Ізмаїл на плані Ф. Кауффера 1797 р.

Abstract

The Izmail’s plan, authored by a French Ottoman engineer F. Kauffer, is one of the most important sources on the history and historical topography of this Ottoman city on the lower Danube. The plan was drawn up in 1797. It reflects the planning of the city after the Suvorov assault in December 1790 and the return of Izmail to the Ottoman Empire following the Iasi Peace Treaty. The value of the document is that it reflects a large number of elements of urban development and infrastructure with signatures on the functional purpose of buildings and even the names of some streets, bazaars etc. After the liquidation of the fortress in 1856, all these buildings disappeared, including the systems of defensive fortifications. At present moment only the stone mosque with a dome survived – one of the oldest buildings in Izmail. The plan of the city and the fortress of Kauffer gives modern researchers the opportunity to recover much of the lost information. This makes this source extremely relevant and creates the need to introduce into scientific circulation a high-quality, readable digital copy of the plan. Therefore, the beginning of the history of the fortress and the city of Izmail dates back to the last decade of the 16th century. However, the peak of its development dates back to the 1780s. After the return of the city to the Ottoman Empire as a result of the Iasi Peace Treaty, the Turks immediately began a new phase of reconstruction of the fortifications. This period was reflected in the plan of F. Kauffer’s authorship in 1797. It is not yet known who authored this modernization project, but the French engineer left us a very detailed picture of the urban topography of Izmail in the period after the Suvorov assault.