On the date of Petrozavodsk foundation

A letter written by Alexander Menshikov to Peter the Great on the 28th of August of 1703 is published for the first time. At the end of August, 1703 Peter I attended the shipyards of Lodeinoje Pole and sent A. Menshikov to visit the “foundries”. Upon his arrival at the village named Gorka, A. Menshikov wrote a letter to the Russian tsar informing him about his location. A. Menshikov was stationed 15 versts away from the foundries and planned to continue his trip towards the destination the morning after at 4 a. m. The letter was written on the 28 of August, 1703. The researchers believe that in this letter A. Menshikov wrote about his visit to the mouth of Lososinka river where he planned to participate in the ceremony of Petrovsky foundries’ foundation. The article proves, that in this letter A. Menshikov informed the tsar about his visit to Ustretsky foundries, which were a part of H. Butenant’s foundries group. It’s possible that only after this visit to Ustretsky foundries A. Menshikov departed to participate in the ceremony of Petrovsky foundries’ foundation. Therefore, the foundation of Petrovsky foundries and the foundation of Petrozavodsk took place not earlier than in August, 28, 1703.