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Images of Russia / Astrakhan Kremlin Ensemble
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Astrakhan Kremlin Ensemble
Address: Astrakhan, Kremlin, Trediakovsky str., 2
Phone: +7 (851) 251 18 22
Go to the website
Object passport
The fortress on the site of the modern city was founded under Ivan the Terrible in 1558.
Here is the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos — a perfectly preserved example of church architecture of the early XVIII century.
Today, the Astrakhan Kremlin is not only a symbol of Astrakhan, but also a unique example of Russian medieval architecture, claiming to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Construction of the Astrakhan Kremlin
The former Astrakhan was located about 12 kilometers above the modern one, on the right, mountainous bank of the river.
The city was surrounded by steppes, and it was extremely inconvenient to defend it in case of an attack.
Voivode Ivan Semenovich Cheremisinov chose a high Hare Hill on the left bank of the Volga as the place for the foundation of the new Astrakhan.
This hill, surrounded by the Volga channels and salt lakes, could not be better suited for the construction of fortifications.
In 1558, the clerk of the Discharge Order, Ivan Grigoryevich Vyrodkov, built the first Astrakhan fortress on the Hare Hill — a wooden one with high backfill walls.
In 1569, this fortress withstood the siege of the Turkish Tatar army.
However, no one doubted the need to further strengthen the city, and it was decided to build a stone Kremlin.
For its construction, "state owned" artisans were sent to Astrakhan: masons, carpenters and blacksmiths.
To speed up the construction, they decided to take an old, but strong brick from the ruins of the destroyed Golden Horde cities.
The Astrakhan Kremlin was built in seven years.
The total length of its walls was more than 1.5 kilometers.
The walls were reinforced with eight combat towers, three of which are angular.
One of the sides of the Kremlin faces the Volga.
Anyone who approached the city from the river side could see the bulk of the Astrakhan citadel from a distance.
The height of some fortress walls is more than 11 meters, the thickness exceeds 5 meters, and the height of the towers reaches 17 meters.
During recent archaeological excavations on the territory of the Astrakhan Kremlin, ruins of dwellings dating back to the VII century were discovered.
Scientists call this find unique, because it was previously assumed that there were no traces left of the cultural layer of that era.
In its main features, the Astrakhan Kremlin is similar to the fortifications in the central part of the Russian state.
However, it was built in accordance with the latest rules of fortification of that time and became one of the most powerful Russian fortresses.
The innovation was the loopholes of the middle tier of the Kremlin.
They were intended for firing from squeakers and light cannons and were located in a staggered order relative to the loopholes of the lower tier.
The towers, sharply pushed forward, allowed firing almost parallel to the walls of the Kremlin.
This combination of dense frontal fire from the walls and side fire from the towers created a zone of continuous destruction on the near approaches to the Kremlin, almost insurmountable for the enemy.
Of the eight towers built in the Astrakhan Kremlin, seven have survived to this day.
Four of them are deaf: the corner Crimean, Bishop's and Artillery, and the Zhitnaya located in the center of the southern wall.
All of them have access only to the inner part of the Kremlin.
The other three towers are passageways: Prechistenskaya, Krasnye and Nikolsky Gates.
In each of them there were massive wooden gates, bound with iron.
The most powerful is the Crimean Tower, which has remained almost untouched.
The height of its walls exceeds 17 meters.
This tower, located in the western corner of the Kremlin, was facing the Crimean Shlyakh, from where an attack was always expected.
The Astrakhan Kremlin housed a garrison, powder and artillery depots, and the city administration.
Several temples were built under the protection of the fortress walls.
The Astrakhan Kremlin as a part of the country's history
The Astrakhan Kremlin almost immediately found itself in the center of very turbulent historical events.
The time of Troubles was marked in Astrakhan by a parade of impostors, riots and pogroms.
In 1613, Marina Mnishek took refuge in the Kremlin, occupied by the gang of ataman Ivan Zarutsky.
A year later, the uninvited guests were expelled from Astrakhan.
In memory of this event, a church in the name of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God was attached to the main roadway tower, and the gates were called Prechistensky.
Subsequently, this tower was converted into a bell tower, which was rebuilt more than once, so that the bell tower that exists on this site now was erected at the beginning of the XX century.
In 1670, the Astrakhan Kremlin was captured by the army of Stepan Razin with the help of local residents who raised a rebellion.
Only 17 months later, the government managed to regain control of the city.
According to contemporaries, all these events were accompanied by a"terrible massacre".
For the Astrakhan Kremlin, the XVII century is memorable not only for uprisings and massacres.
In this century, the fortress acquired the first temples made of stone.
Perhaps the most significant event for the Astrakhan Kremlin was the construction of the Assumption Cathedral on its territory, which began in 1698.
It was built by the fortress architect Dorofey Mineevich Myakishev.
This cathedral of a simple cubic shape with five gilded heads immediately attracts the attention of all visitors to the Astrakhan Kremlin with the restrained nobility of proportions.
On the western side, the Frontal Place adjoins the Assumption Cathedral.
Decrees and reports on the most important events in the state were read out here.
The Astrakhan Kremlin once again found itself in the maelstrom of fateful events in January 1918, when fighting began on the streets of the city between supporters of the Soviet government and Astrakhan Cossacks.
The Cossacks fired at the Red Army soldiers who were holed up in the Kremlin from artillery guns and machine guns mounted on the roofs of nearby buildings.
The ancient walls have also withstood this test.
During the Soviet period, the territory of the Astrakhan Kremlin was under the jurisdiction of the military for a long time.
In the middle of the XX century, large restoration works were carried out in the Kremlin, thanks to which many of its buildings that required urgent repairs were saved.
In 1974, the Astrakhan Kremlin became a museum, and in 1980 it became part of the Astrakhan State United Historical and Architectural Museum Reserve.
Today, museum expositions allow you to get acquainted with the life of the Astrakhan garrison, see the everyday costumes of streltsy, fusiliers and bombardiers, elements of their weapons and ammunition, exhibitions dedicated to the history of popular uprisings and corporal punishment.
In 2011, after the restoration, the premises of the guardhouse were opened, the exposition of which tells about the life of the Astrakhan military garrison of the XIX century.
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