(Soource: http://m.vilingstore.net)

The first ancient Russian fortified settlement near the town of Vyazma appeared on the Rusyatka River. But the excavations found no traces of settlement at the Sobornaya Mountain, in an area where the Kremlin was situated later.

At least, there was none until XII-XIII centuries. So, Rusyatskoe ancient settlement was the predecessor of Vyazma, which, in turn, was first mentioned in the chronicles of 1239 already as a town, which means that Kremlin was already there.

During the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich the stone walls of the Big lower town were built in 1632, and the former Kremlin was renamed as the Upper small town. The wall of the Big lower town had six square towers.

One of the towers of the Vyazma Kremlin - Spasskaya – is preserved due to the fact that it was located on the territory of Arkadevsky Monastery founded in XVII century. However, only the Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour has survived until today.

A wooden Trinity Cathedral, which was rebuilt in 1674-1676 at the expense of the Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, stood on the hill of the Upper small town. It has survived until the present day, although in a somewhat altered state due to the restoration after the Napoleonic invasion.

This is the main building of the Vyazma Kremlin. It was first built of stone in 1598, and in the 1654-55, when Aleksei Mikhailovich and the Patriarch hid in Vyazma from the plague epidemics raging in Moscow, it became the main cathedral of the entire Russia.

The surviving monuments of the Vyazma Kremlin include: the hill of the Upper small city, the Spasskaya Tower, the buildings of Arkadevsky Monastery.