There is only one place where modern submarines dock in Venetian canals, the replica of Aya Sofya is home to a naval theater company, and young people date in the ruins of old Scandinavian forts. Few small towns have such a special destiny, but Kronshtadt, situated on barren Kotlin Island, a mere 29 km from St. Petersburg, is one of them.

Like almost everything else in this area, Kronstadt was founded by Peter the Great in 1703. This giant of a man, endowed with superhuman energy, felt his mission was to give Russia access to the oceans. Having conquered the Baltic coast from the Swedes and established his new capital, St. Petersburg, there, Peter immediately realized the city was irritatingly vulnerable, if not worthless: Any seafaring invader could easily devastate it after sneaking up from the Baltic. Kotlin Island provided the necessary solution: Located in the center of the Gulf of Finland, it controlled the waters in question. Since then, Kronstadt has been St. Petersburg's reliable safeguard. Neither the Swedes in the 18th century, nor Napoleon in 1812, nor the British during the Crimean War of 1853-56, nor the Germans during World War I and II could overpower this imperial outpost. Kronstadt became the major naval base of the empire and kept its unique status until the age of nuclear weapons demanded new blue-water facilities on the Kola Peninsula.

Unlike modern military architecture, which is invariably ugly, 18th-century fortresses possessed considerable beauty. The town of Kronstadt is locked within elegant red-brick walls that alternate with short quays built of shining crimson granite. The island is surrounded by a stylish necklace of smaller forts built right in the water. Each bears a name borrowed from the Romanov dynasty males: Peter, Paul and Constantine. Now most of them have been abandoned and their squat bastions are used exclusively by sea-gulls and fishermen. Occasionally some son of an admiral would throw a wild party there.