Fort Alexendenr I, Plague, Saint Petersburg

Fort Alexander, also Fort Alexander I, or Plague Fort (Russian: Форт Александр Первый Fort Aleksandr Perviy or Russian: Чумный форт Chumnyi fort, English: "Plague fort") is a naval fortress on an artificial island in the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. From 1899 to 1917, the fort housed a research laboratory on plague and other bacterial diseases. Since the formation of Saint Petersburg in 1703, the waterways in the Gulf of Finland were of strategic importance for Russia. Peter I initiated the construction of forts in the Gulf of Finland and directed the foundation of the first military installation on the island of Kotlin, Fort Kronshlot, in 1704. Throughout the following two centuries, Russia continued to fortify the area. Louis Barthelemy Carbonnier d'Arsit de Gragnac (aka Lev Lvovich Carbonnier) drafted the initial blueprint for Fort Alexander. Earlier, he had planned the 1827 reconstruction of another military installation in the Gulf of Finland, Fort Citadel... Wikipedia.org