The museum "Peter the Great`s House in Derbent" is located 100 meters from the shore of the Caspian Sea, near the Northern Fortress Wall of the 6th century. During the Persian campaign of 1722, the tsar and his army entered Derbent and spent 5 days here, from August 23-27. The ruler of Derbent, Imam Kulibek, handed over the keys to the city to Peter I and did not resist.
Peter I arrived in Derbent from Astrakhan on the Ingermanlandia boat, as part of a flotilla of Russian warships. Imam Kulibek invited the tsar to stay at his palace in the Naryn-kala Fortress. The king inspected the fortress and spent one night there, but then decided to leave the imam`s house and settle in a dugout near the seashore, where his fleet was moored. In 1848, a fence was erected over the dugout, and it became a historical landmark of Derbent.
The Persian campaign took place in 1722, and Peter I personally visited Derbent from August 23 to 27. A year earlier, on August 30, 1721, the Peace of Nishtad was signed, which ended the twenty-year Northern War between Russia and Sweden. Peter the Great conquered the Baltic lands and "cut a window to Europe." Through the port of St. Petersburg, he began trading with Europe.
After the victory in the Northern War, Peter I decided to conquer Derbent, through which one of the most important land trade routes of the Great Silk Road passed. Thus, Peter the Great planned to "open the gates to Asia" in order to pave the trade route to Russia from Asia. Thanks to this, Russia could become an important link in trade between Europe and Asia.
A flotilla of several dozen ships left Astrakhan in August 1722, and a 50,000-strong army was moving along the seashore. All cities opened their gates, and only in the city of Shamakhi there was a punitive operation. Despite the invitation of Imam Kulibek to live in Derbent in his palace, Peter I decided to live in a dugout consisting of two small rooms. After the feast, which took place in a tent near the dugout, on August 27, Peter I went on to Baku. However, he was soon forced to turn back, as the ships carrying provisions were wrecked.
On September 12, 1722, a peace treaty was concluded between Russia and Persia, according to which Derbent was ceded to Russia. In the following years, a war with the Persian Khan was waged for almost a century for the possession of Derbent and control of this important trade route. In 1735, according to the Treaty of Ganja, Derbent was again ceded to Persia. By the end of the 18th century, the struggle for it escalated. Derbent finally became part of Russia only in 1813.
When the Russians returned to Derbent in 1813, they found that the dugout where Tsar Peter I lived had been preserved, although it had fallen into disrepair. In 1848, Prince Vorontsov became governor of the Caucasus. He ordered to enclose the dugout with a fence and install cannons near it. Then a pavilion was erected over the dugout.
In Soviet times, the pavilion above the dugout was dismantled, and a small house was built on its foundation. However, in the early 2000s, the city authorities began the reconstruction of the monument. The new museum "Peter the Great`s House" in Derbent was opened in 2015 after a complete reconstruction.
A stone pavilion was re-erected over the foundation of Peter the Great`s dugout, and a small museum was built nearby. Here you can see exhibits related to the Persian campaign of Peter the Great, as well as the beginning of the spread of the influence of the Russian Empire on the lands of Dagestan.
