On this day in 1703, to protect the lands reclaimed during the Northern War, the foundation of the Peter and Paul Fortress was laid. Peter I personally chose the construction site – a small Hare Island located at the mouth of the Neva River. Since then, this date has been considered the founding day of St. Petersburg. According to legend, when the first Russian ships approached the island, an eagle began to fly over them. Taking this as a divine blessing, Peter I landed, cut two strips of turf with a spade, placed them in a cross shape, and “making a cross from wood and setting it in the turf, said: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, in this place, there will be a church in the name of the apostles Peter and Paul…’” The fortress was built according to the plan of Peter I and the French engineer Joseph Lambert de Guerin. Six curtains connect six powerful bastions. The defensive system is complemented by the Ioannovsky and Alexeevsky ravelins to the west and east. Two bridges – Ioannovsky and Kronversky – connect Hare Island with Petrograd. On October 1, 1703, the fortress was consecrated. The St. Andrew’s flag was raised on the Tsar’s bastion, and 300 cannons were installed on the fortress ramparts. On June 29, 1703, the foundation stone of a small wooden church in the name of the apostles Peter and Paul was laid in the center of the Peter and Paul Fortress, on the site of which a stone cathedral was built between 1712 and 1732. Peter I attached great strategic importance to the new city for ensuring a waterway from Russia to Western Europe. St. Petersburg is the first city in Russia that developed according to a pre-designed plan. Since 1712, the city was proclaimed the capital of Russia, known by different names (St. Petersburg, Petrograd) for over 200 years, with a short interruption from 1728-1732, until 1918. Modern St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and a popular tourist destination for fans of Russian culture from around the globe: its historic center and associated groups of monuments were included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1990.