Russia preserves around 100 objects connected with Belgorod’s Great Zasechnaya Cherta

About 100 objects of Belgorod’s Great Zasechnaya Cherta or the Great Abatis Line, a defense line established in the XVII century to protect the southern borders, are preserved in Russia. Experts have conducted an inventory, Konstantin Mogilevsky, Executive Director of the History of the Fatherland Foundation, they include fragments of shafts, earth fortifications and fortresses said on Friday at the all-Russian scientific and practical conference "The Belgorod Defense Line - 2022" in Belgorod.

"We have an instruction from President Vladimir Putin to study, promote and introduce the Belgorod Zasechnaya Cherta and other defensive lines into the tourism industry. We have made an inventory; about 100 objects have been preserved in the country. These are fragments of ramparts, earth fortifications, fortresses. They have different protective statuses: some of them are registered as objects of cultural heritage and are subject to protection, others are only in the process of obtaining the status. There's a lot of work to be done," the Department of Information Policy of Belgorod State National Research University (BelSU) quoted Mogilevsky.

According to Mogilevsky, inventory should become the basis for further educational work, development of tourist routes and "intellectual historical tourism." BelGU, which is one of the largest Russian scientific and educational centers, will profile a high-quality scientific basis in implementing these plans, Mogilevsky said.

"The forum is dedicated not only to the history of the Belgorod land, but also to a complex, difficult, and in many ways heroic time period - the XVII century - when the historical fate of Russia was decided on the southern outskirts of the country. The construction of Belgorod's Great Abatis Line, which stretched almost 800 kilometers, allowed to successfully fight nomadic invasions from the steppes and resist the Polish-Lithuanian state, which wanted to seize Russian lands. It was then, becoming the center of the Belgorod Line, that the fortified city of Belgorod acquired national significance," noted the rector of Belgorod University, Oleg Polukhin.