Beklemishevskaya Tower: the history of construction

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

The Beklemishevskaya Tower is located near the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, which stands over the Moskva River, which is why it is also known as the Moskvoretskaya Tower. Why did this building get its name? In fact, it became Beklemishevskaya at the end of the 15th century, after it was erected. The name of the tower was given by the nobleman Beklemishev, who lived next to the Kremlin wall, which overlooked the building.

Who built the Beklemishev tower?

At that time, foreign architects were turned to for the construction of various buildings. The Beklemishevskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin was built according to the project of Mark Fryazin, as the Russians called him. In fact, the name of the architect is Marco Ruffo. For some reason, it is generally accepted that the surname Fryazin means belonging to the genus. However, in that period, "fryagi" was a common name for someone who was of Western European origin. It is because of this that this (albeit modified) word has become a surname forpeople, for example, from Italy, France or Spain, who lived in Russia in the 15th-16th centuries.

Architectural view of the building

The location of the main cylinder is on a plinth made of white stone, which has a semicircular roller in the area where the elements are connected. The Beklemishevskaya tower of the Kremlin is equipped with four tiers so that all-round shelling is possible. The building provides for the presence of a well and a hearing hiding place in order to prevent undermining. At the end of the 17th century, the building was supplemented with an octagon, which had a narrow tent and two rows of eaves. It should also be noted that the tent in the tower has no internal ceilings.

History of the building

The same boyar named Beklemishev died in 1525. He was executed because he participated in the rebellion, which was directed against Prince Vasily III. Then the courtyard and the tower were given to the maintenance of a prison for the imprisonment of nobles who were objectionable.

Besides the indicated function, the Beklemishevskaya tower was also a defensive structure. Since its location is connected with the corner in the southeast of the Kremlin triangle, it stood in the way of the first blows of the enemies. This is due to the fact that enemy attacks, as a rule, took place through the waters of the Moskva River. For this purpose, platforms for observation were built, auditory hiding places underground - for the timely detection of a tunnel.

At the beginning of the 18th century, according to the orders of Peter I, who was expecting an attack on the city by Swedish troops, under the arches of the towerthey poured several ramparts from the earth, erected buildings for bastions, and also scattered several loopholes in order to install guns of a more impressive size and power. Despite the fact that during the revolution the building was destroyed, after a few years it looked the same.

The next time of reconstruction was 1949, when the loopholes returned to their original size. As for the rest of the elements, the Moskvoretskaya Tower was hardly restored, unlike other similar ones in the Kremlin.

How to find this building? It is located at the intersection of the Kremlin Embankment and Vasilievsky Spusk.