Fort Krasnaya Gorka: history, map, scheme, photo, excursions, how to get to the museum

Fort Krasnaya Gorka is a defensive structure on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, which is over 100 years old. During this time, the fortress in the Lomonosov District of the Leningrad Region stood in four wars, but after 1960 it ceased to be used as a maritime fortification to protect St. Petersburg from the sea. Participants in military historical societies, museum workers created a memorial on the territory of the fort . You can make an exciting excursion around the object, which caused fear of foreign invaders.

Appointment of a defensive structure

At the beginning of the last century, two Forts - Ino and Krasnaya Gorka - were erected to strengthen the Kronstadt fortress , designed not to miss the enemy fleet to St. Petersburg. The beginning of construction is dated 1909, and its end is 1915th. The best Russian naval specialists were engaged in designing and supervising the construction of the fort. The name appeared by itself, as is customary in toponymy, by the name of the nearest village.

So there was a new defensive area - Fort Krasnaya Gorka. In different years it was called Alekseevsky and Krasnoflotsky, it became a powerful defensive center on the southern shore of the bay as part of the fortress of Kronstadt. Artillery batteries reliably protected St. Petersburg from the sudden passage and attack of the enemy. Only once British boats attacked the Russian ships that were on the roadstead (1918).

The map of the coast of the Gulf of Finland, on which the village and fort are plotted, gives an idea of the location of the protective structure. Its garrison was manned in 1914 and numbered 4,500 servicemen (artillerymen, infantrymen, sailors).

Sea Fortress in the First World War and the Civil War

Fort Krasnaya Gorka until 1919 did not participate in military operations. But the situation around the "cradle of the revolution" - Petrograd - was becoming more dangerous, the troops of Yudenich were advancing. In 1918, the fort was mined so that it would not be left to the enemy, but it was not necessary to blow up the positions. In the same year and later the garrison opened fire three times on the enemy on land and in the Gulf of Finland. In the summer of 1919, the anti-Bolshevik uprising of sailors began, which suppressed the ships of the Baltic Fleet with fire.

Fort Krasnaya Gorka in the years of the White and Great Patriotic War

On November 30, 1939, the Red Army launched an operation to break through the well-fortified defensive complex of Finland, Mannerheim Line, which was well fortified and was considered in those years. The batteries of the fort shelled the Finnish positions, but not for long. A more complex task was fulfilled by the defensive structure during the defense of the Oranienbaum bridgehead from the German fascist troops. This was one of the most difficult moments of the Great Patriotic War. The garrison of the fort did not let the Nazis get closer than they could get artillery shots.

Two decades after the 1945 Great Victory, some of the guns were sent for melting, and in 1975 a memorial sign appeared on one of the batteries. After the collapse of the USSR, there was no one to guard the sea fortress, the remaining weapons became the prey of "hunters for metal." Military historians tried to keep Fort Krasnaya Gorka. Photos of recent years - it is a distress signal, calling to protect the monument from destruction and oblivion.

Creating a memorial

Documents found by military historians confirm that 60 m ^{2 of} the fort's territory there was a granite stele installed on the site of the brotherly burial of the dead sailors from three destroyers that were sunk on the outskirts of Kronstadt. There were memorial tablets with the names of the dead and buried in the grave. In 1974-1975, by the 30th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the remaining structures of the fort decided to put in order, widely use the monument for military-patriotic education. There was a plan of measures for the creation in the fortress of the monument "Sea Glory" and the branch of the naval museum, stands dedicated to the role of coastal artillery in the defense of the Oranienbaum bridgehead and Leningrad.

It was planned to build a parking lot for sightseeing buses, footpaths, observation platforms, a museum zone in the open air. The memorial was solemnly opened on May 9, 1975, but in those years did not issue protection documents for the land and passport of the military-historical facility itself. After 1990, the state was replaced by the social and political system, and the expediency of material support for the work of the memorial complex was questioned. On its territory dismantled guns, but thanks to enthusiasts the monument is preserved.

Museum of the legendary fort

Almost 100 years after the construction of gun positions began, the military sailors appealed to the municipal authorities of the Lomonosov district of Leningrad region with a request to revive the memorial complex and the Fort Krasna Gorka Museum. The legendary sea fortress defending St. Petersburg must be preserved and opened for inspection. Contributed to a positive solution to the question of perpetuating the memory of the interest of tourists to this object on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. The work of the museum was resumed, and its exposition was replenished with items from the beginning and the middle of the 20th century found in the caves of the sea fortress. They are located in the premises of the former warehouse and infantry shelter.

How to get to the territory of the fort

About visiting the territory, it is necessary to agree in advance about the excursion accompanying the leadership of the military-historical organization "Fort Krasnaya Gorka". How to get there, the military historian-guide, local residents and summer residents, who often go in the direction of Lebyazhye-Fort Krasnaya Gorka, will tell you in the summer. The district map will be required for those travelers who will take a shuttle bus on the route "Lomonosov-Krasnaya Gorka" or use the "Saint Petersburg-Krasnoflotsk" train , which departs from the Baltic Station of the Northern Capital. On a car to the fort you can drive through Lebyazhye.

Excursions to the fort are carried out by excursion bureaus of the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg. The museum-memorial area covers an area of 20 hectares. Tour of the fort lasts 8-9 hours. Visit to the memorial complex and the museum is paid (800-1000 rubles). It is necessary to have a flashlight for inspection of underground structures.

The main excursion objects of the museum and memorial complex "Fort Krasnaya Gorka":

• Concrete positions and batteries;
• A monument to sailors and artillerymen;
• Remnants of batteries and casemates;
• Artillery railway conveyors;
• Museum of the fort.

Fort Krasnaya Gorka (Leningrad region). The Fate of the Monument

The first impression of visiting this site on the coast of the Gulf of Finland in the Lomonosov district is oppressive. In the grass and among the trees there are concrete slabs covered with a layer of moss and lichen. Dugouts and rails were covered with shrubs. To the fans of the Stalker of the Strugatsky brothers it might seem that this very "zone" is located here. Concrete debris in the forest are traces of an explosion of munitions in 1918.

According to historians, in the land there are not removed shells, not neutralized mines, laid back in the Civil War. On the territory, demining continues, which is conducted by professional sappers. The staff of the museum hope that after the end of the stay tourists will be safer at the fort, and the museum will replenish the new exhibits found by the sappers.