Kolomna is one of the most beautiful. In addition to ancient towers, houses decorated with carved painted shutters, this city is also famous for its museum of marshmallows prepared according to original recipes. Well, the main attraction is, of course, the Kolomna Kremlin.
How it all began…
The first records about the formation of Kolomna are found in 1177, which later served as the date of the founding of the city itself. At that time, wooden buildings already existed as protection - the raids from the Golden Horde practically did not stop. For four centuries, the wooden Kremlin was repeatedly destroyed - about six times it was burned by the Horde khans during their attacks on Russia.
The constant devastating raids of the Tatars served as the reason for the construction of the protection of the inhabitants from enemies. By decree of Prince Vasily III in 1525, the construction of this building in the city of Kolomna began.
The Kremlin, rebuilt and fortified, was a polyhedron resembling an oval. Each wall along the entire perimeter has towers that served as protection for the soldiers during the defense. The Kremlin was located more than conveniently: in the north and northwest, access to the city was blocked by the Moscow and Kolomenka rivers. The remaining sides were surrounded by a deep moat. The fortress reached a height of about 20 meters, the width of the lower part of the walls was 4.5 meters, the upper - 3 meters.
The construction of this structure affected the life of the entire Moscow principality. During this time, many residents of both adjacent villages and the city of Kolomna were attracted.
The Kremlin - the history of creation continues
The power of the Mongol-Tatar yoke was defeated. However, the attacks on the city did not end there. Here and there, for another century, popular unrest and peasant uprisings broke out periodically, but the Kremlin stoically guarded its inhabitants. For a long time he served as a defensive force, and no one managed to penetrate into the very heart of the fortress. But by the middle of the 17th century, the borders of the Moscow state began to move away from the city. Its main activity was the organization of trade relations between other states. It was already a new large industrial center Kolomna. The Kremlin, having lost its original status of a military fortress, was gradually destroyed by the inhabitants. And only in 1826, by decree, the restoration of the remaining buildings began.
Kremlin today
At the moment it is the main attraction of the city of Kolomna. The Kremlin - you can see a photo of it in the article - is located next to the river that gave it its name. Along the walls stretch towers that have been preserved. To date, there are 7 of them left out of 17 existing until the middle of the 17th century. However, the Kremlin is still inspiring power and strength Just as in medieval times entire settlements were formed inside the fortress, so these towers, miraculously surviving, reliably guard their small town, which has an amazing history that has been passed down from generation to generation in the city of Kolomna.
The Kremlin is rich in cultural and architectural heritage. The main attraction, of course, is Cathedral Square. Here you can also see the Assumption Cathedral, built in the 14th century. Dmitry Donskoy ordered to build it in honor of the long-awaited victory of the Russian army against the Tatar-Mongols in the well-known Kulikovo battle. Nearby is the Church of the Resurrection. It is one of the oldest buildings built here. According to legend, it was here that the wedding of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and Evdokia of Suzdal took place.
Inside the great building there is also a hipped bell tower, which can rightfully be called the loudest and most sonorous belfry in all of Russia, not only in the city of Kolomna.
The Kolomna Kremlin also includes a military-historical complex of a sports and cultural type. Its opening happened relatively recently, but it has already managed to fall in love not only with residents, but also with tourists. Various competitions of wrestlers, knightly tournaments for the honor of a noble lady are held here, fairs are organized, as well as festive folk festivals. Everyone can try on the role of a brave warrior thanks to the available weapons and uniforms from the time of the reign of the great princes of Russia.
Marina Mnishek - reluctant recluse
The tallest tower in the Kremlin is Kolomenskaya. During the uprisings, it also served as a guard post, since it provided an excellent overview of the area. The height is about 30 meters. The tower includes 8 floors, and the windows located along the entire diameter in a checkerboard pattern allowed the soldiers to follow the enemies and not weaken the defense for a minute. Several names have been given to this tower. However, "Marinkina" turned out to be the most popular. There is a legend that the wife of False Dmitry was imprisoned here. Here Marina Mnishek lived, waiting for salvation in the person of ataman I. Zarutsky. She soon managed to escape, but the joy did not last long. The impostor was soon caught, and until her death she lived in her tower, not seeing the white light. They say that then she turned into a magpie and nevertheless broke free. But this is nothing more than a beautiful legend. At the moment, in the place of imprisonment of Marina Mnishek, a cell has been restored, in which the unfortunate queen spent many years.
And the name - Marinkina - subsequently took root, and the tower began to be called that way.
Border is locked tight…
Residents, fearing constant attacks from the Tatars, tried to secure their lives as best as possible. Only after passing through the gate, it was possible to get to the city of Kolomna. The Kremlin was reliably guarded from all sides.
The most important were the Pyatnitsky gates, located on the east side. The tower, which was nearby, is two-tiered. Its height is 29 meters and its diameter is 13 meters. The bell, mounted on top, performed an important mission - with its help, the soldiers gave a signal when they saw the approach of dangerous opponents. The tower has survived to this day.
The next most important were the Ivanovo Gates. But, unfortunately, at the beginning of the 19th century, they - like Oblique and Vodyany - were destroyed. They were not restored.
Mikhailovsky Gates are located between two towers - Marinkina and Granovita. They were founded in the 16th century. Over time, the masonry gradually collapsed, but most recently the gates were restored. Today you can see them by visiting Kolomna.
The Kremlin today, therefore, out of 6 gates built back in the 16th century, has only 2. But they are an amazing sight and keep a centuries-old history of creation and opposition to the enemy.
Along the streets of the Kremlin ...
A tour of this wonderful architectural structure starts at Two Revolutions Square. A real policeman takes you inside, and here all the magic begins ... The main street of the Kremlin is named after the writer I. I. Lazhechnikov, who was born in these places. On its left side are the Assumption Cathedral and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin.
One of the distinguishing features of the Kremlin is residential buildings inside the building itself. Basically, these are noble estates that have retained their appearance from the period of the conquests of the Grand Dukes and are literally saturated with the spirit of that era. Carved shutters, elegant fences, well-groomed yards - all this shows that history is alive, and time has no power over it.
Also here you can see buildings that gained popularity during the prosperity of trade and merchant relations in the city of Kolomna.
Kremlin - how to get to the heart of the city?
You already know that the most famous landmark of the city of Kolomna is the Kremlin. Any resident can also tell his address - st. Lazhechnikova, house number 5. You can get to the Kremlin from the Russian capital by bus from the Vykhino metro station. Also every day trains run from Kazansky railway station to Two Revolutions Square. Entrance is possible from Lazhechnikova Street or near the Yamskaya Tower. The Kolomna Kremlin is open 24/7. Anyone can enter for free. The organization of the excursion and its cost should be agreed in advance with the employees.
Pride of the country!
In 2013, the Russia-10 multimedia competition was launched to select the best architectural monuments. Among the other most famous sights was the Kolomna Kremlin. From the very first days, the Kadyrov Mosque "Heart of Chechnya" became the leader. However, at the second stage of the project, the Kremlin was ahead of the aforementioned architectural monument. As a result, these two attractions, due to the large margin of votes from the rest, were recognized as early winners of the competition.
What else can you see?
There is no doubt that the most important architectural monument of such an ancient settlement as Kolomna is the Kremlin. Attractions, however, this city is quite diverse. Each of them has its own uniqueness and originality, as well as a rich historical past. Among other things, the following museums can be distinguished: marshmallows, kalach. In them you can learn the history of the creation of each food product, taste them. Also known throughout the region is Kolomna mead, which everyone should try when they get to this amazing place.
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 Muscovite state had already annexed the Novgorod Republic and Pskov and sought to strengthen the 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 the city's wooden fortifications with stone ones, conceived even after the fire of 1483 that devastated the city.
Having withstood 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 have 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 raids of the Tatars on Russia. Almost no 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, the enemies never managed to take the Kolomna Kremlin by storm. And during the Time of Troubles, the Polish interventionists and detachments of the “Tushino thief” ended up in Kolomna not as a result of the assault on the fortress, but due to the indecision and treacherous moods of the temporary workers, who were completely confused in the change of royal persons.
The era of the wooden Kremlin
Very little information has come down to the present about the wooden Kolomna Kremlin. Nevertheless, it is known that in terms of its 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.
Batu 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 postage stamp of the USSR
Settled peacefully in relation to Russia, Khan Mengu-Timur died in 1280, which caused an aggravation of the struggle for power between Tudan-Mengu and Nogai. The separation 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 presented to him his complaints about the creature of Nogai - the ruling Grand Duke Dmitry Pereyaslavsky. The latter refused to appear at the court of Tokhta, considering himself a vassal of Nogai. Prince Mikhail of Tverskoy (son of Grand Duke Yaroslav II) also took the side of Nogai and went to confirm his right to the throne to him, and not to Tokhta. And Prince Daniel 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 the whole of Northern Russia. He not only recognized Andrei Gorodetsky as the Grand Duke of Vladimir, but also authorized him and Grand Duke Fyodor of Smolensky to overthrow Dmitry Pereyaslavsky. As expected, Prince Dmitry did not intend to give up the table and disregarded Tokhta's orders. Then the khan sent an army in support of his Russian vassals under the command of his brother Tudan, whom the Russian chronicles call Duden.
Temnik Edigey
Edigei belonged to the ancient Mongolian family of the White Mangkyts (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, Yedigei felt strong enough to take care of Russian problems. In fact, Eastern Russia became practically independent from the moment of the final defeat inflicted on Tokhtamysh by Timur. Only in 1400, Grand Duke Ivan of Tverskoy (son of Michael II) considered 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 on the Ryazan table (vacated after Oleg's death). However, immediately after his return from the Horde, Fedor entered into an agreement with the Grand Duke Vasily of Moscow, according to which he undertook not to provide any assistance to the Mongols and to warn Vasily of any threatening steps of Edigei. As for the 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. Yedigey 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. The horde of Yedigey approached the walls of Moscow on December 1. The first attempt of the Tatars to take the city by storm was not successful. Then Edigei set up his headquarters a few miles from Moscow and allowed the troops to plunder the surroundings. In the meantime, he sent ambassadors to Tver with an order for 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. Edigey, without artillery, gave up hope of taking the city by storm and decided to do it with the help of a siege. The siege continued unsuccessfully for several weeks and, in the end, Edigei offered to remove it for 3,000 rubles of compensation. Having received the indicated amount, he led the troops back to the steppes.
In 1408, Khan Yedigey, 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-Muhammed
The next time, the Kolomna Kremlin was captured and burned by Ulu-Mohammed. In July 1439, the Kazan Khan Ulu-Muhammed, after a failed attempt to take over Moscow "going back", burned Kolomna and captured many people.
The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke
The last Golden Horde Khan Akhmet went to Russia in the summer of 1472 in order to restore the Tatar yoke in its former strength. When the 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 again went to Russia. And again, Ivan III gathered a large army on the Oka and himself was in Kolomna without a break 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 Russia.
Troops of Mehmed I Giray
In 1521, the troops of the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Girey broke through near Kolomna during a campaign against Moscow. The destruction of wooden fortifications served as an impetus for the construction of solid stone walls of the Kolomna Kremlin.
Stone Kremlin
Marina's head of the Kremlin
The stone Kremlin in Kolomna was built in 1525-1531 by decree 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 finally destroyed as they were built. In addition to the construction of stone walls, walking 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. Kolomnichi took up crafts and trade, which allowed them to quickly recover from the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. The city belonged at that time to the eleven largest cities of Russia. 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 for the construction of civilian buildings. The destruction of the Kremlin was stopped by the 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 Kolomna Kremlin was led by the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin (Old), who took part in the construction of the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin and took it as a model during the construction of the Kolomna. This is indicated, for example, by the period of construction of the Kolomna Kremlin. The Kremlin was built in six years, which indicates 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 are repeated, such as
The Kolomna Kremlin is a powerful fortification located in Kolomna near Moscow and in the distant past played one of the important roles in the military and political life of the Russian state. Currently, it is a kind of open-air museum with the status of an object of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia.
From the wooden Kremlin of the Ryazan princes...
The wooded area at the mouth of the Moskva River, at its confluence with the Oka, was chosen by the Slavic tribes back in the 7th-8th centuries, having won a significant part of the territory from the forest and founding a settlement with vast arable lands on it. Time passed and the Slavic village disappeared, and already in the middle of the 12th century, the Ryazan princes, having appreciated the strategic importance of the empty area, which ensured complete control over the mouth of the Moskva River, set up a border post of the principality on it - the city of Kolomna - the main fortification of which was the wooden Kremlin . Interestingly, the very first Kolomna Kremlin, built in 1140-1160, was quite small and covered an area of only 3-5 hectares. Nothing more is known about the wooden Kremlin of those years, and the first documented information about Kolomna as an already existing and fortified city is found in the Laurentian Chronicle under 1177, therefore, in modern official sources, 1177 is considered to be the year of foundation of Kolomna near Moscow.
Built to protect the borders of the Ryazan Principality, the Kolomna Kremlin in January 1238 fully felt the powerful pressure of the Mongols, led by Batu Khan. As a result of the lost battle of the squads of the Ryazan and Vladimir princes with the nomads of Batu, which happened under the walls of the Kremlin, the wooden walls of the fortress were destroyed by the Mongols, and the city itself was plundered and burned.
The locals, who soon restored the Kremlin, did not yet know that in 1293 Kolomna would fall again, but from the Horde of Tsarevich Tudan, known in Russian historiography as "Dudenev's army". Speaking on the side of Prince Gorodetsky Andrei Alexandrovich in his struggle for power with his brother, Grand Duke Vladimirsky Dmitry Alexandrovich (both sons of Alexander Nevsky), Tsarevich Tudan again ruined Kolomna, and already in 1301, the appanage Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich (their younger brother), who took advantage of civil strife of older brothers, annexed Kolomna to the Moscow principality and laid in it a new wooden Kremlin, the area of \u200b\u200bwhich was almost five times the area of the former fortress and amounted to 24 hectares. According to chronicle data, in 1306 the new fortress was ready, and already in 1330 it was reconstructed according to the latest fortification science of that time. To this day, accurate information about the buildings of the Kremlin during that period has not been preserved, but, by analogy with other fortresses of those years, it is easy to assume that it was a princely residence, and from the second half of the XIV century, when the Kolomna diocese was formed, the bishop’s courtyard with Bishop's house, temples and outbuildings. As early as the beginning of the 14th century, the Church of the Resurrection of the Word was built on the territory of the Kremlin, and, according to legend, it was in it that Prince Dmitry Donskoy and the daughter of the Suzdal prince Evdokia Dmitrievna were married in 1366.
The fate of the Kolomna Kremlin in the XIV-XVI centuries was a series of Golden Horde invasions and fires, as a result of which the wooden walls of the fortress were destroyed and restored again (in 1382 the city was ruined by Khan Tokhtamysh, in 1408 by Temnik Edigei, in 1440 by Khan Ulu-Mukhammed ). The Kremlin and the city of Kolomna itself at that time played an important role in the political life of the then specific Russia.
In 1358, Kolomna went to Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, during whose reign the city became a major trading center, in 1382 the Kremlin was decorated with the Assumption Cathedral, and the square in front of the temple was called Cathedral. A heroic page in Russian history is connected with the name of Dmitry Donskoy. It was he who, in 1380, gathered a 150,000-strong army near the walls of the Kolomna Kremlin for the fateful and victorious Battle of Kulikovo.
In 1433, the Moscow prince Vasily II Vasilyevich Temny, who chose a voluntary exile to the Kolomna princely residence because of the claims to the Moscow throne of the coalition created by his uncle, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod and his sons Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily Kosym, made Kolomna the second, unofficial capital of the Moscow principality . The court and Muscovites who moved after the prince contributed to the fact that Kolomna became a real political and administrative center, and Prince Yuri Dmitrievich even gave Vasily II Kolomna as an inheritance. True, already in 1434, Prince Vasily II returned to Moscow, and a political opponent and cousin of the Moscow prince, Prince Dmitry Shemyaka of Galicia and Uglich, was exiled to the Kolomna Kremlin.
In 1472 and 1480, the headquarters of Prince Ivan III Vasilievich was set up in the Kolomna Kremlin, and Russian troops were lined up on the outskirts of the city to repel the attack of the Tumens of the Great Horde Khan Akhmat, who decided to strengthen political influence over the Moscow princes. Prince Ivan III himself was inseparably in Kolomna during the entire time of the expected attacks of the Horde, but, fortunately, they did not follow (Akhmat did not dare to attack the well-equipped and numerous Russian army, taking the Horde home). This failed battle marked the end of the Tatar yoke in Russia.
In 1501, the ensemble of the Kremlin was replenished with the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nikola Gostiny), built at the expense of Kolomna merchants and being their patronal church.
The Crimean khans also tried to capture the Kolomna Kremlin. In 1521, during the Tatar-Russian war, Khan Mehmed I Gerai, who was heading to Moscow, destroyed the wooden walls and towers of the fortress, which ultimately prompted the Moscow prince Vasily III Ivanovich to build stone fortifications in Kolomna.
... to the stone fortress of Prince Vasily III Ivanovich
The construction of stone-brick Kremlin walls, the thickness of which ranged from 4.5 meters at the base to 3 meters in the upper part, and the height - from 18 to 21 meters, on the site of gradually disassembled wooden ones, began at the end of May 1525 and six years later, in August 1531, it was completed. Italian craftsmen, sent by Vasily III specifically for this from Moscow, where they rebuilt the Moscow Kremlin in stone, with the help of Russian architects, erected the most advanced fortification by the standards of that time, encircling an area of 24 hectares with a wall length of 1940 meters and intended not only to repel attacks manpower of the enemy, but also for cannon defense.
Distinctive features of the fortification were the loopholes of the plantar battle with embrasures for placing firearms in the lower level of the towers and walls, the parapet of the walls and the diverting towers equipped with teeth in the form of a dovetail.
The walls were connected by 17 high (from 30 to 35 meters) and powerful (with wall thickness from 3 to 4.5 meters) towers, three of which were travel gates, and six gates: Water, Oblique (Solovki), Ivanovsky, Pyatnitsky , Mikhailovsky and Melnichy, and the last two were arranged right in the thickness of the walls.
In addition to stationary stone towers on the territory of the Kremlin, there were also mobile mobile multi-tiered towers (gulyai-gorod), in the event of breaches in the walls, they were easily built into them and covered the resulting voids.
The northeastern wall of the Kremlin, facing the Moscow and Kolomenka rivers and having a steep descent to the water, was reinforced from the outside with a powerful earthen rampart with wooden fortifications, and from the inside, estates and courtyards adjoined it. This section of the wall was equipped with Borisoglebskaya, Voskresenskaya (Tainitskaya), Sandyrevskaya, Bobrenevskaya, Sviblova and Zastenochnaya or Malaya (Pokrovskaya) towers and two passage gates - Water and Oblique (Solovki) and Mill gates in the thickness of the wall.
The other walls were connected by Pogorelaya (Alekseevskaya), Spasskaya, Simeonovskaya, Voznesenskaya (Ekaterininskaya), Yamskaya (Troitskaya), Faceted and Kolomenskaya (Marinkina) towers and three gates - Pyatnitsky, Ivanovsky and Mikhailovsky in the thickness of the wall.
One event of the Time of Troubles is connected with the Kolomna Tower of the Kremlin, which over time turned into a legend. Allegedly in 1611, in the midst of the Troubles, the Pole Marina Mniszek was imprisoned in the tower - the wife of the impostors False Dmitry I and False Dmitry II, who played an important role in the political arena of those years and died in the Kolomenskaya Tower. According to the urban legend, the famous Polish adventurer did not die, but, turning into a crow, managed to escape by flying out the window, and the tower has since received a second name - Marinkina.
Another legend is connected with the name of Marina Mniszek, according to which she, together with her third husband, the ataman of the Don Cossacks Ivan Martynovich Zarutsky, managed to hide the treasure in the Kolomensky district before imprisonment, covering it with the doors of the Pyatnitsky Gates, removed specifically for this purpose.
It is worth noting that after the construction of the stone walls, the Kremlin was never again captured by the enemy. The powerful fortress, located at the intersection of roads from Ryazan to Moscow, served as a military headquarters for the Moscow princes more than once, and Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible especially often visited Kolomna. A legend about his founding in the Kremlin is associated with his name. Tradition says that before the next (third) campaign against Kazan in June 1552, when visiting Kolomna, Ivan the Terrible prayed in the Cathedral of the Assumption in front of the miraculous Don Icon of the Mother of God, after which he set off to conquer the Kazan Khanate. The campaign was crowned with success and the tsar ordered the foundation of a monastery in the Kolomna Kremlin, which received the name "Brusensky". Soon, a stone Assumption Church, monastic cells and outbuildings appeared in the monastery, and he himself was surrounded by a wooden fence.
The Kremlin in the 17th-19th centuries
In 1595, the walls and buildings of the Kremlin were overhauled, which probably helped the garrison located in the fortress in 1606 withstand the attack of the rebellious peasants led by Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov. Although the settlement located outside the fortress walls was taken by the rebels, they did not get into the Kremlin itself. The small detachment of rebels who remained at the walls of the Kremlin after the failed siege of Moscow by I. Bolotnikov was captured by the townspeople and the uprising was severely suppressed.
Gradually, the Kremlin grew, built up with new buildings. In 1650, a bell tower and a side chapel were added to the ancient St. Nicholas Church, consecrated in honor of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Joy of All Who Sorrow." In 1672, the dilapidated Assumption Cathedral was dismantled and a new church was built in its place, preserving the original dedication. In 1692, a hipped bell tower was built in the northwestern part of the Cathedral Square; in 1705, on the territory of the Bishop's Court, by order of Archbishop Anthony of Kolomna, a stone Trinity Cathedral, new buildings of the Bishops' Corps and the Discharge Order were built. In 1764, the ensemble of the Kolomna Kremlin was replenished with the construction of the Exaltation of the Cross, and in 1776, the Tikhvin Church, built on donations from a local merchant, the owner of a cloth factory, Ivan Timofeevich Meshchaninov, and expanded in 1861. In 1799, the Kolomna diocese was abolished and the women's Holy Trinity Novo-Golutvinskaya monastery was founded on the territory of the Bishop's house, and in 1805, the Kolomna district school was opened in the building of the Theological Seminary, which operated under the diocese.
Despite the replenishment of the ensemble of the Kremlin with new buildings and structures, its ancient walls did not stand the test of time. In the middle of the 17th century, the importance of the fortress as one of the outposts was lost, so the maintenance of the walls in good condition was no longer monitored and they began to gradually collapse. Local residents also contributed a lot to the destruction of the fortress walls, dismantling several bricks, towers and gates brick by brick.
In 1797, Emperor Paul I legalized the mass dismantling of the Kremlin walls and towers, and by the middle of the 19th century only seven towers remained from the former fortification (Pogorelaya, Spasskaya, Simeonovskaya, Yamskaya, Faceted and Kolomenskaya (Marinkina), Pyatnitsky Gates, one spinner and two sections Emperor Nicholas I tried to save the monument of fortification art from complete destruction, in 1825 he issued a decree prohibiting the dismantling of walls and maintaining the spinners and towers that existed at that time in a normal state.Thanks to the imperial decree, these parts, restored in 1825 and 1886, survived by the beginning of the last century, and after the Kremlin ensemble was given the status of a local history museum in August 1932, they were studied and overhauled in turn in 1938, 1961-1969, 1977.
Museum complex of the Kolomna Kremlin
Thanks to the change in the status of the Kolomna Kremlin, its buildings and structures were preserved, and many of them housed local history expositions that are still active today.
The beginning of the 21st century became crucial for the Kolomna Kremlin - in 2001, on the territory of the Kremlin architectural ensemble, the municipality of the city district of Kolomna created the military-historical, sports and cultural complex "Kolomna Kremlin", which took over the study and restoration of the walls and towers of the fortress. And for the museum in 2006, the buildings of one of the merchant estate complexes of the 19th century, located on the territory of the Kremlin, were allocated.
Currently, in addition to the surviving parts of the fortifications, the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin includes: the Assumption Cathedral and its bell tower, the Resurrection, Holy Cross, St. Nicholas and Tikhvin churches; Novo-Golutvinsky and Brusensky women's monasteries; buildings of the City Council and the Assembly of Nobility; cell buildings of the Brusensky monastery, former noble and merchant mansions (now - museum buildings and residential buildings).
The buildings of the Kremlin house museum expositions and exhibitions dedicated to the history of Kolomna and the region and the military and labor past of the inhabitants, and on the territory of the complex there is a cultural center "Liga", in the buildings of which there is an exhibition hall, an art salon, a souvenir and bookshop, a framing studio design, cafe and travel agency.
Manor merchant and noble houses serve as exposition and exhibition grounds of various themes - organic culture, photography, blacksmithing, kalachny craft, as well as original museums - a favorite toy and a lost taste, a gift house and a marshmallow factory.
In 2007, an equestrian monument to St. to the right-believing Prince Dmitry Donskoy, and in the northern part of the Cathedral Square - a monument to St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius.
Information for visitors
- The Kolomna Kremlin is located at the address: Moscow Region, Kolomna, st. Lazhechnikova, 5.
- The territory of the Kremlin is included in one of the districts of the city, so the entrance to it is free. The only restriction applies to the entry of personal vehicles - car owners who do not live on the territory of the Kremlin must leave them in a specially equipped parking lot (from the side of Lazhechnikova Street).
- You can find out the schedule of the Kremlin museums or book a tour by calling the numbers listed on the official website of the cultural and historical complex "Kolomensky Kremlin".
“... what we saw defied any explanation. An old man with a pointed beard and in his 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 we had a wall behind us and our legs gave way. Approaching us for a couple of meters, the old man disappeared. From the story 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. Only one secret underground passage and many dungeons of the Kolomna Kremlin attract treasure hunters and historians. And all because such historical figures as Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan the Terrible, Marina Mnishek and the villain-robber Ivan Zarutsky pretty much left their legacy here. Near Kolomna, during the siege, the youngest son of Genghis Khan Kulhan died. Upon learning of this, Genghis Khan ordered to take Kolomna at all costs and exterminate all the 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 settlement of Kolomenskoye. Kolomna was first mentioned in chronicles in 1177 as a frontier town of the Ryazan Principality.
During the Mongol-Tatar yoke, Kolomna paid the largest tribute to the Horde - as much as 342 rubles. A rich city was in those days. Subsequently, the courts of princes Vasily and Andrei Ivanovich Shuisky were located in Kolomna. Golitsyn, Sheremetev, Godunov and other influential people 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 Ryazans could not endure this for a long time and in 1385 took Kolomna back from Moscow, weakened by battles with the Tatar khans. Sergius of Radonezh put an end to these strife, and in the end Kolomna remained with Moscow. Only after the armistice, the Kolomna volost began to gradually grow stronger and multiply.
The Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich, going to battle with Mamai on the Kulikovo field in 1380, made a stop in Kolomna to revise 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. Pretty well known icon. Some historians claim that it was written by Theophanes the Greek, a famous icon painter. Ivan IV, that is, Ivan the Terrible, prayed in front of this icon in Kolomna, preparing to march on Kazan. Currently, she is in the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow, and only her origin is connected with Kolomna.
The first time Ivan the Terrible visited Kolomna in his youth, when he was 16 years old. The young tsar learned that the Crimean Tatar hordes under the leadership of Said Giray were approaching the Oka. All Moscow regiments were immediately assembled 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 150 thousand troops, when he was preparing to march on 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 can see, the tsar-father was delayed in Kolomna, hence the multitude of all kinds of legends and myths. And Ivan Vasilievich 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 3 rivers join in this place: Moscow, Oka and Kolomenka. Those. the place was strategically important.
From the 17th century, during the great turmoil, Kolomna became the royal inheritance. Who was not here at that time. The Kremlin, like a powerful stone fortification, was built in the 16th century by Prince Vasily III, Ivan the Terrible's father. 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 are the Marinka Tower, Faceted Tower and Pyatnitskaya Tower. And the oldest building in the Kremlin is the Church of the Resurrection, in which in 1366 Dmitry Donskoy married Evdokia of Suzdal. When you visit the Kremlin, pay attention to one rarity of ancient Russian architecture, the Church of St. Nicholas Gostiny. It is famous for being one of the first brick buildings in Russia.
Marina 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 of the Tushinsky thief Ivashka Zarutsky. Fate was not very kind to her. After the death of the former serf False Dmitry I, misfortunes and failures fell upon her. However, the strength of character, the thirst for power and the resourcefulness of the mind helped her survive. True, her happiness did not last long. But she just wanted to become a Russian queen. “The perverse fortune deprived me of everything, only the legal right to the Moscow throne turned out to be with me, sealed by a wedding to the kingdom, approved by the recognition of me as an heiress and a double oath of all state Moscow ranks. Now I present all this for the gracious and careful consideration of Your Royal Majesty. I am convinced that your royal majesty, after wise discussion, will pay attention to this and, in your natural kindness, accept me, and generously reward my family, which greatly contributed to this with their blood, courage and means. This will serve as an undoubted guarantee of mastering the Muscovite state and attaching it to a secured alliance, with the blessing of God, which generously rewards justice. Desiring what, I entrust myself to the protection and gracious attention of your royal majesty.
From a letter from Marina to the Polish King Sigismund.
In the Kremlin, the Round Tower (Marinka Tower, among the people) remained, where, according to legend, Marinka was imprisoned for her deeds and adventures and later 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's become. Find out about it at the end of the essay. There is another version, according to which Mnishek "died of anguish of her own free will" in Moscow. But, having been in Kolomna, after listening to the guide and seeing 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 all die not by their own death and their family would disappear.
More than one dungeon remained under the Marinka Tower itself. Until 1985, it was possible to freely climb on them, but during the restoration of the Kremlin, these secret passages were filled up. It's a pity. How many secrets are buried under earthen rubble. Perhaps someday they will be dug up again and another page from the life of the great adventurer of those times will come to the surface.
“About noon, this brawl subsided. Several times skirmishes arose again and cruel oppression and torment were inflicted on our people. Blacks and priests in men's clothes did the most harm to us, for they themselves killed, and brought the mob, ordering us to beat, saying that "Lithuania" came to destroy and exterminate our faith. "Great bloodshed and incalculable harm because of that vile betrayal And the Lord God took away our minds from us and our elders, so that until that time we were not careful, for, it is true, if we had kept together and were located side by side, they would not have dared to attack us, and we would have done nothing could not, and would not have destroyed so many of ours. But what can I say, so 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 nothing to run into Russia, 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.
The people love all sorts of legends and everything connected with mysticism. Here is one of those legends.
About Marinka. They say that when both false Dmitrys were killed, and the third was not found, Marina fled to the south, to the Don River. And there she found greetings and affection, and Ataman Zarutsky with an army. Yes, and how not to find those who are eager for someone else's. Together with the ataman, she approached Kolomna and by vile deceit captured and plundered the city. They burned the suburbs and drove along the Kashirsky tract. Their path lay in the Ryazan lands, and from there to Astrakhan. Carrying the loot with you in Kolomna was difficult and dangerous. Therefore, they decided to bury part of the wealth twenty-five versts from the city, not far from the village of Bogorodskoye, in the tract of Startsevsky Ford. The valuables were piled in a pit, and the treasure was covered from above with forged doors taken from the gates of the Pyatnitskaya tower and covered with earth. And a terrible spell was cast on this burial place. 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 people wandered around and around the village for a long time, digging the earth in a ravine. But the old people only grinned: where is it seen that someone could ever find the treasure during the day.
Treasures are opened to the lucky, and only at night...
One of the walls of the Kolomna Kremlin
In 1775, Catherine II decided to visit Kolomna. She even liked it here. Still, because she was greeted with rich gifts, jokes and festivities. However, she noticed that the city was built up somehow chaotically, without any order, and the Empress instructed to put the city in order. The “perestroika” was headed by the Russian architect M.F. Kazakov and Kolomna have changed. The Kremlin was rebuilt and new economic facilities were erected. It was the second reconstruction of Kolomna. The first reconstruction was carried out by Prince Dmitry Donskoy, who married in Kolomna, during which Kolomna flourished and grew rich. And M. Mnishek, after her death, 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 an interesting program awaits you. For example, the "Kolomensky tasting room" is a themed fireplace room in the old part of the city. The hall offers programs for tasting: - honey drinks of the Kolomna beekeeping plant - wines, balms; lecture; - vodka produced in Kolomna - 3 types of vodka, original snacks; lecture; - Kolomna ice cream - 3 types of ice cream, fillers, a story about the production; - Kolomna honey from a private apiary - 2 types of honey, herbal tea or classic, pie, bagels, a story about honey collection and the history of beekeeping (cost: 150 rubles per person); And what is the value of such an event as “An entertainment program “One day on a Cossack farm” - training in Cossack skills; - weaving vines and whips; - cooking Cossack pancakes; - learning to play folk instruments; - training in the preparation of moonshine; - tasting of Cossack mead; - Clockwork Cossack game "Cabbage"; - photographing in Cossack costumes; - demonstration performances of the Cossacks (possession of checkers, whips, re-creation of fragments of Cossack battles).
