Stone-brick fortification of the end of the 17th – first half of the 18th centuries on the territory of Western Siberia
Authors:   History of Fortification Study Center, Nossov Konstantin S. ,   Scientific Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning (branch of the Central Research and Design Institute of the RF Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities),   University of Tyumen, Muratova Svetlana R. ,   University of Tyumen
Published: May 2023

The authors analyzed the fortification features of the exceptional monuments of Russian stone-brick defensive architecture in Western Siberia of the late 17th – first half of the 18th centuries: the Kremlin in Tobolsk together with the Sophia and Gostiny Dvors, the Kremlin in Verkhoturye, the Monastery in Dalmatovo. We paid attention to the stages of their construction, tried to clarify the time of their construction. The method of analysis of graphic materials (fixation plans and projects) made it possible to identify the degree of implementation of the fortification objects planned for the project. The use of comparative architectural analysis of fortification elements of fortifications with analogues of the European part of Russia and methods of historical and architectural research (measurement and calculation) made it possible to determine their fortification role and the actual dimensions of fortification elements (the Monastery in Dalmatovo, the Kremlin in Tobolsk). The genesis method made it possible to interpret the ways of origin of the forms of fortification of the studied objects. When comparing the architectural monuments with each other, much in common was found: all fortification objects were built under the influence of the Russian architectural style that developed in domestic defense architecture in the late 15th to 17th centuries; when compared with the fortifications of that time in the European part of Russia, their style was equal to the Kremlin of Moscow and was far from the principles of bastion fortification, common not only in Western Europe, but also in the European part of Russia (for example, the fortifications of the 16th century in earthen version – the Earthen fortress of Ladoga, the Small Earthen City of Novgorod – and of the first years of the 18th century – the stone Novodvinsk fortress). The methods of formal, compositional and proportional analysis made it possible to pay special attention to the elements of fortification objects and describe their forms and construction solutions. The walls of the stone fortifications of Siberia followed the terrain, in contrast to the regular shape of the fortresses built according to the requirements of the fortification of that time; the number and frequency of towers did not meet the requirements: in the Verkhoturye Kremlin there were only two of them, and in the Dalmatovsky Monastery and the Tobolsk Kremlin they were unevenly distributed in the spans and some of them remained unfinished; the fortifications were not high – about 4.5 to 6 meters – and the hight was different; spinners on steep slopes included various administrative, residential or utility buildings (Kremlin in Tobolsk, Dalmatovsky Monastery), or they had a lower height compared to those on the floor side (Verkhoturye); the width of the spindles did not meet the requirements and at different sites it was about 1.8 m (the spindles of the fortresses of the European part of the country were 3 m wide or more); on the inside of the fortress, the parapets have arches about 3–4 m wide and high, loopholes of the sole fight (Sophia Dvor in Tobolsk), and sometimes sole and middle battles (Verkhoturye Kremlin, Dalmatovsky Monastery).