Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s it served as a prison for political criminals. It has been a museum since 1924.
Today it has been adapted as the central and most important part of the State Museum of Saint Petersburg History.
The museum has gradually become virtually the sole owner of the fortress building, except the structure occupied by the Saint Petersburg Mint.
Peter and Paul Fortress
The fortress was established by Peter the Great on May 16 1703 on small Hare Island by the north bank of the Neva River, the last upstream island of the Neva delta.
From around 1720, the fort served as a base for the city garrison and also as a prison for high-ranking or political prisoners.
The Trubetskoy Bastion, rebuilt in the 1870s, became the main prison block. The first person to escape from the fortress prison was the anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin in 1876.
Sights
The fortress contains several notable buildings clustered around the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which has a 122.5 m bell-tower and a gilded angel-topped cupola.
Other structures inside the fortress include the still functioning Saint Petersburg Mint building, the Trubetskoy Bastion with its grim prison cells, and the city museum.