For the most part, myths tell the story of how worlds are born: how a harmonious cosmos emerges from unpredictable chaos. Alexander Kushnir’s book is also dedicated to the main cosmogonic process - it tells in detail and scrupulously, with the use of unexpected evidence and previously unpublished documents, how a cozy archipelago of meanings called “Aquarium” emerged from the Leningrad confusion and chaos in the courtyards-wells and Okhta catacombs. . A group has emerged that has long been a figure in the mythology of the city on the Neva, like the Bronze Horseman or the legend of the hare, which gave its specific name to the island where the Peter and Paul Fortress was located.