Visitors of the Hall of History of the 16th - 20th Centuries immediately pay attention to the forged cross which is 2,5 meters high. At its basis the double-headed eagle has spread its enormous wings. The redoubtable bird holds the sceptre and the orb in its paws, its heads are crowned.
The city legend says that the cross was presented to Saransk by Ivan the Terrible during the war with the Kazan Khanate. The legend was written down by the local ethnographer Peterson at the end of the 19th century, though there aren’t any documentary confirmations of it. The fact is that under the rule of Ivan the Terrible Saransk didn’t exist yet. And the sceptre and the orb were introduced only in the 17th century, that is considerably after his rule.
Experts determined that the parts of the exhibit had been made in different periods. On the cross there embossed a year of manufacturing – ‘1782 “, and the eagle was made about 1653. At that time Fyodor Semyonov, a courtier, was in charge of moving to Saransk the control over the field fortification line – a line of defence against the Tatars” cavalry raids. To counteract horsemen, trees were cut at the level of a human height, crowns of trees were put in the direction of the enemy, obtrusive branches were sharpened. Narrow passages were completed with trap trenches and traps. In between forests fortresses were built. The long field fortification line stretched from Belgorod to the Volga. Saransk became one of its units.
According to the 17th century tradition, the main gates of the fortresses were decorated with a double-headed eagle. The brightest example is the Moscow Kremlin where similar coats of arms were installed over the four gate towers nearly at the same time. But during the Soviet time they were replaced with stars.
So, the Spasskaya Tower of Saransk Kremlin was crowned with a double-headed eagle. It was an imposing 30-metre construction. A quadrangular bulkhead with a gallery and a tower clock domineered on the hexahedral tier. A lookout with an alarm-bell, covered with tent roof, stretched even higher. The eagle was standing on a tall spoke over the roof and was seen from afar. Its three crowns symbolised the Kazan, the Astrakhan and the Siberian Kingdoms.
The tower was also used as a belfry for a nearby wooden Church of the Saviour. At the end of the 17th century, a stone cathedral was being built; the construction was over in 1695. Its main altar was consecrated in the name of All-Merciful Saviour, side chapels in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Theologian.
In the next century, Saransk Kremlin outdated and lost its fortification meaning. It was dismantled, and the eagle was carried to the top of a new cathedral bell-tower and fixed at the base of the cross. Meanwhile the middle crown was installed much higher. In 1930, the cathedral was closed and soon demolished. The cross with the eagle was given to the Museum of Local History. The depiction on the central shield didn’t survive. Most likely, a horseman slaying the snake with his spear, was embossed there. Such depiction of the tsar’s coat of arms was popular in the 16th century under the rule of Ivan III.
The city legend says that the cross was presented to Saransk by Ivan the Terrible during the war with the Kazan Khanate. The legend was written down by the local ethnographer Peterson at the end of the 19th century, though there aren’t any documentary confirmations of it. The fact is that under the rule of Ivan the Terrible Saransk didn’t exist yet. And the sceptre and the orb were introduced only in the 17th century, that is considerably after his rule.
Experts determined that the parts of the exhibit had been made in different periods. On the cross there embossed a year of manufacturing – ‘1782 “, and the eagle was made about 1653. At that time Fyodor Semyonov, a courtier, was in charge of moving to Saransk the control over the field fortification line – a line of defence against the Tatars” cavalry raids. To counteract horsemen, trees were cut at the level of a human height, crowns of trees were put in the direction of the enemy, obtrusive branches were sharpened. Narrow passages were completed with trap trenches and traps. In between forests fortresses were built. The long field fortification line stretched from Belgorod to the Volga. Saransk became one of its units.
According to the 17th century tradition, the main gates of the fortresses were decorated with a double-headed eagle. The brightest example is the Moscow Kremlin where similar coats of arms were installed over the four gate towers nearly at the same time. But during the Soviet time they were replaced with stars.
So, the Spasskaya Tower of Saransk Kremlin was crowned with a double-headed eagle. It was an imposing 30-metre construction. A quadrangular bulkhead with a gallery and a tower clock domineered on the hexahedral tier. A lookout with an alarm-bell, covered with tent roof, stretched even higher. The eagle was standing on a tall spoke over the roof and was seen from afar. Its three crowns symbolised the Kazan, the Astrakhan and the Siberian Kingdoms.
The tower was also used as a belfry for a nearby wooden Church of the Saviour. At the end of the 17th century, a stone cathedral was being built; the construction was over in 1695. Its main altar was consecrated in the name of All-Merciful Saviour, side chapels in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Theologian.
In the next century, Saransk Kremlin outdated and lost its fortification meaning. It was dismantled, and the eagle was carried to the top of a new cathedral bell-tower and fixed at the base of the cross. Meanwhile the middle crown was installed much higher. In 1930, the cathedral was closed and soon demolished. The cross with the eagle was given to the Museum of Local History. The depiction on the central shield didn’t survive. Most likely, a horseman slaying the snake with his spear, was embossed there. Such depiction of the tsar’s coat of arms was popular in the 16th century under the rule of Ivan III.
