24 points
11 km
3.5 hours
Historical Background
This former fortress tower is one of three surviving towers of the old Earthen Town. It stands on Pervomaiskaya Street in the historic center. The Znamenskaya Tower withstood the Polish assault but was destroyed by fire in 1658. Half a century later it was rebuilt as a gate tower. The entrance was placed at the side, a defensive measure of the time: attackers storming the gate exposed themselves to burning tar and arrows from the wall. Further fortifications included an archer tower and an ordinary medieval moat. Historical records state that the walls were more than 3 meters (10 feet) thick and, including the battlements, more than 17 meters (56 feet) high. The tower also had a bell weighing 9 poods (148 kilograms, or 326 pounds), hung “before the fire on the gate for times of alarm.” In the 16th century icons were painted on the tower walls, the Mother of God “of the Sign” over the eastern entrance and the Savior over the western one, but in the Soviet period they were destroyed on the orders of the authorities.