Kolomna Tower, Kolomna, Moscow Oblast, Russia
Kolomenskaya (Roundhead) tower was the western guard tower of the city, which guarded the Astrakhan tract (the Moscow-Ryazan road) – one of the most ancient roads of the state. Kolomenskaya is the tallest surviving tower of the Kremlin. Its height is 31 meters, diameter – 13 meters.
The tower is twenty-sided, but if you look at it from afar, it seems round – that explains one of its names. On the twenty-sided pillar in checkerboard arrangement there were 27 windows-loopholes, which increased the angle of fire and helped to keep the circular defense.
Inside the eight-story tower there are spiral staircases, at the top from the outside there is a decorative belt made of white stone, from afar the top of the tower resembles a crown. In its proportions, it is very close to Beklemishevskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin.
The people scornfully called the tower “Marinkina”. This name is associated with the name of the famous Polish adventurer Marina Mnishek – the wife of False Dmitry, and then False Dmitriy 2, who lived in Kolomna during the Time of Troubles with her son Ivan as tsarina.
The stone fortress has never been taken since its construction, although many times it is besieged, except for the time that Marina Mnishek mislead the Poles into the city. She ordered to remove the gates from the main Pyatnitskaya thoroughfare tower and thereby liberated the entrance to the Poles. Ivan Zarutskiy, the lover of Marina Mnishek, entered the city. Then the stone fortress was once taken and plundered.
The folk tradition, not confirmed by historical documents, says that two years after that event, Marina Mnishek and Ivan Zarutsky were arrested and sent to Moscow from near Astrakhan. If Ivan Zarutskii and Marina Ivan’s five-year-old son were executed, then nothing is known about her future fate.
Epic Russia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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