Landskrona. Nyenschantz. "The Crystal Coffin"
An office complex is being built in place of an archaeological reserve in St. Petersburg.
In December 2021, the office complex project on Okhtinsky Cape passed state review. It will house a public and business center for Gazprom Neft. It will consist of two seven-story buildings with a glass "bridge" between them, and an 18-meter-deep excavation pit is planned for their construction. The complex was designed by a Japanese company. The project is called the "Crystal Ship." Heritage activists have nicknamed it the "Crystal Coffin."
During archaeological excavations in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Neolithic sites and the remains of the 17th-century Swedish fortress of Nyenskans were discovered here. Later excavations revealed the remains of the Landskrona fortress, built in 1300.
Archaeologists, historians, and activists defended Okhtinsky Mys from the construction of a Gazprom skyscraper from 2005 to 2010 and prevailed. In 2019, Gazprom Neft returned to its favored site with a new project.
Community activists asked NeMoskva to tell readers once again about the unique St. Petersburg Troy, which has not been fully explored and may forever be buried under the "Crystal Coffin."
Underground
The remains of 40 residential and commercial buildings, ceramic pottery, amber jewelry, and fishing pits with stakes at the bottom were discovered on Cape Okhtinsky on the banks of the Neva River, which didn't exist at the time, but was instead the Litorina Sea. A Neolithic settlement arose here in the 5th millennium BC and existed for approximately two centuries. The Egyptian pyramids were built slightly earlier but have survived to this day.
The Swedish fortress of Landskrona is amazing in itself, but its history is mysterious.
"The Landskrona log tower is a magnificent example of medieval wooden fortification. It is sunk four meters into the ground and two meters below the Neva River. It was likely used not only as a fortress but also as a well." storyhappens Cultural scientist Irina Lazareva.
According to our chronicles, the fortress lasted only a year, then was burned down by the heroic liberators from the Swedish invasion. However, archaeologists found no traces of the fire during excavations. Now this mystery is unlikely to be solved.
By 1500, three villages and a settlement of eighteen households, populated by peasants and merchants, had formed at the mouth of the Okhta. Judging by fragmentary documents, a trading center, known as Nevskoye Ustye, had already emerged in the 16th century. Archaeologists have uncovered numerous pieces of evidence of its existence.
The Nyenskans Fortress, a fortification of the town of Nyen, was built within the borders of Landskrona in the shape of a five-pointed star. During the Great Northern War in 1703, it was captured by Russian troops. A shipyard and dockyard were built in its place. By order of Peter the Great, attempts were made to destroy the above-ground portion of the fortress, but it remained intact. Remnants of moats (13,000 square meters) along the entire perimeter and bastions up to 3-4 meters high, as well as stone and wooden structures, remain.
This entire “archaeological layer cake” is located on the Okhtinsky Cape, part of which is called the Russian Troy.
"Archaeological excavations have uncovered a whole layer of unique monuments, previously unknown in this region. We now have a five-thousand-year-old prehistory—a huge Neolithic (Early Metal Age) site, a cape fortified settlement belonging to the Novgorodians (13th century), the remains of the Swedish fortress of Landskrona (14th century), the Russian settlement of Nevskoye Ustye (a late medieval burial ground from the 16th-17th centuries), the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans (17th century, two periods of existence), and the Okhtinskaya shipyard (19th century)." пsummed up in the group of defenders of the Okhtinsky Cape.
A group of archaeologists, historians, and preservationists proposed establishing an open-air archaeological park-museum here.
Now, on the site of the medieval buildings, a grandiose construction project has begun.
On the ground
In 2004, nearly 16 square meters of land opposite the Smolny Monastery was transferred to Gazprom. This was a grand gesture by the St. Petersburg government. Gazprom almost immediately announced the construction of the Gazprom City office center (Okhta Center) there—a 403-meter-tall tower. The governor Valentina Matvienko supported the idea. Five years later, she signed the construction permit after amending various laws: buildings no taller than 100 meters are permitted here, but the city administration, by special decree, made an exception for Gazprom. The boundaries of the cultural heritage site were established in such a way that they comprise far less than half of the actual boundaries of the monument. The Main State Expertise of Russia issued a positive opinion on the Okhta Center project. It would seem that all departments and senior officials had united to build a Gazprom tower on the site of ancient Swedish ones, but those opposed to the destruction of the artifacts outnumbered them. Several large public groups, archaeologists, historians, local historians, Yabloko deputies, and UNESCO all voiced their objections and sued the St. Petersburg administration. For this, or for some other reason, on November 10, 2010, it became known that the Russian government had rejected the Gazprom tower project.
The fight wasn't over: activists realized that sooner or later Gazprom would return to its site. Activists insisted that the boundaries of the protected site needed to be expanded and withhand over On the territory of the Okhtinsky Cape, there is a historical and archaeological museum-reserve. In November 2021, they almost won: the Kuibyshevsky District Court оbyazal officials to consider the inclusion of the defensive moats of the Landskrona Fortress in the list of cultural heritage sites. As early as June of next year, the St. Petersburg City Court оtmenil decision of the district court.
In September 2022, information about the construction of another Gazprom office building on Krasnogvardeyskaya Square (on a 47,253 square meter site) appeared on the Gosstroynadzor website. The building will cover 34,249.53 square meters, with a total floor area of 166,505.35 square meters. It will include parking for 1462 cars. The building will be 33 meters tall, with a total of nine floors, two of which will be underground.
For the past 12 years, the site has been surrounded by a solid fence. Now, preparations for construction are in full swing, with heavy equipment at work.
Archaeologist Petr Sorokin, who, as part of a group of specialists, carried out excavations at the Nyenskans fortress, countmelting any construction here is destructive to the monuments: "These are all vibrant pages of Russian and European history that still stand here, and any construction here would simply destroy them. We would lose real traces of our history. A development project for this area is being persistently pushed through, as if St. Petersburg lacks space for new construction. This business center literally stands on our monuments. All the talk about some archaeological museum being built in St. Petersburg, and about a section of the museum here that will tell about ancient history, is all being done to distract from the main topic of preserving monuments."
Social activist Alla Zamkova She lives near the construction site. She doesn't understand how it was possible to destroy such a huge cultural heritage amidst the silence of the media and the public.
"This is world-class cultural and historical heritage! I remember when archaeologists made this discovery in the 2000s, everyone was shocked. People talked about it, wrote about it in the media, discussed it among themselves—it was such a significant event. And now, right now, all of this is being destroyed, turned inside out, while television talks about patriotism. At first, they protested, then they fell silent."
The second wave of protest is radically different from the first. There are almost no options left to protect the archaeological site.
Putin
"If construction had started a year earlier, we would have picketed this construction site dozens of times already, we would all be standing with signs, and we would have been able to draw attention to the problem. But now it's all illegal, and no one will break the law.", - is talking Anastasia Pluto, which has been protecting historical values on the Okhtinsky Cape since 2000.
The first protest campaign was massive. People attended rallies after notifying the authorities, and pickets without any notice. Journalists from almost all major television channels and print media attended the protests, and people weren't afraid to defend what they held dear. According to the interviewee, they managed to gather about 100,000 "physical" signatures, and in one day it was easy to collect 2,000 signatures. Now online petition gained a little more 13,000 votes against development.
"The situation was different back then; we knew we could influence the processes happening in the city and the state. We had a lot of street activity. One day, our deputy, Vladimir Soloveichik, who was holding a meeting with residents about construction, was taken to the police station. We fought him off: people came to the station, put up posters on the porch, and demanded his release. And the deputy waved at us through the window, as if to say, 'I'm fine, we're just having a chat.' Our voices meant a lot." — Anastasia recalls. — Now some fear persecution, some have been forced to leave, and some defenders have already died.
The activist believes that even today, it's possible and necessary to fight for the preservation of this archaeological gem using all legal means. For example, by drawing a poster against the destruction, photographing it, and posting it online—perhaps this way, people who weren't aware of the problem will learn about it. We need to continue writing to the relevant ministries and regulatory agencies. having askedask questions, to talk about the treasures hidden underground at Okhtinsky Cape. According to Anastasia, conveying this message is difficult: not everyone understands the value of something that can't be seen or touched.
A group of activists every Saturday etc.lead meetings With like-minded people at a site near the Bolshoy Okhtinsky Bridge, with the construction site clearly visible. The following post was made about the last meeting in the "Save Okhtinsky Mys!" group:
"How we all wish these insolent temporary workers would finally leave our city alone. Stop ruining its views, cutting down trees, encroaching on its banks, and most importantly, stop destroying our history! Hatred is growing in people. It's simply impossible to tolerate this in silence.
Excavators continue to gnaw away at the Okhtinsky Cape monument."
Anastasia is confident that it is still possible to save the St. Petersburg Troy, because the president himself нcalled The creation of an archaeological reserve was an interesting idea and he instructed the Russian Minister of Culture To Olga Lyubimova, to the governor To Alexander Beglov and the head of PJSC Gazprom Alexey Miller Work on this issue. Gazprom promised to create a museum instead of a nature reserve.
— Putin can save us. I'm sure he doesn't know anything about it. — Anastasia shares her opinion. — He ordered the report, but the ones reporting to him are the chosen few—it's apparently not in their interests to report the truth. They report to him what's beneficial. He doesn't read the internet, and the major media aren't writing about the problem. He's simply being deceived.
Photo: "Protect Okhtinsky Mys" group on VK, Cover photo: painting by Eduard Yakushin
