МОУ «Красноярская СОШ №1» Astrakhan Kremlin

1. МОУ«КрасноярскаяСОШ№1»Astrakhan Kremlin Проект выполнен ученицей 10 классаМОУ «Красноярская СОШ №1» Красноярского района Астраханской области. Замятиной Анастасией. МОУ «Красноярская СОШ №1»

2. Hello! My name is Zamyatina Anastasiya. I am from Astrakhan. It is an old Russian town situated on the great Russian river Volga. There are many historical places in Astrakhan and the oldest of them is the Kremlin. Let’s have an excursion and admire our old historical monument.

3. In 1558 a wooden citadel was erected on the left bank of the Volga. It was starting point of Astrakhan. 500 boats carried timber, workers and streletses (members of military corps instituted by Ivan the Terrible and enjoying special privileges) from Nizhny Novgorod down the Volga. The manager of the construction works was the experienced architect Ivan Virodkov. Already in 1569 the wooden fortress could resist the siege of the Turkish and Tatar troops. The strategic interests of Russia in the South-East demanded further fortification of Astrakhan.

4. The stone citadel (the Kremlin) was being built since 1582 to 1589. It was erected on the bank of the Volga by the architects from Moscow – Mikhail Veljyaminov and Dei Gubasty. All the towers of the Kremlin were divided into several levels which were connected by the staircases inside the walls.

5. The tower Krasniye Vorota ( Beautiful Gates) was constructed as headquarters and was meant for circular defence. The Red gates tower is on the top of the Kremlin hillock in a northwest wall. The Volga coast behind Kremlin walls at a tower was high, the slope was abrupt. And in due time it served as command point.

6. The passages through the towers connected the battle sites beside the walls. This provided the opportunity to defend the fortress along its whole perimeter. The Kremlin in Astrakhan is righteously considered to be outstanding monument of Russian architecture and fortification of the 16 century. The largest corner tower was the Crymskaya Tower. The walls of the Tower were 3.5 meters thick. There were 5 levels with 20 loopholes in the walls.

8. The main adornment of the Kremlin is the Uspensky (Dormition; Assumption) Cathedral erected in 1698 -1710 by a surf architect Dorofei Myakishev who managed to embody in his stone masterpiece the idea of the spiritual strengthening of Russia. They say that when Peter I saw the Uspensky Cathedral he exclaimed that there was no other cathedral of such beauty in Russia and ordered to erect a similar cathedral in St Petersburgh. . Above the main gates of the Kremlin there is a bell - tower, 80 meters high, built at the beginning of the XX century. Earlier the two towers, its historic predecessors erected in the same place, had been destroyed by the time.

9. Defended by the walls of the fortress the first wooden monastery appeared in Astrakhan as early as 1574. It was the Troitsky (Trinity) monastery - The stronghold of the Orthodoxy in Astrakhan. But throughout centuries only memories of it have been left. The existing Complex of the Troitsky Cathedral had passed through many ordeals: fires, desolation - but in 1819 it was reconstructed on merchant Obezyanin's money and acquired a new life.

10. The walls and the towers of the Kremlin remember the folk rebel Stepan Rasin. After the events connected with his name one of the towers – Raskaty was dismantled, hawing left the most tragic memories.

11. In June 1722 his highness Peter I paid a visit to sunny Astrakhan. The Tsar was getting ready for a march to Persia and that was why he was personally interested in the fortification of the southern outpost of Russia. On his initiative the Caspian fleet was created in the mouth of the Volga. Long before the fleet was founded the first Russian military ship «Orel» was sent to Astrakhan to guard the trade routes. The historic name of the great Russian Commander Suvorov A.V. is also connected with the fortification on Astrakhan where he stayed during 2 years.

13. Being the main place of interest in Astrakhan, the Kremlin hasn’t lost its spiritual significance. The ancient walls and towers of the Kremlin remind us of the glorious deeds of our ancestors guarding the frontiers.