Kotlin Island: general description, history and tourism

The island of Kotlin is a small piece of land with an area of sixteen square kilometers, located in the Baltic Sea. From an administrative point of view, it refers to the Kronstadt district of St. Petersburg. According to researchers, it was formed about 5.5 thousand years ago. As of today, the island is an object of the national historical heritage.

Short story

According to historians, the first people who visited here in the seventh century were Scandinavian Vikings. The oldest documentary memories of Kotlin date back to the thirteenth century. At that time it played the role of an important stopping point for merchants heading from Novgorod to Europe, and also in the opposite direction. According to the Orekhovo Peace Treaty, signed in 1323, the island was jointly owned by the Novgorod Principality and Sweden, and in 1617, according to the Stolbovsky Agreement, it was completely transferred to the ownership of the Scandinavian state. Almost a hundred years later, during the Northern War, Russia returned it to itself. May 7, 1704, the construction of fortifications was completed. Thus, it is now generally accepted that on this day the city-port on the island of Kotlin was founded, which bears the name of Kronstadt.

Over the past two centuries, this stretch of land has from time to time become the main base of the Baltic Fleet - first the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union, which was largely due to the loss of strategic positions in the Baltic states and Finland. It remains so today, in the times of the Russian Federation.

Geography

Scientists argue that the island of Kotlin was formed after one of the glacial periods as a result of a change in the nature and direction of the currents in the Gulf of Finland. It happened approximately 5.5 thousand years ago. In fact, it is a blurred moraine, whose dimensions in length and width are 11 and 2 kilometers respectively. Supporters of this version have recently become more and more, which is facilitated by the research of recently discovered geological deposits, which correspond to the bottom of the Baltic Sea in a number of indices.

The shape of the island is slightly stretched from south-east to north-west. Several bays formed on the coast, which are very convenient for anchorage of ships. As for the relief of Kotlin, it is predominantly flat and has small hills all over the surface. The highest points are above sea level at around 15 meters.

Residents

The port city, located on the island of Kotlin, according to the last census, has about 45 thousand people. The inhabitants of Kronstadt, in fact, are the population of this entire stretch of land in the Baltic Sea. From an ethnic point of view, the majority of the people living here are Russians. Besides them, small groups of representatives of other nationalities, now living in the countries of the former USSR, live here.

Climate

Over the territory on which the island of Kotlin is located, dominates the humid, temperate type of climate. In connection with the activity of cyclones, air masses here often change their direction of motion. Weather in the Gulf of Finland has a big impact on local temperature indicators. In summer, air usually warms up to an average of 20-25 degrees above zero. As for precipitation, they fall here in the form of rain, snow or fog. The average annual number varies from 630 to 650 millimeters. In winter, winds usually blow from the south-west, and in the summer - from the north-west. If compared with the St. Petersburg climate, for Kotlin is characterized by a higher humidity.

Animal and plant life

The island of Kotlin completely consists of soil of medium podzolic and heterogeneous grains. The result of intensive and long life of people was that the natural flora was almost completely replaced by anthropogenic flora. Representatives of the local fauna are mainly pets of people living here. A few centuries ago a large population of gulls inhabited this place, but it was almost completely destroyed due to human activity.

Tourist attraction

The city on the island of Kotlin rightly refers to the historical and cultural heritage of the Russian Federation. This is not surprising, because over the past few centuries, Kronstadt has become one of the centers of events that have had a significant impact on the country's further development. On its territory are many monuments for the sake of which travelers come here from all over the world. The most significant are: Nikolsky Cathedral and St. Vladimir Cathedral. The construction of the latter started in 1730. As practice shows, the majority of visitors to the island come here for historical knowledge. In this regard, local guides recommend tourists to visit the Museum of the Marine Plant, the Museum of the Memory of AS Popov, the Italian Palace and the Kronstadt Admiralty. You can not ignore the forts, the lighthouse and other protective historical fortifications. It should be noted and the fact that on Kotlin there is even a small beach open for swimming in the summer.

How to get there

After Kronstadt lost its closed status in the military plan, tourists from Russia and other countries regularly came here. Although here there is a small airfield, it serves exclusively to ensure the transport needs of the army. The most common method of passage here are regularly ferrying from St. Petersburg to the port on the island of Kotlin, ferries and passenger ships. In addition, you can get to Kronstadt and by road on the bridge that connects it to the mainland.