Kremlin (fortification)


A kremlin is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. The word is often used to refer to the Moscow Kremlin, and metonymically to the government based there. Other such fortresses are called detinets, such as the Novgorod Detinets.

Etymology

The Russian word is of uncertain origin. Different versions include the word originating from the Turkic languages, the Greek language or from Baltic languages. The word may share the same root as kremen', meaning 'flint'.

History

The term kremlin is first encountered in chronicles of 1317 in accounts of the construction of the Tver Kremlin, where a wooden city-fortress was erected, which was clayed and whitewashed. The term detinets is considered to be older and was kept in the Novgorod region, while the term krom was more often used in the Pskov region. In other Russian regions, such as in the Moscow and Tver regions, fortresses in the center of cities began to use the term kremlin instead, which superseded the term detinets in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Wooden fortresses were erected everywhere in the Russian state—from the far eastern lands to the Swedish border. They were numerous in the south, where they served as a link of fortified fortification zones cutting off the way to the central regions from Crimean Tatars. Aesthetically wooden fortresses were not inferior to stone ones—and we can regret that the towers of wooden kremlins have not survived to this day. Wooden fortresses were built quickly: in 1638 in Mtsensk fortress walls of Bolshoi Ostrog and Pletny Gorod with a total length of about 3 kilometres with 13 towers and almost one hundred meters long bridge over the River Zusha were erected in 20 days. The town of Sviyazhsk was built similarly during the Kazan campaign in the spring of 1551: fortress walls about 2.5 kilometres long, many churches and houses were erected in a month.
Later on, many Kremlins were rebuilt and strengthened. Thus, the Moscow Kremlin under Ivan III was reconstructed using brick.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, about 30 stone fortresses were built in the Russian state. New kremlins have regular geometric forms in plan. The Tula Kremlin is unique because it was built in a valley.
Construction of the Kremlin lasted until the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. The last kremlin structure – the Tobolsk Kremlin – was built using stone between 1699 and 1717 in the town of Tobolsk.

List of kremlins

World Heritage Sites

Intact


In ruins

Existing and unwalled

Traces remain

Modern imitations