Фортеця Харків: Лопанські ворота

Kharkiv Fortress: The Lopan Gate
Back in the early 2000s, I found myself puzzled by the layout of the modern intersection of Klochkivska Street, Soborny Uzviz (Cathedral Descent), and Sergiyivska Square. Initially, I assumed this peculiar zigzag was the result of World War II street fighting, which had destroyed the historical trading rows on Sergiyivska Square. Later, I speculated that the boundaries of the nearby monastery garden had shaped it.

I had no idea that its origins traced back to the days of the Kharkiv Fortress. Even on the famous 1970s reconstruction map by architect Volodymyr Novgorodov, the fortress walls were depicted running along the crest of the hillfort (horodyshche). In 2009, my colleague Oleksandr Pariysky and I mapped them the exact same way on our physical model of the Kharkiv Fortress.

It was only after I obtained scanned copies of the city plans from 1709, 1720, 1730, and 1742 that I discovered the western section of the fortress walls had a completely different configuration in the early 18th century. Archival sources revealed that the steep terrain prevented the garrison from constructing standard walls and towers here, unlike the northern, eastern, and southern sides of the Kharkiv hillfort.

Long before the fortress was built, a road connecting Belgorod to the Mozhesky outpost (modern-day Valky) ran directly through the Kharkiv hillfort. It descended from what is now Universytetska Hill, followed the path of modern Soborny Uzviz, and made a sharp left turn. Near the site of the modern Lopan Bridge, there was a natural shallow area that allowed travelers to ford the Lopan River and continue their journey on the right bank.

However, the construction of the fortress and the daily activities of its inhabitants soon changed everything. The river began to shift, showing its unpredictable temper. Forading it became nearly impossible during the spring floods and heavy autumn rains. Building a permanent bridge over the Lopan became a necessity. Naturally, they decided to construct it directly opposite the road descending the hill — where modern Soborny Uzviz lies.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, this descent was a ravine with rather steep slopes. Contemporary historical documents refer to it as a "strait" or a watercourse, as it served as a natural drainage channel for rainwater rushing down from the Kharkiv hillfort. The fact that the road to the Mozhesky outpost ran through this ravine points to its seasonal nature, as it would have been entirely impassable in early spring or late autumn.

In 1656, during the construction of the initial fortress, this ravine was blocked by wooden palisade (ostroh) walls, with a basic gate installed in the center. In 1658, as the main towers of the Kharkiv Fortress were being erected, the garrison attempted to replace the gate with the wooden Lopan Gate-Tower (Lopanska proizna bashta). However, in the spring of 1659, torrents of meltwater swept away the unfinished structure.

This disaster forced the garrison to lay a heavy timber deck over the ravine, directing the water torrents underneath it. Instead of a massive tower, they built a new, fortified gate. It was a square structure with walls measuring 1.4 fathoms (about 3.2 meters) wide and 2 fathoms (4.26 meters) high, topped with a hipped roof. It was directly opposite this gate that the very first Lopan Bridge was constructed.

The Lopan Gate stood until the early 18th century. Its gradual decay is meticulously documented in the garrison's annual "estimate" (smetnye) books. The entries note: "The roof on the hipped structure has rotted" in 1667; "The roof on the hipped structure has rotted and collapsed" in 1669, and so it continues until 1701.

The construction of the New Town (Novyi Horod) fortifications began between 1695 and 1698 during the Azov campaigns, under the local governor (voivode) Semyon Durnovo. This new outer fort surrounded Kharkiv from the east, north, and west. By 1700, the defensive lines were still incomplete, with a gap of about 300 fathoms (around 639 meters) left entirely unprotected. These walls and towers were finalized only after the tsarist governor-led administration was abolished.

By 1708, a full-fledged, fortified Lopan Gate-Tower stood in place of the old gate. It was pushed significantly forward toward the riverbank — about 20 fathoms (42 meters) from the original gate site. It was at this precise moment in history that the distinctive road zigzag, which we still see today when transitioning from Sergiyivska Square onto Klochkivska Street, was formed.

This new Lopan Gate-Tower first appeared on the city plan of 1709, drawn during Tsar Peter I’s visit to Kharkiv. It appeared again on a map drawn in the spring of 1730 by Captain Matthias Retsch. This 1730 map reveals that instead of a solid wall, only temporary fortifications connected the right side of the tower to the upper citadel. Later that year, following recommendations by Major General Peter de Brigny, a permanent moat was dug, an earthen rampart was raised, and the tower was reinforced with a small corner wall. The older walls near the dismantled original Lopan Gate remained in place.

The subsequent plan of Kharkiv, dated 1742, was compiled after the catastrophic fire of May 1733. It indicates that while all the inner walls and towers of the central citadel had burned to the ground, the outer fortress walls of the New Town along modern Klochkivska Street, including the Lopan Gate-Tower, survived. Finally, a 1767 plan of the citadel maps the topography of the area where the Lopan Tower and the outer walls once stood. The Lopan Gate-Tower remained standing until at least 1756, after which it and the adjacent defensive walls were dismantled.

A new bridge over the Lopan was eventually built further downstream, and the road running through the old ravine lost its strategic purpose. None of the late 18th or early 19th-century city plans included it as a viable thoroughfare. It wasn't until after 1833 that the City Improvement Commission decided to redevelop the area, driven by the relocation of the market from the Zakharkivska neighborhood across the river to Blahovishchenska Square, and the construction of the new Kupetsky (Merchants') Bridge.

A road called Kupetsky Lane was paved along the old ravine bed, appearing on the city plan of 1846. Sometime later, it was renamed Sergiyevsky Lane in honor of the former Governor-General Sergei Kokoshkin. However, after 1879, the lane was downgraded to a minor driveway but regained its historic name: Kupetsky. Apparently, the city decided that having Sergiyivska Square named after Kokoshkin was more than enough.

Following the death of the prominent merchant Vasyl Pashchenko-Tryapkin in 1894, his massive estates were bequeathed to the city, and Kupetsky Driveway was renamed in his honor. Yet, on the 1916 map of Kharkiv, it appears once again as Kupetsky — though classified as a descent (uzviz) rather than a driveway. In the early Soviet era, it briefly retained the name Kupetsky Uzviz until a 1932 map marked it as Khalturinsky. During World War II, the German occupation administration reverted it to its historical name (Kupetsky). Finally, in 2009, Khalturinsky Uzviz was officially renamed Soborny (Cathedral) Uzviz.

The area to the left of the old Lopan Tower (where Pokrovsky Square sits today) was purchased in 1766 by merchant Artem Karpov. As he developed houses, wings, and retail arcades, he began leveling and flattening the steep slopes of the ancient ravine. In the second half of the 19th century, this expansive property was acquired by the aforementioned Vasyl Pashchenko-Tryapkin, who constructed the famous pre-revolutionary shopping center known as the "Passage." The buildings of the Passage were severely damaged during intense street fighting in March 1943 and were never restored after World War II. In their place, the Terrace Square was created, known today as Pokrovsky Square.

To the right of the old Lopan Tower, an open-air market of the same name began to take shape after 1765. It proved highly difficult to organize, consisting mostly of fish stalls and crude wooden benches for small-scale vendors. A devastating fire in 1835 put an end to the Lopan Bazaar. Brick trading rows were built in its place, and in 1861, the former market square was officially named Sergiyivska Square, also in honor of Kokoshkin. In 1932, the Soviet regime renamed it Proletarska Square, but in 2016, its historical name was restored: Sergiyivska Square.

Today, the unusual zigzag connecting Sergiyivska Square, Klochkivska Street, and Soborny Uzviz serves as a physical, living memorial to the layout of the ancient Kharkiv Fortress.

“Kharkiv Fortress” is a historical series by Andriy Paramonov, a prominent researcher of the history of Sloboda Ukraine. Read the author’s full column on MediaPort.