St. Petersburg -- Peter & Paul Fortress

At the fork of the Neva River is where PTG first constructed what is now called the Peter and Paul Fortress.

"Visitors" to the Fortress, if they came in from the Nevsky Gate, knew they would never leave.

So, in a surprise piece of information, St. Petersburg was NOT named after PTG, but after St. Peter.  Here is Peter and Paul Cathedral in the heart of the fortress.  The cathedral was closed in 1918 and turned into a museum in 1924.  Religious services resumed in 2000.

It is the final resting place of most members of the Romanov family.  If a coffin has the double eagle symbol, the coffin contains an actual Tsar or Tsarina.

Or if you are Alexander II or his wife, you get buried in these marble coffins.

PTG

In the back right, Catherine the Great

Tsar Nicholas II and his family were killed in 1918 in Yekaterinburg.  He and three of his children were moved to the cathedral in 1998.

All but two post PTG Tsar's are buried here.  But PTG's son, who attempted to kill his father, is buried with his wife, underneath the stairs outside the nave.

Because Peter and Paul Cathedral was turned into the private Romanov family church, the Russian Orthodox church built St. Isaacs, which still is the largest Russian Orthodox church in the world.  It too is now a museum.

It is the fourth church to stand in this location.

Facing east, the iconostasis.

Ever wonder how they get those columns in place?  Apparently with this scaffolding, it took only 45 minutes.