It is generally accepted that before the founding of St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, this swampy area was not inhabited by people. However, a careful study of historical artifacts, research by scientists and an analysis of the actions of Peter the Great casts doubt on the generally accepted historical version of the development of events.
How was it really? Let's try to figure it out - without pretending to be the ultimate statement of truth. Many scientists have similar questions. Take, for example, a solid, almost 800 pages, book of studies by A. M. Sharymov “Prehistory of St. Petersburg. 1703 . The second section of the second book is entitled “Was Peter I the founder of St. Petersburg?” And, this question is still open.
Riddles of the old map
The Swedish map, dated 1643, contains interesting drawings and inscriptions.
In particular, it shows the area where St. Petersburg is located - as it was before Peter I. Along the banks of the Neva (Nuen), stone structures are depicted, signed "Stones - foundations - the ruins of stone houses." At the confluence of the Okhta and the Neva, a city is drawn on the map. Peter the First called it Nienschanz, that is, a fortress on the Neva. Signed near the city: “Horer: staden: til” - “Outskirts of the city of Til”. Thiel is a name of German or Flemish origin. If you believe this map, then before the construction of St. Petersburg here, among the swamps, there were the ruins of an ancient city. What culture he belonged to - one can only guess.
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Opposite the mouth of the river. Okhta on the map depicts Stass Cathedral. It is surprising that now the main spiritual shrine of the city is located in the same place. We are talking about the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, built in 1710. She could not get on the map 60 years before Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg?
And what happened even earlier
In 560 BC, the northern people, the Hyperboreans, were first mentioned in ancient historical annals. An envoy from the North, named Abarid, came to the Hellenic island of Delos in the year of the Olympics with generous gifts to the god Apollo.
The legendary people lived on a large island in the Baltic Sea. And in the 4th century BC, in the writings of Dionysius the Small, it is said that the Hyperboreans also inhabit the Valdai Upland.
Herodotus called the Hyperboreans "millennial", emphasizing the age of the ethnic group. Subtracting a thousand years from the period when Herodotus lived, we get 1500 BC. Then the Fatyanovo Bronze Culture arose. It is quite possible that the Hyperboreans are descendants of the Aryans, whose exodus from north to south took place in these places.
Great and "very strange" deeds of Peter the Great
Let's say that the Neva was once the heart of the Land of the Blessed - this is how the ancient historians called the Hellenic paradise of the Hyperboreans. Probably, Peter the Great knew about this:
- on his first visit to Solovki (1694), Tsar Peter almost died during a storm on the White Sea. In honor of salvation, he ordered to lay a chapel on the monastery pier, and spent all 3 days in prayers and conversations with monks and elders;
- On August 10, 1702, Petr Alekseevich brought a flotilla of 13 ships to the Solovetsky Islands. On Bolshoy Zayatsky Island, on his order, a collapsible wooden church was installed. Next to it, the soldiers laid out from the cobblestone a pagan labyrinth-spiral, which means for all ancient civilizations the Eternal Movement of Life;
- then the flotilla passed the fortress city of Nyenskans, entered the second mouth of the Neva. On the Hare Island, Peter founded a new capital - St. Petersburg, named after the Apostle Peter.
We add that the hare was a symbol of Life that overcame Death. And not only among the Hyperboreans, but also among the ancient Egyptian civilization Duap-n-Ba, the mystical Place of the First Time of which, according to legend, was also located in these harsh places.
It seems that many of the most ancient civilizations and meta-cultures were drawn to the sacred place where St. Petersburg is located. Whether Peter the First knew about it - history is silent. Only historians can confirm or deny this.
Let's continue with more recent news.
In the Peter and Paul Fortress, experts discovered a wooden and earthen rampart. A unique find of the early 1700s was found during emergency operations in the Menshikov Bastion.
An excavator is working at the entrance to the fortification. From the building, he takes out tons of sand and soil - the material that filled the space between the fortress walls. Thus, the scientists scoop by scoop make their way to the pristine appearance of the St. Petersburg fortress.
Before taking on its final red-brick appearance, Menshikov bastion looked like an earthen rampart. No special engineering thought was required to create it. It was built from the ground and cut pieces of turf. All this was put one on top of the other and fastened with clay.
For 300 years, under the influence of pressure and low temperatures, the wall has hardened so much that at present it is in no way inferior to its later stone counterpart. The shaft was built in May 1703 in just five months. The structure was supposed to contain the Swedes from the north. Since then, over the course of 30 years, the fortress has been improved, becoming thicker and more massive.
During the excavation, the scientists went 10 meters into the ground. Below they found a mysterious submerged structure, presumably a barracks, and inside it - soldiers' things.
The bastion itself prompted people about the secrets kept inside. Due to the proximity of the Neva and underwater currents, it began to collapse and required urgent repairs. Now the specialists are faced with two tasks: to strengthen the walls, and then decide what to do with the secret room. So far, one thing is clear - they will definitely not bury it back.