Keyword: «fortresses»

In a broad sense, the Tobolsk Kremlin is understood as a complex of structures on the Troitsky Cape, including the centers of secular and spiritual authorities enclosed by walls: the Kremlin itself in the western part and the Sophia Court in the eastern part. It is also customary to refer to the Kremlin a detached building of Gostiny Dvor. The fortress walls of the Kremlin in the narrow sense, that is, the enclosure of secular power in the western part, have not been preserved. Because of this, confusion arises even among researchers, who often call the kremlin only the enclosure of the Sophia Court together with the Gostiny Dvor. This historiographical article contains and analyzes works that raise the issue of the kremlin walls of Tobolsk to one degree or another: generalizing monographs on the cities of Siberia and specifically Tobolsk, the history of stone construction in the region, archaeological research on the territory of the Tobolsk Kremlin, historical and architectural articles. A comparison of the data given in the now classic works of V. I. Kochedamov with new sources published later made it possible to clarify a number of the researcher's data. These include the dates of laying and completion of the construction of the fourth and fifth wooden fortress walls of Tobolsk. In general, the historiographic analysis of the works showed that the fortress walls of the Tobolsk Kremlin are still very poorly studied. They have clearly received insufficient attention in generalizing monographs. Archaeological and historical-architectural researches are concentrated on the enclosures of the Sophia and Gostiny Dvors, but bypass or touch only in passing on the kremlin walls proper. The author of this article believes that the most striking gaps in the study of the Tobolsk Kremlin are the lack of precisely established dates for the start and completion of the construction of both the enclosures of the Sophia Court and the kremlin walls themselves, as well as the lack of publications of archival inventories of the Tobolsk Kremlin, which could give an idea of the appearance and design of defensive walls.