Tobolsk Kremlin
Interesting facts
- For a time the kremlin housed the exiled Uglich bell, punished in 1592 by having its tongue removed for ringing the alarm after Tsarevich Dmitry's death.
- The first Tobolsk fort of 1587 was built from the timbers of the Cossacks' dismantled river boats.
- To stop the river eating away the kremlin hill, the bed of the Tobol was shifted about two versts, roughly two kilometres, to the south.
- Remezov's Dmitrievsky Gate was meant as a triumphal arch honouring Yermak, conqueror of Siberia, but stayed unfinished after its patron fell.
- That patron, Prince Matvei Gagarin, first governor of Siberia with authority from the Kama to Alaska, was recalled over embezzlement charges and executed.
- The unfinished gate building became the Rentereya, the treasury where the fur tribute collected from Siberian peoples was stored.
- Early stone building was overseen by Metropolitan Paul, formerly archimandrite of the Chudov Monastery inside the Moscow Kremlin.
- A tsarist convict transit prison was built within the kremlin ensemble in the nineteenth century.
- A 2009 aerial photograph of the kremlin by Dmitry Medvedev sold at a 2010 charity auction for 51 million roubles, about 1.7 million US dollars.
Why it is worth it
White walls and towers run along the edge of a high bluff above the Irtysh, and behind them rise the domes of St Sophia Cathedral and a tall bell tower: the Tobolsk Kremlin is the only stone kremlin in Siberia. It crowns the upper town of Tobolsk, founded in 1587 by Cossacks at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers, which long served as the capital of Siberia and the seat of its governors and archbishops.
The first major stone building was the Cathedral of St Sophia and the Dormition, raised in 1683–1686 by masons brought from Moscow and Veliky Ustyug. The great building campaign followed around 1700, led by Semyon Remezov, a remarkable local figure who was at once architect, cartographer and the first historian of Siberia. Under his direction rose the administrative palace of 1699–1704 and the trading arcades of Gostiny Dvor of 1702–1706. Swedish prisoners of war, captured during the Great Northern War, worked on the construction, and a building on the site is still known as the Swedish Chamber. Later additions include the Church of the Intercession of the 1740s and the bell tower of 1799, which remains the tallest structure in the city.
Tobolsk below the kremlin keeps the feel of an old provincial capital. Exiled Decembrists lived here after the rising of 1825, the chemist Dmitri Mendeleev was born in the town, and after his abdication in 1917 Nicholas II and his family were held for several months in the Governor's Mansion before being moved to Yekaterinburg. The kremlin has been protected as a historical and architectural museum-reserve since 1961.
Getting there
The kremlin stands in the upper town of Tobolsk, about 0.1 km from the centre. Tobolsk Remezov Airport (RMZ) is about 17 km away, and Tobolsk railway station lies on the line from Tyumen to Surgut.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Tobolsk Kremlin is the sole stone kremlin in Siberia. It is located in Tobolsk, Tyumen Oblast, Russia.
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