Russian fortress damaged by fire

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- A fire caused heavy damage to a section of the Peter and Paul Fortress, one of the city's most important landmarks, officials said Monday.

The Sunday evening fire damaged about 500 square feet of the fortress' Naryshkin bastion and destroyed the structure's wooden dome, officials said.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation, said Yelena Kononenko, a spokesman for the fortress, which is one of the city's top tourist sites.

The fortress was one of the first structures built when the city was founded by Czar Peter the Great in 1703. It later served as a high-security jail for political prisoners.