Architectural complex "Kiev Fortress"

"Kiev Fortress" is a complex of defense structures of the capital of Ukraine, formed during the fifteen centuries. It includes: the territory of the Museum of History of the Second World War, the Arsenal plant, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, as well as many defensive walls and ramparts of Kiev.

A unique monument

This is the only monument in the country fortification and one of the largest earth fortresses in the world, preserved to this day. But not everyone knows where the Kiev fortress is. It is located on Hospital Street, 24a.

New archaeological finds of the period of Kievan Rus and Scythian times are constantly being carried out here. During the holidays in the complex Kiev fortress (photo below) salutes the guns and flags are raised. In the fireplace room, which has no equal in its acoustic properties, conduct musical and literary evenings.

Fortress of Kievan Rus: several facts from history

The history of the fortification began at the end of the 5th century from a site of ancient settlement located on the Starokievo mountain. At that time it was fortified with palisades, moats and earthen ramparts. But after Kiev became the capital of Kievan Rus, the system of fortifications of the city began to be created. All parts of the city received their own defense system. In 1240, after the defeat received from Khan Batu, the fortifications strengthened. Their new stage of development begins during the Polish-Lithuanian rule, when the fortress is erected on Mount Horevitsa (Lithuanian Castle). When the Russian state was in power, fortifications from Pechersk to Khreshchatyk were erected in Kiev. In 1679, the troops of the Cossacks under the leadership of Samoilovich unite the Pechersky and Stachyok fortifications, due to which a common huge fortress was formed. The Pechersk citadel at the beginning of the eighteenth century was already fully established.

Structure of the complex

The Kiev fortress, which is located on the Pechersk Upland, includes three main sites of defense: the Hospital and Vasilkovsky fortifications, as well as the citadel. The construction of the fortress, which began in the early years of the eighteenth century, was due to the fact that the Russian Empire was preparing for the Northern War. Further, Kiev was identified as the main strategic point. In 1706 he came to the city of Peter I and found a place for a new fortification. The most suitable place was the place near the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. In the same year, in the presence of the emperor, there was an official laying of the first stone of the fortress, which later became a bastion of the Kiev fortress. And at the present moment the complex of the Kiev fortress is very convenient for tourists.

Monastery as a strategic object

The Kiev-Pechersky Monastery, the main core of the Pechersk fortification, was chosen not accidentally. He from the beginning of his existence had reliable towers and defensive walls. From the chronicles it is known that already in the second half of the eleventh century the territory of the monastery was surrounded by a palisade. In the twelfth century, the palisade was replaced by stone walls, which in 1240 were destroyed by Mongol-Tatars. In the seventeenth century the fencing of the monastery was still wooden. It was periodically strengthened with ramparts. So, in 1679 the army of Hetman Ivan Samoilovich around the monastery erected earthen ramparts. Twenty years later the territory of the monastery is protected by very high walls with several entrance gates and five towers, as well as with special gatehouses. For the time being, Ivan Kushnik, Onufrievskaya, Yuzhnaya and Malyaya Tower have been preserved. Equipped with loopholes two-tiered towers protrude beyond the walls. Defensive stone walls, the thickness of the lower part of about 3 meters, the height was about seven meters and ended with battle galleries, located on the performances of structures. They were on the inside made in the form of arcades.

The role of the monastery in the history of the fortress

Consequently, the monastery for a period of the foundation of the Pechersk fortress had a sufficiently reliable defense system. The construction of the bastion type of an earthen fortress was completed in 1723. Its fortification was a circular system of defensive structures. It included 9 bastions, one half-bastion of ravelin, curtains and other objects. As the threat of foreign interventions persisted, the fortress constantly demanded the maintenance of proper maintenance, as well as its modernization and restructuring. In the fifties of the eighteenth century, Bosquet, a military engineer, was leading the construction work in the fortress. At that moment the bastions receive their current names: Spassky, Pavlovsky, Uspensky, Petrovsky, Semyonovsky, Andreevsky. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, in the fortress, in addition to open fortifications, several other very important structures were built, for example, the Moscow and Vasylkivsky gates, the arsenal house, the powder cellar, convoys, barracks. Taking into account the achievements in the development of weapons, including the increase in the range of available cannons, the Zverinetsky fortification was erected at the suggestion of Opperman, a military engineer. This happened on the eve of the war in 1812 specifically to protect the Pechersk fortress.

The erection of new fortress facilities

Kiev did not lose its military-strategic importance even after the war. In 1830, the plan for a new fortress was approved, which was developed by Opperman. According to his draft, the construction of the Hospital and Vasilkovsky fortifications was envisaged. It was also planned to change the Pechersk Citadel included in the general system of fortifications. And until now the Kiev fortress (photo can be seen in this article) offers to see these objects.

The erection of the Kiev fortress began in 1831, after the founding of the so-called Vasylkiv fortification, while its construction ended in 1863. It consisted of a ravelin with a caponier, earthen ramparts, and three towers. On the Cherepanova Hill hospital fortification was built in 1842-1849. It included 3 caponiers located in ditches, earthen ramparts, an oblique caponier, a northern caponier with a small bridge, a hospital and many other buildings. Also near the Klovskiy ravine were built production workshops, two towers, the Nikolayevsky Gate, and around the Far and Near Caves defense walls were built.

Fortification architectural complex "Kiev Fortress", completed in the sixties of the nineteenth century, consisted of Hospital and Vasilkovsky fortifications, Pechersk citadel, earth Zverinetsky defensive structures. But since firearms developed very actively at that time, he did not meet the requirements of modern defense for the period of project implementation. In 1871-1877, the need to renew the fortifications forced the construction of the Lysogorsky Fort.

Accordingly, the Kiev fortress as the main fortification complex, was built more than a century and a half. Pleases that many of its buildings have survived to this day.

Despite the fact that the complex "Kiev Fortress" eventually lost its original strategic importance, a huge number of defense facilities 4 periods of fortification were able to survive to this day.

The significance of the fortress in the history of Kiev

In the history of the city the role of the Kiev fortress is ambiguous. For almost 70 years, the creation of a military fortified camp within Pechersk was able to delay the civilian construction of the area. At the same time, its construction is directly connected with the active development of the water canal, brick factories, the creation of lifts (Pankratyevsky, Aleksandrovsky, Navodnitsky, Klovskiy) and cobbled streets, Naberezhnoye Shosse, the first permanent bridge across the Dnieper. Production skillful Arsenal fortresses were the embryo of the Arsenal plant. At the moment, the fortress complex is considered to be a specific museum of fortification history, where defense constructions of the time of development of rifled and smooth-bore artillery are presented.

Attractions of the fortress

The oldest medieval sight is the defensive walls with towers. They are located around the Upper Lavra. To the fortification of the newest systems belong the bastion earthworks of the citadel, the hospital polygonal fortification, the Vasilkovsky fortification. All sorts of defense barracks located in Pechersk, in themselves, embody the characteristics of the fortification of the Russian school. She, according to experts, was in the main position in Europe in the early nineteenth century. Lysogorskoe fortification demonstrates the characteristic features of the fortress of time rifled artillery. Some constructions of the fortress are directly connected with the history of revolutionary and liberation movements. Where there used to be the political prison "Kiev Shlisselburg", in the thirties of the last century the museum "oblique caponier" was opened.

Kyiv fortress: museum today

Every year, archaeologists find various facts from the history of the city and the fortress. This is one of the reasons that at the present moment the Kiev fortress is one of the most mysterious museums of the city. The most interesting element of the object is the oblique Caponier, built in 1844. It is a structure with very thick walls, whose foundation is considered to be stones and bricks. In its walls were placed loopholes and embrasures for guns and guns. Builders for convenient combat Caponir placed at an angle to the wall of the fortress, hence its name appeared. From the very beginning, it was necessary to store artillery stocks and weapons. But in the sixties of the 19th century, it became a political prison, in which political prisoners were kept, as one can understand, before they were sent to the Lesogorsky Fort to the gallows.

At the moment, Kosoy Kaponir is one of the most important and interesting elements of the Kiev fortress. In addition to it, the structure includes the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, as well as many objects. They can be visited while in Pechersk, in the complex "Kiev Fortress". How to get there, they know all the residents of the city, and they will tell you: from the railway station you can get there by trolleybus No. 14, minibus No. 534 to the stop with the appropriate name or taxi. From Bessarabka, from Friendship of Peoples and Solomianka, there is a shuttle bus number 450.

Museums

In the Caponier itself there are two museums that are dedicated to the history of this fortification. Interestingly, one of them is underground. The guests will find him in a form converted for prisoners. With the change in the historical situation, all loopholes were turned into windows with reliable grilles. There is an opportunity to see a lot of old utensils, uniforms, weapons and things of prisoners that have survived to the present day. In the next museum there are important historical documents and uniforms of different times.

Today the Kiev fortress is one of the most mysterious museums of the city, as archaeologists annually find various facts from the history of the city and the fortress.

The museum's collection

Huge stone towers, earthen fortifications and caponiers are objects for showing excursions to the architectural complex "Kiev Fortress". The exhibition program includes the main collection of historical and military miniatures in Ukraine, the largest in Europe collection "Napoleoniana", the press of the division of the UPR and him. Father Makhno. Swords, spears, crossbows, carnets and chablis with outfits remarkably fit into the general view of the defense structures. Museum expositions are housed in two caponiers, which speak about the history of the Kiev and Russian fortification from the moment of Trypillian culture to the nineteenth century, as well as the history of the use of fortress structures.