The Round Tower (Vyborg)

Construction

In the 1470s, a city that grew up on a peninsula east of Vyborg Castle was surrounded by a stone wall about 2 km long. The wall included 10 towers. One of the five towers of the eastern front defended the so-called. The cattle drive gate, which is why it was called Cariaportti (Cattle Drive). However, the improvement of artillery and methods of fighting fortresses required the strengthening of defense - by order of Gustav Vasa , a squat powerful tower- rondelle (this type of tower was characteristic of late Gothic fortification) was built, placed 17 meters in front of the front of the city wall for conducting enfilade artillery fire (it was assumed that there will be two such towers). In terms of plan, the tower was somewhat ovoid in shape and had a diameter of about 21 m with a wall thickness at the base of about 4 m on the east side and about 3 m on the west side. The round tower was connected to the Cattle Drive Gallery from two stone walls 2-2.5 m thick with internal passage (such a defensive unit is called a barbican ).

In 1564, at the direction of King Eric XIV , the construction of the bastion fortress began, which covered new areas of the city lying to the east. For the unusual appearance of the corner bastions, the fortress was called Rogatoy . The round tower was included in the new defensive system - Curtina approached it from the side of the current market and turned in the direction parallel to the current Lenin Avenue . Unofficially, the neighboring Skotoprogonnaya tower was called the Ram Sheep (neglected cattle were placed by the authorities in the tower and returned to the townspeople only after paying a fine).

Military Loss

In 1609, the Vyborg Treaty was signed in this tower by representatives of King Charles IX and Tsar Vasily Shuisky about the military assistance that Sweden pledged to provide Russia in the war with the Poles (in exchange for the Korela fortress ).

After Vyborg was captured by the Russian army in 1710, the tower, named Petersburg, was in the rear of the defense and gradually lost its military significance. They began to use it as an arsenal; in addition, they levied a fee on visitors.

When in 1861 the fortress walls and bastions were demolished according to the new urban development plan, the Round Tower was on the edge of the formed Market Square . At different times, the tower was used as a warehouse, a storage of explosives and even a prison. Officially, the tower was called Petrovskaya, but it was also known as the “Fat Katerina ”. It was repeatedly proposed to be demolished, but in 1922, thanks to the efforts of the then chief architect of Vyborg, Uno Ulberg, the building was adapted for public premises, including for meetings of the Technical Club, in which the technical intelligentsia of Vyborg gathered.

A lobby and office space were arranged on the ground floor, and a Silver meeting room (with wrought iron lamps and silver-plated chandeliers), a library, and a small Renaissance hall were arranged on the second floor. On the third floor, a large Renaissance Hall was opened - the main hall of the Round Tower restaurant , decorated with paintings on historical themes, from the foundation of the castle to the capture of the city in 1710 by Peter I with descriptions of stories in Finnish, Swedish and Latin. A series of plots ended with the winged Latin phrase “ Per aspera ad astra ” (“Through thorns to the stars”). Stairs, walls and ceilings were lined with pine wood panels from the island of Valaam . Visitors were served by waitresses dressed in baroque costumes.

The purpose of the tower changed again as a result of the Soviet-Finnish Wars (1939-1944) . In 1940, after the transfer of Vyborg to the USSR, the Soviet authorities decided to transfer the premises of the tower to the museum of local lore, but the next year the Finnish military, who returned to Vyborg during the Great Patriotic War , organized a kind of field kitchen in the Round Tower. Sometimes a meeting was held in the tower and the Vyborg municipality , which remained without a building.

Modernity

In the post-war period, the Soviet authorities arranged a pharmacy warehouse in the tower. The Round Tower was later transferred to the city catering trust. In 1972, the architect-artist V.V.Dmitriev developed a restoration project, including the reconstruction of the murals of the Renaissance Hall, supplemented by a description in Russian, and a cafe-restaurant was opened in the tower since 1976. The restaurant hall remained on the third floor, and the banquet hall was located on the second floor (restoration of the library and the Silver Hall was not provided for by the restoration project).

The Round Tower restaurant is still in operation ^[1] .

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  Designation of the hidden walls of the Barbican

• The Round Tower at the beginning and end of the 20th century
• Tyulenev V. - Defense Complex of the Carieportti of the Vyborg Fortress
• The Round Tower - archival photographs, drawings // Risticikivi: Karelian Isthmus - history and culture