At first glance, the title of the article looks absurd and even absurd, because almost everything is known about the history of the creation of the northern capital. But not everything is so simple, and this article will provide irrefutable evidence of this.
Let's start this exciting investigation by examining an old map of St. Petersburg.
This map is dated 1720 by I. Homann.
Now let's turn to the official history. The city on the Neva was founded on May 16, 1703. It was on this day that the first cobblestone was laid personally by Peter I. Thus, it turns out that in just a decade and a half the entire city was completely built. This despite the fact that in those days there was no specialized equipment, severe frosts raged and there was no accompanying infrastructure.
It looks more than strange, and the scale and the layout itself are striking. At that time, Europe did not even think about such a scale.
Here is another image that should be given very close attention. It depicts the Summer Garden, which was painted by A. Zubov in 1716.
So the building speed was just phenomenal, or is there a catch? After all, if you look at this image, you can see buildings that will be erected much later, after the death of the author of the drawing, and exactly in the place where they should stand!
Promotional video:
So on the left hand you can see the spire of the Mikhailovsky Castle, and its foundation was laid only in 1819. On the right is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, which was built in the period from 1883 to 1907.
The scope and speed of construction is simply unrealistic. So maybe this city was already built, and the great Peter 1 just appropriated it to himself?
Let's take a look at the European capitals for comparison, which inspired Peter the Great for such a "grandiose construction".
Let us first consider the plan of Paris at the end of the 17th century, which was a reference example of the urban planning structure of that time.
And here is the famous Amsterdam, where Peter 1 lived for a long time.
London, please note that there are no straight streets in any capital city, and their width barely allows two carts to pass.
Now let's go back to our beloved northern capital. Here is an image of the general project, which was given to Peter the Great on 1717-17-02 to Holland.
And here is the plan of the city itself for 1720.
Pay attention to Vasilievsky Island, it is simply impossible to plan it in this way without the use of specialized equipment of surveyors.
It is also very important to mention such a point that there is confusion even among official sources. So, according to the records of the Preobrazhensky marching magazine, Peter the first moved by land route and only on the 17th arrived at Lodeynaya pier, which means that the Tsar could not have been in St. Petersburg on May 16th. Because of this, some historians consider the date of the “foundation” of St. Petersburg to be 1703-23-06; it was on this day that the first stone of the church of the Apostles Peter and Paul was laid.
It is also an interesting moment that until the beginning of the 18th century there is not a single line with the mention of St. Petersburg, the area bears the name of Schlotburg.
And at the dawn of the 18th century, the Peter and Paul Fortress was already erected.
Again, according to the official version, the construction of the fortress was completed in 1780 and only in 1785 were the defensive walls completed and lined. But here again an unpleasant inconsistency emerges, because on the maps of 1720, the fortress is already there, and with all the walls and fortifications.
It is noteworthy that such a standard for building fortresses is quite common throughout the world, and they were built a very, very long time ago. But this topic is for a separate study.
If we sum up the intermediate result, it turns out that the city on the Neva is much more ancient than it is presented to us in official sources. In the following materials, the search for evidence of this statement will be continued.
Read the continuation here.