Tobolsk Kremlin

The Tobolsk Kremlin (Russian: Тобольский кремль) is the sole stone kremlin in Siberia. It is located in Tobolsk, Tyumen Oblast, Russia.

Tobolsk was founded in 1587. Moscow encouraged the construction of stone buildings there. In 1683-1686, masons sent from Moscow and Veliky Ustyug built the stone St. Sophia-Assumption Cathedral. Around the beginning of the 18th century the stone walls and the towers of the Kremlin were built, as well as a number of buildings that have not survived to our days, standing on a westward line from St. Sophia-Assumption Cathedral: the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Bishop's House, the Holy Gate with the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh and the bell tower. The Siberian Metropolitan Paul (who, before the appointment to Tobolsk, was the Archimandrite of the Chudov Monastery in the Moscow Kremlin) supervised the construction. The cathedrals built under his supervision were cross-domed structures topped by five domes.

At the end of the 17th century construction work in the Kremlin was continued by Semyon Remezov, a cartographer who was also the first historian of Siberia. He had the Departmental Palace (1699–1704) built above the southern cliff of the hill and the Trading Arcades (1702–1706) in the northwestern corner of the Kremlin.

Knyaz M. Gagarin, appointed in 1708 first governor of the Siberian province, planned to create in the Kremlin impressive buildings for military administrative and commercial use, which should have constituted, together with the Sofia court a monumental center. In construction works were employed Swedish prisoners of war who were in exile in Tobolsk. To prevent the erosion of the mountain, the Tobol River was moved to the south for two versts. In 1712, by the project of Remezov was built the stone tower Demetrius gate and next to it, on the edge of the mountain, the Ascension church (destroyed in 1717).

Despite the 1714 ban of stone construction, work continued until 1718. After the execution of governor Gagarin, the Demetrius gate remained unfinished.

In 1743-1746 was built the Church of the Intercession, accessory building of St Sophia-Assumption Cathedral. Walls and towers were gradually destroyed. In 1799 were built the stone retaining walls of St. Sophia gully and a new multi-tier bell tower - the tallest building of the city.

Text adapted from “Tobolsk Kremlin” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Tobolsk Kremlin ranks #1,547 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #54 of the 141 mapped in Russia. Founded 1587, it is older than 35% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 718 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,741 times in the last 60 days, more than 79% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Russia compares in the castle statistics.

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