The Dmitrov Kremlin is a partially preserved ancient Russian fortress of the 12th century in the city of Dmitrov, located north of Moscow. The residence of the specific princes of Dmitrov. On the territory of the Kremlin there is a museum-reserve "Dmitrovsky Kremlin". The exposition consists of the remains of a rampart and a moat, the Assumption Cathedral of the early 16th century, a number of buildings of the 19th - 20th centuries, and the reconstructed Nikolsky Gates.
The Dmitrov fortification, according to the chronicle,
was founded as a border fortress by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky on the site of
an older Slavic settlement in 1154. The city got its name in honor of
the son Dolgoruky born here - Dmitry, the future Prince Vsevolod the Big
Nest. The surviving shaft, 990 meters long and 7 to 9 meters high, was
created, according to archeology, in the period from the middle of the
12th to the end of the 13th century.
The fortress was destroyed
at least seven times by the enemy: it was burned by the Kyiv prince
Svyatoslav in 1181, ravaged by the Mongol-Tatar troops of Batu in 1238,
Duden in 1293, Tokhtamysh in 1382 and Edigey in 1408, and in 1373
destroyed by the prince of Tver Mikhail Alexandrovich. In 1610, the
wooden Kremlin was burned down by the troops of Sapieha and Lisovsky and
was no longer restored due to the loss of the defensive value of the
fortress.
In 1301, four Russian princes met in the Dmitrovsky
Kremlin: Grand Duke Andrei Alexandrovich of Vladimir-Suzdal, Prince
Daniil Alexandrovich of Moscow (younger brother of the previous one),
Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver (cousin of Andrei and Daniel) and
Pereyaslav Prince Ivan Dmitrievich (Andrei’s nephew) and Daniel,
Michael's cousin).
There was a congress by all the princes in Dmitrov
about reigns and there was a great rumor.
- tells the chronicle.
Peace negotiations were crowned with only partial success: the three
senior princes entered into a military alliance, while Ivan
Pereyaslavsky did not want to join it, due to his extremely hostile
relations with Mikhail of Tver ... Four princely crowns depicted in the
lower part of the Dmitrovsky coat of arms (given to the city in 1781 .)
- the memory of this congress:
The emblem of the city of Dmitrov
represents the emblem of Moscow in the upper part of the shield, and in
the lower part - four princely crowns in an ermine field, in memory of
the famous four Russian princes of the congress that was in that city.
In 1310-1334, the Dmitrovsky Kremlin was the residence of the first
Dmitrovsky appanage prince Boris Davydovich.
In 1388, the son of
the then appanage prince of Dmitrovsky and Serpukhov Vladimir Andreevich
the Brave, Yaroslav, was born in the Dmitrovsky Kremlin. This was the
second (after Dmitry-Vsevolod Yurievich) prince, born in Dmitrov.
Perhaps it was in connection with his birth that the Boriso-Glebsky
Monastery was founded in Dmitrov in the same year, named after the Holy
Princes Boris and Gleb Vladimirovich. St. Prince Boris was the heavenly
patron of the first appanage prince of Dmitrovsky, Boris Davydovich. At
the same time, there is every reason to believe that, paying tribute to
Boris Davydovich, Vladimir Andreevich planned to make Yaroslav-Afanasy
the third Dmitrovsky prince (which, however, was not destined to come
true).
The “Mural of the city of Dmitrov” of 1647 contains
information about nine wooden towers (of which two were passable) that
existed in the fortress before destruction, their names and locations.
Events of the Time of Troubles
After the unsuccessful siege of
the Trinity Monastery on February 6, 1610, the troops of Jan Sapieha
retreated to Dmitrov. Skopin-Shuisky attacked Dmitrovsky Posad and then
Sapega shut himself up in the Dmitrovsky Kremlin. On February 23, Marina
Mnishek arrived at the Kremlin. Then the troops of Skopin-Shuisky began
the siege of the Dmitrovsky Kremlin and Marina withdrew towards Kaluga.
Deprived of support, Sapega was also forced to retreat from Dmitrov, and
the Kremlin was burned, and the existing artillery pieces were broken.
On the territory of the Kremlin, numerous archaeological evidence of the
stay of the interventionists - Poles and Lithuanians - was found.
The first reconnaissance excavations were
carried out by O. N. Bader in 1930-1931.
In 1933-1934, the
Kremlin was explored by an expedition team of the Moscow branch of the
GAIMK (now the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of
Sciences) led by N. P. Milonov under the program of exploring the
territories adjacent to the route of the Moscow-Volga Canal. In the
Dmitrovsky Kremlin, more than 800 square meters were explored.
New excavations were carried out in the early 1990s under the direction
of S. A. Bolelov and in 1997 under the direction of O. I. Khizhnyakov
and V. N. Karasyov.
In 2001–2003 and 2004–2012, an expedition of
the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences led by
A.V. Engovatova on the territory of the Dmitrov Kremlin investigated a
Slavic settlement on the territory of the Dmitrovsky settlement
(mid-10th century) and dated the preserved earthen rampart (mid-12th -
late 13th century, which is consistent with the annalistic mention of
the foundation of the fortress by Yuri Dolgoruky).
To date,
archaeologists have explored more than 1,500 square meters of various
sections of the Dmitrovsky Kremlin.