Symbol of the city of Kostroma - fire tower

History of Fire Tower

Today I would like to talk a little about one interesting object in our city. This is the same fire tower, which is the main vertical of the central square of the city. It is necessary to understand the history of this building.

First you need to talk about the need for such a building. Fire tower is primarily a functional building. Its purpose is fire fighting. It was necessary to control a large territory and for this the tower was best suited. There were firemen at the top of this tower and made sure that there were no traces of smoke or fire in the city around. If this happened, a fire brigade was sent to the site of the fire and began to extinguish it.

Fires were one of the worst disasters. In one of the museums I found a description of a big fire in Moscow:

FIRE IN MOSCOW. 1912 year.

Why Moscow caught fire in 1812 during the invasion of Noleoleon is not known exactly. But

It is known that the authorities themselves blew up the military powder depots, and some Muscovites set fire to their homes in a patriotic impulse. The fire began on September 2 and lasted almost

a week. It was still possible to fight fires on September 2 and 3, when there was a quiet, calm

but there was no power in the city to resist the fire. Hours before

the entry of Napoleonic troops into Moscow, the personnel of the fire brigade and the entire fireman

the convoy left the city, taking all available “fire extinguishing tools”. Position

worsened on the evening of September 3, when a strong wind blew. The highest peak fire reached 4

September, when isolated foci closed in a continuous sea of ​​fire. Napoleon with his retinue

left Moscow, and some troops fled after him from the burning city. Moscow burned all day

September 5th. By evening, the sky was covered with clouds, it began to rain at night, the wind began to subside. Fire

completely stopped only on Sunday September 8th. Only on September 12, the French ventured

return to Moscow devastated by fires. The city was a giant ashes with

lonely sticking chimneys, piles of broken bricks, twisted by the fire of iron,

piles of charred logs and boards. “Moscow, one of the most beautiful and richest cities in the world,

no longer exists, ”the 20th Army Bulletin reported. 6.5 thousand burned out

houses of 9 thousand, 7 thousand shops of 8.5 thousand, 122 churches of 329, and the remaining temples were

plundered and disfigured. Thousands of Muscovites died in the fire (before the war in Moscow lived

261 824 people), including at least 2 thousand wounded Russian soldiers who did not have time to evacuate.

On the 35th day, Napoleon left the devastated city. The last French, having made an explosion in

Kremlin, fled from Moscow on October 11, 1812. Immediately entered the land of the ancient capital

detachment of the Russian army, Major General Ilovaysky. After the fire of Moscow, Napoleon finally became convinced of the futility of continuing the war. The consequences of the fire were liquidated for 20 years.

Just think - 20 years to recover from a fire.

I must say that fires are a very common occurrence in Russian cities. Cities were most often made of wood. Wooden architecture was a very popular phenomenon in those days. Cities could burn out almost completely.

Kostroma burned several times. For example, there was a terrible fire in 1413.

After the devastating fire of 1413, the city rebuilt in a new elevated place downstream of the Volga. In 1416, on the orders of Vasily Dmitrievich, a wooden fortress was built there, and the place became known as the Kostroma Kremlin. It was there that the first stone building in the city was built - the Assumption Cathedral.

The Assumption Cathedral was blown up in Soviet times and is now being restored at the expense of patrons. The bell tower is almost finished.

Another fire was in 1773.

After the terrible fire of 1773 that destroyed the wooden city, the government is taking decisive steps to transform it. Since 1778, Kostroma became the center of Kostroma governorate. In 1781, the master plan for building Kostroma with stone buildings was highly approved. The city receives a radial-semicircular layout, which is composed of a harmonious and well-developed street network, fan-shaped from the central Yekaterinoslav Square.

It was on this square that the fire tower was conceived.

The Kostroma governor ordered the construction of this tower and in 1827 a tower was built.

The architect was Pyotr Fursov, who came to the bonfire in 1817. During his years in Kostroma, he was a provincial architect.

The idea of ​​the fire tower design was to make the functional building more effective and decorate the city center.

The construction was completed in 1826. Then there were stucco work on the decoration of the facade.

Since 1868, work was carried out to extend the wings to the main tower of the tower. These premises were needed in order to accommodate fire brigades, a fire convoy and tools.

Departure of firefighters was already carried out towards the square.

In 1834, Kostroma was visited by Emperor Nicholas I. He was so delighted with the structure that he exclaimed: “I don’t have one in Petersburg!”

After his visit, the building became famous as the best fire tower in the Russian province.

For almost its entire history, fire tower was used for its intended purpose, and it housed the regional fire department.

In 2005, the building was transferred to the Kostroma Museum-Reserve. Now its flashlight is used to place mobile communication antennas.

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