Peter and Paul’s Cathedral

The arkitectural centre of the fortress is saint Peter and Paul’s cathedral built by Domenico Tresini. The construction of the cathedral lasted for 21 years (1712-1733). The cathedral is the second tallest building of the city. It is 122.5 meteres high. Only the tv-tower is taller(317 m).Saint Peter and Paules cathedral is famous for being a burial place of all Russian tzars and members of the royal family from peter the great to Nicolas the second. It was under the protection of peter and paul’s fortress that our city started to grow fast. In 1712 peter moved the capital from Moscow to spb. Naturally it was necessary to construct a trading port. The place where we are now was chosen for it. Basil island became the centre of the new capital and this particular (sport) place called the spit of basil island was used as a harbour until the middle of the 19 century. Straight ahead you can see 2 huge columns called rosstral columns.the was a tradition in ancient rome decorate columns with prews of the capteched ship. A prew is rostrum in latin, hemse the name of the columns.the columns were put up at the beginning of the 19 centery and were used as light houses.nowadays guests torches lit on the tops only on days of nationals celebrations. At the foot of the columns there are four figures personifing four Russian revers (the Volga, the dnepr, the neva, the volhov) .the ensamble of the spit of the basil island took it’s final shape in the first quarter of the 19 century. A huge grey building with white columns is the stock exchange.on both sides of it are the former warehouses, constructed in the 19 century. At present they accommodate different museums( zoological, soilscience). By the way there are about 8 museums on the spit. As for the all city there are over 50 museums. from the spit of the basil island there opens a fine view of the hermitage museum which is composed of 6 buildings, four of which stretch along the embankment. You can see them on the opposite bank...