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A unique architectural ensemble, a monument of military engineering art of the second half of the XVI century.
The Astrakhan Kremlin, built in 1620 (architects Mikhail Velyaminov and Dey Gubastyj), is a unique architectural ensemble of the XVI century, with white stone walls, 4 blind and 3 travel towers.
Since 1980, it has been a monument of federal significance.
The building descends along the left bank of the Volga almost to the embankment
On the territory of the Kremlin there are the five domed cube shaped Assumption Cathedral (1698-1710, architect Dorofey Myakishev), the Trinity Cathedral (XVI XVIII centuries), the Bishop's House (XVI—XVIII centuries) with a house church, the guardhouse (1807), the Cyril Chapel (XVII XIX centuries), the Prechistensky Gate.
After the construction of the Assumption Cathedral, in 1710, the first cathedral bell tower was built on the site of the gate church under the guidance of architect D. M. Myakishev.
Not only bells, but also clocks were installed on it.
By 1813, a new bell tower was built by the architect Luigi Rusca at the expense of I. A. Varvation, since the old one could collapse.
In 1896, it was discovered that the bell tower has a slope.
In 1910, it was replaced by an even more grandiose four tiered bell tower, built according to the project of the Astrakhan diocesan architect S. I. Karyagin.
In 1947, the Astrakhan Kremlin was included in the list of architectural and historical monuments of national significance and put under state protection.
For the first time, the question of the restoration of the entire architectural ensemble of the Kremlin arose in 1949.
By this time, the southern Kremlin wall between the Zhitnaya and Krymskaya towers had already collapsed.
In the summer of 1949, a group of architects from the Central Design and Restoration Workshop of the Ministry of Urban Construction examined the architectural complex of the Kremlin on the spot and determined the degree of its preservation, as well as the tasks and volumes of restoration work.
Since 1959, it has been possible to start practical measures for the restoration of the Kremlin.
The restored architectural monuments were transferred to the Astrakhan Museum Reserve in 1974.
In 1992, the Prechistenskaya Cathedral bell tower was returned to the Astrakhan Diocese.
The construction of the Astrakhan stone Kremlin was started during the reign of John IV the Terrible in 1582, and completed during the reign of his son Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich with the direct participation of Boris Godunov, who called himself and was called by his compatriots as "the tsar's brother in law and ruler, equerry boyar, and yard voivode, and the keeper of the great states, the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan".
Almost simultaneously with the beginning of work on the construction of the Astrakhan Kremlin, a Stone order was established, which was in charge of the city " sovereign's business in Moscow and other cities, where the sovereign orders "in terms of extraction and delivery "to the construction site by horse drawn and river transport of stone, lime, wood, sand and clay, the device of brick" sheds"with firing furnaces, the appointment of work producers from among the most experienced architects."
State masons, bricklayers, blacksmiths and carpenters, who were close to the service people by their position, since they did not pay taxes, owned allotments of land, were at the disposal of the government, were sent to Astrakhan for the "sovereign city business" by special "registered" or "state owned" masters or apprentices.
This service was hereditary and was passed down from fathers to children and other family members of state owned masters.
In addition, they usually hired "willing people" for the "city business", stipulating with them the work with a special contract.
Among them were peasants, walking people, Streltsy, Cossacks and others.
Their position in comparison with the" state owned " masters was at the level of auxiliary laborers, low skilled working people.
During this period, the organization of brick production in Astrakhan was very difficult, which was associated with a shortage of fuel for its firing.
Therefore, it was decided to use the old Tatar plinth from the ruins of the Golden Horde cities for the construction of the Kremlin.
According to "Key rawska chronicle" when I was "drawing checked on the construction of the stone Kremlin, the circumference of not more than stood the old palisade bricks had been ordered to take Akhtuba", to make out the remains of the Khan's palaces and mosques, "the walls of the city, to put in the Kremlin, the output of the 8 towers, to the outer large place, where less trouble is smaller, but that all was about three loopholes; output where the city will, to the East to put taller and wider than the great tower, to be in it to pass, drawing specifies width: a city as old as they were, here and the digging of the pit, and that God will give, I wanted to primicati more in the Kremlin to make two potion of the yard, and the white city will bring drawing..."
(i.e., was already planning to replace the wooden walls of the fortress on the stone walls of the White city, the construction of which will begin in the seventeenth century).
The construction of the Astrakhan Kremlin was headed by Moscow masters of urban affairs Mikhail Ivanovich Velyaminov, Grigory Ovtsyn and deacon Dey Gubasty.
They also supervised the delivery, the quality of the materials supplied and used, the progress of construction, the wages of master builders and workmen.
Money for expenses on the stone city business was taken from local revenues, as well as from the sovereign's treasury: from Kazan, Sviyazhsk and other Volga cities. .
There is a description of the dispute between the voivodes of the builders, Velyaminov "with his comrades", and the Astrakhan city voivode Prince Fyodor Mikhailovich Troyekurov, who insisted on using"old lime, upholstered with Sarajevo bricks" for laying the Kremlin walls.
Velyaminov and his comrades, after examining the lime, decided that if it was mixed with the new one, it would be equal to simple sand in its strength, and meanwhile it would be necessary to collect it, deliver it to the city and burn it, which would seem useless and unprofitable.
Troekurov, he wanted to burn that lime for testing, but the construction governors, dissatisfied with his intervention, refused to give masons experienced in firing.
I had to do this with the help of a certain Sagittarius Ivanka Pechurka, who confessed that a bricklayer taught him to burn lime, "but did not say his name", fearing "from the Dey from the Lipped mutilation and death".
Troyekurov showed the burnt lime to his comrades and the boyars ' children, and since they approved of it, he suggested that the builders put it into use.
The latter insisted on their own, demanded that Troyekurov first lay down a few fathoms of the wall for testing, and his indication about the profitability of using this lime was allegedly said that "they donot care about that".
Both of them had to write about their differences to Moscow, where Troyekurov sent a sample of the old lime he received from firing.
In Moscow, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich ordered to look at the sample sent to the famous architect - builder of the Moscow White City, the tent and church master Fyodor Konya and his comrades, and they decided that " only the lime mixed with the new, it will be useful in the city business."'
The answer about the quality of this lime was sent "to Astrakhan in 1590", when the Astrakhan Kremlin was already built.
It is possible that later a mixture of old lime with new was used in the construction of any other buildings and city walls.
The new stone Astrakhan Kremlin has retained the shape of a right angled triangle, pointed to the west.
In general terms, its walls and towers resembled the kremlins of the central part of the Russian state that existed at that time.
Both the walls and the towers ended with two horned battlements with two semicircles at the top and a saddle between them, the so called "swallow's tail".
"Such a prong, which appeared for the first time on the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin, then becomes an integral element of the vast majority of Russian fortresses - both geometrically correct and polygonal, which figuratively spoke of their unity."
The prongs were cut by furnaces with mounted combat riflemen for shooting from hand firearms.
At the junction of the prongs and the combat platform for the upper battle, oblique holes were arranged - varnitsy, intended for pouring hot resin or boiling water (var) over the enemy.
The width of the platform varied depending on the thickness of the walls, which were from 2.8 to 5.2 m.
If necessary, mounted cannon - mortars could be placed here.
The inner side of the walls of the Astrakhan Kremlin had a wide spinning wheel with semicircular niches and a large number of furnaces with loopholes for installing small and large scale guns (this was the name of light and heavy artillery at that time), which was a ubiquitous feature of Russian fortress architecture.
However, the walls of the Astrakhan Kremlin also had the newest system of organizing a "fire fight"for that time.
In addition to the traditional lower cannon - plantar battle, an additional line of medium pitched battle, which was not previously used in Russian fortress architecture, was arranged in them.
The loopholes of the middle and plantar combat were located in a staggered order, which made it possible to significantly increase the density of fire in front of the walls when the enemy attacked, and the rectilinear shape of the Kremlin walls made it possible to fire from all seven towers sharply pushed forward almost parallel to the walls.
The battle towers were divided inside into several tiers, which were connected by stairs arranged in the thickness of their walls.
From each tower there was an exit to the upper battle area.
The walls of each tier of towers had furnaces with loopholes for shooting from hand firearms and were crowned with wooden tents with guard platforms.
The thickness of the walls of the towers of the Astrakhan Kremlin reached 3-3.5 m.
The towers were designed for conducting circular defense.
Frontal fire from the walls of the Astrakhan Kremlin and flanking shelling from the towers created a zone of continuous destruction on the approaches to it.
It is believed that the device of the loopholes of the middle battle in the Astrakhan Kremlin was carried out almost simultaneously with it in the 1584-1589 gg.
In the Solovetsky Monastery and later in the Smolensk Kremlin, which was built under the leadership of Fyodor Konya in 1595-1602.
Along with them, the Astrakhan Kremlin was at that time one of the most advanced defensive structures of the Moscow state.
In total, according to the plan approved in Moscow, the Astrakhan Kremlin had eight towers, of which three travel towers and four deaf ones have been preserved to this day.
There were two types of travel towers: exit towers - for riders, horse drawn transport and exit towers for foot soldiers.
The battle towers that had exits only to the territory of the Kremlin were called deaf.
Initially, the towers of the Astrakhan Kremlin, apparently, did not have names, the names appeared much later.
The basis of the Astrakhan garrison in the second half of the XVI beginning.
In the XVIII century (until 1705), there were Streltsy: on foot and on horseback.
During the reign of Mikhail Fyodorovich, regiments of a new (foreign) system were created for carrying out border service, including in Astrakhan, consisting of soldiers who fought on foot, reitar who fought in horse formation, and dragoons who fought both on foot and in horse formation.
Usually, "boyar children" went to the reitars.
Sometimes Tatar cavalry was enlisted in the reitars.
The size of the Astrakhan garrison was unstable due to the arrival and departure of yearling archers, sending serving people to the fortress towns.
But gradually the garrison increased, and Astrakhan also grew.
In 1636, Astrakhan, according to A. Olearia, was protected by 500 metal cannons and nine Streletsky orders.1 A member of the Polish embassy to Persia, the nobleman Peter Zhikovsky, who visited Astrakhan, reported in 1672 that "...Astrakhan... the city of the great..., in a considerable fortress.
And there are about 8000 people in Astrakhan of military rank under the boyar and the voivode...".
In addition to the Kremlin garrison, the Astrakhan city governor also had Tatar and Kalmyk cavalry at his disposal, which, if necessary, were to come to the aid of Astrakhan in the event of an enemy attack.
Tatars who lived and roamed on the territory of the sovereign patrimony - the kingdom of Astrakhan in the second half of the XVI XVII century, were listed in the sovereign's service, which is why they were called "fodder service Tatars", receiving remuneration in the form of local, grain and monetary salaries.
The Pushkars in Astrakhan lived not far from the Kremlin on the territory of the White City in the Pushkarskaya Sloboda.
Their role in the defense of the city and the region has always been decisive.
The traveler de Bruin, who visited Astrakhan in 1703, reports that " ... there is always a guard at the gates of the Kremlin, which is sufficiently equipped with artillery.
At the entrance to the Kremlin, in front of the gate a guard with its gatehouse, then a lot of guns...".
He also notes that the Astrakhan garrison in 1703 consisted of "...3,500 people, of whom 1000 soldiers of the regiment"... and the rest by foot and horse archers, who, after the abolition by Peter the great in 1699 Streltsy troops were officially merged into the composition of the regiments of the new order.
The introduction of Peter's innovations into the life of Astrakhan residents by the city governor T. I. Rzhevsky was not easy.
Russian Russian clothing was not cut off in accordance with the likeness and exposed to the people and any abuse of them and the maiden sex was repaired, and they were beaten off from the churches, and they were beaten, and their moustaches and beards were cursed all over the city by the order of the governor, as petitioners wrote to Peter I, "the Russian dress was cut off from the male and female sex in front of the people and any abuse of them and the maiden sex was repaired, and from the churches, and they were beaten, and their moustaches and beards were cursed they were cut off with meat."
In addition, the tension in the city gradually matured due to dissatisfaction with the appearance of new taxes and duties, the elimination of some privileges of the military and clerical classes, the long delay in paying salaries to Streltsy and at the same time due to the introduction of benefits for foreigners, higher payment for their service.
Many historians called the Astrakhan uprising that broke out in 1705 a "Wedding riot".
They saw the reason for the uprising in the spread of rumors around the city that they would soon ban weddings for seven years and order girls to marry only Germans.
Then, allegedly, they decided to marry all the girls to Russians in a hurry and played 100 weddings at once and, " getting drunk at those weddings, they were drunk, and they committed a riot."
In the spring of 1705, the Streltsy and the Posadskys gathered secretly and talked that it was impossible to continue living like this, we must stand up for ourselves and for the Orthodox faith.
In the summer, unrest in the city intensified.
The Streltsy, dissatisfied with the fact that they have not been paid their salaries for several months, grumbled.
Voivode Rzhevsky wanted to disarm the Streletsky regiments, but did not have time.
On the night of July 30, the rebels broke into the Kremlin.
The governor was struck by a spear.
A massacre was committed against the nobles, many Streltsy generals and foreign officers were whipped with sabers.
After the suppression of the Astrakhan uprising by Field Marshal Sheremetyevo in 1706, the execution of over 300 Astrakhan residents and the exile of many participants to Siberia, Peter I "ordered Sheremetyevo" to give a gun to " mounted archers and send them to serve in St. Petersburg so that they would deserve their guilt there, and then on July 9, 1707, ordered that all the archers were withdrawn from Astrakhan...".
Since that time, their place in Astrakhan "was taken by a regular dragoon regiment of three company composition ...".
After the establishment of the Astrakhan province by Peter I in 1717, its first governor, A. P. Volynsky, arrived in Astrakhan, who, having familiarized himself with the state of affairs in the region, in a report to the Senate in 1719, expressed his thoughts on strengthening the Astrakhan garrison: "...and in my opinion, it is necessary to have several field infantry regiments, also cavalry, in the Astrakhan province... and besides, a thousand irregular people."
After that, the placement of the replenished Astrakhan garrison was carried out mainly outside the Kremlin, first around the city center, and then moved to the suburbs.
The territory of the Kremlin was significantly cleared in 1721.
A. P. Volynsky was waiting for the arrival of Peter 1 in Astrakhan, in connection with which he gave instructions: "... the Kremlin is a city to clean and the wooden courtyard structure that is in it, whoever it is,.
take everything out without a trace."
This, of course, contributed to the reduction of garrison buildings on the territory of the Kremlin.
Starting from 1735, a number of city plans were created for Astrakhan at intervals of 3-5 years.
Active redevelopment and construction inside the Kremlin began to be carried out only from the beginning of the XIX century.
S. Gmelin, who visited Astrakhan in 1769-1770, does not mention the barracks on the territory of the Kremlin at all, and only names the guardhouse and powder magazines from the army buildings.
The rest of the buildings listed by him belong to the administration, the police and the spiritual department.
According to the description of the city of Astrakhan, compiled by academician N. Ya.
Ozeretskovsky in 1783, on the territory of the Kremlin there are buildings of the commission "military court and the victualling office, two powder cellars, six tseykhhouses, three wine cellars, two bast victualling stores, which are located in the Zhitny yard. .."
Due to the introduction of European terminology into the Russian military lexicon in the XIX century, the Kremlin Square in front of the Assumption Cathedral begins to be called the parade ground, i.e. it is used for conducting military exercises.
Gradually, the territory of the Kremlin is conditionally divided into two parts: the buildings of the spiritual department are concentrated in the east, and the Kremlin garrison is concentrated in the west.
In 1875-1876, this territorial division was formed by the device of an " earthen rampart lined with bricks in the Kremlin, in the interval between the battalion barracks and the Spiritual Consistory... to separate the black courtyard of the battalion from the parade ground of the parade square."
According to the" Table of houses and streets of the city of Astrakhan " of 1884, the garrison buildings in the Kremlin include "the military infirmary building... administrative building... barracks of the local batalion... the arena... the guardhouse... baths, kitchens, tseykhauz, glaciers, a chapel for dead bodies, stables, carriage houses, a laboratory... artillery magazine... laundry room... a grocery store with a guardhouse... " - all stone.
Very few of them have survived to our time.
Some of the buildings were dismantled due to dilapidation or low value in architectural and historical terms.
The buildings built into the Kremlin walls in the XIX century were dismantled during restoration to restore the original appearance of the ancient Kremlin.
All military buildings that have survived to this day on the territory of the Kremlin are architectural monuments of federal significance.
First of all, it should be noted that the officers 'quarters (the ober and the staff officer's house) and two soldiers' barracks (1805) were built in the classical style.
It was at the beginning of the XIX century that officers and soldiers from 269 private houses, i.e. half of all those who had previously been at the "state post", were relocated to the Kremlin barracks at the suggestion of Governor S. S. Andrievsky.
As you know, such a stay was a heavy burden for the residents of the city, since soldiers and officers were provided with heating and lighting at the expense of homeowners.
Currently, the Committee for Physical Education, the School of Culture and art workshops are located in former military buildings that are not far from each other.
The preserved building of the guardhouse (1807) is interesting from an architectural and historical point of view.
It was used as a guardhouse with a platform for building a guard.
(This platform in 1867 was laid out with bricks "in the Christmas tree", was called a platform, 2 poles for a bell and a lantern were installed on it.)
In the building, in a special room, soldiers were kept under arrest for violations of the charter.
Next to the guardhouse is a building of the second half of the XIX century, called the administrative building, or the office of the military chief.
It was a military administration body on the territory of the province.
The very post of "military chief" in the Astrakhan province has existed since 1874.
Military chiefs exercised control over local human and material reserves and their mobilization.
In 1918, the position was liquidated.
Not far from the Crimean Tower, you can now see the ruins of the" artillery store", or the tseykhauz - a former weapons warehouse.
During the First World War, the Kremlin housed companies of the 156th reserve infantry regiment, which switched to the side of the Soviet government after the events of 1917.
The Revolutionary Committee, established in December 1917, was located in the former building of the military chief.
On the night of January 12, 1918, the Astrakhan Cossacks went on an open armed demonstration against supporters of the Soviet government.
For 14 days there were fierce, bloody battles on the streets of the city.
The Kremlin walls also got it.
The White Cossacks tried to capture the fortress with the Red Guards who were holed up there.
The Kremlin was shelled with three inch guns and machine guns.
Some of them were installed on the roofs of the Gostiny Dom, the Gantscher house and on the bell tower of the church of Nikola Gostiny.
All these buildings were located opposite the Kremlin wall.
At a meeting of the Kremlin Revkom, it was decided to set them on fire.
Soon the city center was ablaze, which was facilitated by a strong westerly wind.
The course of the battle was determined by the support that came up from the Lovetsky population of the region.
The White Cossacks fled.
On January 25, 1918, Soviet power was established in Astrakhan.
Since the same year, a tradition of honorary burials of fighters for the power of the Soviets in the central part of the city, in its parks and squares, has been emerging in Astrakhan.
In 1922, the honorary burial of the head of the Astrakhan garrison, P. P. Chugunov, was made on the Kremlin Square.
Later, participants of the civil war F. A. Trofimov and I. E. Lemisov were buried here.
In 1926, an obelisk monument, made according to the project of V. A. Tolmachev, was installed on this place.
In the first years of Soviet power, Red Army units were located in many buildings of the Kremlin.
For a long time, the Astrakhan Kremlin remained an object of military significance.
In 1922-1926, it was called " the military town of them.
Trotsky".
The Red Army garrison was located here, there was a Red Army club, a playground for physical exercises.
The Red commanders did not like the neighborhood of the parade ground with the majestic building of the Assumption Cathedral.
The commandant of the military camp, Comrade Katyshev, on behalf of the party cell, submitted an application to the Gubernatorial Executive Committee demanding the demolition of the church structure.
However, the city leaders had the courage to defend the cathedral, as well as all the other buildings of the Kremlin.
The temples also survived because they were dry and spacious, they were very convenient for use as storage rooms.
The Trinity Cathedral housed the district archive for a long time, and the Assumption Cathedral, or rather its lower temple, was turned into an ammunition depot during the Great Patriotic War.
Even before the Great Patriotic War, infantry and machine gun courses began to operate in the Kremlin.
In the summer of 1942, Astrakhan cadets took a heroic part in the battles on the outskirts of the city.
Anti aircraft batteries were installed on the Kremlin Square, reflecting the attacks of enemy aircraft.
The Germans threw leaflets at the city from the air.
One of them showed Hitler with an accordion.
At the bottom - the inscription: "We will take Stalingrad with bombing, and Astrakhan - with an accordion."
But even with the bombing, Astrakhan could not be taken.
The Astrakhan Kremlin has stood up again.
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