Zastavy (Outposts) (entry)

Categories / City Topography/Historical Geography/Historical Districts, Localities, Tracts, Municipal Establishments
ZASTAVY (OUTPOSTS), checkpoints, established in the early 18th century on the main roads at the entrance to St. Petersburg to check goods, luggage and to register people, leaving or entering the city. In the first third of the 18th century, there were only two outposts - Vyborgskaya and Moskovskaya. Military guards stood on watch in special buildings (guardhouses), roads were barred with barriers and turnpikes (abolished in 1858). In the 18 century, there were three outposts that were called "rogatki" (turnpikes) on Moskovsky (Moscow) Road (in the 19th century - Tsarskoselsky Avenue, today Moskovsky Avenue). The first one was located on the site of the present-day intersection of Ligovsky Avenue and Razyezzhaya Street; in the 1740s, on account of the road to Tsarskoe Selo construction, it was moved to present-day Moskovskie Gates, the second outpost (the so-called Srednyaya Rogatka (Middle Turnpike)) was situated on the place of present-day Pobedy Square, the third one - at the foot of Pulkovo Heights. Vyborgskaya Zastava was situated in the north of St. Petersburg by Poklonnaya Mountain. In the 1730s, Shlisselburgsky Road (today Obukhovskoy Oborony Avenue ) and an outpost, named Nevskaya Zastava, were built. Concurrently, Peterhofsky Road (today Stachek Avenue) was laid and Narvskaya Zastava appeared close to Ekaterinhof. In St. Petersburg, there was also Murinskaya Zastava (in the region of present-day Academy of Forestry Engineering), Sestroretskaya Zastava (in Staraya Derevnya), Ekaterinhofskaya Zastava (behind Ekaterinhofsky Park, appeared on the account of a port constructed nearby) and Kostylskaya Zastava (at the end of Bolshoy Avenue of Vasilievsky Island, close to the Gallery Harbour). From the 18th to the first half of the 19th centuries, outposts marked city boundaries. With time, the name "zastava" applied not only to the outpost but to the adjoining territories as well (hence the names of historical districts: Nevskaya Zastava, Moskovskaya Zastava, Narvskaya Zastava). After railway roads that connected St. Petersburg and other regions of the country were constructed in the second half of the 19th century, zastavy were abolished. In memory of Moskovskaya Zastava, Poligonnaya Street was renamed Zastavskaya Street in 1885.

Reference: Максимов В. Заставы // БА. 1986. № 33. С. 55-62.

I. A. Bogdanov. Bolshoy Ave of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city
Ligovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Obukhovskoy Oborony Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Pobedy Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Razyezzhaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Stachek Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Zastavskaya Street/Saint Petersburg, city
Максимов В. Заставы // Блокнот агитатора, 1986 Forestry Engineering Academy