List of the Kremlin

A Kremlin ( Russian кремль ) was a kind of citadel in late medieval and early modern Russian principalities and republics, and later in Tsarist Russia , which formed the center of ancient cities. Inside the Kremlin were the buildings essential for a city such as ammunition stores , craft workshops, churches and administrations. Most of the Kremlins were built on high ground and near a river. In addition, the Possad , the suburb, developed. Together with the Kremlin, the Possad forms the entire city (in modern Russian Gorod ).

The term Kremlin appears for the first time in Russian-language documents from the 14th century. There are several hypotheses about the exact origin of the word, including those of a purely Slavic origin of the term ( Krem , Kremnik or Krom ≈ "protective wall", "fortress") and those of an ancient Greek origin ( Krimnos ≈ "steep bank"). Other terms for a fortified city center known from documents were Krom (this is the name most commonly used to describe the Pskov Kremlin) and Detinez (as the Novgorod Kremlin is still sometimes called today; the word may originate from the Old Russian Ditja = “child” meaning “fresh” emerging, young city ”).

Up to the 14th century almost all citadels in Russian lands were built of wood; due to fires, acts of war and the like, none of them survived to this day. It was only after the first reconstruction of the Moscow Kremlin in Stein in 1367 that the massive fortification building became widespread. The high point of citadel building in Russia came at the beginning of the 16th century, when the Moscow state had its external borders secured by building several citadels of this type.

Preserved Kremlin

The following table contains all the Kremlins that have survived to this day, of which not only buildings inside the citadel (such as churches or bishops' residences), but also fortifications (walls, watchtowers) have at least partially been preserved. Fortifications that served purely ecclesiastical purposes (including ensembles such as the Trinity Monastery of Sergiev Posad , which also has a citadel-like fortification, or the former metropolitan residence of Rostov , which is often referred to as the "Rostov Kremlin"), are not included.

image	Name of the Kremlin	city	Year of completion	Area, ha	Maximum height of the wall, m	Maximum width of the wall, m	Remarks
	Moscow Kremlin	Moscow	1499	27.5	19th	6.5	The Moscow Kremlin is the most famous of its kind in the world because it has been the center of power of the Russian state since 1918, initially as the seat of the Soviet government and today as the working residence of the Russian President . The ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1990 .
	Novgorod Kremlin	Veliky Novgorod	1430s	12.1	15th	6.5	The Novgorod Kremlin is sometimes called Detinez instead of the Kremlin in Russian . The term Detinez for a city fortification is of older origin than the Kremlin , which among other things indicates that the Novgorod Citadel is one of the oldest surviving fortresses in Russia. In 1992 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as the second Russian Kremlin.
	Kazan Kremlin	Kazan	16.-17. Century			6th	The citadel was built mainly on the site of an earlier fortress city of Tartars . The Kazan Kremlin is the only Russian Kremlin to house a mosque on its territory. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000.
	Tula Kremlin	Tula	1520	6th	10	3.2	The Kremlin in Tula was created as part of the so-called Verhaulinie of the Moscow state and in this function was supposed to protect Moscow from attacks from the south. The fortifications were built on the model of the Moscow Kremlin. Today they are the only surviving structures of the Tula Kremlin from the early 16th century.
	Astrakhan Kremlin	Astrakhan	1589	11	11.5	5.2	Similar to the Kazan Kremlin, the citadel of Astrakhan was built on the territory of a khanate conquered by Tsarist Russia . Part of the building structure of this Kremlin comes from the ruins of the destroyed Tatar city of Sarai in the area around today's Astrakhan.
	Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin	Nizhny Novgorod	1515 or earlier	22.7	12	4.5	At the time, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin at the confluence of the Oka and Volga rivers was one of the largest and most powerful Russian fortresses. With its location on a high and in places very steep bank of the Oka, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin can be regarded as a particularly representative monument of the Russian fortification building. One of the first stone churches in Russia, the Archangel Michael Cathedral, built in 1227, stands on the site of the Kremlin.
	Pskov Kremlin	Pskov	15th century	3	8th	6th	Together with the Kremlin of Veliky Novgorod, the fortress of Pskov is one of the oldest of its kind: As a Russian fortress, it already existed in the 12th century, until the 15th century the fortifications that have been preserved to this day were built.
	Smolensk Kremlin	Smolensk	1602		19th	5.2	The Smolensk Kremlin, which today only survives in fragments, was of outstanding military importance in the 17th century as a western fortress outpost of Moscow. Due to the frequent attacks, most recently in World War II, it was destroyed and rebuilt particularly often.
	Kolomna Kremlin	Kolomna	1531	24	21st	4.5	Together with the Kremlin of Tula, Zaraysk and Ryazan (the latter do not receive) presented the citadel in Kolomna at the confluence of the Moskva River with the Oka part of Verhaulinie Moscow to protect its southern borders. After losing its military importance the Kremlin was so strong neglects that in the 19th century less than half of the original fortifications remained. On the grounds of the Kremlin are u. a. two monasteries.
	Sarayisk Kremlin	Saraisk	1531	2.4	9	3	Like the nearby Kolomna and Tula, Saraysk was also integrated into the protective system of the Verha line. However, it was of subordinate importance there, so the Sarayisk Kremlin, although architecturally based on Moscow and Tula, is the smallest of all surviving Russian Kremlins with an area of ​​only 2.4 hectares.
	Tobolsk Kremlin	Tobolsk	1699				The only stone Kremlin in Siberia is also the youngest Kremlin in Russia. Since its military importance quickly waned after its construction, the Tobolsk Kremlin was left to decay for a long time. The situation was aggravated by its location on a hill that was occasionally exposed to landslides.

Former Kremlin

From the following citadels no or hardly any remains of fortification structures have survived. However, some, such as the Suzdal Kremlin, still exist as coherent architectural ensembles today.

With stone attachment

• Vologda (the old Kremlin existed until the beginning of the 19th century. Today, the Vologda Kremlin is also incorrectly referred to as the former bishop's residence from the years 1671–75.)
• Moshaisk
• Serpuchow (only two small pieces of the wall have survived to this day)

With stone and wooden attachment

• Vladimir (the Golden Gate and parts of the earth walls are preserved)
• Tver

Only with wooden attachment

Former earth walls of the Ryazan Kremlin

• Suzdal (part of the ensemble within the former Kremlin walls still exists today, only the walls of the fortification have been preserved)
• Alexandrov
• Yaroslavl (sometimes the fortified Savior-Transfiguration Monastery in the city center is incorrectly called the Kremlin)
• Volokolamsk
• Pereslavl-Zalessky
• Ryazan
• Oryol
• Kaluga
• Kostroma
• Rusa
• Uglich
• Yuryev-Polski
• Mangaseja - evidenced by archaeological digs

See also

• List of castles and chateaus in Russia
• Izmailovo Kremlin

literature

• Галина Вацлавна Длужневская, Владимир Александрович Калинин, Андрей Викторович Сужневская, Кремсандрович Калинин, Андрей Викторович Сукторович Субибовин : XV - XVII. Литера, Санкт-Петербург 2006, ISBN 5-94455-523-8 .

Web links

Commons : Russian Kremlin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The Red List of Fortresses (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ voskres.ru ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Evgenij Osetrov: Skazanie o Kremle . Moscow 1970
3. ↑ Dlužnevskaja et al., P. 9