Saint Elisabeth Fortress

The Fortress of St. Elizabeth (Ukrainian: Фортеця Святої Єлисавети, also known locally as "earthworks") is a former earthen fortress in the form of a six-pointed star in the city of Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine, which became the main symbol of the city.

After the formation of New Serbia on the lands of Ukrainian Cossacks, the fortress was created to protect the territories of Serbian settlers from Tatar raids. The fortress of St. Elizabeth was built according to the decree of the Senate, which also created New Serbia. The decree was signed by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on 4 January 1752. On the basis of the decree, Colonel Ivan Horvat was given a certificate of thanks, and Ivan Glebov received an instruction.

The Hadiach-Myrhorod regiment of Ukrainian Cossacks (1390 males) arrived to build the fortress, which completed the main works in four months: from June 12 to October 1754. During the work, 72 Zaporozhians died, 233 fell ill, and 855 ran away.

The artillery armament of the fortress then consisted of 120 guns, 12 mortars, 6 falconets, 12 howitzers and 6 mortars. In the following years, construction work in the fortress continued, but very slowly and was not finished even until the end of the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1761). A whole city was built on the territory of the fortress, in the center of which stood the wooden Holy Trinity Church, which from 1755 until 1801 it had the status of a cathedral. The soldiers' barracks were designed for 2,200 soldiers. The garrison consisted of three battalions and two teams, artillery and engineering. There were commandant and general's lodgings, religious officials' housing, and powder cellars.

The fortress of St. Elizabeth took part in hostilities only once. This happened during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), the first campaign of which began in 1769 with the invasion of the Crimean khan Qırım Giray to Yelisavetgrad province. On January 4, the 70,000-strong Turkish-Tatar army led by him crossed the border and on January 7 stopped near the St. Elizabeth fortress, in which General Isakov hid with the garrison and local residents. The Crimeans plundered the surrounding villages and enslaved local residents, but the defenders of the city successfully repelled the Tatar attacks and drove the invaders away. This was the last raid of the Crimean Tatars to Ukraine.

Text adapted from “Fortress of St. Elizabeth” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Saint Elisabeth Fortress ranks #1,129 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #20 of the 183 mapped in Ukraine. Founded 1754, it is older than 17% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,378 times in the last 60 days, more than 70% of the atlas. See how Ukraine compares in the castle statistics.

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