In 1158, Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky surrounded the city of Vladimir with a shaft, and an outstanding monument of Old Russian architecture called the Golden Gate was built under him in 1164.
In beauty, grandeur and architectural power, the Golden Gates, which served as the main entrance to the richest princely-boyar part of Vladimir, surpassed the golden gates of Kiev, Jerusalem and Constantinople, of which today there is nothing left at all. The massive oak gates were decorated with cast gold plates. "Prince them with gold," as recorded in the Ipatiev Chronicle.
The gate was built by Vladimir architects. This is evidenced by two princely signs carved on one of the stones in the southern niche of the Golden Gate.
There is a legend that when the work was coming to an end and the scaffolding was dismantled, the arches of the gates suddenly collapsed and buried 12 people. None of the eyewitnesses doubted that people were crushed to death under the weight of stones, but Andrei Bogolyubsky ordered the miraculous icon of the Mother of God to be brought and turned to the heavenly patroness with a prayer for the unfortunate.
The blockage was cleared away and the people lying under it were found safe and sound. In honor of the miracle that happened, Andrei Bogolyubsky ordered to build a tiny white-stone chapel of the Position of the Robe of the Mother of God over the Golden Gate.
One of the best specialists in ancient Russian architecture, Vladimir archaeologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Voronin believed that the architecture of the Golden Gate in Vladimir is unique for medieval Europe. For the West, only tower structures were characteristic, performing purely defensive functions.
Vladimir's Golden Gate was built not only for protective purposes, they served as the main front entrance to the city, and also had a religious purpose - the Church of the Deposition of the Robe was active.
The Golden Gate served a variety of functions. They served as the main entrance to the city - through them the princely squads, returning from the battlefield, rode into Vladimir. A white-stone triumphal arch, reaching a height of 14 meters, a grandiose pass-through tower and massive oak gates hanging on forged hinges, gave the building a majestic appearance that corresponded to its purpose.
Promotional video:
Golden Gate from the side of Kozlov Val.
The Golden Gate, along with the non-preserved Copper, Irinin, Silver and Volga gates, constituted a single complex of defensive fortifications of the city of Vladimir. The gates were adjacent to an arched lintel, on the top of which a wooden flooring was arranged, serving as a battle platform.
From this site, the city defenders fired at the enemy. From the flooring, only large square nests have survived, intended for powerful wooden beams. The ascent to the site was carried out by a stone staircase, arranged in the thickness of the southern wall.
Among other things, the Golden Gate served as a decorative function, acting as a symbol of princely power and wealth. The graceful gate chapel, crowning the gate, blessed everyone who came to Vladimir in peace.
The gates disappeared in February 1238, when the Tatar-Mongol armies approached the city. Khan Batu dreamed of entering the city triumphantly through the Golden Gate. The dream did not come true. Batu also did not help the execution in front of the Golden Gate of Prince Vladimir Yuryevich, who was captured in Moscow.
On the fifth day of the siege, Vladimir was taken, but through a different gate. And the Golden Gate in front of Batu did not open even after the capture of the city. According to legend, the golden plates of the gate were removed and hidden by the townspeople in order to protect the relic from the encroachments of the Horde. They hid it so well that they still cannot find it.
They are not found either in museums or in private collections. Historians, having carefully studied the documents of those years and proceeding from the logic of Vladimir's defenders, suggest that the gold was hidden at the bottom of the Klyazma. Needless to say, neither the search for professionals, nor the digging of black archaeologists brought any results.
In 1972, the USSR Council of Ministers received an unexpected and extravagant proposal from Tokyo. The Japanese corporation promised to clear the bottom of the Klyazma River and even expand its channel. For their work, the Japanese did not demand either Sakhalin or the Kuril Islands and did not even ask for money. As payment, they wanted to take everything that they would find at the bottom of the Klyazma.
This proposal discouraged the Soviet authorities, the Japanese were rejected, but made them think about the question: "What values did the Japanese want to find in the river to recoup their costs?"
Perhaps the Japanese were looking for gilded plates that once adorned the gates of the Golden Gate. Rescuing the precious doors from Khan Batu, the townspeople drowned them in the Klyazma. But most likely, the Japanese were interested in bog oak, the reserves of which in the Klyazma are huge.
Some researchers believe that this hypothesis is implausible, since enemy scouts were vigilantly watching the city and its environs, so the residents did not have time to take out the gold from Vladimir or drown it in the waters of the Klyazma.
According to an alternative version, the relic is hidden in one of the city walls or rests in an underground cache under the foundation. One way or another, but the location of the gilded plates still remains a mystery.
Now there is a museum in the church above the Golden Gate. A military historical exposition (weapons and military equipment of different times) is presented. And a diorama telling about the defense of Vladimir during the attack of the troops of Khan Batu in 1238.
Meanwhile, the doors of the Golden Gate of Vladimir are listed in the UNESCO registers as a value lost by mankind.