a small army climbed the Neva to the Yenisaari (Zayachiy) island, where he laid a fortress on May 16 (27), 1703.
Here is how the chronicler describes this event:
The Okhtinsky cape and the land around it constantly passed from the Russian to the Swedes and vice versa. The Landskrona fortress, which the Swedes built in 1300, was burned and destroyed a year later by the son of Alexander Nevsky, Prince Andrei Gorodetsky. Its foundations were found during excavations, wooden and with a rectangular plan. Landskorn was a great fortification, its southern wall alone was 100 meters long. It was about twice as large as the Vyborg fortress, was built 7 years earlier, and, as the chronicle says, a master from Rome took part in the construction. This means that this is the first Italian fortress built on Russian territory, 200 years older than the Moscow Kremlin, concludes Anatoly Kirpichnikov, doctor of sciences and teacher of Peter Sorokin (although one must not forget that the fortress, unlike the Kremlin, was built, of course, not by Russians, but by Swedes against Russians … but still).
As it turned out during the excavations, Landskrona was surrounded by two parallel lines of ditches, two meters deep and about three meters wide. There was a stream (or channel) behind the ditch, which was used as an additional natural barrier. Inside the fortress, the remains of three burned down, most likely during the assault, wooden buildings were found. And in its western part, archaeologists have discovered a very well-preserved log house - the base of a square fortress tower, an observation tower or even a donjon, a residential fortification (inside the tower, the remains of a well were found). Perhaps this blockhouse is the "burial tower", where, according to the "Chronicle of Eric", the Swedish defenders of the city locked themselves from the Novgorodians before finally surrendering. The blockhouse of 1300 could well have been taken out of the ground and transferred to a museum.
Some time after the fall of the Swedish Landskrona, the cape was occupied by the Russian trading settlement "Nevskoe Ustye"; the Swedes called him Nien. At the end of the 16th century, there was a seating yard, a pier and an Orthodox church. However, the ditches of the XIV century, albeit partially, were preserved and were probably used. In the Time of Troubles, these lands again passed to the Swedes, who in 1611 built a new fortress here, Nyenskans. From this, the first Nyenskans, the remains of the bastion system and sod masonry at the base of the rampart have been preserved. The second was built after the steward Potemkin took and destroyed, but could not hold the fortress in 1656. Between 1661 and 1677, the Swedes built a fortress in the form of a five-pointed star with five bastions (the peak of the achievements of the then fortification, there are a lot of such fortresses in Europe). New ditches appeared around the fortress,and inside there are stone and wooden buildings.
Archaeologists investigated three bastions, Karlov, Dead and Helmfelt, moat and curtains between them, platforms for shooting during the siege; discovered a secret passage with a wooden door covered with metal stripes. A stone building with a copper-smelting furnace was found inside the fortress; its floor was paved with boulders. In the ditches, nuclei, shell fragments, mortar bombs weighing up to 75 kilograms were found, apparently left over from the last battle with Peter I in 1703.
Now there is some kind of confusing situation, Gazprom invested a lot of money in the project itself, paid for excavations, now it is impossible to build there. It seems to be good (not for Gazprom), but the results of the excavations must somehow be mothballed or a museum complex must be built. Nobody gives money for this anymore, and everything there slowly collapses, floats and mixes in mud.