Now we're going to take a look at the Fortress - one of
the most interesting places in the Old Ladoga. It is considered to be the
oldest stone fortress in north-west Russia. Built in XII century, rebuilt
in XV-XVI.
Had withstood three swedish attacks (in 1164, 1313 and 1338). Was later
captured twice (in 1610 and 1611), and had sustained final siege in 1701.
Looks very much like the "Oreshek"
(Nutlet) fortress. The tower on the left is called Vorotnaya,
on the right - Klemenovskaya.
After the fortress, if you go right to
the Klemenovskaya tower, you can see Volhov.
The towers and walls are almost destroyed here, but due to that one
can see how they were constructed.
These are the remains of the Raskatnaya tower.
On the other bank of Volhov...
There used to be the Vasil'jevskij male monastery here. Today only
two churches remain: Preobrazhenskaya (1871, left) and the church of
Vasiliy Kesarijskij (XVII century, right).
I couldn't get to the other side of the river - although,
theoretically, the crossing is present (it is drawn on the map), but
practically I didn't have time to look for the ferryman, as the skies
growed darker.
Trading arch.
One can only guess the origin of the name - judging by the fact
that it faces the river, goods were sent to ships through it...
And there used to be the Taynichnaya tower here.
Watchtower (archers sat there and guarded
the Volhov-Ladozhka crossing).
The technology of wall building is (quoting the source):
Hewn limestone slates on whitewash. Between two levels of coating
there is backing of boulders, sprayed by mortar.
Going inside...
The same watchtower, this time from
below.
By the way, the name of this tower (Strelochnaya, or Archers') is
related to the fact that it covered hidden pathway to the river so
that the people under siege could take water.
And this is the ceiling (meaning: vault).
An extreme close-up ;-)
In this place (by the Strelochnaya tower)
the fortress adjoins the village
Now let's take a look at what's inside
the tower (or, actually, on the area bordered by it's walls).
Ancient hut-church of Dmitry Solunskiy. Built three times - in
1646, 1731 and 1901. The original facade was kept every time.
Inside is a museum, quite interesting actually. Various things that
the peasants used, such as the "chesalo" and kids' pictures
with text about mice that took water, cooked food and did something
else :)
Next to the church we can see another temple...
The church of the Saint George. Bears
strong resemblance to the Uspensky cathedral from the previous
album.
Built in 1165 to commemorate the winning of Ladoga's citizen and
the Novgorod's forces over the swedish army.
Fortress wall and Vorotnaya tower.
Inside is a museum of local lore, whose walls and windows are kept
in original state - without any upholstery. Very interesting, but
lighting conditions were too bad, and I didn't feel like playing
around with tripod that time.
Somebody is definetly buried here, but
the writing is almost unreadable.
We leave the fortress through the
Vorotnaya tower...
Aside from the through pathway there are
niches in this part of the tower.
The padlock doesn't really relate to the
size of the ring :)
Althoug the entrance to the museum (tower) is locked by a real ancient
one with a giant (about 30cm long) key.
It's a pity I didn't take a photo of it.
Let's take a look back before we go.
We didn't pay attention to the Gorodishe of VIII century (right to
the fortress), as it is an archeological dig site for now.
Between Volhov and the highway is a burial mound where Oleg the
Prophet (the great prince of Rurikovitch) is buried. By the legend his
death was foretold to come from his very own horse, so that he had to
part from him (he loved him very much), but later, when the horse
died, the prince was bitten by a snake that got out of the horse's
skull.
In the chronicles of 922 it is said:
"...Goes Oleg to Novgorod and to Ladoga from
there... and bites a snake him in the foot, and dies he, his grave in
Ladoga..."
A.S.Pushkin wrote about it, too ("The Song about Oleg the
Prophet"):
"From the dead head a deadly snake,
hissing, came out;
As a black ribbon, it belt around his feet,
And suddenly screamed the bitten prince"
