Belgorod – The Last Time We Were a Border Town

The conference attracted historians and archaeologists from across Russia, as our University has recently become a hub for this kind of research. Our own Professor Andrei Papkov spoke about the system of church administration, used as a proxy government on the frontier in the period. Dr Oleg Kurbatov, from the Russian State Historical Archive in Moscow, gave a presentation on the evolution of artillery weapons along the Belgorod line of fortresses. Dr Vladimir Glazyev of Voronezh State University charted the rise of the 'Chiefs of Siege', deputy commanders responsible for protecting the city during the absence of the Voivode (Generalissimo). Dr Vladimir Zhigalov, a leading light in the Ratnik Historical Society, gave the audience an insight into what the main buildings in the cities of the Belgorod line looked like. His work, and the work of his society, has pieced together all the available evidence necessary to recreate an accurate vision of Belgorod as it was 300 years ago. This supersedes the fanciful ideas that have dominated public understanding until now.