►Tours ► Day Tours ► From St Petersburg ► Day tour to Shliselburg 

  The Oreshek Fortress is an island fortress located at the mouth of the River Neva on Lake Ladoga across from the city of Shlisselburg. The fortress was built in 1323 by Grand Prince Yuri Danilovich of Moscow in this strategic location protecting the trade route from the Neva to the Gulf of Finland. For almost 90 years in the 17th century the fortress was under the control of the Swedish, who called it Nöteborg, but was recaptured by Peter the Great in 1702 marking the victory of the Northern War.

  Following the construction of the fortifications of Krondstadt, Oreshek lost its defensive role and instead became a jail for political prisoners. High-profile prisoners include Peter the Great’s half-sister Maria Alekseevna and his first wife Yevdokia Lopukhina, Emperor Ivan IV and Lenin’s older brother Aleksandr, who was executed here for his role in the attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander I. In the whole history of the prison only one person managed to escape, although he was caught soon after.

  On the tour you will be accompanied with a guide from St Petersburg.

St Petersburg → Shliselburg → St Petersburg

 Total distance of the tour: 110km -   108km |  2km

• 10:00 •

 10:00 Meeting with your guide at the lobby of your hotel. Transfer to Shliselburg.

 Distance: 54km

• 11:00 •

 11:00 | Arrival in Shlisselburg. Transfer to the island by boat.

 Guided tour of the Oreshek Fortress - the highlights of the tour include:

• Old Prison and Secret House – from 1756 to his mysterious death in 1764, Emperor Ivan VI was held here following the coup of Empress Elizabeth. He was kept here is secrecy and among tight security – almost a Russian equivalent of the Man in the Iron Mask. In the 19th century Decembrists, members of People’s Will and other revolutionaries or terrorists were sent here. The inmate who spent the longest time here was Valerian Lukasanisky – who fought for Polish freedom. He spent 38 years in Shlisselburg from 1830 to 1868 and died here.
• New Prison – this was built in 1884 after the assassination of Alexander II consisting of 40 cells especially for members of the People's Will group. At first the New Prison had the toughest regime - no correspondence or exercise, absolute silence and punishment for even the most minor breaches.
• Courtyard – here prisoners were executed. Most famously Lenin’s elder brother Aleksandr was executed here, which went on to have a great influence on Lenin's political views.

 Duration: 1¼h

• 14:00 •

 14:00 | Transfer to Shlisselburg by boat.

 Transfer to your hotel in St Petersburg.

• OPTIONAL EXTRA • SHLISELBURG •

Road of life

An excursion on the Road of Life - the only road over Lake Ladoga which during the Second World War from September 1941 to March 1943 restored links with besieged Leningrad and allowed over 1,600,000 tonnes supplies to be brought in and more than one million people to be evacuated. Supplies were bought in by barges pulled by tug boats in navigational months. In winter, vehicles made the dangerous journey across the ice. Some of the unfortunate trucks can still be seen from above lying at the bottom of the lake after falling through the ice, often with their drivers. Rzhevsky Corridor – the area of land known as the Rzhevsky Corridor, after the station of Rzhevka, was one of the main targets of the Nazis during the Second World War as it marked the end of the Road of Life. Via this corridor, Leningrad was supplied with thousands of tonnes of supplies, medication and ammunition while Leningraders were evacuated by the same route. Monuments on the Road of Life – the road today is dotted by many memorials including the Flower of Life, the Broken Circle and Katyusha among many others. Guided tour of the Road of Life Museum – the relics of war held in this museum, including documents, photograph of convoys and nurses, maps and models of boats, planes and cars, give you an impression of the scale of the courage and the staunchness of the defenders of Leningrad and of the terrible conditions which people worked to ensure an uninterrupted connection with the besieged city. You can also see here the military interconnection between the various corps which took part in creating and protecting the Road of Life and appreciate the significant of this road. The items on display also detail how electricity, telephone and telegraph lines and petrol pipes were laid on the bottom of Lake Ladoga.          PRICE PER GROUP 1-2 PAX 3-4 PAX 5-6 PAX 7-8 PAX USD 188 209 230 255 EUR 163 181 199 221 GBP 136 151 166 184  Duration: 4 hours |  Transportation: by a private car

• 15:00 •

 Arrival in St Petersburg.

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• The tour is available from May till October.
• The tour is available in     - other languages upon request.

• CANCELLATION POLICY •

​• COST OF THE TOUR •

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