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Korela was first mentioned in a Novgorodian
chronicle of 1143 A.D. and archeological digs revealed the
layer of the 12th century. Swedish chronicles first reported
of the settlement of Korela in 1294.
The fortress and its buildings suffered
many sieges and fires and were rebuilt several times. The
core sector of the fortifications is the Kruglaya (Round)
Tower that was the only entrance to the fortress. Ramparts,
once supported by wooden structures, are extended on both
sides of the tower.
The defense wall of the fortress is added
with the Stary (Old) Arsenal of 1591 with thick cobblestone
walls and the Novy (New) Arsenal erected in the early 18th
century.
A pentagonal bastion adjoining the fortress
was built in the 16th century. An underground tunnel connecting
the bastion with the fortress survived to our days.
The museum exhibit depicts the history of
the fortress. It was founded by the Karelians who named the
place Kakisalmi. Novogorodian chronicles refer to it as Korela.
The Swedes captured Korela twice: in 1580 for 17 years and
in 1611 for 100 years. It was in those days that the Swedish
name Keksholm was fixed for the town.
The fortress constructions that were spared
by time date back to the late 16th century in the main. Soon
after seizure of the fortress in 1580, the Swedes rebuilt
the fortress following a West European pattern of bastion
fortifications. Swedish coins of the 17th century, pipes and
dibs are among the objects found in the fortress and displayed
in the archeological collection of the museum.
In the middle 18th century the Keksholm
Fortress was turned into a political prison. "The forbidden
Emperor" Ioann Antonovich, wives and children of a peasant
uprising leader Emelian Pugachev, "Decembrists"-
participants of the nobility rebellion of 1825 were confined
here.
One of the exhibit sections tells a fabulous
story of Maria Keksholmskaya life. She was a 7-year Turkish
girl adopted by soldiers of the Keksholm Regiment in 1878,
during liberation of Bulgaria in Russian-Turkish War. During
World War I she became a nurse widely known for donating all
her savings for the needs of front hospitals.
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