White Tower

At the end of the XVI century Novgorod was surrounded by a powerful defensive wall - earthen rampart. Only the banks of the Volkhov remained unprotected. Therefore, at the end of the XVI century, stone towers were built south and north of the Kremlin. To this day, only one of them has survived - the Alekseevskaya or White Tower. It got its name due to the color of the walls that were plastered.

Alekseevskaya Tower was built in 1582-1584 and was one of the centers of cannon defense on the approach to the city from the south side. There was a second task, more utilitarian, which was to prevent a possible breakthrough to the Kremlin along the Volkhov bank along the rampart in case of danger.

The tower has four tiers: three were loopholes, and the last tier had teeth. In terms of the structure is round, the outer diameter is 17 meters, the inner - about 8 meters. The thickness of the walls at the level of the first tier is 4.5 meters. The total height of the tower without a tent exceeds 15 meters. The foundation of the Alekseevsky Tower is very powerful, consisting of a limestone slab and lined with large granite boulders that protrude both outside and inside the tower. Partly due to its solid foundation, which gave stability, the tower "lived" to our days, because it is built on bulk soil.

Now the restored tower stands alone against the background of the rampart, but if you play a little imagination, it is easy to imagine how impressive the picture of the defensive fortifications of Novgorod was just a few centuries ago.