Description of the attraction
The Tobolsk Kremlin is a symbol of the Russian state and the Orthodoxy of Siberia, one of the main attractions of the city of Tobolsk. The museum-reserve ensemble is located on the Troitsky Cape of Alafeevskaya Gora, in the old part of the city.
The first wooden fortress in Tobolsk was built in 1594. The wooden Kremlin was repeatedly exposed to fires, but it was rebuilt. In 1677, a strong fire destroyed almost all of Tobolsk. As a result, it was decided to build a stone city. In 1683-1686, masons sent from Moscow and Veliky Ustyug with apprentices G. Sharypin and G. Tyutin erected a new stone Sophia-Assumption Cathedral. Soon, around the Sophia Church, the construction of stone walls began, 620 m long, 4, 3 m high
By the beginning of the XVIII century. stone walls, towers and a number of other buildings that have not survived to this day were built, which stood on the same line with the Sophia-Assumption Cathedral: the bishop's house, the Trinity Cathedral, the Holy Gates with the Church of Sergius of Radonezh and the bell tower.
In 1746, a baroque church in honor of Saints Anthony and Theodosius (Intercession Cathedral) was built near the St. Sophia Cathedral. At the same time, part of the western Kremlin wall was destroyed. By the end of the second half of the XVIII century. the Kremlin ceased to function as a defensive structure.
Over time, the fortress walls began to be gradually dismantled, and the Kremlin in its appearance began to look more like a city center. In 1775, to the south of the Intercession Cathedral, a large three-storey bishop's house in the classicism style was erected, which housed the residence of the highest clergy of Siberia. In 1782, the Viceroy Palace appeared on the territory of the Tobolsk Kremlin, and in 1797 a monumental 75-meter four-tier Cathedral bell tower was installed here.
After the revolutionary events of 1917, all the churches of Tobolsk were closed. During the years of repression, dispossessed peasants and exiled settlers were kept in the Trinity Cathedral. Later it was used as a granary. In 1925, the Bishops' House housed one of the oldest museums in Siberia - the Tobolsk Museum, and in 1961 the State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve was founded, which included all the buildings of the Tobolsk Kremlin.
Today, the architectural ensemble of the Tobolsk Kremlin consists of the Sophia-Assumption Cathedral with the sacristy, the bell tower, the Bishops' House, the tower and walls, Renterey, the building complex of the former governor’s palace, the Gostiny Dvor, the prison castle and the foothill walls of Pryamsky Vzvoz.
