Exhibitions
6+Mokhovaya Tower of the Suma Stockaded Fort
Kolomenskoe
Andropov Avenue, 39, building 63
The first director of the Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve, Pyotr Baranovsky, called the Mokhovaya Tower of the Suma Stockaded Fort the last surviving wooden combat tower in European Russia.
In the 17th century, it was part of the defensive system of Karelian Pomorye. By the beginning of the 20th century, only one tower remained from the former fortifications, which was transported to Kolomenskoye in 1931. The restoration of the building had to wait more than 70 years, and only in 2005 was a project for its restoration prepared. In its finished form, the tower was presented to guests of the museum-reserve in 2008 as part of the Museum of Wooden Architecture. In 2024-2025, the exposition of the Mokhovaya Tower of the Sumsky Fortress was updated.
The Mokhovaya Tower has three tiers - and the exhibition is also divided into three main sections, which tell:
- about the history of the monument
- its architecture
- research and restoration of the tower
The exhibition shows the life and historical situation in which the Mokhovaya Tower existed, demonstrates the role of the Sumsky Posad in the system of defensive points of the White Sea, the weapons and life of the Streltsy.
Pyotr Baranovsky, the founder of the museum-reserve in Kolomenskoye, is a key figure in the work to preserve the tower of the Sumsky Fortress. A significant section of the exhibition is dedicated to him and his research. The routes of northern expeditions, finds and discoveries are shown. On the first tier of the tower there is an installation: the furnishings of Pyotr Dmitrievich's office are recreated, where in the evenings, sitting at the table, he made travel notes and sketches, analyzed what he saw during the day.