Ryazhsk

Ryazhsk stands on the Khupta in the southern Ryazan country. Its name belonged to an early sixteenth-century fortified post guarding a portage and the open approaches used by raiders from the steppe. After the first fortification was destroyed, a new fortress was built on the Khupta in 1557 under the voivode Mikhail Kolychev. During the Time of Troubles it was burned by Aleksander Lisowski's forces in 1608, and its defences were later rebuilt.