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Oreshek
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world heritage sites in russia
   
forts in russia
   
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Built as a fortress named Oreshek (or ''Nutlet'') by the Novgorod Republic in 1300 , it had a key strategic position guarding Novgorod and access to the Baltic Sea . The fortress is situated on Orekhovets island, whose name refers to Nut s in Swedish, Finnish ''(Pähkinäsaari/Pähkinälinna)'' and Russian .

In 1323 , after numerous Russo-Swedish Conflicts , a peace treaty was signed in Orekhovets between Sweden and Novgorod Republic ( Treaty Of Nöteborg ), which was the first agreement on the border Between Eastern And Western Christianity , running through present-day Finland .

The town was called Nöteborg ("Nut-fortress") by the Swedes after its capture in 1611 during the Ingrian War , after which it became the center of the north-Ingrian Nöteborg county ( Slottslän ). In 1702 , during the Great Northern War , the fortress was taken by Russians under Peter The Great in an Amphibious Assault . It was then given its current name, Shlisselburg, a Transcription of ''Schlüsselburg''. The name, meaning "Key-fortress" in German , refers to Peter's perception of the fortress as the "Key to Ingria ".

During the times of Imperial Russia , the fortress was used as a political prison. It was there that Ivan VI Of Russia was murdered in 1764 . During World War II , Shlisselburg was seized by Germany . The recapture of the town in 1943 by Russian forces Reopened Access To Besieged Leningrad.

Today the fortress has five restored towers and a wall. The remains of a church inside the fortress were transformed into a memorial to the fortress's defenders. There is also a museum of political prisons of the Russian Empire ( Lenin 's brother, terrorist Alexander Ulyanov, who attempted to assassinate Emperor Alexander III , was hanged here), and a small collection of World War II artillery.


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