page_title: Timeline of Russian innovation
section_title: Late 16th century
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of Russian innovation / Tsardom of Russia / Late 16th century
context_page_description: This timeline of Russian Innovation encompasses key events in the history of technology in Russia, from the Early East Slavs up to the Russian Federation.
  The entries in this timeline fall into the following categories:
  indigenous inventions, like airliners, AC transformers, radio receivers, television, artificial satellites, ICBMs
  uniquely Russian products, objects and events, like Saint Basil's Cathedral, Matryoshka dolls, Russian vodka
  products and objects with superlative characteristics, like the Tsar Bomba, the AK-47, and the Typhoon class submarine
  scientific and medical discoveries, like the periodic law, vitamins and stem cells
  This timeline includes scientific and medical discoveries, products and technologies introduced by various peoples of Russia and its predecessor states, regardless of ethnicity, and also lists inventions by naturalized immigrant citizens. Certain innovations achieved internationally may also appear in this timeline in cases where the Russian side played a major role in such projects.
context_section_description: Russian abacus
  The Russian abacus or schoty (literally "counts") is a decimal type of abacus that has a single slanted deck in a unique vertical layout, with ten beads on each wire (except one wire which has four beads, for quarter-ruble fractions, that is usually near the user). It was developed in Russia from the late 16th century, at the time when abacus already was falling out of use in the Western Europe. However, the decimality of the Russian abacus (explained by Russian ruble's being the world's first decimal currency) and its simplicity (compared to the previous European and Asian versions) led to the wide use of this device in Russia well until the advent of electronic calculators in the late 20th century, though it remains in quite common use today.
  1550 Streltsy
  First known standard military uniform worn by Russian regular army, elite armed forces known as Streltsy.
  1552 Battery-tower
  The battery-tower is a late type of siege tower, carrying artillery inside it, a development of the gulyay-gorod concept. The first such tower was built by the Russian military engineer Ivan Vyrodkov during the siege of Kazan in 1552 (a part of the Russo-Kazan Wars), and could hold ten large-calibre cannons and 50 lighter cannons. Later battery-towers were often used by the Ukrainian Cossacks.
  1561 Saint Basil's Cathedral 
  Saint Basil's Cathedral is perhaps the most famous Russian Orthodox cathedral, a symbol of Moscow and Russia. It was designed by Postnik Yakovlev on the order of Ivan IV of Russia and built on the Moscow's Red Square in 1555–1561, to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. The unique feature of the Saint Basil's Cathedral is the fact that it is a complex of multiple temples put together. The original building, known as "Trinity Cathedral", contained eight side churches covered with onion domes and arranged around the ninth, central tented roof church of Intercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local Fool Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and the 17th centuries the cathedral, perceived as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City, was popularly known as "Jerusalem" and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar. Its striking design, shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, has no analogues elsewhere in the world, and it was seldom reproduced in Russian architecture, most notably in the St. Peter's and Paul Cathedral in Petergof and in the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg.
  1566 Great Abatis Line 
  The Great Abatis Line, or Bolshaya Zasechnaya Cherta in Russian, was the largest fortification line of the abatis type, built by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia. Its purpose was to protect Russia from the raids of nomads of the Eastern European steppes, such as the Crimean Tatars. As a fortification construction stretching for hundreds kilometers, the Great Abatis Line is analogous to the Great Wall of China and the Roman limes. Most of its length consisted of abatis, which is a barrier built from felled trees arranged as a barricade. It was also fortified by ditches and earth mounds, palisades, watch towers and natural features like lakes and swamps. Stone and wooden kremlins of the towns were also included in the Great Abatis Line, as well as the smaller forts called ostrogs. The Great Abatis Line was built south of Moscow between the Bryansk woods and Meschera swamps starting from the 12th century, and was officially completed in 1566, exceeding 1000 km in length.
  1586 Tsar Cannon 
  The Tsar Cannon is an enormous cannon, commissioned in 1586 by Russian Tsar Feodor and cast by Andrey Chokhov. It is the largest bombard by caliber. The cannon weighs 39.312 metric tonnes and has a length of 5.34 m (17.5 ft). Its bronze-cast barrel has a calibre of 890 mm (35.0 in), and an external diameter of 1,200 mm (47.2 in). Along with a new carriage, the 2 ton cannonballs surrounding the cannon were added in 1835 and are larger than the diameter of its barrel; in
caption: Russian abacus.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90"}