Trubetskoy Bastion

Overlooking the Neva River at the south-west corner of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Trubetskoy Bastion was named after Count Yuri Trubetskoy, who oversaw the building of the original earthwork defences in 1703. The pentagonal stone structure was erected in 1708-1709, but the Trubetskoy Bastion became famous not for its defensive role but as a symbol of political oppression. First it was used to hold and torture Tsarevich Alexei, the disgraced son of Peter the Great, then to house the torture chambers of the Secret Chancellery. In 1870-1872, a special building was constructed within the fortifications to accommodate a prison that held many of the leading lights of the socialist and anarchist revolutionary movements of the late 19th and early 20th century. The premises are now used for a museum charting the history of the prison and its inmates.