Semen Remezov (1642-1720)

One of the most outstanding figures both in science and culture, Semen Remezov, was born in 1642 in the family of a Strelets sotnik (a lieutenant of Cossack troops).

In 1668 S. Remezov began his carrier as a Cossack in the Ishym burg. In 1682 Remezov was awarded the title of ‘the boyar son’ for his diligence, and was transferred to Tobolsk. Remezov lived in time of drastic changes of Peter I, when skills and talents of service people were in great demand. S. Remezov would make maps of the Tobolsk vicinities.

In 1696 Remezov was commissioned to compile a map of the total Siberian territory. The commission was considered the beginning of large-scale investigations recorded in the geographical atlases ‘A Chronicle Sketchbook (1697-1711), ‘A Sketchbook of Siberia’ (1699-1701), ‘An Official Book’ (1702), ‘A Sort Chronicle of Siberia’, and illustrated ‘History of Siberia’. The atlases compiled by Remezov can truly amaze the posterity by the grandour of his investigations, which had to be carried out in time when people could only make ride tours and move by water, as well as by varied data on geography, culture, economics, and the life-style in different parts of Siberia. Apart from practical application, the maps undoubtedly possess artistic merits. Supposedly, every modern historian or arts researcher would appeal to the works by Semen Remezov at least once.

The most important heritage of his is by right considered the architectural complex of the Tobolsk Kremlin built under S. Remezov’s design.