One of the must-see places for tourists in Kronstadt is Petrovsky Dock. Tourists see its main gate.
And they are told that the dock was built from 1719 to 1752. He personally drew Peter1, they even say that during the construction he personally demolished interfering vegetable gardens and buildings. Well, the fact that Peter1 did a lot of things personally, and at the same time in different parts of the world, few should be surprised. Without Peter1 and the depth in the bay, no one would have measured, and Peterhof was built and fortresses were conquered, and Peter1 personally founded Petersburg.
Well, we managed to get inside the dock. This is a closed area and no one is allowed there. Only the conversational qualities of Sasha, with whom I traveled, made it possible to reach some agreements in order to walk in full freedom along the Petrovsky Doku. This will not be shown not in excursions, in any way. Moreover, if you look at the dock from the inside, many uncomfortable questions arise regarding the real history of construction and its technologies.
Despite the fact that this dock is a unique structure, there is no information about its construction at all. not that there is no clear chronology of what was done in the time of Peter 1, but that after his death. This is also not the case. It is surprising that the construction is not reflected either in the engravings, nor, most importantly, there are no drawings and other documentation. Those. in fact it turned out like this - it was not, was not, and then once - and the dock appeared. Apparently, this state of affairs envelops all huge projects of the 18th-early 19th centuries. By the way, history doesn't bother about such gaps. Although this is considered recent history. Therefore, who wants to read a dry story, then it is described here. And again, whoever finds other sources - I will be very grateful.
Thanks to my friend Polbaton, we managed to get inside the dock and capture numerous amazing facts, extraordinary evidence of the level of construction and technology at the dock.
But I'll tell you about these facts in the next part. Now about the questions that Petrovsky Doc leaves.
Firstly, the size of the dock is so huge for the beginning of the 18th century that of course there is no doubt that it was built to receive foreign ships. After all, Peter1 did not have such huge vessels. The largest linear korbal was Ingerman.
Promotional video:
Technical characteristics of Ingermanland:
Length at the waterline: 46.4 m
Width: 12.3 m
Draft: 5.4 m
Displacement: approximately 1420 tons
Crew: 470 people
The dimensions of the Dock, which were approved (although there is already confusion with a certain citizen Pyotr Nikiforovich Krekshin at a banal level), according to the official history, 180 fathoms (384m), width 16 fathoms (34 meters), depth 4.5 fathoms (10 meters).
The question is why such a huge size of the dock, when, even in the middle of the 18th century, ships were rarely more than 60m in length, 16 in width, draft of 8 meters (for example, the ship Santisima Trinidad). At the time of Peter 1, there was no need to fence such a colossal structure. If only he looked 150 years ahead and knew that dimensions that were great for 19th century ships.
Although, of course, if the ships are arranged in 2 rows, so tightly, then everything is fine. Everything is in the legend about the construction and the required dimensions.
But further - more, to which I did not find answers.
Here is a diagram of the Petrovsky Dok, which I sketched from google maps.
1 - official Petrovsky Dock
2.3 - illogical dry docks
4 - dry dock, but looks like an extension of ravine 5
6 - pond
7 - unknown value pond
8 - crosshair, drain, turntable
Just in case, here's a commemorative plaque about Dok.
However, the historical dimensions refer to the dock on the diagram, this is under the number 1. who built the crosshair is not really clear.
It can be seen on the terrain that parts of the ravine 4 and 5 were one whole. It can be seen that the embankment with the road (Kommunisticheskaya Street) was built, cutting through one whole. For why then is there a bridge over the ravine 5 nearby? Moreover, with such massive supports.
Reservoir 7 remains generally unclear. It is not possible to see it live. It is located in a closed area. But it looks like a continuation of the Petrovsky Dok.
Now about the crosshairs 2,3,4.
Size 2 and 3 are identical. On average, the length is 70 meters, the width is about 15. They fit perfectly into the dimensions of the ships of the Peter the Great time, with one technical drawback. If in the main dock (section 1) there is enough space on the sides for work (in modern times the cranes were rolling there), then on the sides of sections 2,3 there is nothing. They look like meaningless corrals.
Crosshair center 8.
Close up the hole looks like this, we did not manage to descend - the days in November are very short, there is no time at all.
It can be seen that the rails were laid, most likely simultaneously with the rails in the Petrovsky Dock itself, i.e. at the beginning of the 20th century. By the way, on the rails in section 1 there is an excellent print from 1914.
But back to the hole in section 8. It looks like a drain, although the first thing that came to mind, for some reason, is the remnants of the base of some kind of turning crap. The radius of section 8 is 50 meters. It is not clear to me how the ships were turned in order to push them into the same section 2, well, I am silent about 4. Section 4 for me was definitely common with Section 5 and a pond along the line. But in principle, according to the size of the central section 8, it can be assumed that the ships somehow turned there.
And some external details of Petrovsky Dock.
The bottom of the dock is paved with paving stones.
Stairs to the top, three rows of mega-granite blocks and the bottom. View to the bay.
Depth indicator.
Dock's North Gate. The gate hinges are embedded in the granite as if they were made simultaneously. In general, the gate is unclear. I did not find any mentions when this gate and the main gate were installed. They are made of metal, which means they were installed in the second half of the 19th century, when steel appeared. But many granite-metal structures were made as if at a single time. It turns out that how many granite and other works were done in the second half of the 19th century, but there is no information about this from the word at all. The history of construction is very sparse.
The lower part of the gate.
In the dock you can see that only the main gate could pass water (very first photo). They have special holes through which water was launched, the dock was filled and then the gates only opened. The second gate, like the gate that separates sections 2,3,4 from section 8 and section 1, has no filler openings. Those. it turns out that in order to fill all the crosshairs of the Peter Dock with water, all the inner gates must be open. But the number of gates that separate each section from the previous one suggests that the filling took place differently - how? I have not found it, and for me this is a big question and is still a mystery.
At first, the stairs were made of granite, then of concrete, but the most reliable is a wooden staircase, which insures the concrete one in case of breakage.
In Kronstadt, the guns are like mud.
The wall began to collapse, and there are how many meters of masonry - who knows.
The trees will find any gap.
One of the stunning details is the degree of fit of the huge granite blocks. Even moss doesn't grow much in these crevices. They are at the bottom. All the time in sea water - but there is no hint of destruction. It is surprising!
So that the water flows better from the granite blocks, such holes are made in places. It can be seen that this was done in modern times. Or Peter1 forgot to draw such a detail in the drawings. But he could. Peter1 not only drew the drawings of ships, fortresses, castles, fortifications in detail - but here he missed the detail about draining the water. Not, definitely not a detail of Petrovsky time!
View from the northern gate to the southern (main) from the bottom of the dock.
At the top, the granite blocks are connected in places like this.
View towards the main gate.
View of overgrown sections 2.3. unsuccessful angle. But so, let it be a photo.
View of section 4. Cathedral in the distance.
In general, at the moment, Petrovsky Dock, despite the fact that this colossal structure of its time, does not have a clear history, there are no documents on construction (whoever finds it, I shake my paw), again a project that is very extended in time, which was constantly being redrawn and who in what time what he did is unclear, but this is important. Because the dock contains such impressive construction details that are not available in our time and certainly could not have been in Peter's times. And the official history does not comment on such details in any way.
***
In the Petrovsky dock itself, there is a number of amazing evidences of works with granite, which cannot be done in the traditional way, as we are taught in textbooks. In general, this topic has something in common with those inexplicable granite works in St. Petersburg. About which there are many topics.
The first thing that catches your eye is the ramp. See how the granite monolith is made. And check out how the same place is made in the modern world - concrete slabs in the background.
This is the descent of the ramp.
Ladders lead to the bottom of the dock. They are made using the same technology. They are all similar in size and type of steps. There are a number of amazing features.
From the side, the staircase looks like this.
The very first section of the staircase is a monolith in which the steps are made. Those. it is cutting in three dimensions. How this could have been done with cutting tools - there is no answer. Actually - this is the main mystery. That it is impossible to do this manually, especially since there are a lot of such sections to do.
It is interesting that the subsequent sections of the stairs are made using a different technology. More simple. The forestry march itself is separate. The staircase border is a separate block. But why only the first section was made super complicated?
The right side of the staircase cannot be seen because the masonry lies directly on it. To the question of how, who and when did certain work in the dock. But I'm pretty sure the first section has no seams in all parts.
The entrance area in front of the first "solid" section of the staircase also has a super complex configuration.
Also seamless technology. How could they?
Ring set in granite.
Close-up view. It can be seen that the blocks were cut specifically for the ring.
Descent to the bottom of the dock.
Close up.
Super complex products. The section with steps is made seamlessly, moreover, it is semicircular. And look at how huge the original block is. What a great responsibility to make a seamless staircase out of such a monolith. Weren't you afraid to screw up or know the processing technology?
And the most amazing thing is the notches in the granite walls of the dock.
Internal corner in granite. The technique is like stairs, but more complicated.
How could this be done? Why don't they do it now? All of St. Petersburg is littered with such testimonies. And they all mysteriously fit into the 1800-1850s. But the dock was built in the middle of the 18th century. Then who built these granite wonders?
I have the feeling that such complex work with granite was carried out by casting. There is no other way. Most likely this is not granite, but a material very similar to granite, which they knew how to cook and cast into the desired shapes. But where is the evidence and technology? Why fool around with granite when concrete was known in the early 19th century? It turns out that casting granite-like parts was easier, easier, and so on. But here it does not fit with the "polygonal" walls of Kronstadt, which were laid without solution. And here we get a continuous solution. And there are no more curved edges, but there are more complex products that cannot be turned in modern conditions without a CNC machine. There are no answers, just evidence. Such little things make you think and analyze many little things that are literally before your eyes, but if you do not know about them, then it seems that it is not noticeable.
By the way, I directly showed my friend - look at the stairs - they are seamless! And only after a couple of minutes of contemplation - he finally saw and understood what I mean, how much it does not fit into the traditional framework of construction and stone processing.
By the way, all objects look like 100% granite, different breeds.
This is one of the riddles that lies underfoot. And there are no clear answers. It's a pity. Knowing the technology, I would have cast a lot of blocks of the desired shape for my dacha. It would be very durable …