Bely Gorod
Bely Gorod ( Russian Белый город , translated White City) was the name of a historic district in the center of Moscow . It lay on the north bank of the Moskva and enclosed both the Moscow Kremlin and the Kitai-Gorod district to the east . Bely Gorod got its name from the color of the defensive wall that surrounded it. The part of the city that was further outside, but still within the Moscow city walls, was called Semlyanoi Gorod , the earth city.
The eponymous defensive wall around Bely Gorod was built between 1585 and 1593 during the reign of Fyodor I. His grandmother Helena Glinskaja had already initiated the construction of the defensive wall around Kitai-Gorod around 50 years earlier. The reason for this was the campaigns of the Crimean Tatars to Moscow , which took place again and again in the course of the 16th century . Now another wall ring should protect the grown city.
The length of the wall around the White City was about 10 km, its height was 4.5 m. The architect of the wall was the famous builder Fyodor Kon , who among other things also built the Smolensk Kremlin . It was designed for a long siege and had a sophisticated system of gun holes, battlements and other facilities. Bely Gorod had 28 defense towers and 11 gates. Their names are still preserved in the names of the places that exist in their place.
During the reign of Empress Catherine the Great , the defensive wall of the Bely Gorod was torn down, as it no longer had any military value and hampered city growth. In their place there emerged boulevards known as the Moscow Boulevard Ring.
Part of Bely Gorod on the map from 1610
Apollinari Wasnetsov . The seven-pointed tower of the Bely Gorod
Apollinari Wasnetsov. Scene at the Myasnitsky Gate of the Bely Gorod
Apollinari Wasnetsov. Bely Gorod on the Neglinnaya River
literature
- Либсон В. Я., Домшлак М. И. и др. Белый город // Памятники архитектуры Москвы. - М .: Искусство, 1989. - 380 с. - 50 000 экз.