Kalyazinsky bell tower

The city of Kalyazin in the Tver region

Kalyazinsky bell tower - the bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral, towering from the waters of the Uglich reservoir in the city of Kalyazin, Tver Region.

A monument of history and architecture, one of the symbols of the consequences of the construction of a cascade of reservoirs on the Volga, which destroyed hundreds of villages, towns and cities, with ancient structures existing there.

The bell tower was built in 1800 at the St. Nicholas Cathedral, which was erected in 1694 at the St. Nicholas-Zhabensky monastery. The history of the now defunct monastery dates back to the 11th-12th centuries. At that time, Novgorod merchants, trading with the Russians and other lands along the Volga, organized their strongholds at the mouths of small rivers, built small churches and named them after the patron saint of travelers, St. Nicholas of Myra. And so the monastery "Nikola on the Zhabna" appeared.

The bell tower is made in the style of classicism, with five tiers, a dome with a head and a spire, as well as a clock. Initially, the height of the bell tower was 74.5 meters. The bell tower had 12 bells. In the late 1930s, during the creation of the Uglich Reservoir, formed by the construction of the Uglich Hydroelectric Power Station in Uglich, part of the territory of Kalyazin, including all the main historical and architectural monuments, was flooded. The bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral was preserved and was used as a lighthouse until the 1960s.

In the late 1980s, an artificial island with a small pier was poured around the bell tower, formerly rising from the water, as there was a danger of the building collapsing due to erosion by water. Since 2004, after the start of cruise ship calls to Kalyazin, excursions were organized on pleasure boats with landing on the island at the foot of the bell tower.

Despite the fact that Kalyazin is not very far from my city, I was there only once. This happened during a trip from Kostroma to Pskov in May days. I think I can go there again. I am going to plan such a trip in the near future.