The Kolomna Kremlin

“Its walls built of big stones and solid wonderful brick are of terrible height. Its towers are like those of Antioch or even better, more beautiful in its structure – amazingly tough and unshakable. Each tower has its own special appearance…” They are “high, magnificent and lording over the vicinities… Undoubtedly, this is a construction made perfect and worthy of spectators’ surprise.”

Paul of Aleppo, XVII century.

The Kolomna Kremlin is one of the mightiest fortresses of the Moscow State and was built in 1525-1531 at the time of reign of Vasily III. The Kremlin is located in the city of Kolomna at the joining of the Moskva and Kolomenka rivers. On the territory of the Kremlin there are several temples and two monasteries – Novogolutvinsky women’s monastery (XVII-XIX century) and Brusensky women’s monastery (XVI-XVIII centuries). Unfortunately, time did not spare the Kremlin – only a few towers and a couple of fragments of the fortress walls are left of the fortress. The rest was destroyed or disassembled for construction of houses in the city in XVIII-XIX centuries. But even that did not mar the Kremlin’s beauty, which even nowadays strikes by its majesty and might. The fortress is open for visitations; if you are lucky you can even get into the towers and see the Kremlin within.

The first mention of Kolomna can be found in the Lavrenty Chronicle of 1177; that year is commonly believed to be the year of Kolomna’s foundation. Back then, it seems, there were wooden fortifications in the city – the city stood on the border of the Moscow State and was subject to constant attacks from the side of the Golden Horde.

On January 1 of 1238, Batu Khan conquered Kolomna; the city was burned to the ground along with its wooden Kremlin. During the attack, many Russian soldiers died, but the Horde lost Kuhl Khan – Genghis Khan’s youngest son, the only descendant of the Great Khan who died during the Russian campaign.

In 1293, the rebuilt wooden Kremlin was once again burned down by general Tudan, who destroyed along with Kolomna 14 cities of Central Russia. In 1380, Prince Dmitry Donskoy gathered his forces in Kolomna and on August 26 of 1380 set off from the Kremlin walls to fight Mamai in the Kulikovo Battle.

In 1408, Edigu Khan after an unsuccessful attempt to seize Moscow on his way back to the steppes burned Kolomna and its Kremlin.

Another time the Kremlin was burned in July of 1439, after another unsuccessful attempt to seize Moscow by Ulu Muhammad Khan. In 1521, Crimean Khan Mehmed Giray broke through the front line near Kolomna in his campaign against Moscow. Destruction of the wooden fortifications led to construction of solid stone walls of the Kolomna Kremlin. The stone Kremlin was built in Kolomna in 1525-1531 on an order of Grand Prince Vasily III on the site of the wooden Kremlin destroyed by the Tatars.

In 1606, a peasant war headed by Ivan Bolotnikov broke out. The guerillas on their way to Moscow approached Kolomna. In October of 1606, the suburbs around the Kremlin were taken by storm but the Kremlin continued to vigorously resist.

By the middle of XVII century, the border of the Moscow State was moved from Kolomna, and the city lost its military significance. The city at that time was one of the eleven biggest cities of Russia.

Loss of defensive status of the city made keeping the Kremlin unprofitable; it began to decay and get dissembled by the locals for construction of civil buildings. Destruction of the Kremlin was stopped by a decree of Nicolas I in 1826, but by then a significant part of fortifications had been already destroyed. Whatever had remained of the Kremlin by that time, we can see nowadays.

According to some sources, construction of the Kolomna Kremlin was headed by Italian architects Old and New Aleviz, who participated in erecting the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin and took it as a pattern at the construction of the Kolomna one. This is indicated, for example, by the time of the Kolomna Kremlin’s construction. The Kremlin was built in 6 years; it means that the builders of the fortress had great experience. Construction in the capital, which can be compared by size, lasted more than ten years. It must be noted, that the Kolomna Kremlin has some Italian features. Fortification forms of North Italian fortresses such as Turin, Milan and Verona are repeated in it.

Apart from constructional methods and Italian architectural details, such as machicolations in the towers, battle parapet with swallow-tail shaped castellation, faceted towers of the main fence, barbican and so forth, other similarities between the Moscow and Kolomna Kremlins can be noticed. The two Kremlins are similar but not the same. The Kolomna Kremlin is 30 years younger than the Moscow one.

The Kolomna Kremlin walls were created not only for protection from a direct assault, but also for defense against gunfire. The towers and walls have battle loops for ground combat. The loops are designated for firearms and have the form of a socket pipe. The shooting range from the towers includes the adjoining parts of the wall and the moat. In case of seizure of some towers by the enemy, some of the guns could be aimed at nearby towers.

From the north and northwest the Kremlin was protected by the Moscow and Kolomenka rivers. From the other parts the Kremlin was surrounded by a deep moat paved with whitestone; the same whitestone was used for faceting the high socle of the walls and towers.

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