Tula is a large Russian city located on the river Upa in the area south of Moscow. The city is first mentioned in 1146, which was in the Nikon Chronicle. Throughout the first centuries, Tula remained a small settlement at a fort on the border of the Principality of Ryazan. The growth in Tula started when the city came under the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1503, which built a Kremlin here in the years 1514-1521.

The fortress in Tula was an important defense against attacks from Tatars in the south, and Tula also withstood an attack in 1552. In 1607, the Tula Kremlin became a refuge for the peasant rebel leader Ivan Bolotnikov and his army for four months. Vasily IV’s armies eventually overcame Bolotnikov by damming the Upa and flooding the Kremlin.

Peter the Great came to Tula in 1712, and he established the first real weapons factory in Russia in the city. In the same centuries, Tula also became a major center for iron foundries, metalworking and industries such as the production of samovars. Gradually the empire expanded, and Tula lost its strategic military location, but its armor industry became increasingly important. Schools, theaters etc. were also built. in the city, which became a station town in 1868 on the railway between Moscow and Kursk.

Tula became part of the Soviet Union, and the arms industry produced for the Red Army. Universities and other things were also founded in the city during this period. During World War II, Tula became the target of a German offensive due to the city’s large arms production and industrial importance. The city held its own, and Germany did not occupy Tula, which for its defense received the status of a Soviet hero city in 1976. After the war, Tula had to be partially rebuilt after German destruction.

Today you can go on some lovely walks in Tula, which has many fine sights. In the center of the city is the Tula Kremlin, which is the old fortification from the beginning of the 16th century. The fortress walls and towers were reconstructed in the 1960s in their original appearance, and if you walk around the complex today, you can see nine fortress towers in corners and at the entrance gates to the Kremlin.

Behind the walls are two beautiful churches: Ascension Cathedral from 1762-1766 and Epiphany Cathedral from 1855-1863. At the baroque Assumption Cathedral, you can see the church’s bell tower, which was completed in 1781, while the Holy Trinity Cathedral forms part of Tula’s weapons museum. The entire Tula Kremlin is a large museum area, and you can visit the modern museum building, which, among other things, depicts the history of the facility, and here, for example, is an interesting model of the Kremlin in the 17th century, where an entire city lay within the walls.

Southwest of the Tula Kremlin is the large Lenin Square, where you can see the city’s monument to the leader of the state, Lenin. Lenin stands in front of the Tula Oblast parliament building, built in the 1970s. At the end of the square along the Kremlin walls, you can visit the samovar museum, which has exhibitions about one of the city’s most famous products over the past centuries.

Opposite the parliament building you can see two churches; the classicist Church of the Annunciation of Christ from 1835-1842 and the Ascension Cathedral, which was built in Russian style in the years 1898-1902. From Lenin Square, you can walk south along the main street, Prospekt Lenina, which forms the central axis through the entire city. A few kilometers to the southwest, you can see the heroic city monument Three Bayonets.

In Tula you can also enjoy some trips in the city’s recreational areas, such as the large Central Park, which is located southwest of the center. In the park there are beautiful facilities, rides, a beach and much more. You can also take a walk along the river Upa, where the area along the river arm just north of the Tula Kremlin is especially atmospheric. Parallel to this area is the pedestrian street Ulitsa Metallistov, which is one of the city’s oldest streets.

Over the years, the street was built up with merchant mansions and fine town houses with changing architecture in a beautiful whole, which today stands beautifully restored. Continuing through the street, you come to Upa and the headquarters of the Tula State Museum of Weapons. The museum is open in an impressive museum building from 2012, which was built based on the shape of a helmet. At the museum you can see a fine collection of weapons and dissemination of the history of weapons over the past many centuries.