St. Petersburg began to be based on the Bereza Island, because it was quite near the place where the resettled peasants from the central provinces, captured Swedish soldiers, hired workers ... They settled in the huts that were scattered along the south side by small villages island. The gunners, gunners and gunsmiths, and gunsmiths for making gunpowder were also based here. In 1704, almost in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Admiralty was built, the shipyard, where military sailing ships were built. And the workers of this shipyard began to erect their dwellings around the Admiralty Shipyard - Marine settlements.
The first center of the new city was the Troitskaya Square on the Bereza Island (now it is the Petrograd side), where the first port with customs and other important facilities appeared, Gostiny Dvor and a tavern. Here, the first printing house was opened, where the first St. Petersburg newspaper Vedomosti was published. And next to them, Peter the Great's entourage built their wooden houses. And Peter himself commanded to cut down for himself a small house, which was called "The First Palace". And in place of the first city church - Troitskaya - now a commemorative chapel was erected.
The original palace Telling briefly about the history of the city of St. Petersburg, you can not ignore his very first residential building. We know this first residential building of the city as the Lodge of Peter I. In addition to these names, there is also the third one - "Red Choirs". Why red? Yes, because at the behest of the king they were painted in the color of red brick. And the house was cut down very quickly - in just three days. It was a cold house - there was no good heating in it, just a brazier with coals. And the house was very small - three rooms (a bedroom, a study, a dining room) and a porch (in which the royal batman was located). On the roof made wooden images in the form of a cannon and cores. After all, the bombardier of the company of the Preobrazhensky regiment lived in the house. At all, no commander, but only a commander of cannon calculations. The facts show that Peter I did not live in this house - he was almost at war all the time. Then his troops fought with the Swedes for our lands and access to the Baltic Sea. And later he lived in another palace - the Winter Palace, built for him on the opposite shore by the first architect of the city of Domenico Trezzini. But the tsar wanted to preserve the memory of the birth of his Paradise. And above all, through the preservation of the first residential building of the city. He ordered to erect a protective case over the Lodge, which at first resembled a canopy. And it was only under Catherine II that he got a familiar look.
Since 1712, in the life of the young city on the Neva, serious changes began, because the capital of Russia moved to it. Peter I decides to build a stone European city, which will not be similar to all other Russian cities. Yes, and burned wood very often and burned heavily. In general, double benefit. But where do you get the stone? After all, they did not get it yet in the Neva land. And Peter I decided that he would introduce a "stone tax" according to which everyone entering and entering the new city would have to carry or carry a stone with him, and at the same time forbade the construction of stone houses in all of Russia except St. Petersburg. The first stone building was to begin in the new city center - on Vasilievsky Island. Yes, and the island itself should become like a beloved Amsterdam or Sunny Venice - instead of streets there should be channels, and instead of carts and carriages - boats. And I wanted to transfer the port to Strelka Island. And the plan for development was developed by the same Trezzini. The first stone and the most expensive and brilliant construction was the palace of the most splendid prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, the first governor of the new capital. Nearby and the first museum to build steel - wanted Tsar Peter, so that his people were cultured and educated. But the channels did not work. I had to fall asleep, that I began to dig. So there appeared here instead of channels and streets - lines. And the port on Strelka moved and permanently settled - more than a century and a half. Metropolitan brilliance Who only in St. Petersburg after the death of Peter I rules! Yes, not always for the good. But his daughter, Elizaveta Petrovna, continuing the fatherly undertaking, made his Paradise really brilliant. In place of small and laconic houses in the manner of the Dutch came manors and mansions three-four-storey, as in France. As in the fairy tale decorated with stucco and gilding. At balls and at masquerades in them no less lush and shiny cavaliers and ladies had fun. The center of the city did not form even at Petra on Vasilievsky Island. On the left bank of the Neva, moved to where it is now. The streets and avenues have appeared here, and the main one is Nevsky Prospekt. Here, the lanterns appeared, and the pavement, and the sewage system. And the Empress Elizabeth set up a palace for herself here. This work was given to her favorite architect - Italian Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, and in the people - Bartholomew Bartholomewich.