The tower of the Smolensk fortress is being restored by specialists.

Semenovskaya, Volkova, Strelka, Arkhivnaya - these are all names of one of the towers of the Smolensk fortress, which stood closed for many years and gradually fell into disrepair. Today, specialists are restoring its original appearance. Anastasia Artemenko will tell the story of the tower and the progress of the restoration work. Through the grid of scaffolding inside the Volkova tower, you can see the sky. Not long ago, two floors were separated by a vault. But due to its dilapidation, it was decided to dismantle it. Restorers note that the historical bricks have been well preserved, so they select whole ones from the pile of rubble on the floor that appeared as a result of dismantling the vaults to reuse them. For some time, the tower was called Arkhivnaya because the District Court archive was housed in it. For this purpose, the tower was significantly rebuilt in a peaceful manner in the mid-19th century. The arrow slits turned into windows, and the embrasures disappeared. In this photo, you can see a large archive sign. In 1907, when the photo was taken, the walls of the tower were still intact and undamaged. In fact, the entire history of the Volkova tower is a struggle against cracks in its walls. They appeared as early as the late 17th century when its foundation was filled for the safety of Smolensk. The problem is exacerbated by the lack of a roof. Water has washed away the mortar for many decades, and freezing has caused the seams and bricks to crack. Restorers note that visually, the size of the cracks is increased by the destroyed window openings. "That is, the wall did not move to such a distance, but we have lost the brickwork, which we will recreate during the work," comments architect-restorer Elena Volkova. Monitoring has shown that the divergence of cracks has stopped. In the coming months, restorers will begin to build a vault inside the tower and a canopy over it. Restoration continues on the first curtain wall, which connects the Volkova tower and the former Odigitrievskaya church. Workers are chiseling bricks on the crenellations, and some have already been restored. "To recreate the merlon decor, we took a template from the oldest historical crenellations and are chiseling the brickwork according to it," explains architect-restorer Elena Volkova. All work on this section of the fortress wall is planned to be completed by 2026.

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