The history of the Schlüsselburg Fortress lasts for almost 700 years. One would hardly name another historic landmark with such a rich history in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg in which the formation of the Russian state is reflected as in a mirror.

Founded in 1323 by the grandson of Alexander Nevsky the Moscow Prince Yuri Danilovich, the fortress was rebuilt many times. It was rebuilt in stone in 1352 after the wooden one was burnt. New stone walls and towers were being constructed on the island in accordance with the new requirements of warfare from the end of the XV to the beginning of the XVI century. The form of the Fortress was an irregular elongated polygon. The fortress itself had seven outer and three inner towers. The thickness of the walls wa 4.5 meters. The total length of the walls was 740 meters and the height of towers was from 14 to 16 meters.

The fortress was in the center of dramatic events in Russian history during the XVII–XVIII centuries. It was captured by the Swedes after a long siege in 1612 and it remained under the rule of the Swedish crown for 90 years. The young Tsar Peter the Great returned the fortress to Russia in 1702. Russian troops led by Boris Petrovich Sheremetyev took the island after a bloody assault in October 1702. Noteburg was renamed Schlüsselburg which means "key-city". Erected in accordance with the fortification science of the XVIII century, bastions and curtain walls remind of the era of Peter the Great.

The Schlüsselburg Fortress served as a prison for next 200 years which gained it a gloomy reputation as one of the most terrible ones in the Russian Empire. A variety of state criminals were kept here: unwanted members of the royal family and enlighteners, disgraced favorites and Decembrists and participants of the Polish uprising. Vladimir Lenin's brother Alexander was executed in the fortress at the end of the XIX century. Now being open to public, the buildings of the Old and New prisons remind us of this period in the history of the fortress.

The Schlüsselburg Fortress underwent through heavy trials during the Great Patriotic War. When German troops occupied the town of Schlüsselburg on September the 8th 1941, it was at the forefront of defense. The garrison of the fortress counted from 300 to 500 people at various times and resisted heroically for 498 days. The fighters had a task of suppressing enemy firing points in Schlüsselburg and led continuous fire along the Road of Life that passed at 15 kilometers distance.

The Schlüsselburg Fortress is one of few ancient fortifications that survived during the Second World War. It was the heroic feat of the defenders of the fortress that did not allow the fascists to close the blockade ring around Leningrad from the east and destroy the Road of Life that played a huge role in saving the inhabitants of the besieged city.

The war caused considerable damage to the fortress. Many buildings were turned into ruins. The Schlüsselburg Fortress became a branch of the Museum of the History of Leningrad in 1965. The Tsar's, Golovin's and Royal Towers as well as walls and buildings of the Old and New prisons were restored.

Nowadays the complex receives about 90,000 tourists annually. Winds from Ladoga blow at the ancient fortress on a small island that witnessed so many events in the history of Russian country. The pier, from which the boats depart to the island, is located in a picturesque place at the very source of the Neva River at Ladoga Lake offering a classic view of the ancient Schlüsselburg Fortress.

The Fortress will be 700 years old in 2023. Once being an outpost in the struggle against the Swedes and later used as a political prison the ancient fortress played an important role in the history of Russia.