Oblique caponier– an integral part of the hospital fortification of the New Pechersk Fortress, built as a defensive structure in 1844, is an underground structure with powerful thick walls, embrasures and gun loopholes.
The oblique caponier was built in 1844 in addition to the initial design of the Pechersk fortress. Its peculiarity is that it is located behind the earthen rampart at an angle to it, which facilitated artillery flanking fire. By the way, this is where this unusual name – “oblique” – comes from.
This defensive structure used to be only a system of 10-15 meter earthen ramparts surrounded by ditches. The shafts were cut through by tunnels, the side slopes of which were covered with gratings and lined with bricks.
The caponier consists of an above-ground and an underground part. Along the perimeter of the ground caponier, which overlooked the slopes of Cherepanovaya Mountain, there were cannons on the ramparts. The underground part was used as a warehouse and armory at that time.
There is an opinion among historians that it was precisely this security and power of the fortress that forced Napoleon to abandon the campaign against Kyiv.
In 1863, the caponier began to be used as a prison for political prisoners with a particularly cruel regime. In the caponier there are four solitary cells and two general ones, two punishment cells, which were small rooms no more than a couple of square meters, where the temperature was slightly above zero, and the floor was specially flooded with water so that prisoners would not have the opportunity to sit or lie down.
There was also a carriage for death row prisoners, in which prisoners were taken to the Lysogorsk fort, where they were executed by hanging. The burial took place right next to the gallows.
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During a tour of the Kyiv Fortress, you will walk through the dark corridors of the basement, whose thick brick and stone walls conceal many memories and mysteries. |
The first prisoners of the prison were participants in the Polish uprising of 1863. And during the Russian revolution of 1905-1907, sapper soldiers who participated in the armed uprising on November 18 in Kyiv were imprisoned in the oblique caponier. Famous political prisoners of this prison were P. Zhadanivsky, M. Uritsky, D. Ulyanov.
In 1930, a museum of the revolution of 1905-1907 was created in the oblique caponier. in Kyiv.
Now the Oblique Caponier Museum is an integral part of the historical and architectural monument - the Kiev Fortress Museum.
There are two museums on the territory of the caponier. One is underground, actually a prison, and the second museum was opened in 2004. In addition to uniforms and historical documents relating to the history of the fortress, a collection of Trypillian culture is presented in a separate room. Of particular interest is the Scythian “Platar” ceramics, provided by a private collector.
How to get there: Museum-Prison “Oblique Coponir” on the map of Kyiv
Additional information
Address: Kyiv, st. Hospital, 24
Working hours:
Tue – Fri from 10:00 to 17:00
Sat – Sun from 10:00 to 16:00
Closed on Monday.
In ancient times (by the standards of one human life), when earthen ramparts and thick walls were reliably protected from guns, a Kyiv fortress.
Kiev Fortetsya, which defended the heights of the Capital City from barbarians in different guises at different times.
Oblique caponier, which has survived to this day virtually intact, is part of this metropolis of structures.
This important element Kiev-Pechersk fortress, was built, according to historians, in 1844.
In general, on the territory of the modern center of Kyiv there were three fortresses: Starokievskaya, Podolskaya and Kiev-Pecherskaya.
Constructed at different stages, they turned Kyiv into a well-fortified fortress, which made one think about the advisability of attacking the city at different stages of its existence.
Since the newly built part of the fortress did not have the chance to fight - the enemies were afraid only of its appearance, the Oblique Caponier lost its defensive significance quite soon - in the early 60s of the nineteenth century.
Although it had previously been used as a reliable and well-protected weapons warehouse. And it turned into a well-fortified prison, which was difficult, almost impossible to take by storm, and from which it was impossible to escape.
Well, this is the fate of many fortresses around the world and the Oblique Caponier was no exception. Moreover, the prison has become political, since the most dangerous criminals for any state are not thieves, murderers and rapists, but those who pose a threat to the ruling elite.
These are usually kept behind secure locks. In general, nothing good happened anymore. Prison, executions, possibly torture.
The prison carriage in which death row prisoners, including Dmitry Bogrov, Stolypin's killer, were transported to execution, can also be seen if you come here on a tour.
Suicide carriage in the Oblique Caponier.
Subsequently, the Bolsheviks used the walls of the Oblique Caponier for the Museum of the Revolution.
But what happened is gone.
At the moment it is also a museum, but as part of the Kiev Fortress museum.
You can come and imagine the moments of that troubled time when revolutions changed history and distorted the destinies of people.
The Oblique Caponir fortress was lost among the houses of the center of Kyiv.
The oblique caponier in the very center of Kyiv is hidden behind residential buildings. Few Kiev residents know about this building.
You can travel half of Ukraine in search of new experiences and not see such historical interest nearby.
But the buildings within the Kyiv Fortress are worthy of the attention of our public.
But they were so absorbed in the city that they are now practically invisible. And it is difficult to imagine the true size of the Fortress, which was considered one of the largest, if not the largest, in Europe.
For example, Gate Church The Kiev Pechersk Lavra is also a fortification structure of the Kyiv Fortress. Quite ancient, too.
It was built in 1108, long before, for example, the famous one in its modern form.
So, it’s worth visiting this place and getting into the spirit of antiquity, traces of which are still quite abundant in our city.
Not the Egyptian Pyramids, of course, but still...
A few more photographs of the Oblique Caponier for a better understanding of what you read.
Ancient map of the fortifications of the Kyiv fortress.
The earthen ramparts were supposed to reliably protect the fortress from enemy artillery.
The cannons located on the territory of the museum sometimes fire...
Another view from above.
There is a museum inside.
The Oblique Caponir fortress is located in the very center of Kyiv.
Very close - Blvd. L.Ukrainka.
And this is how the Oblique Caponier fortress looks from a satellite.
If your desire to visit a museum is stronger than laziness, which usually wins, then here’s
Museum address: city Kyiv, st. Hospital, 24
The oblique caponier was built in 1844 as a defensive structure of the Hospital fortification in the New Pechersk fortress system. Initially, the Oblique Caponier was used to store weapons and artillery supplies. The oblique caponier is a semi-underground structure with thick walls of brick and stone. The walls contain embrasures and loopholes for firing cannons and rifles. This is the only place in Europe where the embankments were restored to their full size and represented a complex system of earthen ramparts 10-15 meters high and deep ditches. The shafts cut through patterns - long, up to 40 meters, tunnels, lined with bricks and closed on both sides with gratings. The ground part of the Oblique Caponier overlooked the slopes of Cherepanova Mountain. For the convenience of conducting artillery flank fire, the Oblique caponier is located at an angle to the earthen rampart of the fortress and therefore received the name “Oblique”. The multi-level defense system of the fortress did not give the slightest chance of taking it. So, after the Oblique caponier came the next part of the protection, the horseshoe-shaped caponier. There was a ditch all around, and you could get inside through hanging gates. If the enemy broke through the first defense, he immediately came under a barrage of fire from another fortification. Thus, the fortress was considered impregnable.
In the early 60s of the 19th century, the caponier was turned into a political prison. Due to the cruel regime, the Oblique Caponier was called the “Kyiv Shlisselburg”. Political prisoners were imprisoned in the “Slant Caponier”, and in the Lysogorsk fort, which was further away from residential areas, gallows were installed in 1906 - state criminals were executed here. Three executioners took the lives of more than 200 people over 11 years. Those brought to the place of execution were met by the executioner with his assistant and the priest. Despite confession before death, those executed were deprived of the right to Christian burial, so the executioner buried the bodies of the hanged not far from the gallows.
Currently, the Oblique Caponier is one of the components of the historical and architectural monument - the Kiev Fortress Museum. The “Kyiv Fortress” includes the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the territory of the National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, the Arsenal plant and many other objects located mainly in Pechersk. On the territory of the Oblique Caponier itself there are two museums, the exhibitions of which are dedicated to the history of this fortification.
The first museum is located underground, it is presented in the form in which it was converted for prisoners, but originally there were rooms for soldiers and weapons. The loopholes for rifles and cannons were later turned into windows with bars. The museum displays many antique utensils, weapons, uniforms, and personal belongings of prisoners. The second museum was opened 2 years ago. It presents uniforms from different times and historical documents concerning the history of the city and the fortress itself.
Four years ago, during the restoration of one of the parts of the fortification, caponier No. 2, it was discovered that its large vaulted hall had very good acoustics. Since then, chamber literary and musical evenings have been regularly held there.
In April 2001, a musical and theatrical show was held on the territory of the Oblique Caponier as part of the presentation of Stella Artois beer in Ukraine. This was the reason for my first visit to the fortress. My friends from several historical re-enactment and fencing clubs took part in the performance, and their skill perfectly emphasized the original purpose of the Slanting Caponier, giving the place a spirit of glory and victory.
(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 we came to the old military hospital, which is adjacent to what is called the Kyiv 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 undeveloped state, it is the most spectacular part of the fortress. Well, then, past the Indendant Tower and the Arsenal plant, we will return to where we started the hike - to the Arsenalnaya metro station.
Like other elements of the New Pechersk Fortress, the Hospital fortification looks best from above. It is also clear 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 opening shot was taken from point #5 to the left. The Hospital Fortification is located just right - on the top of Cherepanovaya Mountain (the name comes from 1815, when civil governor Pavel Cherepanov built his estate here), steeply descending to the local Olympic 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 - the 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 made into 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 hospital grounds:
I considered it inappropriate to enter through the gate, and climbed onto the shaft. Behind the gates is perhaps the most spectacular structure of the entire fortress, the Northern Half Tower, a fortified barracks that houses a museum exhibition that has changed its format several times over 80 years.
Eastern corner of the rampart. Behind the houses is Lesi Ukrainka Boulevard, the fortress stands as if 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 western side. Everything is as it should be - a mowed lawn, cannons on the ridge... In the distance you can see the tallest 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 gate of which is decorated with a palisade:
Migrant workers against the background of the stadium. As far as I know, Georgians actively travel to Ukraine in this capacity.
In general, there are excellent views of the city from the shaft. You can clearly see how, behind Krasnoarmeyskaya Street, which runs along the bottom of the hollow, the neighborhoods again climb the slope. On the left you can see the top of the Ministry of Transport and Communications - the tallest (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 tallest building, but a structure in Ukraine), in the center is the Red Building of Kyiv University (1837-43), and on the right is the dome of St. Vladimir Cathedral (1862-82, one of the most beautiful churches in the city, now the main one in the unrecognized Kiev Patriarchate)
High number of storeys and endless slopes create the effect of a “concrete jungle”:
Finally, a view to the south. Here, pay attention to the memorial plaques and caponier No. 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 gate of the Second Caponier is, again, exactly the same as that of the Fourth in the last part, where I was pooped all over by dogs:
Here the 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 prison’s “finest hour” came in 1905 and later. In 1911, Dmitry Bogrov, the murderer of Stolypin, who was later hanged on Bald Mountain, awaited a court decision here (not for the sake of a ritual - by that time there was a main fortress). The central element of the memorial is the “Execution Wall”: executions of rioters were carried out here in 1907.
The Oblique caponier itself is flat and ominous:
In general, in this roundabout way we reached the semi-circular square in front of the gate:
The view is impressive!
If only the entire Kyiv fortress were in such a state...
But caponier No. 3 (number “8” on the map, the only one facing the city) is in this condition. An ordinary residential yard, nearby an elderly Kiev resident of a completely Bulgakovian appearance 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 went out again to Lesi Ukrainka Boulevard. View to the north-west, in front of the second and third tallest buildings in Ukraine, respectively: to the left further away is the "Continental" business center (146m, also known as "Esplanade" and "Gulliver", 2003-2010), closer to the right - the business center " Sail" (136 meters, 2004-2007).
Then our path lay to the Quartermaster Tower, which was only about half a kilometer away, but the tricky Kiev topography had an effect - even an expert on the city nin_gen I didn’t find the descent 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, it’s quite spectacular. The “tallest buildings in Ukraine” replace each other quite quickly... because by world standards they are not that 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 on the same square: it was founded by the mayor of New York during his visit to Kyiv, and opened on September 11, 2005 by Yushchenko. Under the monument, it is believed, is buried a capsule with ashes collected from the ruins of the World Trade Center, and on two halves there are the inscriptions “Thou shalt not kill!” in 70 languages. For me, the word “terrorism” is not the first thing that evokes an association with New York, but the “monument” to our victims of terrorism is Dudayev Street in Lviv.
We go up the streets of Pechersk. Pechersk retained the old layout, the old toponymy (all these Tsitadelnaya, Gospitalnaya, Arsenalnaya), but did not preserve the old environment. Moreover, as far as I understand, the main destruction here occurred not even during the Great Patriotic War, but during the Civil War.
The Indendant Tower, also known as Tower No. 5, stands high. The largest in the fortress (about 180 meters along the facade), it was built over 13 years (1833-46) and has an unusual shape. "Wings" served as warehouses for ammunition and provisions:
Half of the tower is now occupied by the military (therefore 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 it is 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, stretching for almost a kilometer, already loom ahead:
Two high-rise buildings on Klovsky Spusk. Old - 1953, most likely the house of specialists or Arsenal management:
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 grew 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 Moskovskaya Street - curved barracks of the gendarmerie regiment.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Arsenal employed about 4,000 workers; it was the largest enterprise in Kyiv (which rose, in fact, thanks to sugar factories) and, of course, a hotbed of revolutionary ideas. They had struck here before, but it flared up the most in January 1918 - the Arsenal workers rebelled against the Central Rada, captured the city for several days, troops began to go over to their side... but Simon Petlyura and the Whites under the command of Vsevolod Petrov pulled up, suppressed 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 is disbanded, the site is awaiting development. But its gloomy workshops, most likely built after the war, cannot be confused with anything.
A former factory cultural center - judging by its appearance, still pre-revolutionary:
Houses near Arsenal, ahead of Karakis’s “plane house”:
The main building, in front is the Nikolsky Gate. The circle is almost complete:
On the façade there is a memorial plaque and traces of the 1918 assault:
In general, the fortress in Kyiv is what you need. I’ll probably also do part 5 specifically with a review of fortifications, without Pechersk and Lavra. As far as I know, in the former USSR there is such a thing only in Koenigsberg and Vladivostok. But it is also impressive that this is not even the entire Kiev fortress - there is also the Zverinetsky fortification and the Lysogorsk fortress of the Totleben project - almost the largest in Europe. Someday, I hope, I’ll get to it.
The defensive fortification Oblique Caponier was built in the first half of the 19th century, or more precisely in 1844, as an additional part of the defensive structure in the “Kyiv Fortress” system and was intended for artillery fire on the left and right flanks of the front at an angle to the earthen rampart, therefore strengthening is called “oblique”. The defensive fortification is a structure buried in the ground with very thick stone and brick walls, with embrasure openings for artillery cannons and narrow loopholes for rifles. The ground part of the Oblique Caponier fortification faces the elevation of Cherepanova Mountain.
At first glance, a simple defensive fortification, part of the Novo-Pechersk defensive structure, turned into a real political prison at the end of the 19th century. 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 1905-1907 were imprisoned in this prison, as well as soldiers of the 41st Selenginsky Infantry Regiment, the leader of the uprising of soldiers of engineer battalions - the revolutionary Russian officer B. Zhadanovsky. The most active participants in 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.
Due to the particularly strict conditions of detention of prisoners and the extremely harsh regime, the “Slanting Caponier” was popularly given a new name - “Kiev Shlisselburg” - in honor of one of the prisons in the Leningrad region for especially important criminals.
Political prisoners served their prison terms within the walls of the dungeon, and in the fortress next door on Bald Mountain, state criminals were put to death. The prisoners taken to the place of execution were met by the executioner with his assistant and an Orthodox priest. Although the prisoners could confess before death, they were still deprived of the right of burial according to Christian tradition; the prison executioner buried the bodies of those executed next to the gallows. Over 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 thick 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 the small rooms, a couple of meters in area, in which guilty political prisoners were crowded, the atmosphere of the oppressive prison days of past centuries was recreated. 
The current state of the Oblique Caponier Museum
Today, the Oblique Caponier Museum presents the museum’s exhibition “The 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 instead of a bed there was straw on the stone floor, and instead of a toilet there was a wooden barrel; you can also visit the death row. The temperature here rarely rose above “0”, and the floor was flooded with water so that prisoners could not sit or lie on the stone floor.
