Smolensk fortress wall. Smolensk Fortress: Western shield of Russia Fortress wall author

History of the Smolensk Fortress

Thanks to the advantageous geographical location Even in pre-chronicle times, Smolensk was the most important strategic outpost of a small appanage principality. It was part of the trade route “From the Varangians to the Greeks.” 10 kilometers from Smolensk, at the fork of the Katynka and the Dnieper, a difficult section of the “drag” route began for merchants, so the city at the crossroads flourished, attracting the attention of invaders. Over time, it turned into the “key of the Moscow state”, standing guard over the main road leading to Belokamennaya. The construction of capital fortifications here was one of the primary tasks.

In different centuries, princes and kings sought to make the city impregnable. The beginning of the history of the Smolensk fortress is considered to be 1554, when, by order of Ivan the Terrible, capital wooden fortifications were built. Since the work was part of a plan to restore the settlement after a major fire, the fortress received the name “Great New City”. However, due to the rapid development of weapons and artillery, such structures no longer provided adequate protection. In this regard, by the end of the century, during the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich and Boris Godunov, the construction of a stone fortification began, fragments of which have survived to this day.

The foreign policy of the Moscow state included gaining access to the Baltic Sea, which ran counter to the plans of rival countries. To get a break on the western front, a non-aggression pact with Poland was signed in 1590, guaranteeing the absence of war for the next 12 years. In 1595, an “eternal peace” was concluded with Sweden. It was during this period of time that the Muscovite state intended to replace the wooden fortress in Smolensk with a large-scale stone fort, anticipating the end of a fragile period of stability.

In the winter of 1595, active preparations began for the construction of defensive fortifications. A decree was issued by the tsar, commanding princes S.V. Bezobrazov and V.A. Zvenigorodsky, clerks N. Perfiryev and P. Shipilov, as well as the architect Fyodor Kon to appear in Smolensk by Christmas to supervise the construction. They were instructed to find and register all the craftsmen, the places where bricks were made, determine where rubble piles and stone would need to be imported from, develop supply routes and hire the required number of workers. Labor was paid from the state treasury.

That same winter, the peasants received an order to increase the standards for the preparation of foundation piles, which had to be delivered to the construction site as the weather warmed. In the spring of 1596, the tsar signed the estimate documents and sent Boris Godunov to supervise the foundation of the Smolensk fortress. Construction of the fort continued until 1602.

The first test of strength came already in 1609, when Polish troops began attacking the city. The total duration of the siege was then more than 3 years. In 1633-1634 and 1654, a Russian army was already standing under the walls of the fort, trying to recapture the fortress from the enemy.

Peter I decided to further strengthen the damaged structure, so in 1698 he initiated restoration work. At the site of Shein's breach, a stone pentagonal fortification with storage for weapons was built. The royal bastion was turned into a real citadel, separated by a trench even from the city. Digging or deepening of ditches took place along the entire wall - the width of such barriers reached 6.4 meters. Additionally, traverses and bastions were erected.

A new round of the fort’s military history began in 1812, when Russian troops, under the cover of fortifications, entered into battle with the French army. Despite the organized retreat while maintaining combat effectiveness, the defenders still lost the fortress to the invaders. Napoleonic troops left the city on November 17 at night, blowing up 9 towers of the wall. The remaining bastions of the Smolensk fortress were cleared by the Don Cossack corps. Until 1844, the fortifications were on the balance sheet of the military department, which did not allocate any funds to maintain the structure. The already damaged fortifications continued to collapse. By 1889, only 19 towers remained, some of which were used as warehouses.

In the period 1889-1917, the remains of the Smolensk fortress wall were under the jurisdiction of a commission, which included local officials, an architect and a governor. Measures to preserve the fortress yielded virtually no results. Emperor Alexander II took more serious action, declaring fortifications an important part of the country's cultural heritage.

During World War II, the Smolensk Fortress suffered from the actions of both domestic and German military forces. Particularly great damage was caused during the defense of the city in 1941 and during its liberation from the occupiers in 1943. It is believed that 2 towers were destroyed during this period. The wall was actively destroyed not only in wartime. It was dismantled into brick and stone to restore other city buildings and expand the housing stock in the 1820s-1830s and in the 1930s.

At the moment, less than half of the buildings (3.3 km) have survived in the form of 9 fragments. One of the largest sections has a straight view on the southeast side. The fortress, even in its current state, gives the impression of a majestic stronghold. Traces of the fortification can be found in other areas of Smolensk, although these remains are no longer subject to reconstruction. In total, 17 towers have survived, 22 are irretrievably lost.

Surviving towers

• Volkova (Semenovskaya, Strelka).
• Kostyrevskaya (Red).
• Veselukha (Luchinskaya).
• Dnieper Gate.
• Pozdnyakova (Rogovka).
• Orel (Gorodetskaya).
• Avraamievskaya.
• Zaaltarnaya (Belukha).
• Voronina.
• Dolgochevskaya (Shembeleva).
• Zimbulka.
• Nikolskaya Tower (Nikolsky Gate).
• Mokhovaya.
• Donets.
• Gromovaya (Tupinskaya).
• Bubbleka.
• Kopytenskaya Tower (Kopytenskaya Gate).
• Pyatnitskaya Tower.

Unpreserved towers

• Antifonovskaya.
• Bogoslovskaya.
• Ivorovskaya (Verzhenova).
• Water Gate (Resurrection Gate).
• Faceted.
• Gurkina.
• Frolovskaya.
• Evstafievskaya (Brikareva).
• Kassandalovskaya (Kozodavlevskaya, Artishevskaya).
• Round No. 11 and No. 13.
• Kryloshevsky Gate.
• Lazarevsky Gate.
• Molochov Gate.
• Mikulinskaya tower.
• Stefanskaya.
• Kolominskaya (Sheinova).
• Gorodetskaya (Semyonovskaya).
• Quadrangular No. 8, No. 12, No. 19.

Construction of the fortress

The main architect was Fyodor Savelyevich Kon, who had previously worked on the creation of the Moscow “White City”. When planning the future structure, he used as models the kremlins already erected in Moscow, Tula, Nizhny Novgorod, Serpukhov, Kolomna, Zaraysk. The great defensive importance of fortifications prompted the architect to increase the number of towers, expand the battle system, and lay more powerful walls than usual.

At the same time, Fyodor Kon used a number of traditional proven methods for constructing fortifications: half-ruble masonry, fencing with high dovetail teeth, laying a plinth with a bolster, and convex arches on the inside. The fortress was not only impregnable, but also beautiful. The architect decided to decorate the loopholes with carved platbands, which were used to frame the windows of residential buildings, and white stone elements.

It is interesting that throughout the Smolensk fortress the towers differed in shape: 13 rectangular solid, 9 round, 7 polyhedral. The three-tier structures had a height of 22 to 33 meters, located at a distance of 150-160 meters from each other. Each had its own characteristics and name. The height of the fortification was 13-19 meters, depending on the topography of a particular area. The walls facing steep ditches were made a little lower. The width of the fortification ranged from 5-5.2 to 6 meters - they said that it was easy to drive along it in a troika.

The new Smolensk fortress largely repeated the shape of the old wooden structure, which, just in case, was not demolished until the work was completed. This provided protection in case of unexpected danger. The stone wall mostly ran outside, along the line of the second shaft, but in some places it ran right along the old structures. The western section was built first, since it was from here that the likelihood of an enemy attack was highest.

Considering the importance of the fortifications and the scale of the work that needed to be completed in a short time, Fyodor Ioannovich ordered brickmakers, masons and potters from all over Rus' to be sent to Smolensk. At the same time, under pain of the death penalty, stone construction was prohibited in the state until the completion of the construction of the laid fortifications, therefore it was noted in the chronicles that Smolensk was made by all the cities of Rus'.

Only bricks were made on site, which were passed along a long “human chain”. Limestone, rubble stone and other materials were delivered from other, sometimes very distant places. They used not only ordinary, but two-handed bricks. They were one and a half times larger than the standard ones, which made it impossible to hold them with one hand, hence the name. Archaeologists have calculated that at least 320 thousand piles, about a million carts of sand and 100 million bricks were used to build this structure.

The most difficult and expensive work (procurement and transportation of building materials) was elevated to the rank of state duty. It is believed that from each yard throughout the country, on pain of death, they demanded 2 bricks, and even residents of the Moscow district who had carts were mobilized to transport piles and stone. The main emphasis was placed on the use of hired labor, which became an uncharacteristic phenomenon for the economic life of that time. More than 30 thousand people built the Smolensk fortress. At the same time, experienced craftsmen received a fairly high salary - 16 kopecks per day.

Construction was carried out in a hurry, since the grandiose structure had to be completed before the expiration of the peace treaty with Poland in 1603, which did not hide its intentions to confirm the success of the Livonian War. Weather conditions were not favorable to the work: in 1597 there was an extremely rainy summer, which forced the builders to additionally strengthen the sliding soil with piles. In 1600, a severe drought caused crop failure, which caused famine in the country. Under these conditions, many sought to become workers in order to feed themselves. In 1602, there was a rainy autumn, which affected the strength of the eastern wall, which Polish troops later took advantage of.

The construction of the fortress wall was in full swing from dawn to dusk; the mercenaries lived in heated dugouts, which were often flooded with water. Severe punishments were imposed for the slightest offenses, which is why many people died or became crippled. As a result, in 1599, workers staged a large-scale riot, forcing the government to improve working conditions and raise wages. Such emergency measures made it possible to complete the construction of the Smolensk fortress on schedule. In 1600 capital works were finished, it took about two more years for finishing. In 1602, a magnificent ceremony of consecration of the fort took place.

Design Features

Under the foundation of the future Smolensk fortress, a pit was dug, into the bottom of which thick oak piles were driven. The space between them was filled with soil and compacted thoroughly. New piles were also driven in here. A structure of longitudinal and transverse logs with a cut-out joint was laid on top. The square gaps were again filled with soil and crushed stone and carefully compacted. In some places the soil was too hard - here large stones were placed directly on the bottom of the pit, holding them together with lime “cement”. This approach made it possible to create a strong, wide foundation that could support the weight of thick walls.

“Rumor” galleries were dug under the massif. They were required to carry out secret reconnaissance and combat forays in small detachments. The bricks there are laid in strictly horizontal rows, with the exception of the inclined fence on the river side. The middle part of the fortifications had a kind of rigidity belt. Here a double wall was built, into the space of which a stone was poured and poured with lime mortar.

Along the entire length of the wall, passages were equipped to move the garrison between the towers. Cannon and rifle loopholes and small ammunition depots were also built. The wall was crowned by a brick-lined battle area, surrounded by dovetail battlements. The distance between the protrusions was 4-4.5 meters.

The side of the Smolensk fortress facing the city was decorated with a series of shallow arched niches, in which there were embrasures for firing at the enemy. At the very bottom of the wall there was a level of plantar combat. For convenience, guns (arquebuses, cannons) were placed in niches called pechurs. In the center of the fort there was a middle battle, where the artillerymen climbed up the ladders provided. The upper platform had battlements with loopholes cut into them, and between them there were compact stone ceilings, allowing you to safely shoot from your knees. The warriors and guns were protected from precipitation by a two-slope plank roof.

The towers were designed in such a way that the garrison soldiers were able to fire along the wall and defend the gate. Entrances to the city and inside the fortress were provided in 9 bastions. The main gate was the Frolovskaya (Dnieper) tower, from where the road towards Moscow began. Also great value had the Molokhov bastion, which opened the way to Kyiv, Roslavl, Krasny.

Additionally, in front of the Smolensk fortress, the architect provided ravelins, ditches with water, ramparts and other elements that would impede the rapid advance of enemy troops. Drainage pipes were placed in the northern part of the fortifications to remove excess moisture that could undermine the strength of the structures. The openings were covered with bars to prevent enemy penetration.

For tourists

Today the Smolensk Fortress remains one of the main attractions of the city. It has retained not only historical, but practical significance:

• in the Nikolsky Gate there is a communication center (television tower);
• The Thunder Tower is occupied by the museum exhibition “Smolensk – Shield of Russia”;
• Pyatnitsky Bastion is given over to an exhibition dedicated to the development of the wine and vodka industry (with tasting);
• The Red Tower became the premises of the Red Tower Club;
• Oryol is the base for local rock climbing competitions.

The longest section of the fortress wall is 1.5 km long and stretches along Timiryazev and Zhukov streets. The extreme towers of the segment are the Nikolsky Gate in the southeast and the Veselukha Tower in the north. According to legend, the latter got its name due to the magnificent view, “cheerful to the soul,” that opens from the upper platform.

You can climb the wall for free through the Eagle Tower to walk from the Abraham Gate to Veselukha. The ravines surrounding the fortress are so deep that on the slope of the “Devil’s Moat” there is a ski track with a rope tow.

In the immediate vicinity of the surviving fragments of the Smolensk fortress along Barclay de Tolly Street there is a cultural center, a monument to F. S. Kon, the Fedor Savelyevich tavern, named after the architect, and other attractions.

Address: Smolensk, st. Timiryazeva, 38, st. Barclay de Tolly, 7.

What do we expect to see when we come to some ancient Russian city? The Kremlin is in its center, streets diverging from it with historical buildings, as, for example, in Nizhny Novgorod or Veliky Novgorod, Tula or Kazan.

But in Smolensk everything is different.

There is no Kremlin in Smolensk, but there is fortress , inside which almost the entire historical center of the city is located. Wherever you go, being in the center of Smolensk, one way or another you will definitely see either the fortress walls (or what remains of them by now) or the mighty towers of the Smolensk fortress .

By the way, in my impression, in this respect Smolensk is similar to Moscow, if it had preserved the fortress walls of Bely and Kitai Gorod. However, why be surprised if the Smolensk Fortress was built by the same architect as the Moscow White City - Fedor Kon , and besides, almost at the same time when the last of the Rurikovichs, not fully capable, sat on the Moscow throne Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich , and his brother-in-law, a powerful and cunning boyar, ruled the state under him Boris Fedorovich Godunov .

However, first things first.

Smolensk Fortress , an outstanding defensive structure of the endXVI- startedXVIIcenturies, the creation of an architect Fyodor Savelyevich Konya , for several centuries shaped the appearance of the city.

Monument to the architect at the walls of the fortress:

The history of its creation is connected with the beginning of the Time of Troubles, when the Moscow state really faced the threat of a Polish invasion.
Conscious of the need to strengthen the western borders, December 15, 1595 "sovereign and Grand Duke Fedor Ioannovich All Rus' ordered Prince Vasily Ondreevich Zvenigorodsky and Semyon Volodimirovich Bezobrazov and the clerks Posnik Shipilov and Nechai Perfiryev and the city master Fyodor Savelyev Konya to go to Smolensk. The Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ioannovich of All Rus' indicated that the city of Smolensk should be made of stone as his sovereign fatherland.”.

The importance of the fortress being built in Smolensk is emphasized by the fact that he himself came to lay its foundation Boris Godunov , the de facto ruler of the Moscow state, who ascended the Russian throne in 1598.

The laying ceremony was arranged with special solemnity: “singing at the Most Pure Mother of God Smolensk prayer service”, Godunov with his retinue “I went around the place where the city was, and ordered to build a stone city”.
The construction of the fortress wall began immediately “Okolnichy Ivan Mikhailov son Buturlin and Prince Vasily Zvenigorodsky and clerk Nechai Perfiryev and many nobles and boyar children in the bailiffs”, whom the king punished “do it hastily, without delay”.
Such a grandiose and hasty construction required the mobilization of all the forces of the country: "from all over the Russian land" Craftsmen - masons and brickmakers, as well as working people - were sent to Smolensk. Both local and imported building materials were used ( “And they brought stone and lime from the distant cities of all the earth”).
Due to the importance of the construction of the Smolensk fortress and the short deadlines for the work, Tsar Boris Godunov issued a decree banning stone construction in other cities of the state.

In 1602, construction was completed and the new fortress was consecrated. By the way, it is interesting that many Smolensk residents, of course, those who at least somehow understand the past of their city, still call the Smolensk fortress “Godunovskaya”.

The fortress wall had a length of about 6.4 km (about 3 km have survived) and included 38 towers (today there are 17 of them left, some of which have survived in a heavily rebuilt form). The width of the spindle is 4.2 - 6 m, the height together with the battlements is 12 - 19 m. The base of the western and northern sections of the wall consists of oak piles driven into the bottom of the pit; in the south and east the wall is placed directly on the mainland.
The foundation of the fortress, made of large white stone blocks, tapers upward and ends with a layer of 3 to 10 rows of bricks, above which there is a white stone ridge, which, however, is not preserved everywhere.

A special feature of the Smolensk fortress is the presence of three battle levels, the loopholes of which are located in a checkerboard pattern. The “upper battle” was to be carried out from the wall platform, the width of which was 4 - 4.5 m. It was possible to climb to the platform along stone “shoots” - narrow internal staircases located near the gate towers. Outside, the battle area is fenced with alternating blind and battle (cut through loopholes) battlements with a dovetail finish; from the inside - square pillars supporting a wooden gable roof.
The loopholes of the middle and bottom levels were located in vaulted chambers in the thickness of the spindles.
The length of the spindles between the towers is on average 158 m.

Among the towers of the Smolensk fortress there are multifaceted (round) and tetrahedral towers. All of them are basically three-tiered.
The following towers have survived to this day: Pyatnitskaya, Kopytinskaya, Bubleika, Gromovaya, Donets, Makhovaya, Nikolskaya, Zimbulka, Dolgochevskaya, Voronina, Zaaltarnaya, Avraamievskaya, Orel, Pozdnyakova, Veselukha, Kostyrevskaya, Volkova.
The rest were destroyed during the War of 1812, and also later, since the city authorities of SmolenskXIXcentury, they did not see any particular need for preserving the ancient fortress, and the local residents themselves actively took away the bricks of the fortress wall for their own economic needs.

The most magnificent was the rectangular five-tier Frolovskaya tower , which stood at the bridge over the Dnieper, so it was also called the Dnieper Gate.

It suffered greatly from wars and natural disasters and had already fallen into disrepairXVIIIcentury. In its place, a gate temple was built, first wooden (1728), and then stone (1793 - 1800), restored after Patriotic War 1812 (architect M. N. Slepnev, 1814).

Several views of the fortress wall and the Dnieper Gate from the bridge over the Dnieper and the embankment (the Volkov Tower is visible in the background on the left):

This building is designed in the forms of classicism. The symmetrical facades are designed in the form of a portico ending at the second floor level. On the sides of the temple there are two belfries.

There is a legend that from the balcony of the gate church in 1812, Napoleon himself aimed a cannon, firing at the Russian army retreating towards Moscow.

Church of Tikhon of Zadonsk on the site of the Pyatnitsky Gate, built in 1815 - 1816, for a long time (until 1862) used as a prison church:

Some towers of the Smolensk fortress

Wolf Tower:

The stone Smolensk Fortress is not the first such building in the city, and not even the last. Back in the 12th century, the Smolensk prince Rostislav Mstislavich surrounded the city with a wooden wall. In the 15th century, when Smolensk was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the city was surrounded by a high earthen rampart, on which Ivan the Terrible erected a wooden fortress in the mid-16th century. Today, nothing remains of the wooden structures, only fragments of the Lithuanian Wall in the southern part of the fortress.

After the construction of a modern stone fortress in Smolensk in 1602, earthen fortifications of a closed form were erected twice more: in the 17th century, the Poles built a pentagonal Royal fortress on the site of the site they themselves blew up during the siege of the city in 1609-1611 (it still exists in the Lopatinsky Garden Central Park of Culture and Culture) ), and in the 18th century, at the beginning of the Northern War, Peter I built a stone-earth crownwork on the right bank of the Dnieper, opposite the main bridge, which was completely dismantled in the 30s of the 19th century.

The stone fortress in Smolensk was built by order of Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich in 1596-1602 by the entire Moscow State, since the truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth expired in 1603. For the first time in Russian history, the labor of almost 30 thousand hired workers was used. In 6 years, fortress walls up to 18 m high and 38 towers, from 22 to 33 m high (mostly three-tiered) were erected. The thickness of the walls is up to 6 m. The total length of the fortress along the combat perimeter was 6.5 km. There was no more powerful wall in Rus', neither then nor now. The fortress was built by the “city master,” a native of the Smolensk region, Fyodor Kon.

In the 17th century During the Russian-Polish wars, the fortress withstood three sieges, with a total duration of more than 3 years, and no one was able to take it from battle (in 1609-1611 it was besieged by the Poles, and in 1633-1634 and 1654 by Russian troops) . In August 1812, the walls of the fortress withstood a two-day assault and artillery shelling by the army of Emperor Napoleon. In November of the same year, retreating from Smolensk, Napoleon ordered the fortress towers to be mined and blown up. On November 5, 9 towers flew into the air, the rest were recaptured and cleared by the Don Cossack Corps of Ataman M.I. Platova.

Unfortunately, it was not war, but peacetime that destroyed the Smolensk fortress. In the 1820s and 30s, it was dismantled into stone and brick to restore war-damaged buildings, and in the 1930s, to expand new sites during active Stalinist construction (the brick was put back into use). Thus, 18 towers and 9 fragments of the wall, with a total length of almost 3.5 km, have been preserved to this day. These fragments appear in different parts cities. The longest section, more than 1.5 km long, is located in the eastern part of the city along the street. Zhukova and st. Timiryazev from the Nikolsky Gate in the southeast to the Veselukha Tower in the north.

At the Eagle Tower, you can completely freely climb the fortress and walk along the section from the Avraamievskaya Gate Tower to Veselukha. Only here you will understand the full power and grandeur of the Smolensk fortress, which are enhanced by the panoramic effect, since on both sides the eastern section of the wall is limited by deep (up to 30 m) ravines. On the slope of the outer ravine “Devil's Ditch” there is a ski slope with a rope tow. A particularly impressive view of the city and its surroundings, the Assumption Cathedral and the fortress, opens from the top platform of the Eagle Tower, which is very easy to climb.

The Smolensk Fortress, also called the Kremlin, is one of the most powerful defensive structures in Russia, not preserved entirely, but in fragments, since most of the fortress was dismantled in the 19th century due to the loss of strategic significance. The length of the fortress walls was 6 and a half kilometers, the thickness of the walls was 5 meters.

The city of Smolensk has been known since 863. In 1127 it became the center of the Smolensk principality after Rostislav, the son of the Kyiv prince Mstislav, received Smolensk as his inheritance. After the Mongol invasion, the Smolensk principality occupied the position of a “buffer” between the two rising great principalities - Moscow and Lithuania. And after the conclusion of the Union of Krevo in 1385 between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Smolensk swore allegiance to the Polish king Jagiello. In turn, the Lithuanian prince Vitovt took Smolensk in 1395, taking advantage of the princely civil strife that took place there. In 1401, the Ryazan prince Oleg recaptured Smolensk from Vitovt, executed all the boyars who supported Lithuania and placed Yuri Svyatoslavich on the Smolensk throne. However, in 1404, Smolensk again passed to Lithuania after the surrender of the city by the boyars. According to the Moscow-Lithuanian treaty of 1449, the Moscow state abandoned Smolensk.

However, everything turned out to be not so simple. Already in 1514, after two unsuccessful siege attempts, Russian troops took Smolensk and began advancing deeper into the Lithuanian state, but soon suffered defeat near Orsha. In 1522, the Moscow-Lithuanian truce was concluded, under the terms of which the Smolensk land went to Moscow, and the city of Smolensk became the western border outpost of the Russian state. In 1595-1602, by order of Boris Godunov, the architect Fyodor Kon built a stone fortress in Smolensk, which has survived to this day. The need to build a powerful and defensible fortress in Smolensk was dictated by its border position, especially since it was on the border with its most dangerous neighbor - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - a powerful Eastern European state formed after the conclusion of the Union of Lublin between Poland and Lithuania in 1569.

However, already in 1611, after a two-year siege, Smolensk was taken by the Poles, and in 1618, according to the Deulin Truce, it went to Poland. The Smolensk fortress now became the eastern outpost of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But not for long - in 1654 Smolensk finally ceded to Russia.

The Smolensk fortress, as I already said, has been preserved in fragments that are now located in different areas of the city. By their location, you can trace the entire line of the fortress, which in the past encircled the city along the perimeter, as can be seen on the map below (map taken from the Internet):

To begin with, I show two surviving fragments in the northern part of the fortress. This section of the wall stretched along the bank of the Dnieper.

2. View from the Dnieper, that is, from outside the fortress wall.

3. And this is the view from the inside. In the background you can see that the red brick house stands close to the fortress wall.

4. In this place, a fragment of the fortress wall stands between the houses, being adapted for the Smolensk Fortress restaurant and the Russian vodka museum.

5. At the gate, the fortress wall in longitudinal section descends to the ground at an angle.

6. In 1811-1812, the Church of the Smolensk Icon was “built into the fortress wall” Mother of God, also called “Hodegetria”, that is, “Guide Book”. There are two bell towers on either side of the dome. In the past, the church was a gatehouse.

7. The Volkova Tower closes this preserved section of the fortress.

8. A little further away stands the Red Tower:

9. Turning around, you can see another fragment of the fortress from above, on the hill, above the private sector. In this frame you can see the Veselukha Tower, which got its name from the ancient resting place of Smolensk residents. It is the close-up photo of this tower that you see in the title frame.

10. Timiryazev Street, paved with cobblestones, rises upstairs, among private houses:

11. Going up, it stretches along the fortress wall. It is very strange to see in the neighborhood a powerful fortress wall and private wooden houses with grandmothers discussing the harvest. I have never seen anything like this anywhere except Staraya Ladoga.

12. Pozdnyakova Tower. Behind the trees is the Theological Seminary.

13. Having walked a little more, I saw a gate in the fortress wall and went inside the fortress. More precisely, on the contrary, he went outside. :)

This partially restored part of the fortress is absolutely not visited by tourists. Judging by the traces from the fires, Smolensk residents come here for picnics. And at the time of my stay in this place, there was no one there except me, which surprised me.

14. Eagle Tower:

15. From here there is a picturesque view of the ravines and the hillside going down to the Dnieper:

16. View of the fortress from the outside. The Pozdnyakov Tower is slightly visible behind the trees:

17. The Assumption Cathedral is visible through the loophole:

18. Avraamiev and Zaaltarnaya towers. In the Abraham Tower, as I see, the same design technique was used as in Oreshek and Staraya Ladoga - the gates are L-shaped, in order to prevent direct fire from hitting the internal gates.

19. And this is the Eagle Tower again. Only a view from the inside:

20. Avraamiev and Zaaltarnaya towers from the inside:

21. Stairs inside the Abraham Tower. I didn’t climb, the stairs were steep and I had a heavy backpack on my shoulders. :)

22. From the name “Behind the Altar Tower” it is not difficult to guess that there is a large temple nearby. Indeed, nearby was the Abrahamic Monastery (which gave its name to the neighboring tower), from which only the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord, visible on the right side of the frame, has now survived.

The fortress stretches further to the south, but, unfortunately, I did not go there. But I went to its southern part, located in the city center. The fortress walls here are located in the Lopatinsky Garden - a Smolensk park of culture and recreation. There are much more people here.

23. Thunder Tower stands alone:

24. Nearby stands a monument to Fyodor Kon, the builder of the Smolensk fortress:

26. And then the fortress wall and the ditch stretching along it begin again. The Kopytenskaya Tower is visible in the background:

28. Another gate:

29. To the left goes another earthen rampart, left over from the Royal Bastion - Polish buildings of the 1630s.

30. Views of the wall from the inside:

In general, the Smolensk fortress, called by Boris Godunov “The Necklace of the Russian Land,” is, in my opinion, a most interesting example of Russian fortification architecture. To be honest, I was especially surprised by the northeastern part of the fortress, where next to such a powerful fortress wall with a rich history there is daily life, — the grandmothers are discussing the harvest (I already mentioned this), next to the tower there is a sports ground. At the same time, there are no visiting tourists. Although the local Smolensk residents, of course, are accustomed to being close to the fortress wall. :)

The development of Smolensk monumental architecture in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries is essentially unknown to us. This does not mean at all that at that time they did not build here from brick, and all buildings were constructed only from wood. After all, even being part of the Lithuanian state, Smolensk has always remained a large cultural and economic center. There is no doubt that monumental construction must have been carried out in the city. Thus, during excavations of the Church of the Trinity Monastery on Klovka, it turned out that it was extensively rebuilt in the 15th or 16th centuries, and two brick civil buildings (apparently for economic purposes) were erected nearby at the same time. It is known that traces of reconstructions of the 15th-16th centuries were also found in some other monuments of Smolensk architecture of the 12th century. Unfortunately, all these buildings and reconstructions have not yet been studied.

In 1514, Smolensk was returned to Rus' and became the most important fortress on the western borders of the Moscow state. Its defense was of great importance for the security of Moscow itself, since the city stood on the main road leading to Moscow from the west. In 1554, the Smolensk fortress was damaged in a fire, and by decree of Ivan the Terrible, Prince Vasily Dmitrievich Danilov was sent here to “make the city of Smolensk.”

Travelers who saw Smolensk in the second half of the 16th century unanimously note that the new fortress was built of oak and protected by deep ditches. In 1593, one of the foreigners who visited Smolensk called it “the most famous border city” and noted that its fortress was “very high, but all wooden.”

At the end of the 16th century, after the strengthening of the Smolensk settlement, the question arose of replacing the old city fortress made of wood and earth with a stone one. Why was there such a need? The fact is that by this time they had learned to cast guns that could easily destroy walls made of wood and clay. Smolensk was; the main fortress on the way to the capital of Russia. 3rd about desire. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth regained it, the Moscow government decided to build a stone fortress.

Preparatory work

The preparatory work for its creation was carefully thought out in advance, carried out on a large scale, with excellent knowledge of construction techniques and construction production.

The surviving sources make it possible to get a clear picture of the entire progress of construction work. They officially began on December 15, 1595. The “administrator” of the construction was Prince Vasily Andreevich Zvenigorodsky, and his assistants were Semyon Bezobrazov and clerks Posnik Shipilov and Nechai Perfiryev. But the main role in the construction was played by the famous architect, who had recently completed the grandiose construction of defensive walls in Moscow, “city master Fyodor Savelyev Kon”.

In the spring of 1596, the official foundation took place. This actually began the strengthening of Smolensk, which found itself under the threat of an enemy attack. The appointed construction managers were required to go to Smolensk immediately. The time of their arrival at their destination was also precisely established - December 25 of the same year at three or four o'clock in the afternoon. This was specifically stipulated by the royal decree. But it was impossible to fortify the border city secretly; enemy scouts would immediately report the start of work to Sigismund III. Taking this into account, the government of Tsar Fedor did not make them a state secret. They decided to carry out all events not only openly, but also in the most solemn atmosphere. Therefore, construction managers were ordered to enter Smolensk under the sound of the city bells through the suburb, past the Lithuanian Gostiny Dvor, along the Big Bridge across the Dnieper, so that everyone could see, and to appear at the Theotokos Cathedral to Archbishop Theodosius to receive a blessing both for the “city business” and for procuring the necessary “city reserves”. This has never happened before. This clearly demonstrated the importance of the arrival of representatives state power to Smolensk, raised their authority, showed what a responsible task the government had set for them, what importance Smolensk had acquired in the emerging political situation. The purpose of such a solemn entry should have been clear to everyone - and foreign guests, who were in the city, and its...residents, who became direct participants in its strengthening. To carry out the planned construction, the seconded received the “sovereign treasury.” Then everything went as planned, and by the spring of 1596, the preparatory work in Smolensk was basically completed. Construction managers hired “willing people” who began procuring building materials, repaired old and built new sheds and kilns for drying and firing bricks, began their production and the preparation of lime, began transporting stone and preparing piles for the foundations. All this was done “hastily”, without delaying with great “zeal”, as required by the royal order. At the same time, a construction estimate was drawn up and sent to Moscow for approval, and the locations of the walls and towers of the future “city” were established.

To control the expenditure of funds, the Smolensk voivode, Prince Katyrev-Rostovsky, allocated 10 people “Smolny Posad best people” who had to certify with their signature all expenses “so that there would be no theft of money.”

Such an organization would be the envy of modern builders. This made it possible to quickly start work, expand it to its full extent and carry it out without delay.

Construction of the fortress

Due to the fact that the importance of Smolensk in the overall defense system of the western border of Russia was enormous, Tsar Fedor sent his brother-in-law, boyar Boris Fedorovich Godunov, who was then the de facto ruler of the state, to lay new fortifications there. Boris Godunov arranged his trip to Smolensk with great pomp and ceremony. Arriving in the city “with great zeal,” he served a prayer service in the Bogoroditsky Cathedral, and then with his retinue “toured the place where there would be a city,” previously planned by Fyodor Kon and other construction leaders, and “loved to lay a hail of stones.” After this, Boris Godunov returned to Moscow, and the okolnichy I.M. Buturlin, Prince V.A. Zvenigorodsky, clerk N. Perfiryev and many nobles and boyar children were sent to Smolensk, who were ordered to build the “city” “quickly”.

The volume of construction is evidenced by documents that preserve information on the consumption of building materials. 100 million bricks and several hundred thousand pounds of strip iron were laid into the wall and towers.

At the same time, a broad, almost universal mobilization of all master masons, brickmakers and even potters was carried out in the country, who poured in a wide stream “for the masonry and brickwork business” to Smolensk. Some monasteries were also involved in the work; They not only provided people and carts to Smolensk, but also delivered stone, barrels of lime and other building materials. They were brought from wherever they were available. Staritsa, Ruza, Bely and other “distant cities of the whole earth” were then suppliers of Smolensk construction. At the end of the 16th century, the country did not know its equal. It was the largest in terms of the volume of work performed and the number of workers employed. The city was turned into a gigantic, unprecedented construction site, where huge masses of “black people”, collected from all cities of the state, worked. Ordinary workers worked on digging pits for foundations, driving piles into soft soil, and delivering bricks and stones to places where they were laid. More qualified craftsmen, masons and brickmakers, wise with previous experience, erected walls and towers with their loopholes, battlements, internal staircases, vaults, inter-storey log bridges and roof support pillars, and nearby carpenters erected scaffolding, made formwork for vaults and arches, and covered sections of the fortress have already been completed. It grew by leaps and bounds, plot by plot, fathom by fathom. There was no downtime in the work. Their uninterrupted operation along the entire length of the “city” being built was ensured by separate construction teams that worked in areas assigned to them in advance, and by the constant supervision of the architect moving from one place to another. This went on for more than three years. Some work was apparently carried out at night, by the light of fires lit everywhere. At the final stage they did not stop even in late autumn, which was not usually done before.

Fortress plan

The Smolensk Fortress has irregular outlines in plan, since during its construction the natural conditions of the area were most fully taken into account. From the north, the fortress rests on a natural defensive line - the Dnieper. From the east and west, the walls run along the ridge of hills so that in front of the walls there are low areas everywhere, over which the fortress completely dominates. The most difficult thing was to create defensive lines on the southern side, where there are no natural barriers. Here the walls stood on level ground in some places, so ditches were dug in some areas. The Smolensk fortress had no ramparts at all.

At the middle of the northern and southern walls were the main gate towers of the fortress. The Dnieper (or Frolovskaya) tower opened the way to the Dnieper, to the bridge that led to the road to Moscow. Opposite it, approximately in the area of ​​modern Smirnov Square, stood the Molokhov Tower - the main gate from the south. These two towers were the tallest and, in addition to their own. functional purpose, served as a place for ceremonial, ceremonial entrances into the city. In addition to them, the fortress had seven more travel towers, that is, those with gates. The remaining towers were blank, without passages.

The towers are located quite evenly along the perimeter of the fortress, at an average distance of 150 meters, and the sections of walls between them are straight throughout. This made it possible to conduct effective flanking fire from all sections of the walls.

From the point of view of the military engineering art of that time, the Smolensk Fortress was a first-class fortification structure. And it was not without reason that one foreigner noted in his notes, compiled shortly after the completion of construction, that the Smolensk fortress “cannot be taken by storm.” The fighting that unfolded here 10 years later fully confirmed this.

At the base of the foundations of the fortress walls, where there is no dense continental soil, there is a complex system of piles and wooden structures filled with earth. In those areas where it could be reached, a stone foundation was immediately laid at the base. The lower part is made of well-hewn white stone blocks, and the higher wall is brick. At the same time, only the outer and inner surfaces of the walls are made of brick, forming, as it were, two independent, rather thick brick walls, and their inner part is filled with broken stone and boulders filled with lime mortar.

There are three tiers of loopholes: the lower tier is a plantar battle, the middle and upper tier is with a combat platform at the top. Firing from the walls, from all three tiers, was carried out only from small guns, and larger artillery was concentrated in the towers. Here, special combat chambers are made to accommodate guns. The interior space of the towers was divided into tiers, mostly four, using wooden flooring. However, some towers also had vaulted ceilings.

The surface of the lower part of the walls outside has a slight slope, and above it is strictly vertical. At the turn of these sections, a decorative semicircular roller runs along the walls and towers of the entire fortress. On the back side the walls are dissected by large arched niches. The outside of the fortress was whitewashed, and some areas were also decoratively painted with red-brown brick paint.

The Smolensk Fortress is located on a difficult terrain. Naturally, it was necessary to ensure free flow of rainwater in all places, which otherwise could stagnate near the walls and destroy them. Therefore, many stone pipes are laid in the basement to drain water. To prevent enemy spies from penetrating through them, the pipes were blocked with iron bars.

It took the craftsmen six years to build the fortress wall, which became the pride of Russia, its “necklace”. In 1602, the construction of the fortress was completed. The architecture of the wall had almost nothing to do with the traditions of old Smolensk architecture. But, despite this, the fortress not only protected, but also decorated the city. The length of the walls was 6.5 km, height - from 10 to 13 meters, width - from 4 to 6 meters. None of its 38 towers was the same as another. They were divided into 3 groups: round (16-sided), rectangular and rectangular with gates. The tower of the Frolov or Dnieper Gate was especially beautiful. She stood on the bank in front of the Big Dnieper Bridge. The passage was closed with wooden cobbled gates and an iron grating (gersa). The tower stood out from all the others due to its height. Its five tiers rose 30 meters above the ground. At the top there was an observation tower and a bell. The appearance of the tower was complemented by the double-headed eagle that crowned it and the icon of Hodegetria above the passage gate. The Dnieper Tower was created by F. Kon not only as a structure that was rightfully considered the pearl of the “necklace of all Rus'”. The gate was also a ceremonial entrance that opened the way to Moscow.

In the southern part the wall stood on a stone foundation, and in the northern Dnieper part it rested on oak piles.

Basically, the Smolensk church was completed by 1600, but some work continued in the future. At the same time, new masses of masons, brickmakers, potters, potters, jug makers, stove makers and other craftsmen were then sent to help the builders. They arrived in Smolensk from different regions of the country in accordance with the orders of Boris Godunov.

They were in a great hurry to end the Smolensk “city affair,” since in 1603 the twelve-year truce with Poland, whose aggressive policy intensified every day, was expiring. In an effort to complete this “business,” Boris Godunov in 1600 sent a large sum of money to Smolensk, and to supervise the work, he sent Prince S.I. Dolgoruky to it. In addition, under pain of death penalty, he banned all stone construction in the country that was not related to government orders, which anticipated the famous decree of Peter I, which in 1714 closed stone construction in all cities Russian Empire in order to speed up the development of St. Petersburg. This ultimately contributed to the fact that in 1602 the Smolensk construction was completely completed. The subsequent solemn ceremony of consecrating the fortress indicated that the direct route to Moscow from the west was reliably closed. At the same time, the Smolensk fortress was immediately armed with cannons of various types and calibers, and nobles, boyar children, gunners, archers and townspeople were assigned to its towers and walls, who in 1609, when the Poles approached Smolensk, took the places assigned to them and fulfilled their national duty. This, in fact, is the whole story of the creation of the Smolensk “city”, a story full of interesting facts and, perhaps, even instructive.

Conclusion

In a short time (1596-1602), an impregnable fortress was built around Smolensk on the site of ancient fortifications. It was a first-class structure of that time, possessing outstanding defensive qualities and great artistic expressiveness.

Now it’s time to get closer to the Smolensk Fortress, carefully examine its sections, and admire its architecture. Despite the huge potholes, significant losses and colossal planes of peeling brickwork, it still makes an indelible impression. Having seen it once, it can be difficult to forget later. I inspect it every time I come to Smolensk. Old and new residential buildings, cinemas, clubs, schools, kindergartens, nurseries, hospitals, clinics, department stores, shops and many other modern buildings - all this fits into its long-broken ring. It’s like a giant red ribbon encircling Smolensk, its central and oldest part. It is just as impossible to imagine the city without this fortress wall, as it is without the majestic bulk of the Assumption Cathedral.

Particularly impressive is the huge, uninterrupted section of the fortress, located in the eastern part of Smolensk. A mighty wall, evenly fortified with towers, stretches here for almost two kilometers. Following the whimsical curves of the ravine, but maintaining rigor and regularity, it either goes down or climbs up the slopes of the hills, avoiding wide depressions. Behind it is a picturesquely located urban development, surrounded by green gardens; in front of her is a deep, slightly swollen ditch, overflowing with water in the rainy season. A majestic picture opens from this wall onto the surrounding area. It can be difficult to take your eyes off it. Here the city ends. Further on stretch deep ravines that limit its territory. Their slopes are steep and cut by ravines. In some places they are overgrown with perennial trees and dense thickets of bushes. It is difficult to climb up or down them even now They served as an excellent cover for Smolensk before. No one could approach it from the east. Here, nature did everything to make it inaccessible. People also worked on this, increasing the protective properties of nature by building a fortress wall, like a crown, only a narrow one. , a path almost clinging to it, running like a snake from tower to tower, allows you to move towards the Dnieper River visible in the distance and the left bank part of the city freely spread behind it. The height of the wall is enormous. It grows out of the ground with a leisurely white stone slope of the base and at a height of two meters. picking up speed, it takes off into the endlessly open sky above the Dnieper steeps. A narrow, neatly hewn white stone roller seems to pierce it along its entire length. There is no end in sight. Like pieces on a chessboard, narrow arched slots for the middle and sole battlements are located on the smooth surface of the wall.

The Smolensk Fortress is not only a wonderful monument of Russian military engineering. This is also a magnificent architectural monument. The talent of the “city master” Fyodor Kon was reflected in the fact that, while erecting a structure that had primarily an applied, defensive purpose, he also created a wonderful architectural ensemble.

The proportions of the towers and their silhouettes reveal the hand of a great master, not only a military engineer, but also an artist. All architectural details are drawn with exquisite skill. True, there are very few of them: the military fortress was supposed to look stern, and unnecessary decorative elements could give it an elegant and thereby less impregnable appearance.

The architect skillfully used purely decorative elements: external frames of loopholes, designed as window frames, frames of gate openings, corner blades of towers, etc. The entrance portals of the gate towers were especially elegantly designed. Profiles carved from white stone, pilasters with panels, a niche for an icon above the passage are arranged by the hand of an experienced craftsman.

To date, only half of the fortress has survived - 18 towers and about 3 km of walls. Most of the towers were destroyed during wars and battles. The northeastern section of the wall along the Dnieper was dismantled in the 19th century, the western section - in the 30s of our century. At the same time, in the 1880s, restoration (restoration) of the fortress began, which continues to this day.