Fortress oblique caponier. Museum-prison "Oblique Caponier"

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Description

An integral part of the hospital fortification of the Kyiv fortress - Oblique caponier - was built in 1844 as a defensive structure of the Hospital fortification in the system of the New Pechersk fortress. The oblique caponier was built for flanking fire at an angle to the earthen rampart of the fortress, hence the name "oblique". It is a semi-underground structure with thick brick and stone walls with gun embrasures and gun loopholes. The ground part of the Oblique Caponier overlooks the slopes of Cherepanova Mountain.

Usage

In the early 1860s, the caponier was turned into a political prison. For the cruel regime, the Oblique Caponier was called " Kyiv Shlisselburg". Its first prisoners were participants in the Polish Uprising of 1863. At the fortress wall, the commanders of the Polish insurgent detachments were shot. Among the prisoners were participants in the uprising of the Selenginsky regiment of 1905 and the Sapper battalion of 1907. The most active participants in the performances were shot in the Oblique Caponier in 1907.

Current state

At present, the museum "History of the use of structures of the Kyiv fortress" functions in the Oblique Caponier. The exposition presents data on famous prisoners, the carriage of suicide bombers, in which they were sent to execution, describes the conditions of the prisoners.

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Links

• http://community.livejournal.com/interesniy_kiev/251968.html
• http://www.thisisukraine.org/index.php/ru/what-to-see/muzei/433-kosij-kaponir.html
• Fayno-e.com

An excerpt characterizing the Oblique Caponier

The hospital fortification is a separate combat unit of the Kyiv fortress, and specifically, the New Caves. Neither the fortress as a whole, nor this fortification was destined to fight, justifying all the difficulties that their construction in Pechersk gave rise to. But the history of the Hospital Fort and the Oblique Caponier is still full of interesting moments and solidly sprinkled with all sorts of fables that the people of Kiev and guests of the city managed to compose in a couple of centuries.

Hospital fortification plan.

Not being sufficiently prepared, like 99% of the people from the street, I called the Oblique Caponier decisively all this fortification, while the Oblique Caponier itself is only the red building on the plan, the one on the left. It is amazing how this one defensive point could sit in the memory of the people, displacing the real name of the complex - the Hospital Fortification of the Novopechersk Fortress.

And this is what it looks like on Google Maps now. The ramparts still represent a strategic high-rise in the area.

The Kiev fortress, created back in 1708, gradually began to crawl onto the hills from the 18th century. This is how the New Pechersk Fortress arises, of which the Hospital Fortification is a part.

Her story is complicated and a little ridiculous. The main battle unfolded here not with the enemy, who never received a serious rebuff on the frontiers. The real war took place along the line of the military - the inhabitants of Kyiv. For global construction, it was necessary to demolish almost 800 estates (these are only estates !!! But there are still profitable houses, shops, markets), disrupt communications and logistics in the city.

Since no one just wanted to part with their mansions, an entertaining scam was carried out: the Kiev governor Dmitry Bibikov forbade the repair of houses, on the site of which it was planned to build fortifications and esplanades. When buildings fell into disrepair, officials were engaged in their assessment (the cost of unrepaired slums fell to ridiculous money at that time). According to this assessment, scanty compensation was paid to the tenants.

These people were sent to live in Podol, and the chic in their beauty of the then Pechersk area was built up for military needs. So the hero of our story was born.

The same Oblique caponier now. Seems to be reconstructed.

The original plan of Oblique and similar caponiers of the Hospital Fortification.

The hospital fortifications were erected to the northwest of the Zverinets Fort in such a way that they could conduct flanking fire. In the direction of the current Olimpiysky stadium and the Kyiv Clinical Hospital No. 17, caponiers (including Oblique), the sports palace and the Gulliver shopping center - a half-tower could hit. From the crest of the shaft, an excellent panorama still opens up to these places. However, at the time of commissioning, more than half of the defense points were earthen.

The wall of the so-called "Dry Yar"

The fort was built in 1843-1845. But some stone buildings were completed even in the 20th century. The name "Slanting caponier" arose because it was located at an angle to the then rampart and was, as it were, asymmetric with respect to other buildings. It is easy to check this even now: in urban planning it is customary to call a street a boulevard, the axis of which runs through the territory of the former ramparts.

Thick line - shaft. Thin - caponier axis. Koso, right?

In the photo, the half-car of the hospital fortification, it is also the northern half-tower. These are barracks capable of fighting in a northerly direction. At the time of construction, the place was considered very comfortable, there were bathrooms with warm water (not baths), closets connected to the sewer system. This was also caused by the need for increased hygiene in the hospital, where infectious patients could also be delivered.

The permanent garrison of the fortification is 1500 people with the possibility of a rapid build-up of more than half. Not all rooms are above ground - the territory of the powder magazines, the courtyard is vast, soldiers could hide from the artillery raid in the potterns leading to the caponiers and internal closed courtyards. Plus, some buildings crashed directly into the rampart.

An example of a closed courtyard in a fortification

In the 1860s, it becomes more and more obvious that the hospital fortification is unlikely to be the epicenter of hostilities, and therefore, as in every non-advanced fortress of the Russian Empire, a prison is being made here. Fortunately, there are many casemates, loophole windows do not allow escape, and military buildings are made in such a way that it is almost impossible to slip out of them unnoticed. To get into the prison of the Oblique Caponier in those days was akin to our getting into a strict regime zone. There were violators of the military oath, political, rebels.

The epicenter of the prison was the Oblique Caponier, quickly trying on the role of one of the most sinister prisons in Kyiv. We all heard about "Crosses", "Butyrka" (no, not a group), "Matrosskaya Tishina" - but all this on the territory of present-day Russia, and then - in the very center of the empire. One of the most terrible prisons in Little Russia (now Ukraine) was the Oblique Caponier, popularly nicknamed "Kyiv Shlisselburg" and "Nut".

This is not only a drainage ditch, but also a way to protect window-loopholes from an attack.

There were about 200 prisoners in the punishment cells and casemates-chambers. Many tales were told about the local tortures - allegedly, water was poured into the cells, where it was already cold in winter, so that the prisoners could not even lie down and sleep for a minute. Perhaps it was, but by no means en masse.

From right to left - the counter-escaping embankment, the inner prison yard, the fortification wall, the rampart of the Hospital fortification

Before the construction of the fort on Lysa Gora, prisoners were allowed to go to the expense right there. And after that they were taken out to Kiev so that they would not frighten the people of Kiev with the crackling of shots, but with a drum roll before hanging.

Doom of Destiny - Combat Hospital fortifications in history are known more as a place of execution than a place of potential defense. In 1863, the commanders of the Polish insurgents were shot here. In 1907 - rebellious officers of the 41st Selenginsky Infantry Regiment and the 21st Engineer Battalion. The dead were buried right here - in trenches near the landfill. It was a common practice at the time to bury state criminals in places where soldiers marched. It seems like so that even after death they do not find peace.

The original cannon is believed to be from the 18th century. It hardly has anything to do with the local buildings.

With the advent of Soviet power, the territory of the Hospital Fortification was still used for a certain time as a prison, garrison guardhouse and warehouses. In the 1930s, when the Land of Soviets got better with logistics and attitude to history, a museum was created here. It is not strange, because the Soviets willingly turned to the topic of rebels who were shot under the tsarist regime.

I did not find any data on the hostilities here during the Great Patriotic War, but the abundance of bullet holes, as well as the lack of involvement of the fort in the hostilities of the First World War, speaks of local battles, either during the defense of Kiev, or during its liberation.

So what do we have today? The surviving remnants of the Hospital fortification are divided by a conditional line into the Kiev Fortress Museum and the usual working buildings of a military hospital in the southern part). There are museums inside the Oblique Caponier and half-tower, which I was not able to visit because of the fast train. For the entrance to the territory, the fee is purely symbolic (hryvnia, it seems?). The buildings are original, but not all original. After all, initially the fortifications were earthen, giving way to stone ones at the very end of the 19th century.

We came here in May. And, if you don’t really know the history of the Hospital Fortification as a prison, then the place seems delightfully beautiful, clean and sunny. Not at all like a military facility ...

Z.Y. I am very grateful to Nastya and Stefan, who managed to show me the most desirable places in Kyiv, including this one, just an hour before the train. Thank you guys:)
Z.Y.Z.Y. This post is a rare long-term construction, because I sincerely wanted to delve into the topic. I hope my initial idea was successful.

The defensive fortification of the Oblique Caponier was built in the first half of the 19th century, or rather, in 1844, as an additional part of the defensive structure in the "Kiev Fortress" system and was intended for artillery firing on the left and right flanks of the front at an angle to the earthen rampart, therefore strengthening and is called "oblique". The defensive fortification is a building dug into the ground with very thick stone and brick walls, embrasures for artillery guns and narrow loopholes for guns. The ground part of the fortification structure "Slanting caponier" is facing the elevation of the Cherepanova mountain.

At first glance, a simple defensive fortification, which is part of the Novo-Pechersk defensive structure, at the end of the 19th century turned into a real political prison. The first prisoners of the dungeon, after the suppression of the Polish uprising in the early 60s, were participants in the armed uprising of the Polish gentry. And the commanders leading the rebel detachments were shot at the fortress wall. At the beginning of the 20th century, participants in the first Russian revolution of the period 1905-1907, as well as soldiers of the 41st Selenginsky Infantry Regiment, were imprisoned in this prison, the leader of the uprising of soldiers of sapper battalions - a revolutionary-minded Russian officer B. Zhadanovsky. The most active participants in the armed uprisings in 1907 were shot in the dungeons of the "caponier". Later, the dungeons of this prison became the last refuge for the Russian anarchist D. Bogrov, the murderer of the statesman of the Russian Empire P. Stolypin.

For the especially strict conditions of detention of prisoners and the extremely harsh regime "Slanting Caponier", the people received a new name - "Kiev Shlisselburg" - in honor of one of the prisons in the Leningrad Region for especially important criminals.

Political prisoners served prison terms within the walls of the dungeon, and state intruders were put to death in the neighboring fortress on Lysa Gora. The prisoners brought to the place of execution were met by the executioner with an assistant and an Orthodox priest. Although the prisoners could confess before death, they were still deprived of the right to burial according to Christian tradition, the prison executioner buried the bodies of the executed next to the gallows. In the course of eleven years, three professional executioners executed more than 200 prisoners. None of the prisoners had the opportunity to escape punishment. After all, the structure, which has a large thickness of walls made of stone and brick and is located in a semi-dungeon, made the Oblique Caponier completely impregnable.

Since 1930, a museum dedicated to the revolutionary events in Kyiv in the period 1905-1907 was opened in the prison part of the Oblique Caponier fortification. In small rooms with an area of ​​a couple of meters, in which guilty political prisoners crowded, the atmosphere of the oppressive prison days of past centuries was recreated.

The current state of the Oblique Caponier Museum

To date, the museum "Slanting caponier" presents the exposition of the museum "History of the use of protective structures of the "Kyiv fortress"". The prison corridors of the dungeon will lead to the prison cell, to the cells in which the arrested officers and soldiers were kept, where straw lay on the stone floor instead of a bed, and a wooden barrel instead of a toilet, you can also visit the death row. The temperature here did not often rise above zero, and the floor was flooded with water so that the prisoners could not sit or lie on the stone floor.

(where there is also a map and history) we walked from the Arsenalnaya metro station to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, examined the Lavra itself and most of its fortifications. , past the Arsenal, the Novovvedensky Monastery and the Vasilkovsky Fortification, they came to the old military hospital, which adjoins what is called the Kiev Fortress in everyday life - the old Hospital Fortification with the royal political prison in the Oblique Caponier became the Kiev Fortress Museum back in Soviet times ... and due to its excellent condition and vacancy, it is the most spectacular part of the fortress. Well, then, past the Indendanskaya tower and the Arsenal plant, we will return to where we started the trip - to the Arsenalnaya metro station.

Like other elements of the New Pechersk Fortress, the Hospital Fortification looks best from above. It can also be seen that it practically merges with the Vasilkovsky fortification. We examined objects 1, 2 and 3 in the last part, and stopped at point No. 4. The intro shot was taken from point #5 to the left. The Hospital Fortification is located on the top of Cherepanovaya Mountain (the name is from 1815, when civil governor Pavel Cherepanov set up his estate here), steeply descending to the local Olimpiysky Sports Complex (1937, rebuilt several times), where Euro 2012 ended . And in general, even on the map, the cleared and landscaped territory of the Kiev Fortress Museum is clearly visible.

The hospital fortification, built in 1834-46, covered the Military Hospital known since 1755, and was the most powerful in the New Pechersk Fortress. One of its elements - Oblique caponier (number 7) before the revolution was known as "Kiev Shlisselburg" - that is, a political prison. After the revolution, there were two fates for such objects: either they were razed to the ground - or they were made museums of revolutionary glory. Fortunately, the second option worked in Kyiv, the museum has been here since 1930, and this part of the fortress stands out sharply from the surrounding background.
View of the gate from the territory of the hospital:

I considered it inexpedient to enter through the gate, and climbed onto the rampart. Behind the gates is perhaps the most spectacular structure of the entire fortress, the Northern half-tower, a fortified barracks, which houses the museum exposition, which has repeatedly changed its format over 80 years.

East corner of the shaft. Behind the houses is Lesya Ukrainka Boulevard, the fortress stands, as it were, in the courtyard, and I remember that in 2004 we also had to look for it (and I was here then!).

View of the rampart from the west side. Everything is as it should be - a mowed lawn, cannons on the ridge ... In the distance you can see the highest building in Ukraine - a residential building on Klovsky Spusk (162 meters):

View from the same point in the opposite direction - directly to the Oblique caponier, the gates of which are decorated with a palisade:

Guest workers in front of the stadium. As far as I know, Georgians are actively visiting Ukraine in this capacity.

In general, from the rampart there are excellent views of the city. It is clearly seen how, behind the Krasnoarmeyskaya Street passing along the bottom of the hollow, the quarters again climb the slope. On the left is the top of the Ministry of Transport and Communications - the highest (120m) building in Soviet Ukraine (1975-86):

Here in the frame on the left is the Kiev TV Tower (1968-73, height 385 meters - this is not the highest building, but the structure of Ukraine), in the center is the Red Building of Kiev University (1837-43), and on the right is the dome of St. Volodymyr's Cathedral (1862-82, one of the most beautiful churches in the city, now the main one in the unrecognized Kiev Patriarchate)

High number of floors and endless slopes create the effect of "stone jungle":

Finally, a view to the south. Here, pay attention to the memorial plaques and caponier number 2, through which you can enter.

He's closer. The same as the abandoned caponier No. 4, not shown in the last part, only in almost perfect condition. Interestingly, the garages in the background follow the outlines of the bastion:

The gates of the Second Caponier - again, exactly the same as those of the Fourth in the last part, where I was barked by dogs:

Here, muddy mud is only at the entrance, but inside everything is quite civilized. Reminds me of a first person computer game.

The first prisoners of the Oblique Caponier were participants in the Polish uprising of 1863, but the "finest hour" of the prison came in 1905 and later. In 1911, Dmitry Bogrov, the murderer of Stolypin, who was later hanged on Lysa Gora, was waiting for a court decision here (not for the sake of ritual - by that time there was a main fortress there). The central element of the memorial is the "Execution Wall": executions of rebels were carried out here in 1907.

The Oblique Caponier itself is flat and sinister:

In general, in such a roundabout way, we came to a semi-circular square in front of the gate:

The view is impressive!

Would the entire Kiev fortress be in such a state ...

But already caponier No. 3 (number "8" on the map, the only one facing the city) is in such a state. An ordinary residential yard, next to it an elderly resident of Kiev of a completely Bulgakov type was walking a hefty Newfoundland. It is unlikely that most of the inhabitants of these houses realize that this is not a Soviet utility room, but a century and a half fortification:

We again went to Lesia Ukrainka Boulevard. View to the north-west, in front of the second and third tallest buildings in Ukraine, respectively: on the far left - the business center "Continental" (146m, also known as "Esplanade" and "Gulliver", 2003-2010), on the right closer - the business center " Sail" (136 meters, 2004-2007).

Further, our path lay to the Quartermaster’s Tower, which was only half a kilometer away, but the tricky Kiev relief had an effect - even a connoisseur of the city nin_gen found the descent not the first time. As a result, we walked around Pechersk a little more, past the Klovskaya metro station.

From here you can see the House on Klovsky Spusk in all its glory - in general, quite spectacular. "Ukraine's tallest buildings" replace each other rather quickly... because by world standards they are not so tall. In Russia Kyiv would be the third highest city after Moscow (over 300 meters) and Yekaterinburg (188m).

The theme of skyscrapers is completed by the monument to the Victims of Terrorism, all on the same square: it was laid during his visit to Kyiv by the mayor of New York, and opened on September 11, 2005 by Yushchenko. Under the monument, as it is believed, a capsule with ashes collected in the ruins of the World Trade Center is buried, and on two halves there are inscriptions "Thou shalt not kill!" in 70 languages. For me, the word "terrorism" with New York is far from the first association, but the "monument" to our victims of terrorism is Dudayev Street in Lvov.

We go up the streets of Pechersk. Pechersk has retained the old layout, the old toponymy (all these Citadelnaya, Hospitalnaya, Arsenalnaya), but the old environment has not been preserved. Moreover, as far as I understand, the main destruction here was not even in the Great Patriotic War, but in the Civil War.

The Indendanskaya Tower, also known as Tower No. 5, stands high. The largest in the fortress (about 180 meters along the facade), it was built for 13 years (1833-46) and is distinguished by its unusual shape. "Wings" served as warehouses for ammunition and provisions:

Half of the tower is now occupied by the military (so you can't approach it "from the inside"), the other half is a nightclub and this wonderful organization. The museum is private, and they say - very good.

The second wing of the tower is significantly longer than the first, and probably half of it was added later:

And the dead workshops of the Arsenal plant are already looming ahead, stretching for almost a kilometer:

Two skyscrapers on Klovsky Spusk. Old - 1953, most likely the house of Arsenal specialists or authorities:

The plant was founded in 1764 - initially as workshops at the Arsenal near the Lavra (see the previous part): weapons were not only stored there, but also repaired and produced. By the end of the 19th century, production volumes had grown so much that the plant moved to a new site, absorbing two buildings of the New Pechersk Fortress - in the depths of the plant tower No. 6, similar in plan to Intendatskaya, and from the edge, facing one of the courtyards of Moscow Street - curved barracks of the gendarme regiment.

By the beginning of the 20th century, about 4,000 workers worked at Arsenal, it was the largest enterprise in Kyiv (which, in fact, rose thanks to sugar factories) and, of course, a hotbed of revolutionary ideas. They had been on strike here before, but it flared up most strongly in January 1918 - the workers of "Arsenal" rebelled against the Central Rada, captured the city for several days, troops began to cross over to their side ... but Simon Petlyura and the Whites under the command of Vsevolod Petrov pulled themselves up, who crushed the rebellion. A monument to those events is the cannon at Arsenalskaya, which I showed in the first part.

As already mentioned, in Soviet times, Arsenal became the center of military instrumentation - guidance and orientation systems, which were installed, among other things, on all Soviet spacecraft. He made cameras and lamps from civilian products. The history of Arsenal has already ended in our time - now the plant has been disbanded, the site is awaiting construction. But its gloomy workshops, most likely built after the war, cannot be confused with anything.

The former factory recreation center - judging by its appearance, is still pre-revolutionary:

Houses near the "Arsenal", in front of the "airplane house" Karakis:

The main building, in front of the Nikolsky Gate. The circle is almost complete:

On the facade there is a memorial plaque and traces of the storming of 1918:

In general, a fortress in Kyiv is what you need. I will probably also do part 5 specifically with an overview of fortifications, without Pechersk and Lavra. As far as I know, in the former USSR there is something similar only in Koenigsberg and Vladivostok. But it is also impressive that this is not even the entire Kiev fortress - there is still the Zverinetsky fortification and the Lysogorskaya fortress of the Totleben project - almost the largest in Europe. Someday, I hope I'll get to it.