home Equipment Ancient towers. World of old towers

Ancient towers. World of old towers

For me, every ancient city is associated with the Kremlin, and every Kremlin with an ancient Russian city. Many Kremlins have not survived at all, some were destroyed by time or fires, some were dismantled by people. But, nevertheless, there is still something to see and visit in Russia.

One of the most interesting, both historically and architecturally, is Moscow Kremlin. The largest in area, with an incredible number of towers - twenty of them. And no two are alike. Each of them has its own appearance, its own name and its own history.

Perhaps one of the most, in my opinion, unusual towers of the Moscow Kremlin is Kutafya. Relatively low, openwork, open - this is how it is now, after all kinds of restorations and after hundreds of years.

Kutafya, or as it was also called - Bridgehead, the tower is also unique because it is the only archery tower preserved in the Kremlin

It was built in 1516 year. The openwork parapet was received in 1685 year, and the open area in the 18th century. Before this, the tower looked very stern.

So where does such a strange name of the tower come from - Kutafya? But here there are several versions. I liked the one in which it comes from the word “kutafya” - a plump, clumsy woman. And indeed, if you look closely, there are similarities!

Behind the Kutafya Tower, connected to it by a long Trinity Bridge, is the tallest tower of the Kremlin - Trinity.

The Trinity Tower was the central passage tower in those distant times, and now it allows crowds of tourists to pass through it. The Trinity Tower is a little older, located in front of Kutafya, the date of its construction is considered 1495 year, although after that it was completed and rebuilt several times.

During its existence, the tower has been called various names: Epiphany, and Robbery, and Znamenskaya, and Kuretnaya. But in 1658, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in his decree, ordered to call it Trinity in honor of the nearby courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.

Middle Arsenal Tower

If we go from the main entrance of the Kremlin to the right, then the next tower we see will be Middle Arsenal Tower. Previously called faceted for its façade in the 13th century, this small tower (only 38 meters) received its current name due to the construction of the Arsenal building nearby. The date of construction of the tower is considered 1495.

Corner Arsenal Tower

The most powerful tower of the Kremlin completes the northwestern wall. Corner Arsenal Tower, aka the Dog Tower. The Sobakin Tower was named after the nearby courtyard of the Sobakin boyars. But in the 13th century, like its neighbor, it received the name Arsenalnaya. The 60-meter Arsenal Tower was at one time the tallest tower of the structure.

- one of those Kremlin towers that every traveler has probably seen, because one of its sides faces Red Square. It was built in 1491 year. More than five hundred years ago, the Nikolskaya Tower, like the Trinity Tower, had a diversion tower, a bridge and a gate. Everything is quite clear from the name of the tower; it was given on behalf of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk, whose icon was installed above its gate.

Surely many people noticed while walking along Red Square a low tower behind Lenin's mausoleum. This turret is called the Senate one. In general, it was nameless for a long time, until 1787, when construction was completed Senate Palace in the Kremlin.

In the summer of July 6999, by the grace of God, this archer was made by the command of John Vasilyevich, the sovereign and autocrat of all Rus' and the Grand Duke of Volodymyr and Moscow and Novgorod and Pskov and Tver and Yugorsk and Vyatka and Perm and Bulgaria and other states in his 30th year, and Peter Anthony did Solario from the city of Mediolana.

This inscription was found on perhaps the most famous tower of the Kremlin - Spasskaya. For many years now, every New Year's Eve, the clock of the Spasskaya Tower counts down the last seconds until the onset of the New Year. By the way, modern chimes - 1852 years, before that, since 1624, there were other clocks on the tower.

The gate of the Spasskaya Tower was the main gate of the Kremlin. For a long time, images of the Savior were painted above them. Townspeople were forbidden to enter through the Spassky Gate on horseback, and men were required to remove their hats.

The travel gates, previously called Frolovsky (from the Church of Frol and Lavra) on April 17, 1658, became by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Spassky, and then the entire tower inherited this name.

By the way, quite recently a mini copy of the Spasskaya Tower was built in the Mari city of Yoshkar-Ola.

Perhaps the smallest tower of the Kremlin is Tsarskaya. Initially, there was no tower at this place at all, and it was built only in 1680s years. And to be honest, this is just a small tent on the Kremlin wall.

Opposite of amazing St. Basil's Cathedral built Already from the name it becomes clear that this is where the alarm bell hung. There was a time when the Alarm Tower began to tilt. The causes of the tilt were eliminated, but even today the tower deviates from the vertical by a meter.

I never thought that I would see my name in the names of the towers of the Moscow Kremlin. But here she is in front of me -.

It received its name after the construction of the Church of Constantine and Helena in the Kremlin. The church, unfortunately, has not survived to this day. Previously, the tower was called Timofeevskaya. At first, the tower had a pair of branch towers and served as a passageway. The lancet towers were demolished in the 13th century, the gate arch was blocked, but if you look closely, you can see the arch, the recess for the gate icon and places for the levers of the drawbridge.

It is very interesting that it was through the gate located on the site of this tower in 1380 that Dmitry Donskoy went to the Battle of Kulikovo.

Gradually, past the towers, we reached the south-eastern corner of the Kremlin. Here the Kremlin wall turns and runs along the Moscow River. The corner tower bears the name Beklemishevskaya or Moskvoretskaya. Moskvoretskaya - because it is located next to the Moscow River, Beklemishevskaya - on behalf of the boyar Ivan Beklemishev who lived nearby. During wars and battles, the Beklemishevskaya Tower was the first to receive a blow; it so happened that the enemies were attacking from the direction of the Moscow River.

One of the few, Moskvoretskaya Tower, is round and for good reason. It had a defensive function, and its shape strengthened the defense against a possible two-pronged attack. For the same reason, the tower is remote, i.e. stands outside the Kremlin walls.

Petrovskaya Tower

Next to the Beklemishevskaya tower, very close to it, is located Petrovskaya Tower. She is much shorter than her neighbor. In old times, next to the tower there was a courtyard of the Ugreshsky Monastery with the Church of Metropolitan Peter, hence the name. The Petrovskaya Tower is notable for the fact that in 1612 it was completely destroyed and then rebuilt. The tower was dismantled for the second time in 1770, and then erected again in 1783. But the story doesn't end there either. In 1812, the French blew up the Petrovskaya Tower, but already in 1818 the architect O.I. Bove restored it. This is such a difficult story.

First and second unnamed towers

There are a couple of towers in the Kremlin wall without a name, so they are called the First Nameless and Second Nameless Towers. The first nameless tower was previously called Porokhovaya and, like Petrovskaya, has a very rich history. In 1547, the tower was destroyed during a fire in Moscow. The situation was aggravated by the fact that a gunpowder warehouse was built in it. In 1770, it, along with the Petrovskaya and Second Nameless Towers, was again dismantled during the construction of the Palace. And in 1812 it suffered from the French.

The Second Nameless Tower suffered a little less damage. Only in 1771 it was dismantled and then rebuilt.

Central tower of the southern wall – Taynitskaya, it is also the first tower of the Kremlin. The date of construction of the tower is considered 1485 but in 1781, like its neighbors, it was dismantled, and rebuilt only in 1783. The Tainitskaya Tower was nicknamed because it contained a secret well and a hidden passage to the Moscow River. Until 1932, an archer was attached to the Taynitskaya tower. It is curious that until 1917 a cannon was fired from here every day at noon. Only in St. Petersburg the tradition has been preserved to this day, but not in Moscow.

There is a very beautiful legend about the origin of the name of this tower. It says that at one moment the icon of the Annunciation miraculously appeared on the northern wall of the tower. Later, in 1731, the Church of the Annunciation was added to the tower. In 1932-33, the church was dismantled, and the tower was restored to its original appearance.

Another corner tower - Vodovzvodnaya. Similar to the Konstantino-Eleninskaya Tower, it has a cylindrical shape. In 1633, a water-lifting machine was installed in the tower, hence the name. The tower was rebuilt twice: in 1805 and 1817.

The majestic Borovitskaya Tower rises near Borovitsky Hill. They say that a dense pine forest once grew here, hence the name. It’s hard to believe it now, when all you see before your eyes is the glass and concrete of the metropolis.

The ancient armory workshops that were once located at its foot gave the tower its name. And not just the tower. Here, behind the Kremlin wall, there is a most interesting museum: the Armory Chamber.

Previously called the Kolymazhnaya Tower, located on the northwestern part of the Kremlin wall, the Commandant Tower was built in 1495. It received its current name in the 19th century, when the Moscow commandant settled in the Amusement Palace of the Kremlin. Like other towers of the Moscow Kremlin, the tower was transformed in the 17th century, when it received a decorative hipped top.

With the commandant's tower we closed the circle of the Kremlin wall. Great towers, great walls preserving history.

Walking around the Kremlin, I first of all admired the architecture, the intricate decorations of the hipped towers, and the pointed arches of the loopholes. Later, having learned the history of each of the towers, I looked at the photographs from a different angle.

Tourists arriving in Baku usually first go to see the Maiden Tower, which is located in the Old City. However, in fact, this fortress is not at all the only one of its kind. Thus, in the vicinity of the city, on the Absheron Peninsula, other majestic monuments of the Middle Ages have been preserved. These powerful strongholds have endured countless assaults and sieges, and, having withstood the most difficult trials, continue to tower over the Baku villages. "Moscow-Baku" offers a tour of five unique architectural structures of Absheron.

Raman fortress
This tower has a magical look: it looks like it was copied from the pages of fairy tales about Aladdin, where Princess Budur lived in a beautiful castle. The Ramanin fortress was built by order of the Shirvanshahs in the middle of the 14th century on the top of a steep cliff. This location allowed it to seamlessly merge with the rocky landscape of Absheron. Unlike European castles, Absheron buildings were not suitable for long-term living and served only as temporary shelter for soldiers during attacks. The height of the quadrangular tower in the village of Ramana is 12 meters, it consists of four tiers. You can get from floor to floor only by a ladder. Narrow slot-like openings that widened inwards in all tiers of the towers, except the first, served mainly for lighting and ventilation. By the way, the tower also has a primitive sewer line - risers and wells with water. There is written evidence that in the Middle Ages there was an underground road from the Ramana fortress to the Maiden Tower.

Tower in Gala
This tower gave the name to the entire Absheron village - after all, Gala is translated from the Azerbaijani language as “tower, fortress.” Built in the 14th century, the citadel is similar to the quadrangular towers that still stand in the villages of Mardakan and Ramana. However, unlike them, this citadel was in a dilapidated state for a long time. When they began to restore it, only a wall 2-3 meters high remained. However, the fortress was completely restored and an entire open-air ethnographic museum was opened next to it in 2008. The complex, created with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, also includes burial mounds, tombs, residential buildings, underground reservoirs, mosques and other historical monuments.

Fortress of Light
This fortress was called Ishig galasy (Fortress of Light), as it played a signaling role - when an enemy approached, torches were lit on its top, and thus the population was notified of the approaching danger. That is why the tower was erected close to the sea - just 500 meters from the Caspian coast. The building inscription carved on the stone indicates the date of its construction - 1232, and the name of the architect - Abdulmejid ibn Masud. The 16 meter high tower is located in the center of a square courtyard and is surrounded by stone walls. Three internal tiers, covered with spherical domes, communicate with each other by spiral stone staircases laid in the thickness of the wall.

Quadrangular fortress in Mardakan
The round tower is connected by underground passages to the quadrangular castle - the largest building on Absheron. Its height is 22 meters and consists of 5 tiers connected by spiral staircases. It is located inside a courtyard surrounded by fortress walls 7 meters high. The rough surface of the castle walls is set off by slit-like embrasures and a rich crown of battlements. The tower was erected in 1372, and was repeatedly attacked by enemies. The fortress suffered most severely during a seven-month siege by Mongol-Tatar troops, as a result of which part of the tower and the adjacent mosque were destroyed. During the Soviet years, the tower was restored, but the restorers slightly changed its previous appearance. Thus, the crenellations of the crowns of the walls, which had the shape of a crescent, were replaced with ordinary, round ones. In turn, historical finds are still being discovered on the territory of Mardakyan - tombstones, coins, teeth, tools, and even an ancient juicer in which grapes were decanted and sherbet was made from it.

Nardaran fortress
This tower, like other defensive structures of Absheron, served as a reliable stronghold against foreign invasions. Laconic inscriptions in Arabic made on the southern wall of the fortress tell that the architect Ali Mahmud ibn Saad built this fortification in 1301 at the expense of the governor of the Arab caliphate, Khur Berke. By the way, the same master was the author of the old Bibi-Heybatov mosque and the Molla Ahmed mosque in the Baku fortress. The height of the round tower is 12.5 m and, unlike others, it has a more spacious courtyard, and there are practically no stepped parapets with battlements on the crown.

Tower in Gala
This tower gave the name to the entire Absheron village - after all, Gala is translated from the Azerbaijani language as “tower, fortress.” Built in the 14th century, the citadel is similar to the quadrangular towers that still stand today in the villages of Mardakan and Ramana. However, unlike them, this citadel was in a dilapidated state for a long time. When they began its restoration, only a 2-3 meter high wall remained. However, the fortress was completely restored and an entire open-air ethnographic museum was opened next to it in 2008. The complex, created with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, also includes burial mounds, tombs, residential buildings, underground reservoirs, mosques and other historical monuments.

A long time ago, clock towers were real helpers for city dwellers, since until the middle of the 20th century most people did not have clocks. Interestingly, the first tower clock did not have a dial. They counted down the time by striking and ringing to invite residents to prayer. Such clocks were placed in towers that were located in the center of the city so that the sound of the strikes could be heard by everyone. The very first clock tower was the Tower of the Winds in Athens.

Now the clock towers are very convenient for keeping track of time; these clocks are visible from any corner of the city.

Torre dell`Orologio - Clock Tower in Venice

The clock tower was built by the architect Mauro Coducci in 1496-1499, the side extensions were made in 1500-1506 according to the design of Pietro Lombardi, and the superstructures were made around 1755 by Giorgio Massari.
The clock has two facades, one ceremonial and the second, simplified, for the Venetians. The clock shows the time with an accuracy of 5 minutes. Once every five minutes the wheel turns, and a new number appears in the window overlooking the square. The clock indicates the change of seasons, the passage of the sun in the signs of the zodiac, the time and phases of the moon.
On the day of the Ascension celebration, the side doors, with each strike of the clock, open and from them, following the angel, the Magi come out, who, passing in front of the Virgin Mary, bow to her. The tower is crowned by Moors. Every hour they strike the time by striking a bell. The peculiarity is that they strike the required number of hours together. For example, at noon, the Left Moor makes 12 strikes first, then the Right Moor strikes the same number of times, for a total of 24 strikes on the bell. At noon there is a real chime on San Marco. At one o'clock in the afternoon the Moors make two blows (one each). At two o'clock it's four. In general, time must be divided in two. The clock tower has two "wings". What’s most interesting is that people have been living there since the sixteenth century.

Clock tower in Italy - Rimini resort

Rimini is the capital of the Italian province of the same name, located in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Nowadays it is one of the most popular seaside resorts on the Adriatic Riviera. At the height of the summer season, the number of people here increases many times. The history of the city of Rimini begins in the 3rd century BC. Here the ancient Romans created their colony Ariminum.
Palazzo Brioli is a famous landmark of Rimini, part of a complex of buildings located on Tre Martiri Square, where Julius Caesar once gave his legendary speech. This complex includes a clock tower built in 1562. In 1750, a native of Rimini, D. Carini, decorated the tower with the “Perpetual Astrological Calendar”.

Clock tower in Regensburg, Bavaria

Clock on the tower located above the entrance to the city from the Stone Bridge, 1648.

Clock Tower (Zytglogge) - Switzerland, Bern

Bern is the capital of Switzerland, an important city of diplomacy and the location of many international organizations. This is one of the oldest and most charming cities in Europe. The origins of the city date back to the 12th century. In 1353 the city joined the Swiss Confederation. In 1848, Bern replaced Zurich as the seat of the federal government.

The clock tower (Zytglogge) with gate was in the past part of the city fortifications; the gate in the tower was one of several city gates. On the eastern facade of the tower there is an astronomical clock installed there in 1530. The clock mechanism sets mechanical figures (rooster, bears, Chronos) in motion, and every hour they perform a performance. The performance begins four minutes before the new hour. The watch also shows the movement of stars and zodiac signs. Previously, this clock was the main clock of the city and the standard of time; all other clocks were checked by it.

Clock Tower - Rijeka, Croatia

You can get to the historical part of Rijeka - the Old Town through a passage in the City Tower (“Pod uriloj”), on the pediment of which there are images of the Austrian emperors - Leopold I and Charles VI. The oldest architectural monument of Rijeka, the City Gate (Stara Vrata), has been preserved since ancient times.

Old Town Clock, Prague, Czech Republic

The celestial bodies on this watch have an interesting arrangement: the Earth is in the center of the dial, and the Sun rotates around it, thereby confirming the once-existing theory about the Earth being located at the center of the Universe.

Clock Tower - Straubing, Germany

The history of the Tower is inextricably linked with the history of the city. The City Tower itself was the first significant building of the new Straubing, the city that grew up on its current site. On the southern wall of the Tower, towards the Steinergasse, according to the customs of the Middle Ages, two slabs with Latin script were built in.
Already in the 14th century, clocks appeared on many city towers; it is not surprising that the Straubing Tower received its clock after construction was completed in 1390.

Famous Big Ben - London, England

Big Ben is a bell in the clock tower in London. However, the clock and the entire tower are named after Big Ben.
There are two theories regarding the origin of the name. According to the first, Big Ben (Big Ben) was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who supervised the casting of the bell. According to another, the heaviest bell at that time - 13.7 tons - received its name in honor of Benjamin Count, an extremely popular heavyweight boxer at that time.

Albert Memorial Clock Tower, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Located at the intersection of High St. and Victoria St. Twin of Pisa, the Albert Tower, like the entire center, built on swampy soil, “slid” to the side, to the south. The tower was built after the death of Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria 1865-1870, in his memory. The tower offers views of Belfast, from here you can especially clearly see two famous giant cranes, nicknamed Samson and Goliath, standing at the shipyard of the Harland and Wolf company, also famous - they built the Titanic. Reconstruction in 2002 strengthened the foundation and straightened the tower.

Alexander Chavchavadze was sure: “Who has not been to Svaneti“He didn’t see Georgia.” This mountainous region is famous not only for its picturesque natural landscapes, but also for its ancient stone towers, the purpose of which remains a mystery to historians.

Svaneti is a unique region in Georgia; nominally in the mid-19th century it became part of the Russian Empire, although life here has always flowed according to its own laws. The highland region has always been relatively calm (due to its inaccessibility), so icons, jewelry and religious artifacts were brought here, so that over time Svaneti became a kind of repository of Georgian culture.

Most of the towers were built between the 9th and 13th centuries. Traditionally, they have four to five floors, the height of the towers is 20-25 m. There are many versions about their purpose: the towers could serve as fortifications (although they do not have loopholes), protect houses from avalanches from the mountains (however, not all they are built on the avalanche side) or testify to the wealth of their owner. Most often, vegetables and feed for livestock were stored in the towers. There is a version that the first floor of the towers was residential, but scientists were unable to find fireplaces and chimneys, and in Svaneti the winters are so severe that the home must be heated.

Despite the fact that many towers have been destroyed today, about 200 buildings have been preserved in different villages of Svaneti. Most of them are located in the village of Ushguli, located at an altitude of 2200 m above sea level. Thanks to the architectural ensemble of the Ushgul towers, Upper Svaneti was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as a historical monument of Georgia.