The board for preservation of cultural heritage approved projects for restoring the forts of Kronstadt

Draft designs for restoration and adaptation to modern use of Emperor Alexander I, Peter I and Kronshtadt forts were presented at the meeting of the Council for Preservation of Cultural Heritage under the Government of St. Petersburg. 

The meeting was attended by Alexander Beglov, Governor of St. Petersburg, Ksenia Shoigu, Head of the Project Office for Development of Island of Forts Tourist and Recreational Cluster, Oleg Zamzhitsky, Deputy Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Central Scientific Restoration Design Workshops, and reviewers: Mikhail Piotrovsky, Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director State Hermitage Museum, and Nikita Yavein, Honoured Architect of Russia, and others.

The forts are federal cultural heritage sites. Restoration measures for these objects are included in the Development of Culture State Program and are being implemented by the Ministry of Culture of Russia. The forts will become the central semantic points of Island of Forts historical and cultural cluster in Kronstadt.

So, a cultural-and-leisure centre and hotel rooms are to be created in Alexander I fort. The Peter I fort is planned as a military-historical complex: part of the eastern bastion and the adjoining part of the Levoflangovaya Curtain Wall will become exhibits of an open-air museum exposition, a multifunctional museum complex of the history of mine explosives will be located in a horseshoe-shaped tower. It is planned to create leisure-and-entertainment areas, business spaces, hotel rooms and restaurants in the towers of the fort. 

The oldest of Kronshtadt forts will be a museum and used for education. It is planned to make exhibition spaces in the building of the Nikolai Battery and completely reconstruct the historical appearance of the early XX century. The upper lighthouse will still carry out its main function, while the lower one will become an object of the fort museum exposition and will be used as a new observation deck. The Northern Curtain Wall and the South Bastion, the Round Island and the pier will retain their historical function at the fort. In addition, a yacht club, a restaurant and a cinema will appear on the fort.

The Island of Forts project is being implemented on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is aimed at developing the city of Kronstadt as a cultural and tourist centre. The project involves creation of a new urban cluster of educational and recreational nature with comfortable public spaces, in areas with a total area of more than 100 hectares, adjacent to the Cabotage Harbour, incl. a landscaped embankment, a museum and park complex, an exhibition centre, social, scientific, educational and other infrastructure.

You can find more information on the website of the Island of Forts project.