Kremlin is a common name for city fortresses built in Old Russia, which means a city surrounded with a fortress wall with loop holes and towers. Many cities had trading quarters behind such Kremlin walls. To protect them, additional external fortresses were put up, and in this case the city’s central part surrounded by fortress walls used to be called kremlin. In Old Russia, only such settlements within fortress walls were called cities.
The Aleksandrovsky Kremlin or the Aleksandrovskaya village is an ancient Russian fortress known from mid-14th century. Grand prince Vasily III build a palace here in 1513. Historically, it is primarily related to Ivan the Terrible, Vasily’s son, who made it a kind of the state capital. This place is widely believed to be the capital of the oprichnina and the Boyar Duma. Ivan the Terrible makes the Aleksandrovsky Kremlin the headquarters for negotiating with foreign ambassadors to sign government treaties and receive ambassadors from different states and the Pope.
The Vologodsky Kremlin is a historical and architectural ensemble in Vologda founded as a fortress in 1567 by the order of Ivan the Terrible. It was used as a fortification in the 16th and 17th centuries. By 1820-es the Kremlin walls and towers were dismantled. The following historical monuments are still available on the territory of the Kremlin: St. Sophia Cathedral, Bishop’s Court complex, the 18th century Pokrov Church, which was built to replace the namesake church with St. Joachim and St. Anna side altar used as a separate palace church in the 16th century.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture first day covers and special cancellation postmarks for Moscow, Alexandrov, Vladimir Region, and Vologda.
Designer: K. Beterdinova.
Face values: 22 RUB, 41 RUB.
Size of stamp: 38×23 mm, size of sheet: 100×152.4 mm.
Form of issue: sheet with illustrated 2x5 margins of 10 stamps.
Circulation: 50,193,000 stamps each (Aleksandrovsky Kremlin).
Circulation: 30,186,000 stamps each (Vologodsky Kremlin).
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