Shlisselburg

Shlisselburg is a town in western Russia (Kirovsky District , Leningrad Oblast) located at the head of the Neva River on Lake Ladoga. It is opposite Saint Petersburg, which lies at the mouth of the Neva on the Gulf of Finland. Beginning as a fortress named Oreshek (or Nutlet) built by the Novgorod Republic in 1300, it had a key strategic position guarding Novgorod and access to the Baltic Sea.

In 1323, a peace treaty was made in Orechovets between Sweden and Novgorod (in English works mostly mentioned by its Swedish name as the Treaty of Nöteborg), with the first agreed border between Eastern and Western Christianity, running through present-day Finland.

The town was called Nöteborg by Sweden after its capture in 1611 during the Ingrian War. During the Great Northern War (in 1702), the fortress was taken by Russians under Peter the Great in a daring amphibious assault. It was then given its current name, Shlisselburg, a transcription of Schlüsselburg meaning "Key-town" in German. During World War II (in 1941), Shlisselburg was seized by Germany; the recapture of the city in 1943 by Russian forces reopened access to besieged Leningrad.