In 1884, the construction of the famous Russian prison "Kresty" on the Vyborg side of St. Petersburg began. The construction was conscientious - having spent a colossal 1.5 million rubles at that time, the architects and builders created buildings with strong and reliable walls. It was assumed that it was simply impossible to escape from this prison. In addition, the prison "Kresty" was considered exemplary - following its example, prisons were then built in Samara, Chelyabinsk and other Russian cities.
The author of the Kresty project is Antonio Tomishko, he wanted to build a solitary prison. There is even a legend according to which he said to Tsar Alexander III: "Your Majesty, I built a prison for you", to which the Tsar laughed and replied: "Not for me, but for myself!" After that, Alexander III locked the architect in the thousandth cell, where he ended his life. However, this cell has not been discovered to this day. Therefore, whether this is true or just a myth is still a mystery.
The architecture of Kresty and why the prison is called that
Photo - © RIA Novosti
In general, the prison consisted of two buildings for prisoners. Each 1000 mobile number database single cell was 8 square meters. In the center of the territory, an administrative building, living quarters for employees, a kitchen, a hospital, a bathhouse and a boiler room were erected. The prison got its name due to the shape of the two main buildings with cells, which were built in the form of two identical, equal-armed crosses, connected by the building of the administrative building.
It is interesting that the author of the project Tomishko wanted to convey to people's consciousness a special idea - the inseparability of punishment and repentance. Therefore, on the fifth floor of one of the buildings, he placed a five-domed church of Prince Nevsky, founded by five domes. In the late 90s, the attic rubble was dismantled and an icon of Alexander Nevsky was found among it. According to legend, this was the original icon.
The subsequent fate of the temple was unenviable: during the revolutionary period the temple was closed, and later it was turned into a club, with the crosses removed from the domes.