Kolomna Kremlin has 7 surviving towers now. Kolomna Kremlin - stone defense of the ancient city
Many centuries ago, repelling enemy attacks, Kolomna went through many trials. Under the Golden Horde, every raid on Rus' ended in the destruction of the city. For a long time, the Kolomna fortress was wooden, but then it was replaced with a stone one.
The Kolomna Kremlin is one of the largest Russian fortifications built in the 16th century, during the reign of Grand Duke Vasily III. It was erected at a time when Moscow sought to protect its southern borders, securing them from attacks by the Crimean and Kazan khanates. After Kolomna gained a stone fortress, enemy troops were never able to take the city by storm.
After several centuries, the Kolomna fortification lost its military significance, and local residents began to dismantle it for building materials. But in 1826, Russian Emperor Nicholas I issued a decree prohibiting the destruction of historical monuments. Thanks to this, the Kremlin in Kolomna survived and was preserved as a monument of architecture and fortification art.
The heart of the fortress is Cathedral Square. Here you can see the oldest Kremlin building - the picturesque Church of the Resurrection, where in 1366 the wedding of Prince Dmitry Donskoy and Evdokia of Suzdal took place. Nearby stands one of the first Russian churches built of brick - the Church of St. Nicholas Gostiny.
Bird's eye view of the Kremlin in KolomnaThe dominant architectural ensemble of the Kolomna Kremlin is the Assumption Cathedral, which became a monument to the Russian victory on the Kulikovo Field. Nowadays, this ancient temple has the status of a cathedral. In addition, the Kremlin contains a high tented bell tower, several churches, civil buildings and monuments, as well as two convents - Trinity Novo-Golutvina and Brusenskaya.
Tourists who come to Kolomna can explore the Kremlin on their own or with a guide. There are many interesting tours and interactive programs available here for everyone.
History of the Kolomna Kremlin
The first Kremlin in Kolomna appeared in the middle of the 12th century. It was built thanks to the Ryazan princes, and, according to historians, occupied an area of 3 to 5 hectares. In those days, the city was regularly subjected to raids by Tatar troops, and the Golden Horde completely destroyed the Kolomna Kremlin several times. The fortifications, made of wood, also suffered greatly from frequent fires. But the city played an important role in the defense of the southern borders of the Moscow principality, so the fortress was rebuilt each time.
Panorama of Kolomna from the book of Adam Olearius "Description of a journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back"Grand Duke Vasily III issued a decree on the construction of stone fortifications in Kolomna. At the end of May 1525, townspeople and residents of surrounding villages began large-scale work. The project was led by Italian architects invited by the prince. According to one version, they could be Aleviz the Great and Aleviz the Small, who built the Kremlin in Moscow. This assumption is supported by the strong similarity of both fortresses. The length and thickness of the walls, the dimensions of the tower fortifications and the approximate speed of construction are the same.
The position of the border city remained uneasy, so it was decided to build a new fortress not simultaneously along the entire perimeter, but gradually. Fortifications made of stone and brick were built next to wooden ones, and only when the walls were ready, sections of the old fort were dismantled.
Six years later, the construction of the Kolomna Kremlin was completed. An area of 24 hectares was surrounded by a two-kilometer wall on which 16 towers were built. Through four of them one could get inside the Kremlin. The tower structures were different - round, quadrangular and combined. All of them made it possible to conduct powerful frontal and flank fire against the enemy. And on the side of the Moscow River there was a special building - the Cache, which was needed to cover the path to the river during a siege.
After several centuries, the borders of the state expanded significantly, Kolomna ceased to play the role of a southern outpost of the Moscow lands, and the Kolomna Kremlin lost its defensive significance. Residents were actively engaged in trade and crafts, and the city quickly grew rich.
Ancient walls and towers
According to the architectural design, the Kolomna Kremlin was built as a polyhedron, approaching an oval. Only isolated sections of the old walls have survived to this day. Judging by them, the stone walls rose 18-24 m, their thickness in the lower part reached 4.5 m, and at the top - up to 3 m. Of the 16 towers, only seven can be seen today - Pyatnitsky Gate, Pogorelaya (Alekseevskaya), Spasskaya , Semenovskaya, Yamskaya (Troitskaya), Granovitaya and Kolomenskaya. They have a height of 24 to 31 m.
The tallest tower, Kolomenskaya, is considered the most beautiful. It is built like a pillar with a diameter of 11 m. The tower has 20 sides, so it appears almost round. Wooden floors divide it into 8 floors, and stone stairs are made to reach the top. At the top, the Kolomenskaya Tower is surrounded by a number of hanging decorative loopholes - machicolations. Defense could be carried out through 27 windows, built in a checkerboard pattern. All of them provided reliable protection of the Moscow-Ryazan road approaching the fortress.
The Kolomenskaya Tower is often referred to as “Marinkina”. According to one of the legends, it was here that the “Russian queen” and the wife of False Dmitry I, the Pole Marina Mnishek and her young son, were imprisoned. The silhouette of an ancient tower with an expressive “crown” at the top is one of the recognizable symbols of Kolomna. That is why the Marinka Tower is depicted on tourist brochures, advertising photographs and souvenirs.
In the east of the Kolomna Kremlin, the main entrance has been preserved - the Pyatnitsky Gate. This is a wide two-story tower. In former times, a bell hung on the upper tier of the Pyatnitsky Gate, by the ringing of which residents learned about the approach of the enemy. Not far from the Faceted Tower there is another entrance to the Kremlin - the restored Mikhailovsky Gate, leading to the churches of the Brusensky Convent.
Temples
In the center of the ancient fortress stands the large Assumption Cathedral. Its history begins in the second half of the 14th century. The temple appeared in 1382 and became a monument to the victory of Rus' on the Kulikovo Field. Three centuries later, a new one was built instead of the old temple. Its upper part was made of bricks, and stones left over from the old cathedral were used for the foundation and white stone base.
The Assumption Cathedral is very beautiful. A snow-white two-light quadrangle is crowned with a powerful five-domed structure. The main dome is covered with gilding, and the side domes are painted bright green. These days, the cathedral has been well restored and church services are regularly held there.
The tallest building of the Kolomna Kremlin is the bell tower of the Trinity Novo-Golutvina Monastery (1825). The Empire style building is very different from the austere Assumption Cathedral standing nearby, and at the same time they create a harmonious architectural ensemble.
In the 70s of the 18th century, a single-altar Tikhvin Church appeared on Cathedral Square, which was used for worship in the winter months, that is, the church was heated. In 1861 it was rebuilt, consecrating three altars. In the 1990s, the old church was restored, and the interiors and iconostases, lost in the last century, were restored.
To the north of the Tikhvin Church there is a small but very elegant Church of the Resurrection of the Word - the oldest of the buildings of the Kolomna Kremlin. This is the house temple of the unpreserved princely palace, which was located in the Kolomna Kremlin in the 14th-16th centuries. It is known that the church was connected to the princely chambers by a passage.
In 1366, Dmitry Donskoy married Evdokia of Suzdal here. A logical question arises: why did such a significant event not take place in the Moscow Grand Duke’s residence? It turns out that a year earlier Moscow was badly damaged by fires. In an ancient chronicle about the terrible consequences of the Moscow fires it is written: “fire without a trace.” That is why the prince’s wedding was moved to a city near Moscow.
Church of the Resurrection of the WordIn the Trinity Novo-Golutvina Monastery you can see the picturesque Trinity Church. The single-domed temple appeared in the 18th century and now serves as the main monastery church. Next to it stands the older Church of the Intercession, which was built at the end of the 17th century.
In the west of the Kolomna Kremlin there is the Brusensky convent, founded in honor of the capture of the city of Kazan by decree of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. In it you can see two ancient churches. The red and white Holy Cross Cathedral appeared in the mid-19th century, to mark the 300th anniversary of the Orthodox monastery. In the 30s of the last century, when there was an active anti-religious campaign in the country, the ancient temple was beheaded. During the Great Patriotic War it was used as a bomb shelter, and then as a warehouse. Now the Holy Cross Cathedral has been restored, and next to it you can see the Assumption Monastery Church with a beautiful hipped bell tower.
On the other side, near the Pyatnitsky Gate, rises the empire-style Church of the Exaltation of the Cross. Several centuries ago, a city marketplace was located on this site, and a wooden temple stood. The stone church replaced it in 1764.
An interesting architectural monument has been preserved nearby - the Church of St. Nicholas Gostiny, one of the first Russian churches built of brick (1501). Its unusual name is explained simply. The church was erected with the money of a wealthy merchant - Vasily Ivanovich Yuryev, who bore the title of “Kolomna guest”. It is curious that services were held here one hour earlier than in other Kolomna churches, so that merchants could pray and start trading on time.
Museums
Nowadays, the Kolomna Kremlin has become a large museum and exhibition site. There are several museums and exhibitions here, the central place among which is occupied by the local history museum. It is located in a two-story merchant mansion built in the 19th century (Lazhechnikova St., 15), and is dedicated to the nature, archeology, history and culture of Kolomna.
Arriving in Kolomna, you can visit the museums of Russian photography (Isaeva St., 19), organic culture (Kazakova St., 10) and the history of housing. All year round, exhibitions and art projects are held in the Brusensky exhibition hall (Brusensky Lane, 31), at the Kremlin Courtyard site and in the Liga art gallery (Lazhechnikova St., 5).
Exhibition Hall "Brusensky"Information for visitors
The Kolomna Kremlin is open around the clock, and people can walk around it without buying tickets. Each museum has its own schedule, they usually open at 10.00 - 11.00 and close at 16.30 - 18.00. Some of them can only be accessed by prior arrangement.
Individual and group excursions are available for tourists, as well as interesting interactive programs. Thematic, pilgrimage and family tours have been developed especially for guests of Kolomna, which allow you to get acquainted in detail with the Kremlin history and monuments.
How to get there
The Kolomna Kremlin is located in the city center - between Lazhechnikov, October Revolution and Lazarev streets. You can enter it from Lazhechnikov Street and near the Yamskaya Tower.
There are different ways to get from the capital to Kolomna. These two cities are separated by 131 km. The journey by car along Novoryazanskoye Highway takes about 2 hours 20 minutes. Bus No. 460 runs from the Moscow metro station “Vykhino” to Kolomna. You need to get off at the stop “Ploshchad two revolyutsii”.
Electric trains run from the Kazansky station to Golutvin - direct to Golutvin, as well as electric trains passing this station going to Ryazan or Lukhovitsy. The journey by train takes 1.50-2.20 hours. From the Golutvin platform to the Kolomna Kremlin there are tram No. 3 and minibuses No. 10U and 18. You need to go to the stop “Square of Two Revolutions”. In addition, there are buses from the train station to the Old Town.
July 25th, 2016
In Kolomna, near Moscow, the remains of a grandiose Kremlin built in 1525-1531 have been preserved. This monument of defensive architecture testifies to the importance of the southern borders of the Muscovite kingdom, because it was from the south that the Tatars raided Rus'. Kolomna was once the main fortress defending Moscow from this direction.
The city of Kolomna was founded in the mid-12th century by the Ryazan princes; it was first mentioned in 1177 (6685) in the Laurentian Chronicle as a border post of the Ryazan principality. In 1238, a battle between the Russian princes and the Tatar-Mongols took place near the walls of Kolomna; it was a battle that predetermined the further history of Rus'. The battle took place directly at the walls of the Kolomna Kremlin, despite the defeat of the Russian forces, the Tatars suffered significant damage, even one of the Genghisids, Tsarevich Kulkan, was killed.
At the moment, the remains of the pre-Mongol Kolomna Kremlin have not been found; apparently it was a very insignificant wooden fortification. The subsequent construction of a powerful fortification in the 16th century hid the traces of the old fortress. The flat terrain of Kolomna required very serious fortifications, so at the beginning of the 16th century, during the reign of Vasily III, one of the most powerful fortresses in Rus' was erected here. The Kolomna Kremlin, like the Moscow one, was built by Italian architects, and therefore the Kremlins in Moscow and Kolomna are similar. In terms of size, the Kolomna Kremlin is only slightly inferior to the Moscow Kremlin.
The Kremlin in Kolomna is similar to many fortresses in northern Italy, for example, the Scaliger castle - Castelvecchio. Similar Italian fortresses became prototypes for all Russian Kremlins - Moscow, Kolomna, Nizhny Novgorod, Tula, Ivangorod, etc. In northern Italy in the 15th century. they liked to combine white stone with brick when building castles and made battlements in the shape of swallowtails; now such battlements can be seen in the Moscow Kremlin; for some reason in Kolomenskoye they were bricked up, giving them a rectangular shape. Why is it unclear, especially since almost all the battlements in the Kremlin are new, as are almost all the surviving walls.
The walls of the Kolomna Kremlin stand out at a decent height - more than 20 meters. Such fortification was already archaic at the beginning of the 16th century, since artillery easily broke through such high and relatively thin walls. But for Russia, these fortresses were still relevant, since the main opponents of the Moscow kingdom were the Tatars, especially in the southern direction, and the Tatars, as you know, used artillery very rarely.
Pavel Aleppo in his “Travel of the Patriarch of Antioch Macarius in the half of the 17th century” described the Kolomna Kremlin as follows:
>>>>As for the description of this city, it is presented in this form. It is the size of the city of Emessa, but its walls, built of large stones and strong, wonderful red brick, are terrible in height. Its towers are similar to the towers of Antioch - or even better and more beautiful in construction - surprisingly strong and unshakable. Each tower has a special appearance: some are round, others are octagonal, others are quadrangular, and all are tall, majestic and dominate the surroundings; they are in four tiers, with many loopholes and embrasures. Around each tier there is a passage from the outside, in the form of a balcony, with battlements and loopholes directed downwards, similar to those found inside and outside the Al-Husn fortress in our country.
The most important tower of the Kolomna Kremlin was the Pyatnitsky Gate, named after the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Church, which once stood nearby in the settlement. This is the main and currently the only surviving gate of the city. From here we will begin our inspection of the fortress. 
The gate is two-tiered with a forward arch, they are similar to the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Once upon a time there was a fortress moat in front of the tower, through which it was apparently possible to cross via a drawbridge. The moat is long gone and the space near the tower is covered with small buildings, some of which are already 200 years old.
Pavel Aleppo wrote the following about the gates of Kolomna: “The fortress has four large gates; inside each gate there are four doors and between them iron gratings, which are raised and lowered by means of a lifting machine. Each gate has many cannons, and on its tower hangs a bell, which, in case of alarm, is immediately struck to notify the inhabitants. Now they call it every time there is a fire.”
The passage through the tower consists of horseshoe-shaped arches. Once upon a time, the inside of the gate was covered with lifting bars. 
Pyatnitsky Gate view from the Kremlin. 
About the design of the gate by Pavel Aleppo:
"Above each gate there is a large icon painted on the wall in a (closed) window, above which there is a large canopy around the icon for protection from rain and snow. In front of the icons there are large glass lanterns in which candles are lit. Above the main gate from the outside is a life-size image of the Lord Christ , and above the inner gate is the image of the Lady." 
Initially, the gate tower had galleries at the top with battlements in the form of swallowtails, but then they were built on, and the spaces between the battlements turned into loopholes. In the Scribe Book of 1578-1579. It is reported that in the tower at the Pyatnitsky Gate there were stored: 16 copper arquebuses and 74 iron, 5,500 iron cannonballs, 17 pounds of lead cannonballs, 31 pounds of lead cannonballs, 31 poods of zatinny (squeaker) cannonballs, 7 barrels of “potions” (gunpowder). In general, a whole arsenal; to me personally, the Pyatnitsky Gate with its numerous loopholes reminds me of the Chinese Dongbianmen Tower in Beijing.
The spindle of the wall has disappeared, but from the traces on the tower one can draw certain conclusions about how the walls of the Kremlin were built. A stone backfill is visible; the main mass of the wall consisted of it, plus there were at least two passages to the wall - one large at the top and another below - to the mid-level loopholes. There could probably be another passage; it was located at the very bottom and led to the loopholes of the plantar battle. 
In total, there were 17 towers in the Kremlin, 16 stood in line with the walls and one, Tainitskaya, was pushed towards the Moscow River, it collapsed and disappeared first. In addition to the Pyatnitsky Gate, two more gate towers were erected in the 16th century - Ivanovskaya, which was similar to Pyatnitskaya, and the Oblique Gate tower, which led to the river. The Ivanovo and Oblique Gates have not survived, as has the entire northern section of the wall. Now in the Kolomna Kremlin there are only 7 towers and two sections with restored walls. You might think that this is not enough, but it should be taken into account that many Russian kremlins have disappeared almost completely, such as in Serpukhov.
Next to the Pyatnitsky Gate there is the Pogorelaya Tower, it is all surrounded by some kind of fences and I was not able to approach it. The tower got its name due to frequent fires. A huge crack is visible on its wall; this is the back part of the tower falling off, added in 1885 by the architect A.M. Pavlinov, he used lower quality brick (and darker, so its additions are clearly visible), and apparently went a little too far with the reconstruction. 
Upper gallery of the Burnt Tower. 
View of the Cathedral Square of the Kolomna Kremlin. 
The next tower is Spasskaya. It is so named because of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery located opposite it, which was abolished in the 19th century and in the 20th century. its buildings were destroyed.
All these towers are essentially standard. The height of each of them is 24 meters, length - 12, width - 8, the thickness of the walls of the towers at the top (1.85 m) is less than at the bottom (2.9 m). One of the floors is underground, with battle windows facing the moat (now it is hidden by the ground). The towers ended with a sixth tier - a gallery. Its battlements, like the battlements of the walls, resemble the shape of a swallowtail (height of the battlements - 2.5 m, width - 1.44 m, depth - 1 m).
To the left of the Spasskaya Tower you can see a certain earthen rampart; this is nothing more than the remains of the wall, only destroyed and sank underground. Here it must be said that absolutely all the towers and sections of the Kremlin walls have gone very deep into the ground, I would guess that by 2-3 meters, at least, and this is not counting the foundation. Those. in ancient times the walls and towers of the Kremlin were visually higher than they are now. 
The white stone backfill of the wall, as we see, there are no passages in it. But the construction technology is well understood - the main mass of the wall is poorly processed stone, and the outside is brick cladding. 
The photo shows 1900-1910. The part of the wall between the towers is still present, although it is badly destroyed. In Soviet times, these walls were dismantled; rather, this happened in the epic times of Comrade Stalin, when monuments of Russian architecture were reduced to rubble. 
The next tower here is Semenovskaya (or Simeonovskaya) On the right, instead of a wall running along the shaft there is a fence, I must say that Kolomna is an incredibly “fenced” city, the local administration is simply moving on the fences. 
The Semenovskaya (Simeonovskaya) tower is named after the Church of Simeon the Stylite, which was previously located nearby on Zhitnaya Square and was destroyed in 1934.
The Kolomna towers, standing on the floor side, have an interesting feature that is rarely repeated in Russian Kremlins. They are all very elongated towards the front, i.e. in plan they are rectangles, where the narrow side is strongly pushed forward. For example, there are no such towers in the Moscow Kremlin. 
These turrets are designed more for shooting along walls rather than at the front. And in general they look very archaic; there are no mounted battlements here, for example. These towers would be good for Italian medieval castles of the pre-gun era.
Near the local bus station, another tower has been preserved - Yamskaya. The tower got its name from the settlement of the same name, where Kolomna coachmen settled. In general, incredible historical continuity is observed here - for centuries there was a pit and stable yards near the tower, and now here is essentially the same thing - the Staraya Kolomna bus station. The only bad thing is that you can’t go far from this bus station, it’s local, buses only go to nearby villages. The intercity bus station in Kolomna is located next to the Golutvin railway station.
An impressive section of the wall has been preserved at the Yamskaya Tower; or rather, it was built as such for the 800th anniversary of Kolomna in 1977. 
This is what the bus station looked like in 1969-1970. As you can see, the part of the wall is completely missing (its remains are visible on the left), but there is a wide street leading directly to the Kremlin.
Author of the photo: Sedov Yuriy Fedorovich https://pastvu.com/p/208172 
A section of the wall here was excavated and restored. What is somewhat surprising is the depth at which the white stone foundations of the walls lay, so characteristic of Italian fortification. This ditch is considered a fortress moat, but the moats of Russian Kremlins have never been so close to the walls; for example, the moat in the Moscow Kremlin was dug at a decent distance from the fortress walls. If you let water in here, it will simply begin to wash them away and contribute to their destruction in every possible way. Therefore, we can assume that the moat of the Kolomna Kremlin was dry.
Pavel Aleppo described the ditches of Kolomna as very impressive engineering structures - “The slopes of the moat are wide, huge and all lined with stone.” There is a white stone here, but still, this ditch looks very suspicious. I would suggest that this hole simply corresponds to soil that has risen over the centuries.
Arches on the inner side of the fortress wall. 
We are approaching the penultimate surviving tower of the Kolomna Kremlin, it is called Granovita. This is a squat, powerful tower with an interesting structure - it is round on the outside, or rather multifaceted, and square on the back. Until the 20th century, the ruins of the spinning wall remained here, but in Soviet times this wall was dismantled, as expected, leaving a small stump. 
This is what the wall looked like next to the Faceted Tower at the beginning of the 20th century. Photo from magazine vittasim
As you can see, the ruins were impressive, so the Bolsheviks decided that there was no need for so many building materials to disappear. 
But there was such a beautiful view of the Assumption Brusensky Monastery. 
Artillery loopholes of the Faceted Tower. 
And, below in the photo, the most powerful part of the walls of the Kolomna Kremlin, between the Granovita and Kolomenskaya towers. It looks cyclopean, but it raises certain questions. Of course, the entire observed appearance is a pure remake, but remakes can also be different. This slope of the walls is somewhat puzzling; as a rule, the sloping slopes of the bastions appeared a little later, in Russia this was generally the case in the 18th century. In the Moscow Kremlin, in some places the bases of the walls are indeed significantly wider than the upper battle platform; for example, such a slope is observed in the area of the Alexander Garden, but this is rather an exception. It seems that there are few artillery ports within the walls; on the other hand, there are none at all in the Moscow Kremlin now. And of course, the problem of the ditch remains; as we see, there is even a bridge across it. It’s just very difficult to imagine a real Kremlin when these walls were in ruins at the beginning of the 20th century.
This is how the Kolomenskaya (or Marinkina) tower and the adjacent walls looked like in the first half of the 20th century. In this photo, the preserved section of the wall near the tower is of interest; it is very smooth, because, don’t forget, remakes and reconstructions were created in the 19th century... 
The artillery ports here have a bell that increases the firing range. 
And the most interesting place in this interval of walls is the Mikhailovsky Gate. These gates are very mysterious, they were created in the 16th century, and they were laid in the 16th century, then they were found no earlier than the 20th century, that’s the story. On the website of the Kolomna Kremlin there is also this interesting sentence: “In the part of the wall between the Kolomenskaya (Marinkina) and Faceted towers there are the former lifting Mikhailovsky Gates, which were thrown over a moat with water.”
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find anything intelligible about these gates, but objectively they exist now, and, indeed, there is a bridge leading to them, thrown over a ditch, which, of course, is not a drawbridge. The statement that there was water in the ditch is somewhat alarming; if there was, then at what depth? I don't have the feeling that these walls below have been exposed to moisture for a long time. Maybe the ditch was very deep, and the water splashed significantly below the level now visible?
White stone base of the walls. 
The last thing left for us is the most famous tower in Kolomna - Kolomenskaya, also called Marinkina, in honor of Marina Mnishek, who was allegedly imprisoned in it. Of course, this story is absolutely legendary, although the Poles and Marina Mniszech actually lived in the city at the same time. The Kolomenskaya Tower covered the road between Moscow and Ryazan and served as a watchtower, which is why it is the tallest tower in the Kremlin.
The buttresses of the walls here are obviously new, as is all the brick cladding. It is interesting that the loophole for plantar combat in the Marinka Tower is located so that it can shoot along the wall, directly under the bridge leading to the Mikhailovsky Gate; in general, the problem of the Kolomna Kremlin moat is very relevant. It is worth noting that in order to raise water into the ditch, there had to be a special system of engineering structures, because the terrain here, moving away from the river, increases greatly. 
White-stone hinged loopholes in the Kolomenskaya Tower. 
A monument to Dmitry Donskoy was recently erected next to the Marinka Tower; as you know, Kolomna was a gathering place for Russian princes marching to the Kulikovo field in 1380.
“In Moscow, horses neigh, glory rings throughout the Russian land, trumpets are blown in Kolomna, tambourines are beaten in Serpukhov, battles stand near the great Don on the breeze.” Zadonshchina (14-15 centuries) 
The monument was created by the sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov. I must say that I rarely like modern monuments, but this one is clearly successful. 
My posts about Russian cities:
Kideksha - Yuri Dolgoruky's fortress
Gloomy Suzdal
The old city of Vladimir
“... what we saw defied any explanation. An old man with a sharp beard and wearing underwear was walking towards us along a narrow corridor. He either smiled maliciously, or was angry and shook his finger at us. We wanted to run away, but there was a wall behind us and our legs gave way. Having approached us a couple of meters, the old man disappeared.” From the account of eyewitnesses on an excursion in the Kolomna Kremlin.
One of the most mysterious and enigmatic places in the Moscow region is undoubtedly Kolomna - a city of mysteries and legends, mysticism and facts, stories and legends. The secret underground passage and many dungeons of the Kolomna Kremlin alone attract treasure hunters and historians. And all because such historical figures as Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan the Terrible, Marina Mnishek and the villainous robber Ivan Zarutsky left a fair legacy here. Near Kolomna, during the siege, the youngest son of Genghis Khan, Kulhan, died. Having learned about this, Genghis Khan ordered to take Kolomna at any cost and exterminate all its inhabitants. It was not possible to exterminate everyone; some of them managed to escape towards Moscow. The place where they settled was later called the Kolomenskoye settlement. Kolomna was first mentioned in chronicles in 1177 as a border city of the Ryazan principality.
During the Mongol-Tatar yoke, Kolomna paid the largest tribute to the Horde - as much as 342 rubles. It was a rich city in those days. Subsequently, the courts of princes Vasily and Andrei Ivanovich Shuisky were located in Kolomna. Golitsyns, Sheremetevs, Godunovs and other influential persons of the capital.
Pyatnitsky Gate
Since the 13th century, Kolomna has been a bone of contention between Ryazan and Moscow. After the battle on the Kulikovo field, Kolomna was annexed to Moscow, but the Ryazan people could not tolerate this for a long time and in 1385 they took Kolomna back from Moscow, weakened by battles with the Tatar khans. Sergius of Radonezh put an end to these discords and in the end Kolomna remained with Moscow. Only after the truce did the Kolomna volost begin to gradually grow stronger and multiply.
The Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich, preparing for the battle with Mamai on the Kulikovo Field in 1380, made a stop in Kolomna to inspect his regiments and replenish food and ammunition. Here he had a headquarters and here the Don Cossacks brought him the icon of the Don Mother of God, to which he prayed before the battle. Quite a famous icon. Some historians claim that it was written by Theophanes the Greek, a famous icon painter. Ivan IV, that is, Ivan the Terrible, also prayed before this icon in Kolomna, preparing to go on a campaign against Kazan. Currently it is located in the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow, and only its origin is connected with Kolomna.
The first time Ivan the Terrible visited Kolomna was in his youth, when he was 16 years old. The young king learned that the Crimean Tatar hordes led by Said-Girey were approaching the Oka River. All Moscow regiments were immediately collected and transferred to Kolomna in the area of modern Golutvin. Such a maneuver frightened the Crimean Khan and he retreated. The next time Ivan the Terrible visited Kolomna in July 1547 with an army of 150 thousand, when he was preparing for a campaign against Kazan. If you remember, it was not possible to take Kazan the first time, the Crimeans interfered, and only the third time he won a great victory and Kazan was taken. In honor of this victory, the Brusensky Monastery was built in Kolomna. Therefore, as we see, the Tsar-Father was delayed in Kolomna, hence the many different legends and myths. And Ivan Vasilyevich lived at that time in the Kremlin in the Grand Duke's Palace not far from the Assumption Cathedral.
In general, Kolomna has always been a kind of outpost for the Russian state, and therefore has always attracted rulers of all stripes. Apparently because in this place 3 rivers connect: Moscow, Oka and Kolomenka. Those. the place was strategically important.
Since the 17th century, during the time of great unrest, Kolomna became a royal inheritance. Who was not here at that time? The Kremlin, as a powerful stone fortification, was built in the 16th century by Prince Vasily III, the pope of Ivan the Terrible. By the way, the walls were higher than the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. Initially there were 17 towers, but now only 7 remain. The most majestic ones are the Marinkina Tower, the Faceted Tower and the Pyatnitskaya Tower. And the oldest building in the Kremlin is the Church of the Resurrection, in which Dmitry Donskoy and Evdokia of Suzdal were married in 1366. When you explore the Kremlin, pay attention to one rarity of ancient Russian architecture, the Church of St. Nicholas Gostiny. It is famous for the fact that it is one of the first brick buildings in Rus'.
Marinka Tower.
In 1612, an amazing woman lived in Kolomna, an adventurer, a Russian queen for a week, and the only woman crowned in Russia (before Catherine I) - Marina Mnishek. The wife of False Dmitry I, then False Dmitry II and, finally, the wedding with the adviser to the Tushino thief Ivashka Zarutsky. Fate was not very kind to her. After the death of the former slave False Dmitry I, misfortunes and failures befell her. However, strength of character, thirst for power and resourcefulness of mind helped her survive. True, her happiness did not last long. But she just wanted to become a Russian queen. “A perverse fortune deprived me of everything; only the legal right to the Moscow throne was with me, sealed by the crowning of the kingdom, confirmed by the recognition of me as an heiress and the double oath of all Moscow state officials. I now submit all this to your Royal Majesty's gracious and careful consideration. I am convinced that Your Royal Majesty, after wise discussion, will pay attention to this and, out of your natural kindness, will accept me, and generously reward my family, which has contributed significantly to this with their blood, courage and means. This will serve as an undoubted guarantee of mastering the Moscow state and annexing it with a secured union, with the blessing of God, which generously rewards justice. Desiring anything, I entrust myself to the protection and gracious attention of your royal majesty.”
From Marina's letter to the Polish king Sigismund.
In the Kremlin there remains the Round Tower (Marinka Tower, popularly), where, according to legend, Marinka was imprisoned for her deeds and adventures and subsequently died here. However, according to legend, she did not die, but turned into a bird and flew to Poland, to her homeland. You'll never guess what kind of bird she turned into. You will learn about this at the end of the essay. There is another version, according to which Mnishek “died of melancholy of her own free will” in Moscow. But, having visited Kolomna, listened to the guide and seen the Marinka Tower, you will certainly believe in the first version.
By the way, before her death, Marinka cursed the Romanov family, promising that they would not all die a natural death and their family would disappear.
There is more than one dungeon left under the Marinka Tower itself. Until 1985, it was possible to climb freely through them, but during the restoration of the Kremlin, these secret passages were filled up. It's a pity. How many secrets are buried under the rubble of the earth. Perhaps someday they will be dug up again and another page from the life of the great adventurer of those times will surface.
“Around noon this rowdy calmed down. Several times clashes arose again and cruel oppression and torture were inflicted on our people. The monks and priests in men's clothing did the most harm to us, for they killed themselves, and brought the rabble, ordering to beat us, saying that “Lithuania” had come to destroy and exterminate our faith." Great bloodshed and incalculable harm were caused by that vile treason happened. But the Lord God took away our senses from us and our elders, so that until that time we were not careful, for, it is true, if we had stuck together and were located nearby, we would not have dared to attack us, and nothing would have been done to us could not, and would not have destroyed so many of our people. But what can I say, the Lord God wanted to commit and punish us for our iniquities, for we had almost forgotten him, striving for luxury." From the notes of Marina Mnishek. But Marinka was right ", there was no point in coming to Rus', and even with someone else's faith. Ask why I call her Marinka, and not Marina? So it was the Kolomna people who called her that, she left them not a good memory of herself.
People love all sorts of legends and everything related to mysticism. Here is one of such legends.
About Marinka. They say that when both false Dmitrys were killed, and the third was not found, Marina fled south, to the Don River. And there I found greetings and kindness, and Ataman Zarutsky and his army. And how can you not find those who are eager for someone else’s things? Together with the ataman, she approached Kolomna and, by vile deception, captured and plundered the city. They burned the settlements and drove along the Kashira Highway. Their path lay in the Ryazan lands, and from there to Astrakhan. Carrying loot with you in Kolomna was difficult and dangerous. Therefore, they decided to bury part of the wealth about twenty-five versts from the city, not far from the village of Bogorodskoye, in the Startsevsky Ford tract. The valuables were placed in a hole, and the treasure was covered on top with forged doors taken from the gates of the Pyatnitskaya tower and covered with earth. And a terrible spell was cast on this burial. Yes, such that many were looking for that treasure, and did not find it, but only disappeared. They say that quite recently some bearded young men wandered around the village for a long time, digging earth in the ravine. But the old men just grinned: where has it been seen that someone could ever find the treasure during the day?
The treasures are revealed to the lucky ones, and only at night...
One of the walls of the Kolomna Kremlin
In 1775, Catherine II decided to visit Kolomna. She even really liked it here. Of course, she was greeted with rich gifts, jokes and celebrations. However, she noticed that the city was built up somehow chaotically, without any order, and the empress gave instructions to put the city in order. “Perestroika” was headed by the Russian architect M.F. Kazakov and Kolomna have been transformed. The Kremlin was rebuilt and new economic facilities were erected. This was the second reconstruction of Kolomna. The first reconstruction was carried out by Prince Dmitry Donskoy, who was married in Kolomna, under whom Kolomna prospered and grew rich. And after death M. Mnishek turned into an ordinary crow.
If you still decide to come on an excursion to and see everything with your own eyes, hear with your own ears, then a most interesting program awaits you. For example, the Kolomna Tasting Room is a thematically decorated fireplace room in the old part of the city. The hall offers tasting programs for: - honey drinks from the Kolomna Beekeeping Plant - wines, balms; lecture; - Kolomna production vodka - 3 types of vodka, original snacks; lecture; - Kolomna ice cream - 3 varieties of ice cream, toppings, a story about production; - Kolomna honey from a private apiary - 2 types of honey, herbal or classic tea, pie, bagels, a story about honey collection and the history of beekeeping (cost: 150 rubles per person); And what is such an event worth as “Entertainment program “One day on a Cossack farm” - training in Cossack skills; - weaving of vines and whips; - cooking Cossack pancakes; - learning to play folk instruments; - training in making moonshine; - tasting of Cossack mead; - catchy Cossack game “Cabbage”; - photographing in Cossack costumes; - demonstration performances of the Cossacks (possession of sabers, whips, recreation of fragments of Cossack battles).
Kolomna Kremlin- one of the largest and most powerful fortresses of its time, which was built in -1531 in Kolomna, during the reign of Vasily III. By that time, the Moscow state had already annexed the Novgorod Republic and Pskov and sought to strengthen its southern borders in the fight against the Tatars - the Kazan and Crimean khanates. In addition, the defeat of Kolomna by the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray in 1525 accelerated the replacement of wooden city fortifications with stone ones, conceived after the fire of 1483 that devastated the city.
Having survived the battles, the Kremlin could not withstand the attacks of time and the “new Russians” of various classes, who dismantled a significant part of the walls and towers for building material in the 18th - early 19th centuries. It is known that only the decree of Nicholas I in 1826 stopped this in Kolomna and other cities, but many monuments had already been lost, sometimes completely. Kolomna was a little more fortunate, because part of the fortress has been preserved, restored and accessible.
Military glory of the Kremlin
The Kolomna Kremlin was repeatedly destroyed during the Tatar raids on Rus'. Almost not a single campaign of the khans of the Golden Horde was complete without the capture of Kolomna.
In the sixteenth century, after the construction of stone walls, enemies never managed to take the Kolomna Kremlin by storm. And even during the Time of Troubles, Polish interventionists and detachments of the “Tushino thief” ended up in Kolomna not as a result of an assault on the fortress, but as a result of the indecisiveness and treacherous sentiments of the temporary workers, who were completely confused in the change of royal persons.
The era of the wooden Kremlin
To date, very little information has reached us about the wooden Kolomna Kremlin. Nevertheless, it is known that in size it was practically not inferior to the stone Kremlin, since the stone Kremlin was built along the perimeter of the Kremlin destroyed during the invasion of the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray. According to the surviving evidence of contemporaries, the stone Kremlin was built on the remains of a wooden Kremlin, which was finally dismantled during the construction process.
Batyev pogrom
Batu, leaving the main forces to besiege Kolomna, moved towards Moscow and took it after five days of continuous assaults. At the end of January, the Mongols moved towards Vladimir.
Duden's army
Kolomna Kremlin on a USSR postage stamp
Khan Mengu-Timur, who was peace-loving towards Rus', died in 1280, which caused an intensification of the struggle for power between Tudan-Mengu and Nogai. The division of powers in the Golden Horde led to the formation of two rival groups among the Russian princes. Grand Duke Andrei Gorodetsky, accompanied by several Rostov princes and the Rostov bishop, went to Tokhta to renew the label and outlined to him his complaints about Nogai’s creature - the ruling Grand Duke Dmitry of Pereyaslavl. The latter refused to appear at the court of Tokhta, considering himself a vassal of Nogai. Prince Mikhail Tverskoy (son of Grand Duke Yaroslav II) also took Nogai’s side and went to confirm his right to the throne to him, and not to Tokhta. And Prince Daniil of Moscow (the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky) refused to appear at the court of Tokhta.
Tokhta refused to put up with such a situation and made an energetic attempt to assert his dominance over all of Northern Russia. He not only recognized Andrei Gorodetsky as the Grand Duke of Vladimir, but also authorized him and Grand Duke Fyodor of Smolensk to overthrow Dmitry of Pereyaslavl. As was to be expected, Prince Dmitry did not intend to give up the table and ignored Tokhta’s orders. Then the khan sent an army in support of his Russian vassals under the command of his brother Tudan, whom Russian chronicles call Duden.
Temnik Edigei
Edigei belonged to the ancient Mongolian family of the White Mangkyt (Ak-Mangkyt) clan. The Mangkyts formed the core of the Nogai Horde. Their support seriously helped Edigei in seizing power in the Golden Horde.
Fragment of the wall of the Kolomna Kremlin
After the reorganization of his state, Edigei felt strong enough to deal with Russian problems. In fact, Eastern Rus' became practically independent from the moment of the final defeat inflicted on Tokhtamysh by Timur. Only in 1400 did Grand Duke Ivan Tverskoy (son of Michael II) consider it necessary to send his ambassador to Edigei. Two years later, Prince Fyodor Ryazansky (Oleg's son) went to the Horde and received a label for the Ryazan table (vacated after Oleg's death). However, immediately after his return from the Horde, Fyodor entered into an agreement with Grand Duke Vasily of Moscow, according to which he undertook not to provide any assistance to the Mongols and to warn Vasily about any threatening steps of Edigei. As for Grand Duke Vasily, under various pretexts he stopped sending tribute to the Horde and did not pay any attention to the complaints of the Khan's ambassadors about this. Edigei could not endure such an attitude for too long.
Edigei replaced the Grand Duke of Ryazan Fedor, whom he did not trust, with Prince Ivan Pronsky and in the summer of 1408 Ivan, with the help of the Tatar army, occupied Ryazan. Edigei's horde approached the walls of Moscow on December 1. The first attempt of the Tatars to storm the city was unsuccessful. Then Edigei set up his headquarters several miles from Moscow and allowed his troops to plunder the surrounding area. Meanwhile, he sent ambassadors to Tver with an order to Grand Duke Ivan to deliver his artillery to Moscow. Ivan promised and pretended to march on Moscow, but soon returned to Tver. He probably did not want to tempt fate and was afraid of revenge from the Grand Duke of Moscow. Edigei, without artillery, gave up hope of taking the city by storm and decided to do it with a siege. The siege continued unsuccessfully for several weeks and, in the end, Edigei offered to lift it for 3,000 rubles in compensation. Having received the specified amount, he led the troops back to the steppes.
In 1408, Khan Edigei, who was retreating after an unsuccessful attempt to capture Moscow, attacked Kolomna. And again the wooden walls of the Kolomna Kremlin burned.
Kazan Khan Ulu-Muhammad
The next time, the Kolomna Kremlin was captured and burned by Ulu-Muhammad. In July 1439, the Kazan Khan Ulu-Mukhammed, after a failed attempt to take possession of Moscow, “going back” burned Kolomna and captured many people.
The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke
The last Golden Horde Khan, Akhmet, went to Rus' in the summer of 1472 to restore the Tatar yoke to its former strength. When Grand Duke Ivan III found out about this, he hastily left for Kolomna. He managed to strengthen the bank of the Oka in time. Akhmet, seeing numerous regiments, retreated. But eight years later he went to Rus' again. And again, Ivan III gathered a large army on the Oka River and himself stayed in Kolomna with the troops from July 23 to September 30, 1480, that is, more than 3 months. But Akhmet was afraid to engage in battle with the troops of Ivan III. This was the end of the Tatar yoke in Rus'.
Troops of Mehmed I Giray
In 1521, near Kolomna there was a breakthrough by the troops of the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray during the campaign against Moscow. The destruction of wooden fortifications served as an impetus for the construction of strong stone walls of the Kolomna Kremlin.
Stone Kremlin
Marinka's head of the Kremlin
The stone Kremlin in Kolomna was built in 1525-1531 by order of Grand Duke Vasily III on the site of a wooden Kremlin destroyed during the Tatar invasion. The stone walls of the Kremlin were erected along the perimeter of the old wooden fortifications, which were completely destroyed as construction progressed. In addition to the construction of stone walls, gulai towers were placed on the territory of the Kremlin, which were built into the wall in case of its destruction.
Bolotnikov's uprising
Decline of the Kremlin
By the middle of the 17th century, the border of the Moscow state moved away from Kolomna. The city ceased to be a military-defense city. The Kolomnichi people took up crafts and trade, which allowed them to quickly recover from the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. The city was one of the eleven largest cities in Russia at that time. The loss of the military-defensive status for the city made the maintenance of the Kremlin unprofitable and it began to be destroyed and dismantled by local residents to build civilian buildings. The destruction of the Kremlin was stopped by a decree of Nicholas I in 1826, but by that time a significant part of the Kremlin had already been destroyed.
Architecture
There is a version that the construction of the Kolomenskoye Kremlin was led by the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin (Stary), who also took part in the construction of the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin and took it as a model during the construction of Kolomenskoye. This is indicated, for example, by the construction period of the Kolomna Kremlin. The Kremlin was built in six years, which suggests that the builders of the fortress had a lot of experience, because construction of a comparable scale in the capital lasted more than ten years.
It should also be noted that the Kolomna Kremlin undoubtedly has Italian features. However, this was also reflected in the details of the fortresses of other Russian cities of that period, such as Veliky Novgorod, Ivangorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Zaraysk, Tula, in which the fortification forms of Northern Italian fortresses, such as
The walls and towers running along the Kolomenka and Moskva Rivers have not survived. Let's try to see them through the thickness of time. An article by N.B. will help with this. Mazurova “The number of towers of the Kolomna Kremlin in the 16th century,” published in the almanac “Kolomna and Kolomna Land. History and culture” Publishing house “Liga” Kolomna, 2009 and some other sources. The most detailed and closest source on the history of the Kremlin is the Scribe Book of 1577/7813, created approximately half a century after its construction. It reflects the moment when the natural destruction of the Kremlin did not go so far and its original appearance continued to be preserved. In addition, there are descriptions, written and visual sources: - - “Inventory of the city fortifications of Kolomna by the siege head Ivan Nikitich Babin” 1629; - drawing by Adam Olearius (1636); - description of Paul of Aleppo from the “Travel of the Patriarch of Antioch Macarius to Russia in the half of the 17th century” 1653 -1654; - “Mural list of the city of Kolomna 1678” Voivode S.S. Potemkin; three of six drawings from 1778 M.F. Kazakova; - “View of Kolomna from the side of the Bobrenev Monastery” 1795 - 1799, made with a number of errors, but overall very accurate.
This is what the Kremlin looks like now from the northeast side due to the Moscow River and Kolomenka 
Engraving from the book of Adam Olearius "Description of a journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back." The panorama of the city is presented from the north-eastern side due to the Moscow River (erroneously called "Ossa fluvius") and Kolomenka.
Along the outer perimeter of the Kremlin on the north-eastern side there was a steep descent to the river. On the side of the Moscow River, the bedding of the shaft, dating back to the 15th century, had a wooden fastening. On the inside of the Kremlin, courtyards and estates were adjacent to the walls.
M. Yu. Shankov "Sky over Kolomna" 2003
Scheme of the Kremlin and the 23rd walk (including all previous ones)
From the north-eastern side of the Kremlin along the Kolomenka and Moskva River there were: Borisoglebskaya Tower, Oblique or Solovetsky Gates, Voskresenskaya (Tainitskaya), Sandyrevskaya, Bobrenevskaya Towers, Water Gates, then followed the round corner Sviblova Tower, and towards the Pyatnitsky Gates there was Zastenochnaya or Small (Pokrovskaya) tower.
46 years after the construction of the Kolomna Kremlin, scribes D.P. Zhitov and F. Kamynin made an inventory of the Kremlin itself with towers, made measurements of the spinning of the walls with towers, which was reflected in the Scribe Book of 1577/78. The original scribal book itself has not been preserved, but its correction list of 1618 has survived. The preservation of the list is poor, because The very beginning of the text, which describes approximately a third of the total length of the Kremlin (from the Pyatnitsky Gate through the five rectangular towers and to the beginning of the description of the Ivanovo Gate), has been lost, but the description of the problematic embankment section of the Kremlin has been preserved. The description of the Kolomna Kremlin in the text of the scribe's book can be divided into three parts: - the first - describes the walls and towers of the Kremlin (this is where the losses occur); - the second - reflects measurements of the length of the fortress wall; - the third - describes temples, monasteries and courtyards of the fortress.
Engraving from the book of Adam Olearius "Description of a journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back."
Active dismantling of the Kremlin walls began after a letter from Emperor Paul I dated June 16, 1797 to the Moscow military governor Yu.V. Dolgorukov: “According to your report, I allow the fortress walls in the cities of the Moscow province: Kolomna, Serpukhov and Mozhaisk, as well as the gates, to be dismantled due to their extreme disrepair...”. The letter legalized the “secret extraction” of brick and stone from the Kremlin wall that had previously existed in Kolomna, thanks to which many stone houses appeared in the city.
We’ll start our journey from the Borisoglebskaya Tower next to the Marinka Tower. It is believed that the quadrangular towers located along the bank of the Moscow River were of the same type and similar to the surviving four towers on the south-eastern side of the Kremlin: Alekseevskaya (Pogorelaya), Spasskaya, Simeonovskaya, Yamskaya. The height of these towers is 24 meters, length - 12, width - 8, the thickness of the tower walls is 2.9 m at the bottom, 1.85 m at the top; they have 5 floors, one of them is underground, its battle windows overlooked the moat. The towers end with a sixth tier - a gallery, its battlements, like the battlements of the walls, resemble the shape of a swallowtail (the height of the battlements is 2.5 m, width - 1.44 m, depth - 1 m). But the dimensions of the Borisoglebskaya Tower are different: its height is 16 m, length - 9.5 m and width 11 m,
View of the fortress stone wall from the north. Borisoglebskaya Tower (right) and Oblique Gate. Drawing by M.F. Kazakova. 1778
In the Borisoglebskaya Tower, which guarded the approach from the Kolomenka River to the Oblique Gate, and was one of the key points of defense, there were “targeted battles”. (Through the loopholes it was supposed to conduct targeted shooting from cannons and arquebuses (let us recall the phrases: “trained eye”, “trained hand”).
The Borisoglebskaya tower was located approximately on the Blyudechka - here.
Oblique or Solovetsky Gate: height - 21 m, length - 16 m, width - 11 m. The original architectural layout of the Oblique Tower, located on an obtuse corner of the fortress, at the former confluence of the Kolomenka River with the Moscow River, may have been first used in the Kolomna Kremlin : the entrance to the tower was located at an oblique angle, that is, the arched passages of the gate were located in adjacent sides of the tower. Subsequently, towers with a corner or L-shaped entrance were built in the Kirillo-Belozersky, Pafnutievo-Borovsky monasteries, the Olonetsky fortress, and in the fortresses of Ladoga and Oreshek. Thanks to this design of the Scythe, the gate got its name. In the drawing by architect M.F. Kazakova The Oblique Gate is called the Solovetsky Gate. Probably, Oblique Mountain got its name from the Oblique Gate (the popular name is Kosukha).
Fragment of a drawing by M.F. Kazakova. 1778
The oblique gate was also located approximately on the Saucer - here.
The Scribe Book of 1577/78 says that the Mill Gate had 2 battle windows for two levels of protection, i.e. 2 windows of the upper battle (for us now this would be the middle battle, but in the 16th century it was called the upper battle) above the gate itself and 2 windows at the level of the front battlements. This means that the design of the Mill Gate was the width of 3 frontal upper teeth.
In the Painted List of 1678 about the Mills (in the 17th century they were called Georgievsky) the following is said: “Forty-one fathoms were spun from the Diagon Gate to the Eoryevsky Gate. The Eoryevsky gate, the porches in it are wooden, dilapidated and those gates are blocked with stones, there is no passage. Above those gates, along the strand, it spread to two fathoms, and outside the city, near the ground, it fell.”
In the stretch from the Mill Gate to the Tainitskaya Tower, to protect the cache, as well as at the Borisoglebskaya Tower, there were “target battles”.
Fragment of the view of the city of Kolomna from across the Moscow River from the Bobrenev Monastery, 1799
The mill gate was located approximately here. 
The Voskresenskaya or Tainitskaya tower was 19 m high. The road from Tainitskaya to the next Sandyrevskaya tower was covered with planks at a length of 29 fathoms out of 45. On the “View of 1799” It is not the tower that is indicated, but the Tainitsky Gate. They were located opposite the Tikhvin Church and the tented bell tower.
View of the city of Kolomna from across the Moscow River from the Bobrenev Monastery 1799
In the “Mural List of the City of Kolomna 1678” Voivode S.S. Potemkin about the segment between the Voskresenskaya and Sandyrevskaya towers we read: “... from there a stone cache was spun towards the Moscow River... And that cache had a tower towards the Moscow River on the bank and that tower and walls fell apart from above and to the ground.” We read the same thing in the Inventory of Cities of 1678: “the entire Taynitsa tower collapsed.” Unfortunately, the cited sources have never before been used for the reconstruction of the Kolomna Kremlin of the 16th century. were not involved. It seems that there was a separate Resurrection Tower and a cache, which later began to be called the Tainitskaya Tower (as it appears on various diagrams), although the cache was not a tower. So, in the 17th century. The hiding place was mistaken for a tower, although it was no longer there when Olearius visited Kolomna in 1636. In his engraving there is neither a tower nor a covered gallery. But we see the remains of the Cache and nearby the remains of the destroyed Resurrection Tower. Two tiers of the Cache collapsed after a hundred years and all that was left of it were arches in the spindle and galleries. This is how the Tainitsky Gate appeared. It is in the version of the through double-arched gate in the wall opening that the remains of the Cache are depicted in the drawing by A. Olearius
A fragment of an engraving from the book of Adam Olearius "Description of a journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back."
Even greater clarification on the Cache on this section of the wall is given by the “View of Kolomna from the side of the Bobrenev Monastery.” On the “View...” the remains of the Cache are clearly visible at a distance of 7 western windows from the destroyed Resurrection Tower, which was located opposite the Tikhvin Church and the tented bell tower, which are marked like the Tainitsky Gate. When examining this area, we observe the internal end wall of the Cache. The wall is very unusual in that it has two arches in the ground floor, above them there is one narrow door arch, which falls on the middle part of the wall in height. The wall ends at the top with 4 battle windows; on the sides, 5 battlements wide, the wall is framed by uneven projections to the height of the spindle.
Fragment of the “View of Kolomna from the Bobrenevsky Monastery” in 1799 with the Cache in the center, next to the destroyed Resurrection Tower.
Written sources and plans help to reconstruct the external and internal appearance of the Cache. The cache was not conceived by the builders like all the battle towers, which not only moved forward from the walls of the fortress, but also rose above the fortress wall from 2 to 10 fathoms, so in the description we see that it does not have 5 tiers, like other rectangular towers, but 3. Here is the description given to it by the Scribe Book of 1577/78: “The cache is made of stone in the Moscow River, and at the cache there is a lattice of wooden doors. Yes, the hiding place at the bottom has eight windows, and on top of those there are ten windows, and behind them there are twenty-eight windows. The bridge over the cache of wood is rotten, the rise from the cache is stone.” In other words, this building did not rise above the wall, like other towers, but was level with it, which was recorded during measurements of the Cache in the 17th century. The height of the remainder of the walls of the Cache in 1678 was 4 fathoms, and the length of the side walls of the Cache, remaining after the collapse and extending perpendicularly from the fortress to the river, was 13 and 9 fathoms. Protecting the approaches to the water during the siege, the construction of the Cache stood out strongly in comparison with other towers and the Oblique Gate, containing gallery passages to the Moscow River. Thus, in the ideas of medieval builders, the Cache was not one of the options for a ground tower or an underground device. This is a large-scale specialized building that protected and covered the path to water in the event of a siege.
General view of the Cache from the front of the Kremlin. Reconstruction of N.B. Mazurova. Drawing by E.I. Novozhilova.
The internal structure of the surviving rectangular towers allows us to imagine the internal structure of the Cache. Probably, the ceilings of the 2nd and 3rd tiers of the Cache were also not brick, but wooden. Why was there not one arched gallery in the Cache, but two? Architect S.P. Orlovsky expressed the opinion that this was done to increase the fortification: in case the wall is broken through by a battering gun, this gallery can be isolated with a lattice. Other assumptions boil down to practical reasonableness and validity: one gallery is a descent to the well, the other is for lifting water up, i.e., to regulate traffic flows
View of the Cache from above and in cross section. Reconstruction of N.B. Mazurova. Drawing by E.I. Novozhilova
Written evidence of the existence of the Cache in the 17th century has been preserved. From Paul of Aleppo (1653/54): “Inside the circumferential wall there are large, extensive vaulted dungeons facing the river, so that water can be taken from it in case of need and siege, for the river partly approaches the foot of the wall, where there is a secret door with an iron grille.” Pavel Alepsky was able to visit the galleries. He says that “part of the river comes to the foot of the wall,” which can only be imagined for the Cache. This means that the builders achieved the desired effect by conceiving a protrusion in the form of a wall extending towards the water. Evidence has been preserved of the use of the cache's galleries as an exit from the Kremlin in the 17th century. In 1667, prisoners in the Kolomna prison practiced going to the tavern together with the guards: “they went through the city in a secret place to the circle yard (located near the Bobrenevsky Bridge).” Apparently, the guards had the keys to the iron bars of the Cache. This news proves that the passages in the galleries were still preserved at that time. The protruding massif of the Cache imitated the line of the wall, but its walls were even thinner than the walls of the rectangular towers. The thickness of the walls of the Cache is clearly visible in the "View of 1799" - they are very thin. A structure protruding too far, with thin masonry, connected to a more powerful fortress wall, on a steep change in relief near the water made such a structure susceptible to destruction. Therefore, the Cache became the first major loss of the Kolomna Kremlin. The cache completely collapsed, but the arches inside the spindle (the beginning of two galleries) stood for almost 300 years. By the beginning of the 19th century. There also remained the foundation and ruins of the lower (gallery) tier of the Cache, leading to the river.
The accepted version of the reconstruction of the Kolomna Cache.
If the water of the Moscow River in the first third of the 16th century. approached the cache, then a century later the hydrological regime changed, the Moscow River began to overflow heavily and destroy the structure. In the “Inventory of city fortifications” N.I. Babin noted in 1629: “The hiding place is not covered and has burned out and collapsed (i.e., collapsed) all over.” In other words, after the Time of Troubles, there was neither a roof nor wooden floors on the 2nd and 3rd floors on the Cache; the structure had many collapses. In the 17th century, after the destruction, the Taynik began to be perceived as a tower: “and the Taynitskaya Tower completely collapsed” (“Inventory of Cities 1678”). In the Painted List already in 1678 we read that between the remaining walls “... the vaults have collapsed. And to that stone hiding place there was a wooden log cut four fathoms high from the Moscow River, three fathoms wide, and that log was dilapidated. But there is no water in the hiding place or in the cutting area. It’s impossible to get to the Moscow River when military people arrive for water.” From sources we see that in the second quarter of the 17th century. After the fire, a cut was made to the Cache. In other words, organized access to water was resumed for the “arrival of military people.” This cut replaced the destroyed upper brick part of the Cache (both the end and partially the side walls). About 50 more years pass, the grove has become dilapidated, the river water continues to wash away the remains in the spring and during floods, and in the summer, during low-water periods, it retreats far from them. Another hundred years later, in 1778, in a drawing by M.F. Kazakov’s “View of the Sviblova Tower” in the background, after the second rectangular Sandyrevskaya tower, the ruins were recorded not of the destroyed Resurrection Tower (it stood intact, which is confirmed by the “View of 1799”), but of two destroyed walls of the Cache: one shorter, the other longer .
Fragment of a drawing by M.F. Kazakova. “View of the Sviblova Tower” 1778 (the arrow indicates the ruins of the Cache).
It is with the Cache, as well as with special passages within the walls of the Kolomna Kremlin - “rumors”, that a persistent legend about the underground passage from Kolomna across the Moscow River to the Bobrenev Monastery is connected.
The Taynitskaya Tower was located approximately here.
The domes of the Bobrenev Monastery are visible behind the trees.
Sandyrevskaya tower was 17 m high.
A fragment of an engraving from the book of Adam Olearius "Description of a journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back."
Sandyrevskaya Tower on a fragment of a drawing by M.F. Kazakova. “View of Kolomna from the Bobrenevsky Monastery” 1799
Sandyrevskaya Tower was located approximately here.
The Bobrenevskaya tower was 15 m high. As follows from the list, all the towers were covered with planks, and they were spun in only two places, including 30 fathoms out of 45 from the Bobrenevskaya to the Sviblova tower. On the stretch along with the towers from Bobrenevskaya to Pyatnitskaya (protection from the bank of the Moscow River and protection of the entrances to the main Pyatnitsky Gate) there were “targeted battles”.
According to the Scribe Book of 1577/78, there are no gates in the Bobreneva Tower. This means that the architects did not initially plan them in the Kremlin project. Judging by the “Inventory of city fortifications of 1629,” these gates did not exist. In this source, all passage towers are called gates, and the “Bobrenskaya Tower” is described as a blind impassable one. However, in the drawing of A. Olearius of 1636, these gates in the Bobrenevskaya Tower are already depicted. Therefore, the gateway appeared between 1629 and 1636.
A fragment of an engraving from the book of Adam Olearius "Description of a journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back."
The presence of a passage in the Bobrenevskaya Tower is reliably recorded by the “Mural List of 1678”: “Into that tower from the city (i.e. from the inside of the wall). the earth has a shoot, but there is no shutter at the door. Outside the city (i.e., from the outside), that tower was raised two fathoms up from the ground.” These lines are completely “View of 1799” - the condition of the tower remained stable. Indeed, in the collapse of the masonry of the lower part of the tower we see a narrow door arch. Namely the door one (as in the inventory of 1678), since it was significantly narrower than the gate openings of the Pyatnitsky, Ivanovsky and Oblique Gates, which served significant traffic flows. Obviously, after the Water Gate fell into disrepair and was blocked, an opening was made in the Bobrenevskaya Tower to compensate for the lack of pedestrian gates. Probably, the gate here was needed not only to supply water to the inhabitants of the northeastern region of the Kolomna Kremlin. In the area of the Bobrenevskaya Tower, right at the water's edge of the Moscow River, there was an important municipal facility - a public state-owned city bathhouse (the only one in the entire city). It provided income to the state, and it was necessary to provide a convenient approach to it both from Posad (from the Bobrenevsky Bridge) and from the Kremlin. So, initially there were pedestrian Water Gates in the wall between the Sviblova and Bobrenevskaya towers. By 1629 - 1636 they fell into disrepair and were laid down. After this, the pedestrian gate was broken into the Bobrenevskaya Tower. This is how the initially blank tower became a passageway.
In the Painted List of the 17th century. the following is written about the Water Gate: “From the Bobreneva Tower to the Round Tower forty-five fathoms and a quarter... There was a gate in that spindle, and now that gate is sealed with logs and covered with stone.” The image of the Water Gate has been preserved on the “View of Kolomna from the Bobrenev Monastery” of 1795 - 1799, which was first published by M.V. Fechner in 1963. The Water Gate is depicted in the form of a risalit, that is, a small protrusion the width of 2 frontal teeth along the entire height of the spindle along with one “western window” (in the brief description of the Water Gate of the 16th century, this one battle window is not mentioned because it is included in the number of fights of the entire spinning industry as a whole). Only the upper part of the small entrance arch is visible. Obviously, these gates were intended for access to water and did not serve significant traffic flows.
Fragment of “View of Kolomna from the Bobrenevsky Monastery” of 1799 with the Water Gate in the center between the Sviblova and Bobrenevskaya towers.
The small size of the Water Gate is confirmed by ancient written sources. The water gate was so small that in its arch in the 16th century. there was a single-leaf door panel, and behind it there was also a grille. Perhaps the wooden panel in the small gate was lowered from above. Thus, various sources indicate that in the 16th century. The Bobrenevskaya Tower and the Water Gate are not the same thing. They were located at a distance of 14 frontal teeth from each other. So: between the Bobrenevskaya and Sviblova towers there was no tower with a Water Gate for travel, but there was a small pedestrian gate in the middle of the wall, which in the 17th century. (probably by 1636, since they are not in Olearius’s drawing) were covered with logs and covered with stones. This allowed the gate arch to survive until the beginning of the 19th century. (since the rates of destruction of the main masonry and backfill were different).
Fragment of a drawing by M.F. Kazakova. “View of the Sviblova Tower” 1778, on which the Water Gate in the middle of the wall is clearly visible.
The Bobrenevskaya Tower was located approximately here. Currently there is an observation deck here.
On Isaev Street (in the area of the observation deck) on the embankment of the Moscow River, archaeological observations were carried out during the laying of the gas pipeline. The cultural layer has been explored to a depth of 2.2 m. Up to this level there are thick layers of the 16th-18th centuries, preserving wood, wood chips, manure, leather, and hazelnut shells.
On a high cape, stood one of the most beautiful towers of the Kolomna Kremlin - Sviblova. It was also called Moskvoretskaya, Strelnya, Motasova, Round coal. The name of the tower - Sviblova - most likely comes from the name of the close boyar Dmitry Donskoy - Fyodor Sviblo (a distant ancestor of A. S. Pushkin). , who may have taken part in the construction of the walls of the wooden Kolomna Kremlin. An interesting legend explaining the folk origin of the name of the tower - Motasov - is given by N.P. Gilyarov-Platonov. He heard this legend from his aunt Maria Matveevna: “... this tower, facing the Moscow River, is called “Motasovaya,” and here’s why: the devil sat on it for several hundred years and shook his legs.”
Drawing by the Dutchman Cornelius de Bruin. In 1703, he drove through Kolomna and “copied it from the north side.” The drawing was first published in Holland (the cities of Amsterdam and Delft) in 1714 as part of de Bruin’s Travels through Muscovy to Persia and India.
The Sviblova Tower dominated the Kremlin and its surroundings - its height reached 34 meters. It was more powerful than Kolomenskaya (Marinkina), and ended with a lush crown of machicules (mounted loopholes), covered on the sides and top. The tower stood on the banks of the Moscow River near the pontoon bridge and guarded the city’s waterway. There was a pier next to the white stone base of the tower. The Sviblova Tower also served as a city casemate, in which only noble citizens were kept, and as a safe for the Grand Duke. The scribe book of 1577/1578, in the entry about the Sviblova Tower, indicates that “at the base of it is a prison, an iron grate, and a treasury on top of the prison.” The Sviblova Tower was dismantled in the late 1830s
Architect A.M. Pavlinov, who led the restoration of the Kremlin from 1886 to 1889, stated: “According to eyewitnesses, the destruction of the tower was done as follows. From the side of the Moscow River they began to choose the lower part of the tower, i.e. base, supporting selected places with wooden posts. This operation was carried out carefully, piece by piece. When they managed to put more than half of the building on pillars, they doused the pillars with kerosene, lit a fire all around, and the pillars caught fire. In anticipation of the tower falling into the Moscow River, the city organized a party for itself.” Ivanchin-Pisarev wrote: “The human hand, always ready to get ahead of time, accelerates their (walls) destruction. About seven years ago, two prongs fell from their Moskvoretskaya (Sviblova) tower, and it was condemned to be demolished; but before they could destroy it, they broke many instruments.”
Sviblova Tower. Image on an icon from the sacristy of the Novo-Golutvin Monastery.
The Sviblova Tower was located approximately here.
Between the Sviblova Tower and the Pyatnitsky Gate there was the Intercession Tower, also called the Malaya or Zastenochnaya (Torture) Tower. It was dismantled at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1568, Ivan the Terrible and his guardsmen descended on Kolomna district. In Kolomna, the guardsmen met resistance, and as a result, many residents were killed. There was a prison in the Sviblova Tower, but only the most noble citizens were gathered there. They were tortured in the nearby Zastenochnaya Tower. That’s why the neighboring Kremlin settlement was called Shchemilovka (from the word “to pinch”). . And outside the Kremlin, on the banks of Moscow, scaffolds were installed on which the heads of the “traitors” were chopped off. Ordinary people were drowned in the river, thrown from the floating Bobrenevsky Bridge.
