Kolomna Kremlin is the center of the historic part of the city as well as its origin. Kremlin is a general term in Russian that describes any town protected by military fortifications. So every important medieval city had its own Kremlin. Kolomna Kremlin is one of the largest and most powerful fortresses of its time. It was part of the extended defenses created to protect Moscow from invasions by the Tatar forces. While Russian Muscovite Kingdom was technically independent from the Tatar Golden Horde, many of the Tatar kingdoms still attempted to recapture these lands. So in 1525- 31 during reign of Vasily III massive walls encircled Kolomna. They were further protected by 17 towers with four city gates. Today only seven original towers survive. The total length of the defenses stretched for 1938 meters (over a mile long). The height of the walls reached 18 to 21 meters with a thickness of 3- 4.5 meters.
Kolomenskaya Tower was the western city guard tower that was intended to protect a strategic Astrakhan Path (Moscow- Ryazan Road), one of the oldest government roads. It is the highest of all the surviving towers of Kolomna Kremlin with a height of 31 meters and with diameter of 13 meters. The tower is isohedral although it looks round from a distance. Its 27 windows allowed defenders to fire with arrows as well as firearms in all directions. The spiral staircase allowed soldiers to reach all eight stories of tower. Local folklore calls it "Marinkina" Tower. Legend claims that Marina Mniszek lived here for two years with her baby son before dying "from grief". Marina Mniszek was a Polish noblewoman who married Gregory Otrepiev, man who claimed to be Dmitry, son of Ivan the Terrible, killed in Uglich. With the help of Poland, Cossacks and international mercenaries he invaded Russia, but was captured and killed.
Kolomna Kremlin is dominated by a Cathedral Square, the spiritual, political and economic center of the medieval city. Most of buildings here were constructed in 14th- 19th centuries. The Assumption Cathedral was constructed by the order of Dmitry Donskoy to commemorate his victories on Vozza river in 1378 and Field of Kulikovo Battle in 1380 over Tatar- Mongol. Cathedral belfry is dated with 17th century and is considered the loudest in the country. Its purpose was to celebrate religious holidays as well as to worn people in Moscow about incoming enemy. Next to belfry you can see a Tikhvin Cathedral (17- 19th centuries), winter church of Kolomna and New Golutvin Holy Trinity Monastery (14- 19th centuries).
The Kolomna Kremlin was repeatedly destroyed during the raids of the
Tatars on Rus'. Almost no campaign of the khans of the Golden Horde
was complete without the capture of Kolomna.
In the 16th
century, after the stone walls were erected, the enemies never
managed to take the Kolomna Kremlin by storm. And during the Time of
Troubles, Polish interventionists and detachments of the “Tushino
thief” penetrated Kolomna not as a result of the assault on the
fortress, but due to the indecision and treacherous mood of the
temporary workers, who were completely confused in the change of
royal persons.
Almost nothing is known about Kolomna's child, which existed during
the Ryazan period of the city's history. According to indirect data,
its area could be 3-5 hectares. In 1301, Kolomna was annexed to the
Moscow principality and quickly became its second most important
center. Not later than 1307, a new wooden Kremlin with an area of
20-22 hectares was laid, which is even slightly larger than the
areas of the Moscow Kremlin of Ivan Kalita and the Tver Kremlin (19
hectares each). Erected on an obtuse-angled cape at the confluence
of the Kolomenka River with Moscow using natural ravines, it had an
oval shape. The walls during this period were supposedly a simple
tyn with a fighting move, placed on top of the rampart. Around 1330,
a deepening of the ditch was carried out with a rampart; from the
back side, the shaft was now supported by a retaining wall with
anchor logs inserted into the thickness of the shaft. Traces of
several more reconstructions of the 14th-15th centuries were found,
which show that the Moscow princes closely monitored the defense
capability of the Kolomna fortress. Its walls then consisted of log
cabins filled with clay.
Batyev pogrom
In December 1237,
having defeated the main forces of the Ryazan princes in the Wild
Field, the troops of Khan Batu (Batu) captured the most significant
cities of the Ryazan principality within two weeks, and after a
five-day siege, Ryazan itself. The city was ravaged and completely
destroyed; in the middle of the XIV century, the center of the
principality was moved 50 kilometers to the north-west in the city
of Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky. The remnants of the Ryazan troops withdrew
to Kolomna, which was at that time on the border of the Ryazan
principality with Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, and prepared for the last
battle against the Mongols with the help of Yuri Vsevolodovich, the
Grand Duke of Vladimir.
In January 1238, the Mongol troops
near Kolomna met not only with the remnants of the Ryazan troops,
but also with the squad of the Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich,
reinforced by the militia of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'. During the
battle, the Russian heavy cavalry managed to make a partial
breakthrough and even kill Kulkan, the youngest son of Genghis Khan,
but this did not lead to a general victory. Also in the battle, the
Vladimir governor Yeremey Glebovich and the Ryazan prince Roman were
killed. So Batu on January 1, 1238, following Ryazan, captured
Kolomna. The wooden walls of the local Kremlin did not become a
serious defense against the Tatars, the city was plundered and
burned to the ground.
Then Batu moved to Moscow and took it
after a five-day assault (January 15-20). At the end of January, the
Mongols moved towards Vladimir.
Khan Mengu-Timur, who was peacefully disposed towards Rus', 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 princes of
Rostov and the bishop of Rostov, went to Tokhta, the son of
Mengu-Timur, to renew the label and presented to him his complaints
about the creature of Nogai - the ruling Grand Duke Dmitry
Pereslavsky. The latter refused to appear at the court of Tokhta,
considering himself a vassal of Nogai. Prince Mikhail of Tver (son
of Grand Duke Yaroslav III and grandson 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 all 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 Pereslavsky. As expected,
Prince Dmitry did not intend to give up the table and disregarded
Tokhta's orders. Then the khan sent an army to support his Russian
vassals under the command of his brother Tudan, whom the Russian
chronicles call Duden.
In 1293, the city of Kolomna was
captured by the warlord Tudan, who was named by the Russian
chronicler Duden. In addition to Kolomna, 14 cities in the center of
Rus' were burned and destroyed.
The confrontation between Khan Tokhtamysh and his regent Mamai leads
to the Battle of Kulikovo, in which Tokhtamysh uses Prince Dmitry
Ivanovich (later Donskoy) as an ally, and Mamai uses the Genoese
infantry. The gathering of troops of Dmitry Donskoy takes place in
Kolomna, and on August 26, 1380, the 150,000-strong army of Dmitry
Donskoy, with the blessing of Sergius of Radonezh, sets off to meet
Mamai.
After the Battle of Kulikovo, Tokhtamysh, with the
help of Timur, seized the throne of the Golden Horde. Wanting to
disperse the fear that attacked the Tatars after this battle,
Tokhtamysh ordered the Russian guests to be robbed and their ships
seized, and in 1382 he himself went to Moscow with a large army. The
Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry Konstantinovich, having learned about
the campaign of Tokhtamysh and wanting to save his land from ruin,
sent his sons Vasily and Semyon to him. Oleg Ryazansky, guided by
the same motives, showed him the fords on the Oka. Dmitry Donskoy
was taken by surprise by the Tatars. He left Moscow and went first
to Pereyaslavl, and then to Kostroma, to gather troops.
On
the way to Moscow, Tokhtamysh took and burned Serpukhov and
approached the capital on August 23, 1382. The Tatars broke into
Moscow and subjected it to destruction. Then Tokhtamysh disbanded
his detachments in Moscow possessions: to Zvenigorod, Volok,
Mozhaisk, Yuryev, Dmitrov and Pereyaslavl. But only the last one was
taken. The detachment that approached Volok was defeated by Vladimir
Andreevich Serpukhovsky, who was there. After that, Tokhtamysh left
Moscow and went home, taking Kolomna along the way.
Edigey 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.
After the reorganization of his state,
Yedigei felt strong enough to take care of Russian problems. In
fact, North-Eastern Rus' became practically independent from the
moment of the final defeat inflicted on Tokhtamysh by Timur. Only in
1400, the 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 about any threatening steps of Edigey. 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 Edigey 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. Edigei, 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 were
burning.
The next time the Kolomna Kremlin was captured and burned by Ulu-Mukhammed. 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 last Golden Horde Khan Akhmat went to Rus' in the summer of 1472 in order to restore the Tatar yoke in its former strength. When Grand Duke Ivan III found out about this, he hastily left for Kolomna. He managed to strengthen the bank of the Oka in time. Ahmet, seeing numerous regiments, retreated. But eight years later he again went to Rus'. 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 two months. But Akhmet was afraid to engage in battle with the troops of Ivan III. This was the end of the Tatar yoke in Rus'.
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.
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
In 1606, a peasant
war broke out under the leadership of Ivan Bolotnikov. The rebels on
their way to Moscow approached Kolomna. In October 1606 they took
the settlement by storm, but the Kremlin continued to stubbornly
resist. Leaving a small part of his forces in Kolomna, Bolotnikov
headed along the Kolomna road to Moscow. In the village of
Troitskoye, Kolomna district, he managed to defeat government
troops. Bolotnikov's army was located in the village of Kolomenskoye
near Moscow. The siege of the capital began. In December 1606,
Bolotnikov failed near Moscow and retreated to Kaluga. For the posad
elite of Kolomna, this served as a signal for reprisal against the
“rabble”. Bolotnikov's uprising was brutally suppressed.
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. Kolomna residents 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 in 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.
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.
The Kolomna Kremlin, like the fortresses of other
Russian cities of that period (Veliky Novgorod, Ivangorod, Nizhny
Novgorod, Zaraysk and Tula), has Italian features. The fortification
forms of northern Italian fortresses, such as Turin, Milan, Verona,
etc., are largely repeated. In addition to general building
techniques and Italian architectural details, such as machicules -
loopholes of plantar battle in towers, a combat parapet with teeth
in the shape of a dovetail, faceted towers of the main fence ,
diverting towers, etc., there are other similarities between the
Moscow and Kolomna Kremlins.
The walls of the Kolomna
Kremlin, despite the already somewhat archaic high-rise structures
in the serfdom at that time, were created not only to counter the
assaults by manpower, but also for cannon defense. The towers and
walls of the fortress are already saturated with loopholes of
plantar battle. The loopholes themselves are designed to accommodate
firearms, have a characteristic form of embrasures - a bell, and
sometimes, are covered with vaults. From the loopholes of the
towers, the adjacent sections of the walls and the moat are well
shot through.
Walls and towers of the Kolomna Kremlin
The
Kolomna Kremlin had 16 towers, of which three were passage towers,
and gates in the western and northern sections. Now 7 towers have
been preserved, one whole and two sections of the walls.
Surviving towers (clockwise):
Pyatnitsky Gate
Pogorelaya
(Alekseevskaya) tower
Spasskaya Tower
Simeonovskaya Tower
Yamskaya (Trinity) Tower
Faceted Tower
Kolomenskaya
(Marinkina) tower
Lost towers:
Voznesenskaya
(Ekaterininskaya) Tower
Ivanovo Gate
Borisoglebskaya tower
Oblique (Solovki) gates
Resurrection (Taynitskaya) tower
Sandyrevskaya tower
Bobrenevskaya tower
Sviblova Tower
Zastenochnaya (Malaya or Pokrovskaya) Tower
water gate
In
addition to the towers, there were gates in the walls (Mikhailovsky
and Melnichy (Georgievsky)), as well as the Secret (a large-scale
specialized building that protected and covered the path to the
water in the event of a siege)
Cathedrals and churches of the
Kolomna Kremlin
Assumption Cathedral
Bell tower of the
Assumption Cathedral
Novogolutvinsky Convent
Resurrection
Church
Tikhvin Church
Church of St. Nicholas Gostiny
Dormition Brusensky Convent
Holy Cross Church
During their centuries-old history, the walls and towers of the
Kolomna Kremlin have become a participant and witness to many events
in the Ryazan Principality, the Moscow Principality, the Russian
Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. As mute
witnesses, they looked at the internecine squabbles of the great
princes, the confrontation between the Moscow principality and the
Golden Horde, the unity of Russian troops for campaigns against
enemies, adventurers of troubled times, and others. Over time,
people's rumor gave new features to the events that took place near
the Kremlin walls, adding legends and their own versions.
The
chronicle says the following about this: in 1525, “the great prince
Vasily Ivanovich ordered the city of Kolomna to be made stone”, and
with a brief note under 1531, the chronicler notes “... the city of
Kolomna stone was completed the same summer.”
According to one
version, in 1611, the well-known troublemaker Marina Mnishek was
imprisoned in the Marinka Tower of the Kolomna Kremlin, in which she
died. But there is a legend in the city, according to which Marina
did not die in captivity within the walls of the Kolomna Kremlin,
but, turning into a crow, flew out the window. It is generally
accepted that the tower got its name in honor of Mnishek.
There
is another legend in the city, according to which the already
mentioned Marina Mnishek, together with her husband, the Cossack
ataman Zarutsky, buried the treasure in the Kolomna district under
the Pyatnitsky gate.