Saint Petersburg, Russia
Do you remember the TV game "Fort Boyard"? The team of players landed on the Fort lost in the sea and this team has to beat the ancient elder, masters of shadows, tigers and others to receive gold as a reward. So this is also a lost Fort, but not "Fort Boyard". This is Fort Alexander The first-Russian Fort Boyard.
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This Fort is interesting because it is the twin brother of the French Fort Boyard. Well, to be much more precise, it is a prototype. The official opening of the Russian version of the Fort took place in July 1845, and the French Fort was opened in 1857. Fort Boyard has dimensions: length 68 m, width-31 m. the Size of the Russian Fort exceed it so that the Boyard would fit inside it absolutely easily. For comparison: dimensions of Russian Fort Alexander I is a semi-oval 90 x 60. Interesting fact: the island on which this fortification is located is artificial. 5335 piles were driven into the bottom of the Gulf of Finland and the space between them was filled with concrete based on hydraulic lime.
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It so happened that the Fort has never been used it for its intended purpose. He never had to participate in any battle. When it was under construction, in the course was smoothbore weapons, but then progress has stepped forward and at the end of the 19th century already began to use rifled weapons. The power of the shells and the range of fire were many times more and more accurate. This large structure could be too easy a target. Its use has simply become irrelevant.
At that time, the world was shocked by the outbreak of plague. In a few years, it has spread to all continents. It was decided to create a laboratory on the territory of the Fort. In it, scientists were engaged in the development and production of vaccines against the most terrible and dangerous diseases: plague, cholera, typhoid. All employees of this laboratory lived here in complete isolation to prevent the leakage of the disease outside the Fort. Communication with the mainland was carried out by a small ship. All of this scientific activity was carried out until the October revolution. Then the laboratory was disbanded.
Everyone knows that Fort Boyard was also not used for its intended purpose and that there for many years removed the world famous TV show.
So many similarities in these marine structures and such different fates. When our boat sailed past Fort Alexander I, all the eyes of passengers in complete silence were chained to its walls . There is in it something such a powerful and ominous, attracting views.
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Camera SONY DSC-W350
Location: Kotlin island, Russia. Fort Alexander I
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