The history of the cathedral started at the same exact day 30 years before. In 1703, Tsar Peter I opened a window to Europe and founded the city to spite the Swedes. As those were times of war, first he built a fortress in the Zayachy Island that was named St. Petersburg (“Saint Peter’s fortress”). On June 29, 1703, according to the Julian calendar, St. Peter and Paul’s church was founded in the unfinished fortress. The latter was renamed and became St. Peter and Paul Fortress, and its former name was given to the new city. In 1712, the time came to build a stone temple. Architect Domenico Trezzini, Peter the Great’s chief architect, did an excellent work: the new church was not only a cathedral and the Romanovs’ family vault, but a symbol of the city.