A grim building in gothic style with powerful walls of huge, slightly worked granite boulders - so looks the oldest house in Russia today, located in the city of Vyborg at Krepostnaya Street, 13-A.
The two-storey ‘Citizen’s House’, with a total area of 70 square meters, was built in 1583, when the town was under Swedish rule. Located dangerously close to the border with the Russian state, Vyborg was the most important outpost of the Swedes in the east, so even the dwellings there were often built as small fortresses.
In the event of invasion, the homeowner could easily hide his family behind one-meter thick solid walls and bombard the enemy through the windows, which, in those days, were much narrower than today and were in fact more like arrowslits.
In the following centuries, Vyborg was rebuilt several times and the old house, which did not fit into the new street network, was clumsily squeezed between its younger brethren.
The ‘Citizen’s House’ has always been an ordinary dwelling house. However, there is speculation that the city’s first printing house operated there in the 17th century, while, in the 18th century, it was used as a residence of Russian Emperor Peter the Great, who stayed there during his visits to the city.
The unique building is listed as a major national heritage site, but people still live in it today. There is a two-storey apartment with a wooden staircase in the house itself. There is another apartment in a brick extension that was added much later.
Not much has been left of the old times in the ‘Citizen’s House’. The building has long had electricity, running water, heating and sewerage installed and the interiors have been regularly renovated. The only reminders of a bygone era are the old cellar with a separate entrance from the street and the thick walls that ensure complete soundproofing.
In 2019, Russia’s oldest residential building was put up for sale for 11 million rubles (approx. $180,000). A little later, the price dropped to 8.5 million (approx. $140,000). Whether the “true connoisseur of history” the seller was looking for was eventually found remains unknown.
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