Pursuing his plan to gradually conquer a larger territory and expand the size of Russia to the Baltic Sea, Peter the Great set out from Voronezh with an army of about 20,000 men and left for Schlusselburg. His plan was to seize the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans (also known as Nyenschantz) situated on the right bank of the Neva River on the Okhta cape.
In April 1703, the Russian troops led by the field marshal Sheremetev approached a small town with a territory of just a few miles. This was Nyenskans offering a shelter for vessels at the Neva delta. There was a settlement with 400 wooden houses on the opposite bank of the Okhta River. Captain Peter Mikhailov joined the Russian army and examined the Neva delta with a fleet of 60 vessels. The bombardment began in the evening of April 30th.
At dawn of the next day, on May 1, after a salvo fire of cannons and mortars, the garrison capitulated. The town suffered 10 salvo attacks made with 19 cannons and 700 bombs thrown by mortars.
The garrison, including families and servants, two iron guns, weapons, ammunition and military equipment could freely leave the town through the main gates. The next step was to take them to the opposite bank of the Neva River and then they were to be convoyed along the Koporskaya Road to Narva. Swedish officers were to be held hostage until the convoy got back to the fortress.
At 10 PM of the same day, the Russian troops entered the town through the Nevsky Gates, and Nyenskans was renamed to Slotburg. The Preobrazhensky Regiment entered the fortress, while the Semenovsky Regiment occupied the whereabouts. The Russians took hold of 75 Swedish cannons and 3 mortars, 195 barrels of gunpowder, bombs, cannon balls, canister shells, grenades, iron chains, and anchors.
On May 2, a solemn prayer was made to celebrate the capture of the fortress and a salvo fire of all the cannons and guns was made three times. Then the town commandant handed over the keys to Marshal Sheremetev and the ceremonial surrender of the fortress was over.
However, the same night the guards reported about a Swedish fleet at the Neva delta. The Swedes made a couple of cannon shots to signify their arrival. And the Russian field marshal resorted to a ploy: they returned the signal by making two cannon shots from Nyenskans, so that the enemy couldn't know that their fortress had fallen into the Russian hands.
A boat was sent up the river. When its crew reached the wood, the Russian patrol captured one of the sailors. Others managed to escape. Three days later, two Swedish ships approached the Neva delta and dropped the anchor close to the Vasily Island.
On May 6, Peter commanding the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments sailed with his 30 boats and attacked the Swedes covered by the shadows of night. A fierce fight had begun and the Russians succeeded in boarding the Swedish vessels and bringing them to the gates of Nyenskans. Following the victory, the Nyenskans garrison was released and departed to Vyborg.
After the fall of Nyenskans, the fortress was renamed by Peter the Great to Slotburg, which is translated from Dutch as the Castle Town. There is also another name of the German origin – Schlotburg, where "Schlot" means "flue pass, chimney neck" and "burg" stands for "castle, fortress".
The Russian army stayed in Slotburg for several weeks. Peter I sent the news to every corner of Europe, with a return address stated as Slotburg. This suggests that Peter didn't originally mean to destroy the fortress.
A special war council was to decide on the Slotburg's fate: whether the same place or a more convenient one should be used to build a new city. The decision was made in favor of a new, greater place. On May 16, Peter the Great laid the foundations of a new fortress and a city, which he named St. Petersburg. For many years, the ruins of Slotburg / Nyenskans could be seen on the outskirts of the grand city.
An interesting fact is that in his introduction letter to the king (dated 1695), Eric Dahlberg prophesied the settlement of St. Petersburg. He noted that the Russians made many efforts to get access to the Baltic Sea and to build a port there, and the most convenient location was the Neva delta. The first idea (dated 1698) to build a new fortress closer to the Gulf of Finland belonged to Carl Magnus Stuart, a Swedish fortification engineer.
By capturing the Nyenskans fortress, Russia could gain access to the Baltic Sea, which meant not only a good economic legacy, but also had an important political meaning. To memorize the victory, a special medal and several intaglio prints were designed and made.
After the Peter and Paul Fortress was built, Peter I made the decision to destroy the old fortification of Nyenskans, so that the former residents could make no resistance. When every single building was razed to the ground, the king had four highest mast trees installed as a memento of the event.
Many different dates of the Nyenskans destruction have been proposed by historians: May 6, May 16, June 29, mid-September 1703. Unfortunately, there is no decent document that can shed light on the date and circumstances of how Nyenskans was destroyed.
Despite many evidence of the complete destruction of Nyenskans, the traces of its fortifications on the cape between the Neva and Okhta rivers could be seen on the maps of St. Petersburg dated by XVIII-XIX centuries. Thus, the map of 1808 showed all the earthworks and bastions of the fortress with no ravelins. Schubert's map of 1828 showed the outline of Nyenskans, where a shipyard was build, but the fortress could still be clearly seen on the surface topography. The remaining ruins of the bastions and ditches dictated the terms on the manner of building the Okhta shipyard. In many respects, the new building repeated the shapes of the Nyenskans fortress.
In June 2000, a monument was erected on the site of the former Slotburg and in May 2003, an archeological museum was opened to pay the tribute to the memory of the eventful life of the Nyenskans residents.
