Nyenschantz (Swedish:Nyenskans;Russian:Ниеншанц,romanized: Niyenshants;Finnish:Nevanlinna) was aSwedishfortress at theconfluence of theNeva River andOkhta River, the site of present-daySaint Petersburg,Russia. Nyenschantz was built in 1611 to establish Swedish rule inIngria, which had beenannexed from theTsardom of Russia during theTime of Troubles. The town of Nyen, which formed around Nyenschantz, became a wealthy trading center and acapital ofSwedish Ingria during the 17th century. In 1702, Nyenschantz and Nyen were conquered by Russia during theGreat Northern War, and the new Russian capital of Saint Petersburg was established here byPeter the Great the following year.[1]
During excavations in 1992–2000, the remnants of three different medieval fortresses were found at the site of the Nyenschantz fortress. The only one known historically is the Swedish fortress Landskrona, built in 1300 byTyrgils Knutsson, the Lord High Constable of Sweden. Landskrona was an enormous and unusually well-fortified wooden fortress with eight towers. In the spring of 1301, the Russians amassed a large army and laid siege to the fortress. The Swedes retreated to the basement when a fire broke out inside the fortress. The last of the Swedish defenders were captured, and the Russians burned down the fortress.[2]
In 1609, theTreaty of Viborg was signed bySweden andTsardom of Russia as a package of military agreements that were supposed to be mutually beneficial. It was signed by KingCharles IX of Sweden andVasili IV (also known as Vasily Shuisky) of Russia in the Swedish city ofViborg, located on theKarelian Isthmus close to Russian territory. The treaty came at an unstable period in Russian history known as theTime of Troubles, where the death of TsarFeodor I in 1598 led to decades ofcivil war. In 1605, following the death ofde facto rulerBoris Godunov, Vasily Shuisky came to power, triggering a conflict with apretender to the Russian throne,False Dmitry II. Additionally, Russia began fighting thePolish–Russian War following the invasion of the country by thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth the same year. Sweden itself was fighting against the Poles in thePolish–Swedish War and viewed their eastward expansion into Russian lands as a security threat. The terms of the Treaty of Viborg stipulated that Sweden would supply acorps ofmercenaries to Shuisky to fight False Dmitry II and the Poles in exchange for Swedish control of the nearby strategicKorela Fortress, as well as its townKexholm and the respective county. Shuisky agreed to the terms but was an unpopular ruler with little power. Shortly after signing the Treaty of Viborg, Russia's fortunes began to rise, and Shuisky was forced out of power in 1610. A coalition between Swedish generalJacob de la Gardie and Russian princes launched theDe la Gardie Campaign, effectively defeating False Dmitry II.
TheIngrian War was triggered in 1610 as the new stability of Russia led to increased resistance to Polish occupation and Swedish influence in the country. As the Polish occupation ofMoscow had ended, Russia began to actively resist the Swedish influence as they sought to regain control over occupied territories, including the province ofIngria, which Sweden insisted on keeping based on Russia violating conditions in the Treaty of Viborg. Sweden constructed afortress in Ingria at a strategic position at theconfluence of the prominentNeva River and one of itstributaries, theOkhta River. The new fort was officially named Nyenskans, derived from theSwedish termsNyen-, the name for the Neva, and -skans meaning "bastion", and was capable of housing 500 people. The Ingrian War ended in Swedish victory in 1617 after the signing of theTreaty of Stolbovo, resulting in Russia ceding the territories to Sweden. In 1632, the settlement of Nyen was developed across the Okhta from Nyenskans, which was grantedtown privileges and became the administrative centre ofSwedish Ingria in 1642. By the mid-17th century, Nyen had prospered as a trading hub with around 2,000 people, making it much more prominent and wealthier than Swedish Ingria's new capital,Nöteborg. According to church records, the town's population was primarily made up ofFinns, secondarilySwedes, and someGermans.[3] Around this time, Nyen's governor, John Geselia the Younger, bannedOrthodox Christian Swedish subjects from settling in or near the town following tensions withLutherans. The ban on Orthodox residents effectively cleansed Nyen of ethnicRussian,Izhorian, andKarelian inhabitants.
In 1656, Nyenskans was attacked by Russia during an invasion led byPyotr Potemkin. The attack was repelled, but it badly damaged Nyen, and Sweden moved the administrative centre of Swedish Ingria from Nöteborg toNarva.[4]
In 1677, the defences of Nyenskans and Nyen were enforced by a ring of new fortifications consisting oflunettes withbatteries andmoats. By the end of the 17th century, Nyenskans entered its final form after it had beenmodernized by an extensive project led by engineer Heinrich von Soylenberg. The fort was expanded to house 600 people, converted into astar fort featuring five wooden and earthen bastions, two additionalravelins,crownworks along the bastions not pointing towards the rivers, and a smaller accompanying half-fort built on the opposite bank of the Neva. Upon the completion of the project, Nyenskans was thought by Sweden to be the most modern fortress in the world at the time. By the turn of the 18th century, numerous Swedish and Finnishsuburban manors were built outside the Nyen fortification ring. Most were along the Neva, some of which were located at a considerable distance from the city.
In 1700, the danger of Russian invasion increased following the beginning of theGreat Northern War, which resumed formal hostilities between Sweden and Russia. Reportedly, in October 1702, Sweden feared an imminent Russian invasion of Nyen, evacuating the city's population and burning it down to prevent the Russians from taking it.[citation needed]
On May 1, 1703, Sweden lost Nyenskans to the Russians when the fortress was taken byPeter the Great during the Ingrian campaign of the Great Northern War. The site of Nyenskans and Nyen was reformed by Peter into the new city of Schlötburg, meaning "Neck-town" inGerman, a reference to the long, narrow section of the Neva where it was located, with "Schlöt" corresponding to "(funnel) neck, narrows, chimney". Schlötburg stood in contrast to Shlisselburg ("Key-town"), the new name for Nöteborg at the other end of the Neva River, which Peter believed was the "Key to Ingria". The last Swedish commandant of Nyenskans was Colonel Johan Apolloff, who was preceded by Colonel AlexanderPereswetoff-Morath, a descendant of Russian noblemen,boyars, who had entered Swedish service in the first decades of the 17th century. Nyenskans, under the name Schlötburg, functioned in Russian service only for some weeks before it was retired as an activemilitary garrison.
In 1703, Peter decided to foundSaint Petersburg, a brand new capital city for the Tsardom of Russia, from scratch in the Neva Riverdelta on the land around Nyenskans. Peter had disliked Moscow, Russia's largest city and historical capital, which he considered inconveniently located and too isolated from the rest ofEurope. He also had an interest inseafaring and maritime affairs, believing Russia needed a newport city to replaceArkhangelsk, which he similarly considered to be inconveniently located. Technically, the land still officially belonged to Sweden and was occupied during fighting in the Great Northern War, but despite this, construction of the city began anyway.
The exact fate of Nyenskans is unknown, with sources ranging from its almost complete demolition as early as 1704 to its repurposing and remaining intact as late as the 1760s. Other documents and maps suggest Nyenskans was gradually demolished over the following decades as Saint Petersburg expanded onto the land in the direct vicinity of the fort. By 1849, the central strengthening of Nyenskans was still known to exist, although the exact date of its demolition is also unknown.
Today, nothing above the ground remains of Nyenskans, and the site is now in Saint Petersburg'sKrasnogvardeysky District. On June 15, 2000, a monument designed by V. A. Reppo was opened on the site of the fortress. In May 2003, on the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg, the museum "700 years: Landskrona, the Neva Mouth, Nyenschantz" was opened at the site of the fortress. In early 2007, the remains of Nyenskans' bastions were identified duringarchaeologicalexcavations, which were necessitated by the threat of irrecoverable exploitation of the entire site to development from the territory of demolished shipyard Petrozavod to the grounds for planned skyscraper headquarters of the Moscow-based national natural gas monopolyGazprom,Okhta Center, that would dwarf the beautiful cityscape. This caused protests from the city conservation activists, but they defended the location only after archeologists found remains of the star fort and preceding structures. Gazprom eventually moved the construction site to the northwest outskirt of the city Lakhta (from Finnishlahti "bay, inlet"), and the skyscraper crosscut as a star fort is now known asLakhta Center. It may also hold public activity and leisure spaces as well as offices.
Media related toNyenschantz at Wikimedia Commons
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