The Peter and Paul Fortress (Petropalovskaia Krepost) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was Peter the Great's answer to possible attack from the Swedish army. When he reclaimed the lands on the banks of the Neva River, he had the fortress built on Hare Island (Zayachii Ostrov), an island in the Neva. Workmen labored overtime to finish the fortress because they expected an impending attack from the Swedes. The attack never came since the Swedes were defeated even before the fortress was completed. However, the foundation of the fortress (on May 1703) also resulted in the birth of St. Petersburg. In fact, the fortress was the first major structure of the city.
The fortress was designed by Domenico Trezzini, while construction of the six bastions at the fort was supervised by Peter the Great's close friends and were named after them – Peter, Mensikov, Zotov, Trubetskoy, Folovin and Naryshin...