Fragment of the Kitai-Gorod wall on Theater Square. Moscow. The Kitaigorod wall was built in 153338 under the direction of the Italian architect Petrok (Peter) Maly. Built of brick with internal stone backing on a white stone plinth, ... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Kitai-Gorod wall- Kitaigorodskaya wall a (in Moscow) ... Russian spelling dictionary

Kremlin wall- This term has other meanings, see Kremlin wall (meanings) ... Wikipedia

Belgorod wall- A. Vasnetsov. Bast bargaining on the Truba (on the site of the modern Trubnaya Square) Belogorodskaya or Belgorodskaya wall is whitewashed ... Wikipedia

China town- This article is about the historical district of Moscow; perhaps you need an article about the metro station of the same name. China city on the map of Moscow V. M. Vasnetsov. Street in China city. XVII century. Oil on canvas, 1900 ... Wikipedia

China town- This term has other meanings, see China city (meanings). Historic district in Moscow China town ... Wikipedia

Kitaygorodskiy proezd- Kitaygorodsky proezd. Moscow. Kitaygorodsky proezd (until 1992 Kitaisky proezd), between and. It may have existed as a road from Kyiv and Smolensk to Rostov and Suzdal as early as the 12th century. In 153438 a wall was built along the modern passage, in front of ... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Moskvoretskaya embankment- Moskvoretskaya embankment. Moscow. Moskvoretskaya embankment on the left bank, between and. Lead to Moskvoretskaya embankment and. The river is connected with the opposite bank of Moscow by bridges. There was a wall along the Moskvoretskaya embankment (behind it parallel ... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Old Square (Moscow)- This term has other meanings, see Old Square. Old Square Moscow ... Wikipedia

IVERSKAYA CHAPEL- (chapel of the Mother of God of Iberia) in Moscow, in the Resurrection Gates of China City. One of the main shrines of the Russian people. By tradition, Orthodox Russian people who came to Moscow were sure to go to pray in the chapel in front of the icon ... ... Russian history

Books

• Kitai-Gorod wall. Restoration before demolition , Ovsyannikova Elena Category: Architecture. Sculpture Publisher: Moscow, which is not, Buy for 1996 rubles
• Kitai-Gorod wall. Restoration before demolition. Articles, diaries, drawings, photographs from the archive of N. D. Vinogradov, Ovsyannikova Elena, The book is dedicated to one of the restoration works of the Moscow architect Nikolai Dmitrievich Vinogradov and is illustrated with numerous photographs and drawings. The book contains articles... Category: Architecture, construction, geodesy Publisher:

The Kitaigorod wall is one of the ancient structures Moscow, located in the ancient Kitai-Gorod district. Moscow toponyms have a very indirect relation to China and its inhabitants. In the XVI century. it was customary to call all foreign fabrics "Chinese", in addition, this word denoted large trading places.

Construction history

- the second Moscow settlement, the first was. Merchants and artisans settled in this territory, hoping to hide behind the Kremlin walls in the event of an attack on the area. Gradually, the settlement grew, and it was decided to build another wall, turning Kitai-Gorod into an impregnable fortress.

The construction was entrusted to the Italian architect Petrok Maly, who started work in 1534. Already in 1538, a powerful Brick wall closed around Kitay-gorod.

Petrok used burnt red brick for construction, the wall base was made of white stone. Total length Kitaygorod wall was 2.5 km, the area of ​​internal space - 63 hectares, which is twice as large as the territory inside the Kremlin.

The beginning of the wall was located at the Kremlin Arsenal Tower, then it stretched to the current Theater Square, turned in a southeast direction, reached the Lubyanka, Staraya Square, Moskvoretskaya Embankment and ended at the Beklemishevskaya Tower.

The Kitai-Gorod wall is half the size of the Kremlin wall (7 meters versus 14-16), but it is thicker than it (6-7 meters versus 3.5-5). The warriors could quickly move along the wall, suddenly finding themselves at any point in the outer ring of Kitay-Gorod.

In the central part there was a platform for placing large cannons. The battlefield was so large that it was possible to drive through it on a team of two horses. The Kitai-Gorod wall has become a real breakthrough in the Russian fortification art - never before have such reliable and powerful fortresses been created in the country.

Loopholes were located along the entire perimeter of the wall - in the lower, upper and middle parts of the rampart. Such a structure made it possible to begin to repel an enemy attack from distant approaches. Under the fortress wall there was a complex system of dungeons in which food, weapons, and shells were stored.

To detect enemy digs, underground passages were used - "rumors". The upper part of the wall was a fence of classic rectangular battlements with loopholes inside. Like the Kremlin wall, the Kitaygorod wall had a system of towers, of which there were fourteen. Drawings of real masterpieces of fortification art have been preserved - the Round Tower, the Corner Tower, the Theological Tower, the Quadrangular Tower, the Zachatievsky Tower, the Multifaceted Tower, the Deaf Tower. Only one tower of the Kitaygorod wall, the Ptichya, has survived to this day.

For the passage of vehicles and the passage of residents of the city, the gates were used - Spassky, Neglinny, Sretensky, Varvarsky, Troitsky, Kozmodemyansky, Ilyinsky, Voskresensky and Nikolsky. Now there is only one gate -. They are located at the main entrance to Red Square, next to Historical Museum. This gate is an exact recreation of the original 16th century building. - the historical monument was demolished in 1931.

In 1572, the Kitaigorod wall saved the settlement from ruin. This year, the Tatar prince Devlet-Girey once again attacked Moscow, but his army did not dare to storm the ramparts in front of Kitay-gorod. During the Time of Troubles, the wall did a disservice to the Muscovites: the Polish invaders used the defensive structure to defend themselves from the militias of Minin and Pozharsky.

In the XVIII century. the wall was no longer used for military purposes, part of the Moscow public urged Emperor Alexander I to demolish it. The king refused, on the contrary, he ordered the repair of the wall, towers and gates.

At the end of the XIX century. large-scale restoration work was carried out under the guidance of architect S. Rodionov.

Current state

Unfortunately, only minor fragments and one original tower survived from the Kitaigorod wall. The main blow to this monument of ancient Russian architecture was inflicted in the 30s of the XX century. At this time, the so-called Stalinist reconstruction of the city began, during which it was supposed to expand the central streets. It was planned to do this through a variety of architectural monuments, including at the expense of the Kitaigorod wall.

In 1930, construction equipment destroyed the Vladimir Gates, and in 1934 the demolition of the wall was almost completed. Only small sections of the defensive structure survived in the area of ​​​​Revolution Square, Theater Square, the Kitai-Gorod metro station, and in Kitaygorodsky Proyezd.

The surviving parts give an idea of ​​the scale of the Kitaygorod wall. Loopholes, storm drains, battlements, parapets: every detail suggests that Petrok Maly created an effective defensive structure that allows you to fight off the most powerful enemy for months. In fact, it was a wide tract for the movement of troops, raised to a considerable height. The wall made the fighters practically invulnerable, while they could freely use cannons, squeaks and other types of firearms.

bird tower

The only one of the original towers of the Kitaygorod wall that has survived to this day is the Bird Tower.

Despite the uniqueness and status of the object cultural heritage peoples of the Russian Federation, this building of ancient Russian fortification art is not in the best condition, especially from the inside.

The name of the tower is not historical; the toponym was formed around the beginning of the 20th century. The tower got its name from appearance- unlike the rest of the wall, the edging of the tower is made in the form of teeth of the "dovetail" type, as on the walls of the Kremlin.

The tower was built by Petrok Maly in 1534. This is a classic semicircular red brick fortification. In 1870, the tower was successfully integrated into the Tretyakov Gate, becoming their right wing, and it was this fact that allowed the building to survive during the Stalinist reconstruction.

Having perched on the side of the Kremlin from Red Square and the Moat, Kitay-gorod gave its name to the wall that surrounded it along the perimeter for almost four centuries. Now only fragments of the wall remain ...

Vladimir Gate of Kitay-Gorod and the Panteleimon Chapel. 1890s
Photo by RIA Novosti

How often do you hear a naive question from guests of our capital: “Why is the metro station called “Kitay-gorod”? Do you have Chinatown here?” And this assumption is made not only by tourists, but often by Muscovites themselves.

In addition to the confusion with the name, many are also mistaken in the localization of the place itself under the name Kitay-gorod: today in Moscow everyday life, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bZabelina street, Solyanka, Maroseyka, Lubyansky passage, Starosadsky lane is most often designated as such. This is a trend of recent years, which arose due to the fact that the metro station of the same name is located outside the boundaries of the historical Kitay-Gorod. At the same time, the surroundings of Nikolskaya Street, Ilyinka and Varvarka are much less commonly called Kitay-Gorod these days. Even though this is where he is!

Why did such a shift occur? The point is not only in the unsuccessful renaming of the metro station, but also in the almost complete loss of the historical wall that served as the border of Kitay-gorod.

"They commanded the hail of stones to set up China"

480 years ago, in 1535, under the age of the Grand Duke Ivan IV(he will become king in 12 years), under which his mother was the regent, the construction of a new wall for the Moscow suburb began. By that time, the capital of the Grand Duchy had long gone beyond the Kremlin: a settlement appeared on its eastern side - a densely populated territory, which was primarily of commercial importance and abounded in temples.

Previously, the eastern border of the settlement, which ran approximately along the line of modern Bolshoy Cherkassky Lane, was framed by a moat, but in the second quarter of the 16th century, such a defensive system was no longer suitable for defending Moscow in the event of an enemy attack. This became clear even during the reign of Father Ivan IV - the Grand Duke Basil III, which, as historians suggest, took care of creating more powerful fortress walls for the settlement after the raid of the Crimean Khan Mehmed Giray in 1521. Therefore, the construction of new fortifications was approached with all seriousness.

Elena Glinskaya. Reconstruction by S.A. Nikitin

First, a “draft” of a new wall appeared: in 1534, by decree Elena Glinskaya funds were collected for the construction of earthen and wooden walls. The Grand Duchess herself donated a considerable amount for the work, and the Metropolitan of Moscow and many boyars followed her example. The fortification was built in just a year and was a deep ditch with an earthen rampart, on the crest of which there was a palisade, intertwined with rods and lined with earth. It is important that now the territory of the settlement has slightly increased: the wall has already passed beyond the line of Bolshoi Cherkassky Lane, marking the future border of Kitai-Gorod.

According to the Piskarevsky chronicler,
in 1535, “on the 16th day of the Maya, the great prince Ivan Vasilyevich of all Rus' and his mother Elena ordered a hail of stones to be erected in China”

By the way, according to one version, this name, misleading modern Muscovites and guests of the capital, appeared just then: a bunch of poles or rods used in the construction of wood-and-earth fortifications was called "kita" (with an emphasis on the last syllable), in connection with which and the settlement, which received new frontiers, became known as Kitay-gorod, that is, a city surrounded by a whale. However, there are other versions - about the possible Mongolian origin of the name (in Mongolian "china" - "middle city") and even emerging parallels with European counterparts ("city" in London, "site" in Paris and the Italian word cita, which and it translates as "city").

Construction of Kitay-gorod. Miniature from the Royal Book. 16th century
Valentin Cheredintsev / RIA Novosti

The haste in the construction of fortifications, apparently, was caused by the urgency of the military threat, which for Moscow came primarily from the Crimean Tatars. However, in the same 1535, when the work was completed, new construction began: an earthen rampart with a palisade, apparently, was conceived as a temporary fortification in case of a sudden attack by the enemy, in order to later give way to a more modern and perfect system. One way or another, the Piskarevsky Chronicler reports that in 1535, “on the 16th day of the Maya, the great prince Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' and his mother Elena ordered a hail of stones to be erected in China.” The future fortress was solemnly consecrated by Metropolitan Daniel of Moscow, who walked along the line of the planned walls with a procession of the cross, after which the masters of the construction business set the first stones. It took three years to build a fortress wall, equipped with the latest European fortification science of that time.

The work was supervised by an invited Italian, designated in Russian sources as Petrok Maly Fryazin. Earlier, he had already established himself with a grandiose work in the village of Kolomenskoye, where under his command the Church of the Ascension of the Lord was built in honor of the appearance of the Grand Duke Basil III long-awaited heir - the future king Ivan IV(today the Ascension Church in Kolomenskoye is an object world heritage UNESCO). In just three years, the construction of the wall was completed, and it itself was named Kitaygorodskaya. However, Muscovites often called her simply Chinese, without at the same time associating it with a large Asian country. Even the church forty - a unit of administrative-territorial division for Moscow churches - was called Chinese here.

Monument of fortress architecture

What was the new wall? It connected in two places with the Kremlin wall: on the banks of the Moskva River, resting against the Beklemishevskaya tower, and on the banks of the Neglinnaya, resting against the Corner Arsenal tower. Thus, inside the Kitaygorod wall and the eastern part of the Kremlin wall, there was an area of ​​63 hectares (that is, it was more than twice the territory of the Kremlin). In length, the new wall had a solid length - 2567 meters. If you draw a line along the wall modern map Moscow, then it will go along Revolution Square and Teatralnaya Square, at Teatralny Proyezd, turning southeast at Lubyanskaya Square, then along Novaya and Old squares, further along Kitaygorodsky passage, and after its completion, having made one more turn, now towards the Kremlin, along Moskvoretskaya embankment.

Theatrical passage with the Trinity Tower and the Panteleimon Chapel. First floor. 1920s
From the archive of N.D. Vinogradova

As in the case of the Kremlin, the wall of Kitay-gorod showed many features typical of Italian fortress architecture, which is not surprising, since its architect was an Italian. According to some assumptions, Petrok Maly could be familiar with the technical ideas Leonardo da Vinci, as well as their colleagues from Genoa and other cities of Northern Italy.

"The rarest beauty monument of fortress architecture,
which any capital of Europe would be rightfully proud of if it survived there to this day, ”Igor Grabar wrote about the Kitaygorod wall in 1925

At the same time, the Kitaigorod wall did not become a copy of the Kremlin wall: it was lower (from 6 to 8 meters instead of 10 to 19 meters in the Kremlin), but thicker (over 6 meters), and therefore turned out to be more suitable for conducting intense artillery fire and his reflections. This was also facilitated by a powerful white stone foundation with wooden piles, which provided the wall with proper stability. For large guns, a wide (4 meters, and in some places even more) combat platform was created, along which, if necessary, one could even ride on a pair of horses. Russian fortification has never seen anything like it before!

Plan of the city part from the "Atlas" capital city Moscow". 1852–1853

The Kitaigorod wall was equipped with means of conducting upper, middle and lower battles, at each level there were corresponding loopholes, and all tiers were connected by stairs. There were also underground passages communications with cellars for storing ammunition, there were also “rumors” - special devices for detecting tunnels made by the enemy. The wall was crowned with wide rectangular teeth-merlons, which replaced the Kremlin's "dovetails". Thus, fortifications made it possible to effectively defend the city and withstand a long siege. Comparing the walls of the Kremlin and Kitay-gorod, one could see how far forward the fortification thought had stepped in almost a century and a half. “The rarest beauty monument of fortification architecture, which any capital of Europe would be rightfully proud of if it survived there to this day,” wrote the artist and restorer about the Kitaigorod wall in 1925 Igor Grabar.

Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar (1871-1960) - Russian Soviet painter, restorer, art critic

In accordance with the streets of Kitay-gorod, there were gates in the wall: Nikolsky (more often called Vladimirsky after the neighboring church), Ilyinsky and Varvarsky. Plus, in Zaryadye, there were Kozmodemyansky gates for Velikaya Street (the very heart of the Moscow river port and trade), but with the loss of its significance at the end of the 17th century, they were laid. Finally, there were two-span gates on the banks of the rivers: near the Moscow River - Vodyanye (they are Spassky), at Neglinnaya - Voskresensky (they are Kuretnye, Lionsky, Iversky). The wall consisted of 14 towers - both travel and deaf. Some institutions and monasteries of Kitai-Gorod also used the wall as their own fence (this was especially convenient on Nikolskaya Street): this is how the Zaikonospassky and Nikolsky Greek monasteries, as well as the Printing House (later the Synodal Printing House) were attached.

Towers, gates, walls

By the end of the 16th century, Moscow was literally overgrown with new fortifications - a stone wall white city and an earthen rampart with wooden towers and a palisade that established the boundaries of the Earthen City. These fortifications survived until the end of the 18th century, after which they were dismantled due to dilapidation, but the boundaries they marked did not disappear anywhere: the wall of the White City gave way to the Boulevard Ring, and the Zemlyanoy Wall to the Garden. In addition, until 1934, the Sukharev Tower with a passage gate was preserved, built on the site of the original gate in the wall of the Earthen City, and a few years ago it became known about fragments of the wall of the White City, which today can be seen on Khokhlovskaya Square.

Ilyinsky Gate of Kitay-Gorod and St. Sergius Chapel. First half of 1920s
From the archive of N.D. Vinogradova

The wall of Kitai-Gorod was more fortunate: although it was also not in perfect condition at the end of the 18th century, it was then left intact. Perhaps the abundance of chapels at the towers revered by the people played a role. And there were a lot of them! After all, according to tradition, icons have long been placed over each gate, for which chapels began to appear over time.

One of the most famous was located at the Barbarian Gates, it was consecrated in the name of the Bogolyubskaya Icon of the Mother of God. This icon is associated with the sad events of the Plague Riot of 1770-1771, which began right here after the decree to stop prayers in front of the icon in order to prevent the spread of infection. Later, a chapel was created right inside the tower. The other is Reverend Sergius of Radonezh- has been at the Ilyinsky Gate since 1863, it belonged to the Gethsemane Skete of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Since the 16th century, there was a chapel of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God at the Nikolsky Gates, instead of which, in 1691–1694, a church of the same name was built at the expense of Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna (mother of Peter I). In 1881-1883, a huge Panteleimon chapel was erected opposite it. And on the banks of the Moskva River, not far from today's Vasilyevsky Spusk, stood the chapel of the All-Merciful Savior.

Already in the second half of the 1920s,
when the restoration of the Kitaigorod wall was going on, the first wake-up call sounded: the liquidation of the chapels at the gates began, and their age did not matter

But none of the chapels could compete in popularity with the Iberian at the Resurrection Gate, where since 1669 there was a copy of the copy of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God brought from Athos. The traditionally high role of the Resurrection Gate of Kitay-Gorod, which had the status of the main entrance to Red Square for Russian tsars, as well as foreign ambassadors, played its role in this. Above the passage arches of the gate, a light room was arranged, from which the king and queen could secretly observe foreign processions arriving in the city. Over time, the Resurrection Gates also became triumphant: after his first victories in the Northern War, he solemnly entered Moscow through them Peter I.

New square with break gates. Beginning 1920s
From the archive of N.D. Vinogradova

Of course, as the wall began to lose its fortress significance, its appearance changed. So, in the 1680s, the three largest towers - Nikolskaya, Ilyinskaya and Varvarskaya - received decorative tents similar to those that adorned the Kremlin towers. Soon, however, the Kitay-Gorod wall for the last time had a chance to prepare for combat duty: in 1708, during the Northern War, an attack on Moscow by the Swedish troops of Charles XII was expected, in connection with which, by decree of Peter I, all Moscow fortifications were repaired and put in order in case of a long siege, and earthen bastions with ditches appeared along the wall of Kitay-gorod, the bottom of which was strewn with sharp wooden stakes. As you know, the Swedes did not go to Moscow.

Vladimir Gates of Kitay-Gorod and the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Beginning 1920s
From the archive of N.D. Vinogradova

The appearance of the ancient wall changed in the future: near the same three towers, new ones, the so-called break gates, were pierced - wider than the gates in the towers. Over the years, there have been more and more such break gates. Gone were the earthen bastions with moats. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Kitaygorod wall suffered its first major loss: on the banks of the Moskva River, the two-span Water Gates were dismantled. By the way, after the fire of Moscow in 1812, there were proposals to completely dismantle the wall and break a boulevard in its place, but this idea was rejected by Emperor Alexander I himself, who wished to “preserve all the ancient buildings in Moscow in their original form.” It is interesting that at that time they tried to give the wall a more “ancient” look, which resulted in the distortion of the appearance of several towers, the construction of buttresses that give the wall stability, and the creation of “dovetails” in some sections, like in the Kremlin, although initially such battlements as we remember, there was no one on the Kitaygorod wall. Even later, in 1871, Tretyakovsky passage was built, connecting Nikolskaya street with Teatralny passage, while the architect Alexander Kaminsky decided to build a new gate in the pseudo-old Russian style - also with Kremlin battlements and a tent.

Nikolsky dead end with a break gate. 1920s
From the archive of N.D. Vinogradova

At the beginning of the 20th century, many towers of the Kitai-Gorod wall served as repositories for materials from the Moscow provincial archive. The Round Tower, which was also called Zaikonospasskaia after the nearby monastery, housed the Poultry Museum of the Russian Society for Poultry Farming. And the space at the Nikolsky (Vladimir) gates was chosen by Moscow book dealers.

The spinning of the wall, built in the 16th century, had not been repaired for years and was becoming more and more unkempt. Merchants used the ancient fortifications to create storehouses - storage facilities for their goods, which stuck around the wall in many areas (there were so many of them on the Moskvoretskaya embankment that the wall itself was almost invisible behind them). All this distorted historical appearance Kitay-gorod, which was repeatedly noted with concern by the Moscow Archaeological Society, the Old Moscow Commission and other defenders of antiquity in the Mother See. But, importantly, the historical basis of the wall was preserved - as if in anticipation of a high-quality scientific restoration.

"No one needs archeological rubbish"

After the revolution, fate seemed to have mercy on the Kitaigorod wall: the new authorities not only declared it an architectural monument, but also started large-scale restoration work, which peaked in the middle and second half of the 1920s. First of all, the wall was cleared of numerous foreign outbuildings: trading shops, storehouses for storing goods, and even “apartments” (some Muscovites managed to arrange their simple life in the arched niches of the wall). As a result of the removal of all later layers, the Kitai-Gorod wall appeared almost in its original form. At the same time, the restorers tried to solve the transport issue, for which new passages for trams and cars were punched in the wall.

Meanwhile, even then, during the restoration, the first alarm bell sounded: the liquidation of the chapels began, and their age did not matter. In 1927, the relatively late Sergius Chapel at the Ilyinsky Gates was demolished, in 1929 the ancient Iverskaya Chapel at the Resurrection Gates, which became one of the symbols of old Moscow, was demolished. A little later, it was the turn of the Kitaigorod wall itself: in 1931 the Resurrection Gates were destroyed, and in 1934 the section of the wall from Tretyakovskiy passage to the Varvarsky Gates was demolished - the most picturesque, with the most architecturally interesting towers. The demolition of the wall was declared a subbotnik, during which workers collected bricks for their further reuse in urban construction. “The Kitaygorod wall has turned into at least useless archaeological rubbish, which does not even have the value of a historical monument” - such a murderous verdict was passed by the Construction of Moscow magazine in the same 1934.

Break gate at the end of Maly Cherkassky Lane. Late 1920s
From the archive of N.D. Vinogradova

The destruction continued into the 1950s. Only one section of the wall remained intact, most of which is located behind the Metropol Hotel. It ends with a low round Bird Tower - the only truly preserved of the entire Kitaigorod wall. The last chord sounded in 1966, when the remains of the wall on Moskvoretskaya embankment were demolished.

But soon, oddly enough, the wall was remembered as historical monument: in 1968–1973, its section in Kitaygorodsky passage was partially recreated, and even later, in the passage near the Nogina Square metro station (it was it that would later be called Kitai-Gorod), the powerful white stone foundation of the Varvarskaya Tower was opened - it is still there today can be seen at the exit to the city towards Varvarka. True, the security plate for last years it was greatly erased, and recently completely disappeared (I would like to believe that it is under restoration). So many passers-by do not even realize that in front of them is a genuine fragment of the fortress wall, erected during the time of Ivan the Terrible. The site behind the Metropol Hotel with the Bird Tower is still in disrepair.

Barbarian tower of Kitay-gorod. Late 1920s
From the archive of N.D. Vinogradova

The next surge of interest in the Kitai-Gorod Wall came in the 1990s, when the Resurrection Gates with the Iberian Chapel were restored. For the latter on Athos was made new list Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, donated to Moscow in 1995. The work was carried out using archival materials, so the lost monuments were recreated quite accurately. And finally, at the exit from the Teatralnaya metro station, a new section of the wall was added to the only surviving original fragment of the wall with a breach gate leading to Nikolskaya Street and a large tower that housed a restaurant. However, these works cannot be called restoration, since the tower was built in other forms: it had a tent, which was not here (its appearance was almost copied from the tent of the Barbarian Tower). There were also other proposals for the reconstruction of the towers - at the end of Kitaygorodsky Proyezd and on Moskvoretskaya Embankment. It is possible that we will see some similar option after the completion of work on the organization of the park in Zaryadye.

"Kitaygorod wall: restoration before demolition"

The book-album was prepared by the project "Moscow that does not exist"

The basis of the book is the diary entries of the restorer Nikolai Dmitrievich Vinogradov (1885–1980), who was in charge of restoration work on the Kitaigorod wall in the 1920s. Photographs from his own archive are an important accompanying material: more than 80 unique photographs that capture every section of the wall, every tower, beautiful panoramic photographs of the Ilyinsky and Varvarsky Gates, Lubyanka Square, Theater Drive, Resurrection Gates. When you look at these pictures, it's hard to come to terms with the fact that all these ancient buildings were lost, and not at all due to war or natural disasters. Therefore, the new book was an attempt by the compilers to at least "virtually" restore the bygone historical heritage Moscow, a happy opportunity to show Muscovites what could once be seen on the well-known squares in the city center. Perhaps, after reading this book, there will be fewer questions about the Chinese in Kitay-Gorod...

Clickable.

A - Iberian Gates (Resurrection, Kuretny, Lion's, Saints, Neglimensky).
B - Zaikonospassky tower (Round).
B - Bird tower.
D - Trinity Gate (Quadragonal).
D - Nameless corner tower.
E - Vladimir Gates (Sretensky, Nikolsky).
W - Theological tower.
I - Ilyinsky gate.
K - Faceted Tower (Multifaceted).
L - Barbarian Gates (All Saints).
M - Kozmodemyansky gates (Vasilevsky).
H - Round corner tower (Zachatievskaya, Naugolnaya).
P - Nikolomokrinskaya Tower (Deaf).
P - Moskvoretsky gates (Spassky, Vodyanye).
Names are given in parentheses.

Secondly, it is time to talk about where the name "China" came from - the city. There is no clear explanation for this. As well, there are no unambiguous interpretations of the origin of most Moscow toponyms (starting from the most "main" ones: "Moscow", "Yauza", "Neglinka").
The most common version derives this name from the word "whales" - that was the name in Rus' for wicker palisades of two walls with backfill, from which the first walls of Kitai-Gorod were built. But it doesn't fit... The whale walls were erected in a year by 1535, as I already wrote, and immediately began to be rebuilt in stone. At the same time, the name "China" is mentioned already in 1535 - remember: "on the 16th day of the Maya, the Great Prince Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' and his Mati Elena commanded a hail of stones to put China." Within a year it became a proper name. Not convincing.
Karamzin gave the following explanation: Kitai-gorod is a middle city "according to the meaning of its name in the Tatar language." " Middle city" or "wall" (Turk.). More convincing.
And you can remember the English city, and the French ile de la cité, etc.
One of the frequently cited explanations is the presence in Podolia (where Elena Glinskaya was from) the town of Kitay-gorod ( locality with this name and now in Ukraine there is):

And even with A mkom. The castle, however, was not preserved, only cellars remained.
But this still does not explain the original origin of the name.
Here is another quite plausible version: “In the first third of the 16th century, the experience of the rapid construction of vast roundabout fortresses was brought to Moscow by Italian engineers. city". The word "cita" was pronounced by Italians of the 15th-16th centuries as "whale", which served as the basis for "china". Although I myself did not hear how the Italians spoke in the 15-16 centuries :)
Choose the version of your choice!

Behind the monument to the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov, let's look into a cozy little gate:

Photo taken in 1931. You can see this gate over there.

And we will find ourselves in a no less cozy alley - Nikolsky dead end.

Photo from the 1910s

Photo of the beginning 1890s

Photo 1894 photo studio "Bychkov and Zhdanov"
On the negative it is written: "Bookiners at the shop of the famous second-hand book dealer and collector A.A.Astapov at the Breaking Gate in Nikolsky dead end." Behind the merlons of the wall, one can see the commercial building of Khludov's heirs under construction in Teatralny Proyezd.
Astapov Afanasy Afanasyevich (1840 Serpukhov, - 1917, Moscow), Russian antiquarian book dealer, bibliophile, who helped all collectors to collect rare editions and engravings, popular prints.

But also about the monument to Ivan Fedorov and about Nikolsky second-hand booksellers, therefore, if you want to consider the details, then follow the link (there are several posts).

We are coming with you to Trinity (Quadragonal) tower.

Photo from the 1920s From billy_red .
By the 19th century it was already a deaf tower, but in ancient times it had a passage gate. It was thrown across the ditch wooden bridge for Christmas.
The Trinity Tower got its name from the nearby Church of the Trinity in the Fields. About the temple and about these very Fields, as I already promised, we will talk more in due time.

Photo from the beginning of the 20th century. To the left is the Trinity Tower.

Photo taken in 1928. On the left is the Trinity Tower.

Photo from the end of the 1920s.

Photo from the early 1920s. Nameless corner tower and Nikolskaya tower before restoration.
During the research, under the late masonry, the ancient decoration of the tower was discovered.

Photo from the end of the 1920s. Nameless corner tower after restoration.
The tower was found inside a late masonry. If you look closely at the first picture, you can see the roller on the right. The tower apparently fell apart at some time and was supported by a kind of round buttress. The top of the tower was built on by analogy with the surviving towers (from hitrovka ).

Here it is necessary to say a few words about the fact that in the mid-1920s a very decent restoration of the Kitaygorod walls and towers was carried out, which was completed in 1926. In the course of a further walk, it will be clearly visible how the appearance of the fortress has changed during the restoration work.
But, alas, then everything, in accordance with the saying "Painted - and thrown away" - was restored and demolished a few years later ...

Photo from the late 1900s. Vladimir break gates and Nameless corner tower.

Photo from the 1920s Nameless corner tower and Panteleymonovskaya chapel.

To the left of the Nameless corner tower are the Vladimir (Nikolsky, Sretensky) breaking gates to Nikolskaya Street and the Vladimir (Nikolsky, Sretenskaya) tower. Initially, there were no break gates in the walls, of course. All break gates appeared already in the XVIII - XIX centuries when the fortress completely lost its defensive value. And during the construction, there were gates in a number of towers. When breaking through the gates, the gates in the towers were laid.

View of Vladimir (Nikolskaya, Sretenskaya) tower was, at least in my opinion, one of the the most beautiful views Moscow.

Photo from the 1900s

Photo of the end of the 19th century. View of the Lubyanka Square and the Nikolskaya Tower of Kitay-gorod.
(The blue color of the Panteleimon Chapel can only be explained unsuccessful attempt colorize the picture).

Photo from the end of the 1910s. View of the Lubyanka Square and the Nikolskaya Tower of Kitay-gorod.

Photo of the end of the 19th century. Nicholas Gate.

Lubyanka Square in winter. 1905. Watercolour, whitewash on paper. 47.2x57. State Tretyakov Gallery. K.F. Yuon.

Photo from the early 1890s.

Photo from the 1890s

Photo from 1890-1900s Vladimir Gates and Nameless Corner Tower.

Photo 1896. Coronation celebrations. Festive decoration of Lubyanka Square.

Photo from the 1900s Postcard ed. M. Kampel.

Photo from the 1900s Vladimirskaya tower, break gates and Nameless corner tower.

Photo from the 1900s To the left of the Nikolskaya Tower you can see the Lubyanka tram electrical substation.

Photo from 1900-1910s Lubyanka electrical substation near the Nikolskaya tower.

Photo from the late 1900s. What a pretty flower garden was in the square. It seems that the Rossiya Insurance Company did its best - they decorated the square in front of their buildings.

Photo from the late 1900s. And the guy on the right is so good!

Photo of the beginning 20th century
Top view from the house of the Moscow merchant society in B. Cherkassky lane. In the depths on the right - a multi-storey building of a telephone exchange in Milyutinsky Lane (St. Markhlevsky); to the left - now existing tenement houses. On the left, between the wall of Kitay-Gorod and the facade of the house that has survived to this day, there is a narrow New Square and the Church of Our Lady of Vladimir near the Nikolskaya Tower.
And bigger:

Photo 1911

Photo from the 1910s

Photo from the 1920s

Photo from the end of the 1920s.

Photo 1919-1921 G.A. Brunstein. The picture was taken from the building of the Rossiya Insurance Company. Thank you starr_ina .

Photo 1928
In the foreground is the building of the Lubyanka tram electric substation.

Photo 1929 by S. Tules

And views from the inside:


Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God at the Nikolsky Gates of Kitay-Gorod. Artist K. Schultz. 1840s

Nikolsky Gate of Kitay-Gorod and the Church of the Icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. Artist I. Weiss. 1852

Photo from the 1890s B.Avanzo.

Photos from the 1890s - 1900s

Photo from the 1910s Nikolskaya Tower of Kitay-Gorod, the Church of the Mother of God of Vladimir and the Panteleymonovskaya Chapel. View from the inner passage along the wall.

Photo of the late 1910s - early 1920s. Nikolskaya Tower of Kitay-Gorod, the Church of the Mother of God of Vladimir and the Panteleymonovskaya Chapel. View from the inner passage along the wall.

China town. Well, who hasn't heard of him? In many ways, I think, this is the merit of the Moscow metro station of the same name! The first associations and guesses - there was some kind of trading settlement, an active area of ​​​​the capital at one time ... In part, these assumptions turned out to be correct: by 1535, the capital of the Grand Duchy had already gone beyond the Kremlin, a settlement appeared on its eastern side - a densely populated territory that had at first turn of commercial importance, and to protect it back, the construction of a new wall began. Kitaigorod wall (in the old days Chinese)- an almost non-preserved monument of medieval Russian fortification. The red brick fortress wall around the Moscow Kitay-Gorod, 2,567 meters long and with 12 towers, was built during the reign of Elena Glinskaya, in 1535–1538, under the guidance of the Italian engineer Petrok Maly. The purpose of the construction was to defend the Moscow suburb from, similar to the invasion of Mahmet Giray in 1521. The erection of the wall was preceded by a temporary stockade in 1534.

A week ago we went down to the abandoned ones. Then, while searching for information, I came across a mention of the use of white stone mined off the banks of the Desna, Pakhra, Mocha rivers for the construction of the foundations of Moscow churches and the Kitaigorod wall! And I could not help but be hooked by the words about literally one or two fragments of ancient defensive fortifications that have survived to this day! Like many other monuments of ancient Russian architecture, the Kitaigorod wall was destroyed in the 30s of the last century. In 1927, the Vladimir Gates were demolished, and the final demolition of the wall took place in 1934. From the ancient fortifications, only a section of the wall on Revolution Square and a fragment of the white stone foundation of the Barbarian Tower in underpass metro station "Kitay-gorod".

In the video report below, I captured for you everything that has survived from 2.6 km of the wall. Namely, two areas. The first one is behind the Metropol Hotel, the second one is along the Kitaigorodsky Proyezd between the Moskva River and Varvarka Street. In addition, a “fortress” tower with a restaurant was rebuilt on Theater Square, trying to repeat the appearance of the former building. The last restoration cannot be called, since the tower was built in other forms: it had a tent, which was not here (its appearance was almost copied from the tent of the Barbarian Tower).

There are many explanations for the origin of the name "China Town". One of the options is from the Italian citta (citta), i.e. "city". This is how the author, the Italian Petrok Maly, could call the fortress in his native language. Another version: from the word "whale" - a rope (or lattice) woven from brushwood and straw, which was used in the construction of fortifications; from the Mongolian word "China" - the middle, and the Kitay-gorod area was just part of the central (middle) part of the city. What did she represent? It connected in two places with the Kremlin wall (on the banks of the Moskva River, resting against the Beklemishevskaya tower, and on the banks of the Neglinnaya, resting against the Corner Arsenal tower). Compared to the Kremlin wall, the walls of Kitay-gorod are lower, but thicker, with platforms designed for gun carriages. Such fortifications are better adapted to reflect cannon fire. Of course, as the wall began to lose its fortress significance, its appearance changed. So, in the 1680s, the three largest towers - Nikolskaya, Ilyinskaya and Varvarskaya - received decorative tents similar to those that adorned the Kremlin towers. Soon, however, the Kitay-Gorod wall for the last time had a chance to prepare for combat duty: in 1708, during the Northern War, an attack on Moscow by the Swedish troops of Charles XII was expected, in connection with which, by decree of Peter I, all Moscow fortifications were repaired and put in order in case of a long siege, and earthen bastions with ditches appeared along the wall of Kitay-gorod, the bottom of which was strewn with sharp wooden stakes. As you know, the Swedes did not go to Moscow. The appearance of the ancient wall changed in the future: near the same three towers, new (so-called breaking) gates were broken through - wider than the gates in the towers. Over the years, there were more and more such break gates. Gone were the earthen bastions with moats. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Kitaygorod wall suffered its first major loss: on the banks of the Moskva River, the two-span Water Gates were dismantled. By the way, after the fire of Moscow in 1812, there were proposals to completely dismantle the wall and break a boulevard in its place, but this idea was rejected by Emperor Alexander I himself, who wished to “preserve all the ancient buildings in Moscow in their original form.” After the revolution, fate seemed to have mercy on the Kitaigorod wall: the new authorities not only declared it an architectural monument, but also started large-scale restoration work, which peaked in the middle and second half of the 1920s. First of all, the wall was cleared of numerous foreign outbuildings - trading shops, storehouses for storing goods, and even "apartments" (some Muscovites managed to arrange their simple life in the arched niches of the wall). As a result of the removal of all later layers, the Kitai-Gorod wall appeared almost in its original form. At the same time, the restorers tried to solve the transport issue, for which new passages for trams and cars were punched in the wall.
Meanwhile, even then, during the restoration, the first alarm bell sounded: the liquidation of the chapels began, and their age did not matter. I have already mentioned further events. The last chord sounded in 1966, when the remains of the wall on Moskvoretskaya embankment were demolished.

Despite the filmed video, I'm definitely going to come back here! Firstly, they write about "a small historical fragment along Kitaygorodsky passage, on the corner with Varvarka." This is exactly what is now closed by scaffolding in the video! It was to this fragment in the 1960s that a new part was added along Kitaygorodsky Proyezd. The old and new masonry (at least in the past) were easily distinguishable. There is one more mention. So, "n a few years ago it became known about fragments of the wall of the White City, which today can be seen on Khokhlovskaya Square". I invite everyone who cares to join
Information sources: