Bastion of the Peter I Sea Fortress or Muula Hills
Fortification

The military history of Paldiskai began at the beginning of the 18th century, when the Russian Tsar Peter I chose the Pakri Peninsula bay as a location for a new military port. The bay was strategically advantageous – it was one of the Baltic Sea coastal bays that froze over in winter later than many other ports. Peter I’s plan was to create a significant Russian naval base and a protected port here. In 1718, construction of the port and sea fortress began.

The fortress was built according to the principles of Dutch-style bastion fortification. Moats were cut into the high limestone cliff, and defensive ramparts were built from the excavated earth. The planned fortress had five bastions, and in 1790 it already had more than 40 cannons. Peter I also planned a stone pier towards Väike-Pakri Island. The grandiose project resulted in the construction of a pier section approximately 380 meters long and two meters high, the remains of which can still be seen in the sea near the Muula Hills today.

However, the fortress was not completed to its original size. Paldiski developed as a Russian military port, and the city's strategic importance remained in the following centuries.

The Muula Hills are the surviving remains of the bastions and defensive ramparts of this fortress of Peter I. They are one of the rare monuments of military construction from the time of Peter I in Paldisko.

Soviet legacy

The history of the Muula Mountains does not end with the time of the Russian Empire. Paldiski again became an important military area in the 20th century. During the Soviet era, the city was a closed military zone, where civilian access was very limited. This period left another layer of Soviet military history in the city and the Pakri peninsula.

The Peter I Fortress itself also underwent changes during the Soviet era. In 1939–1940, an oil depot was built in the fortress moat, and a railway line was extended to the fortress. After World War II, gravel was taken from the ancient earthen ramparts for construction and roads, thus part of the historical ramparts was destroyed.

Therefore, the Muula Mountains are a particularly interesting military heritage site today, where three different layers of history overlap in one place – the military construction of Peter I's Russian Empire, the military history of the 20th century, and the heritage of the closed military town of Paldiska during the Soviet period.