"Ekaterinburg"

It’s fairly well known that Peter III (of Russia) had a “toy” fortress at Oranienbaum. (Although “toy” isn’t really the most appropriate word. The structure was used for training and drilling perfectly real troops.) What is far less known is that there were actually TWO such fortresses built. The one most people think of is Peterstadt (originally St. Peter when it was first built in ~1756). But long before this there was another fortress, This one was built in ~1746, about a year or so after Peter’s marriage to Catherine. He was 18. Allegedly he drew up a lot of the plans and calculations for the structure himself (not unreasonable, since fortification was more or less Peter’s favorite subject). And then he named this pet project of his. He named it Ekaterinburg, in honor of his wife, Ekaterina Alexeyeva (Catherine).