Fyodor Savelyevich Kon (russian: Фёдор Саве́льевич Ко́нь; fl. 1585–1600) was a 16th-century

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who built the

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

Kremlin (1597–1602) and the

Bely Gorod Bely Gorod ( rus, Бе́лый го́род, p=ˈbʲelɨj ˈɡorət, "White City") is the central core area of Moscow, Russia beyond the Kremlin and Kitay-gorod. The name comes from the color of its defensive wall, which was erected in 1585–15 ...

fortification ring of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

(1585–1593).

Biography

The exact year and circumstances of his birth and early years remain unknown. Kon, as a mature man, and his relatives living in Moscow appear to be affiliated with the Boldino Monastery near

Dorogobuzh Dorogobuzh (russian: Дорогобуж) is a historic town and the administrative center of Dorogobuzhsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, straddling the Dnieper River and located east of Smolensk, the administrative center of the oblast. ...

, as evidenced by records of their donations to the monastery. Thus, it is assumed that Kon's ancestors came to Moscow from the Dorogobuzh area. The architect used the nickname ''Kon'' (

for stallion) as early as in 1584, as evidenced by his written plea to Ivan the Terrible. According to this account, Kon ran away to a "foreign land" and learned construction crafts there, specifically emphasizing his skills in fortifications like city walls, dams, ponds, moats, and "secrets" (tunnels). Kon received a public beating for his defection but was soon assigned to lead the construction of Bely Gorod, a 10-kilometer outer ring of Moscow fortress that stood in the path of present-day

Boulevard Ring The Boulevard Ring (russian: Бульва́рное кольцо́; transliteration: ''Bulvarnoye Koltso'') is Moscow's second innermost ring road (the first is formed by the Central Squares of Moscow running along the former walls of Kitai-gorod ...

. His best known project, the Kremlin of Smolensk, was launched by Boris Godunov in 1597. Fyodor Kon has been the subject of an eponymous poem by Dmitri Kedrin (1940).

References

* 16th-century births 16th-century deaths Russian architects Russian military engineers 16th-century architects 16th-century Russian engineers {{Russia-architect-stub