The Tobolsk Kremlin is a brilliant architectural ensemble crowning the mountain near Tobolsk. It is located at a sacred point on the planet, and various anomalous phenomena often occur within it. But special mysteries are hidden in the underground labyrinths of the Kremlin, where, according to legend, ghosts of restless martyrs wander.
“What symmetry! What a proportion,”exclaimed Mr. Trunin, traveling in Siberia in 1802. Indeed, the Tobolsk Kremlin has earned the title of the Pearl of Siberia for its architectural beauty. This pearl is in the setting of mysterious legends.
The construction of the Kremlin began at the end of the 17th century. The first building was - Gostiny Dvor, built for Bukhara and Chinese merchants. But the merchants for some reason did not favor him, so he served as a fortress, then a prison, then an archive. In 1683, construction began on the Sophia-Assumption Cathedral, which is considered an architectural masterpiece of stone architecture in Siberia. In the following centuries, many other buildings were added to it, including the Intercession Cathedral, bishops' chambers, storehouses, elevators, belfries.
The belfry of the Uglich bell has an amazing history. When there was an uprising in Uglich, the clerk Ogurets called the people with an alarm bell. Boris Godunov suppressed the uprising very brutally. The alarm bell also got it - they cut off his ear, pulled out his tongue, whipped him and sent him into exile in the belfry of Tobolsk, where he hung for 299 years until he was returned to the Uglich museum. So the first exiled in Tobolsk was the bell, which set a record for serving a sentence.
But the main legends of Tobolsk are the legends about the dungeons. Unfortunately, documents confirming their existence have not reached us, and there are no plans. Most likely, they were destroyed, since the secrets of the dungeons were passed exclusively from mouth to mouth by the initiates. According to the first legend, under the oldest building, the Gostiny Dvor, there is an iron door with very large hooks and heavy iron locks, which leads to an underground passage. This door depicts a full-length Cossack in a blue uniform jacket with a pike in his hand.
Researchers argue that under the Tobolsk Kremlin there is not just a passage, but a real underground node with numerous arms that run under the chambers and altars. The Siberian Chronicle by Ivan Cherepanov confirms the presence of underground structures: “… Moreover, the same stone cellars with the same vaults were built under each chamber. And by doors and parsing, all the chambers are arranged on the inner side of that building."
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This is also confirmed by the story of the disappearance of the supreme ruler Hermogenes in the bishop's house. When the house was cordoned off by the Red Army to arrest Vladyka, he … disappeared. Moreover, there was a smoking samovar on the table, and the sun reflected the dust that had soared from the fall of the chair. The Red Army men searched for him long and hard, but Hermogenes seemed to evaporate. Most likely, he took advantage of an underground passage under the house.
The fact that there are underground labyrinths under the Kremlin was confirmed by the explosion in 1947 of the Mother of God Church. During the explosion, the ground suddenly collapsed in many places, the directions of the ancient underground paths were indicated. Already in our time, during the construction of a modern microdistrict, the remains of tunnels with traces of decayed wooden lining were found. Many passages led in the direction of the Kremlin.
In addition, typical failures occur on the very territory of the Kremlin. Especially many such failures happened near the Gostiny Dvor and the Bishop's Palace. Excavations of the rubble showed that the passages were lined with bricks, had ventilation outlets to the surface in the form of vertical pipes. The presence of an underground passage to the Northern Gate is confirmed by many employees of the Tobolsk Architectural Museum-Reserve, who saw holes with masonry in the depths.
Historians believe that the cunning art of dungeons came to Siberia long before the arrival of Yermak, during the reign of Khan Kuchum. Then he was the sovereign ruler of Siberia, but he maintained strong ties with his distant homeland. Apparently, in the distant cold Siberia, masters who mastered the engineering art of laying underground galleries came to him. There is a legend that these masters built an underground palace for Kuchum, in which he hid his countless treasures. These craftsmen hired local workers who kept the "Asian secrets" and passed them on to new generations of Siberian builders.
In 1990, an underground passage leading to the diocesan hotel was discovered. Small rooms were located on the sides of this underground tunnel. It turns out that these rooms had a sad purpose - they were torture chambers for heretics and sorcerers in the 18th century. Even the instruments of torture have been preserved in the rooms. The fact is that in Tobolsk they were persecuting schismatics, sectarians, it was the center of the "Siberian Inquisition." People who got into the dungeons usually did not return.
Apparently, their martyrdom gave rise to ghostly visions, which are a mysterious landmark of the Tobolsk Kremlin. The bishop's palace is famous for paranormal phenomena. In 1920, they decided to set up an orphanage here, but very soon the children were transferred to another place, as they woke up at night and cried, as if they were woken up by SOMETHING wandering around the house. At present, it houses the Museum of the Tobolsk North. Now SOMETHING scares the museum workers. Especially often the ghost appears before any troubles. In June 1941, just before the war, the ghosts of two nuns roamed the corridors.
Abnormal phenomena have not stopped even today. Guards and guards often hear footsteps, floorboards creak; chairs and tables move by themselves. In 2005, a woman watchman, looking in the mirror, saw that a woman - a nun was looking at her. In 2007, a group of the First TV Channel was filming in the museum. In one of the halls a chilling wave of horror suddenly swept over the TV crew. Many felt signs of nausea, dizziness.
The Tobolsk complex is also a place of anomalous natural phenomena. The fact is that the mountain on which it is built is called Altyk-Aginak, which in translation from Tatar means - throwing out golden sparks. In the old Kungur chronicle there are records of how local residents saw pillars of fire on the sacred mountain, beating with light into the sky. There are also Russian historical documents describing these phenomena.
Now, approaching Tobolsk, you can see an amazing picture: against the background of the purest blue sky on the mountain foot there are serrated walls with towers pinkish from the sun. Above the walls - the domes of churches, even higher - the bell tower, a huge white pillar standing at the very edge.