Tourism in Arkhangelsk
About our Arkhangelsk land
Turist attractions / Architectural monuments
An obelisk to commemorate the construction of the first Russian Merchant Ship

      Near the entrance to the grounds of the “Krasnaya Kuznitsa” Dockyard an obelisk was installed in 1984. It is a three-mast sailing-ship topped by a high thin spire, and the base of the memorial is paved with stones. Later on, the following was inscribed on the front side: “To remember generations of shipbuilders at the Solombalskaya Dockyard who created Russia's sea glory, 1693-1993” and below it reads: “And we shall have a fleet better than any foreign one. I shall do everything to accomplish this. Let it be so…Peter. 1707”. Large admiralty anchors and a canon stand around the obelisk. The canon was cast at the dockyard “Krasnaya Kuznitsa” and on November 27, 1993 it was used to “shoot fireworks in honor of the 300-year anniversary of the Russian Fleet and the Solombalskaya Dockyard”.
      It was right here where in 1693 Peter the Great founded the sea merchant ship “Saint Pavel”. From that time Arkhangelsk is rightfully considered the motherland of shipping in Russia. Since the middle of the 18th century the dockyard with slips and workshops was called the Arkhangelsk Admiralty. In 1862 the dockyard was closed, but the ship repairing workshops remained which were later re-equipped in 1922 to become the “Krasnaya Kuznitsa” Dockyard. Over the course of its existence the Solombalskaya Dockyard approximately 700 big and small sea vessels were built. The most famous of them was the 74-canon battleship “Azov”. It was awarded the colored Georgievsky flag for the victory in the 1827 Navarinskaya Battle and became the first guard ship of the Russian Navy. 

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