Fortress of St. Elizabeth

The Fortress of St. Elizabeth (Фортеця Святої Єлисавети, also known locally as "earthworks" ) is former earthen fortress in the form of a six-pointed star in the city of Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine, which became the main symbol of the city.

History
After the formation of New Serbia on the lands of Ukrainian Cossacks, the fortress was created to protect the territories of Serbian settlers from Tatar raids. The fortress of St. Elizabeth was built according to the decree of the Senate, which also created New Serbia. The decree was signed by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on January 4, 1752. On the basis of the decree, Colonel Ivan Horvat was given a certificate of thanks, and Ivan Glebov received an instruction.

The Hadiach-Myrhorod regiment of Ukrainian Cossacks (1390 males) arrived to build the fortress, which completed the main works in four months: from June 12 to October 1754. During the work, 72 Zaporozhians died, 233 fell ill, and 855 ran away.

The artillery armament of the fortress then consisted of 120 guns, 12 mortars, 6 falconets, 12 howitzers and 6 mortars. In the following years, construction work in the fortress continued, but very slowly and was not finished even until the end of the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1761). A whole city was built on the territory of the fortress, in the center of which stood the wooden Holy Trinity Church, which from 1755 until 1801 it had the status of a cathedral. The soldiers' barracks were designed for 2,200 soldiers. The garrison consisted of three battalions and two teams, artillery and engineering. Here were commandant's, general's, protopope's houses, powder cellars The fortress of St. Elizabeth took part in hostilities only once. This happened during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), the first campaign of which began in 1769 with the invasion of the Crimean khan Qırım Giray to Yelisavetgrad province. On January 4, the 70,000-strong Turkish-Tatar army led by him crossed the border and on January 7 stopped near the st. Elizabeth fortress, in which General Isakov hid with the garrison and local residents. The Crimeans plundered the surrounding villages and enslaved local residents, but the defenders of the city successfully repelled the Tatar attacks and drove the invaders away. This was the last march of the Crimean Tatars to Ukraine.

In 1763, a school for officers' children was opened in the fortress, in 1764, the first civilian printing press in Ukraine was founded. Since 1775, the fortress of St. Elizabeth finally lost its defensive significance. In 1787–1788 Grigory Potemkin founded one of the first medical educational institutions in Ukraine, the medical and surgical school, which was graduated by Yefrem Mukhin (1766–1850), who became an outstanding surgeon and was one of the teachers of Nikolay Pirogov (1810–1871). Pirogov himself worked in the fortress hospital during the Crimean War of 1853–1856.

In 1784, the fortress was liquidated, and all the artillery was transported to Kherson. Gradually, over several years, the fortress was disarmed. In 1788 Austrian Field Marshal Charles-Joseph of Ligne visited here and left his memoirs upon his arrival to Europe. In 1794, 162 guns were still kept here, which were serviced by 277 gunners. Cannons and artillery supplies were exported to border towns, mainly to Kherson. In April 1795, 5 cannons were sent to Novomyrhorod. Only two cannons have survived in the former fortress - they are installed on stone pedestals at the entrance from the former main gate The complete cancellation of the status of the fortress took place on March 15, 1805. The fortress garrison was disbanded, but the barracks housed a battalion (three companies) for many years. The outline of the fortress became the coat of arms of the city.

During the Ukrainian–Soviet War, the Bolsheviks created a prison here for political opponents, primarily for the otamans of the Ukrainian People's Republic and Kholodny Yar Republic (Yuriy Gorlis-Gorsky was imprisoned here in 1920). During the Holodomor of 1932-1933 and Great Purge, employees of OGPU and NKVD secretly buried here those killed and tortured, burying their corpses in mass graves. During the years of stagnation, dissidents from all over the Kirovograd oblast were tortured here in the local hospital. On the territory of the former fortress there are 2 hospitals since 1800, memorial complex dedicated to the Soviet militaries «Pantheon of Eternal Glory» since 1950 (in particular here are the graves of the Heroes of the Soviet Union: Hryhoriy Kuropyatnykov, Hryhoriy Balitskyi, Dmytro Osatyuk, Ivan Usenko, Vasyl Galushkin, Ivan Koval, Mykola Lytvynov, Dmytro Semenov, Bari Gabdrakhmanov, Kuzma Antonenko, Orest Borovkov, Mykola Barbolin, Mykhailo Rodionov, Valery Verkholantsev, Yuri Hlibko, Mykola Zhosan, Olexiy Yegorov, Hryhoriy Tkachev, Mykola Klimov, Olexandr Volkov and Mykola Zinchenko), an Alley of the memory dedicated to the warriors of the Russo-Ukrainian War since 2014 and cinema «Portal». Also in 2016, a memorial to the victims of the Holodomor was installed (the city in 1932–1933 lost 2238 residents).