The Kazan Kremlin consists of. Kazan Kremlin: what to see. Description of the ensemble of the Governor's Palace

Today, architectural monuments of different eras and cultures coexist here. In 2000, the Kazan Kremlin was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The history of Kazan begins with the ancient fortifications of the Bulgar tribes, built on the high bank of the Kazanka River at the turn of the 10th–11th centuries. The Kremlin hill, surrounded on three sides by water, was well suited for the construction of a fortress.

The Kremlin during the Mongol-Tatar yoke

The stone Kremlin was erected in the 12th century to defend the northern borders of Volga Bulgaria. By the middle of the 13th century, the Mongol hordes led by Khan Batu had significantly advanced into Eastern Europe. The dominance of the Golden Horde was established over Russia and Crimea. Pala and Bulgaria. It became a province of the Mongol Empire. After the destruction of the former capital, the city of Bulgar, the new one was moved to Kazan. The local Kremlin became the residence of the rulers. And the city was named New Bulgar. But among local residents the name didn't stick. The former name returned, and the Golden Horde principality began to be called the Kazan ulus.

After the collapse of the Golden Horde in 1438, Genghisid Ulug-Muhammad founded the independent Kazan Khanate. Work began to strengthen the capital, the stone walls of the Kremlin were strengthened so much that, according to Russian chroniclers, they became “impregnable by military forces.” A Khan's palace and several mosques were built on the territory, including the stone Nur-Ali and the wooden Khan's. Subsequently, the Khan's Mosque received the name of Seid Kul-Sharif, who in 1552 led the defense of the Kazan Kremlin from the invasion of the troops of Ivan the Terrible.

Kazan as part of Russia

Not a single khan's building has survived to this day. When in the middle of the 16th century the Kazan Kremlin became a Russian fortress, orthodox churches were built on the sites of “centres of infidelity”, in other words - on the ruins of Muslim buildings. Even the famous Syuyumbike tower, which until the 19th century was mistakenly attributed to the Khan’s time, was erected much later, already in the Russian period - “proof of this is the architecture, especially the pilaster, unknown to the Tatars, and the place for the image.”

After the conquest of Kazan, Ivan the Terrible sent Pskov architects to the city. They began building the Kremlin. At first, the main part of the structures - towers and temples - was built from wood. It is believed that the small church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, erected around 1558, was the first to be built from stone. The main cathedral of the Annunciation appeared four years later, the Church of Cyprian and Justina - in 1596 on the site of a wooden church.

In the first half of the 19th century, during the reign of Nicholas I, a decision was made to create an imperial residence in the Kazan Kremlin, where the governor plays the role of the royal governor. In this regard, a special role is given to the construction of a governor's palace with premises for imperial apartments on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. The palace was designed with the participation of the architect Konstantin Ton, who planned to create a smaller copy of the Grand Kremlin Palace in Kazan. Nicholas I personally supervised the progress of construction. The resulting building is a striking example of the so-called Russian-Byzantine style.

Kazan Kremlin today

Over the thousand-year history, the appearance of the Kazan Kremlin has changed several times, but deep underground the masonry of ancient fortresses, mosques and burials has been preserved. Now on its territory there are several museums dedicated not only to the fortress itself, but also to the history of the Tatar people, Islamic culture and the nature of Tatarstan. There is also a museum-memorial of the Great Patriotic War, in memory of the 350 thousand Tatarstan citizens who did not return from the front.

“In order to preserve historical continuity,” in 1995 it was decided to recreate the main shrine of the Kazan Khanate - the Kul-Sharif mosque.

And in 2003, in the park near the Annunciation Cathedral, a symbolic sculpture “The Architects of the Kazan Kremlin” was unveiled - Russian and Tatar architects look at the fruits of their labors. After all, the unique architectural ensemble was created through the efforts of both peoples. However, the unique Kremlin complex is not only a place of pilgrimage for tourists, but also an administrative center. On the territory of the Kremlin, in the former building of the Governor's Palace, today there is official residence President of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Ancient history

Tower Syuyumbike

Governor's Palace

Blagoveshchensky cathedral

Cannon yard complex

Consistory building

Bishop's House

Junker School

Guardhouse building

Kazan Kremlin(tat. Kazan kirmane) - the oldest part of Kazan, a complex of architectural, historical and archaeological sites, revealing the centuries-old history of the city: archaeological remains of the first (XII-XIII centuries), second (XIV-XV centuries) and third settlements (XV-XVI centuries); a white stone Kremlin, a number of churches and buildings of great historical, architectural and cultural value, the official residence of the President of Tatarstan.

The Kremlin territory is an irregular polygon in plan, repeating the contours of the Kremlin hill, stretched from the northwest, from the Kazanka River, to the southeast, to May 1 Square. Located on the cape of a high terrace on the left bank of the Volga and the left bank of the Kazanka.

Is an object World Heritage UNESCO since 2000.

Story

Ancient history

No written evidence of the emergence of the Kremlin has survived to this day, but according to the official version, the city of Kazan was founded at the beginning of the 10th century. At the beginning of its existence, the Kremlin was called Kerman(tat. Kirman). There are no written sources on this matter.

XII-XIV centuries. Bulgar fortress

The earliest archaeological finds were found in the northern part of the Kremlin, closer to Kazanka, where the oldest Bulgarian fortified settlement and later, during the century, the fortress of the Kazan Khanate were located. Researchers differ regarding the dating of wooden fortifications of the ancient period: some believe that the Bulgar trading settlement was fortified already in the 10th century, others - only in the 12th century. Scientists also differ regarding the nature of the fortifications; some believe that the stone walls were partially erected already in the 12th century, others believe that only in the 15th or 16th centuries, after the reconstruction of the Kremlin by order of Ivan the Terrible by Pskov architects.

From the 2nd half of the 13th century to the 1st half of the 15th century, the Kremlin turned into the center of the Kazan principality (velayet) as part of the Golden Horde: in 1236, the Mongol hordes led by Batu invaded the Volga Bulgaria and ravaged its capital Bulgar, and in In 1240, Bulgaria, like the Russian principalities, finally found itself subordinate to the Golden Horde. Some of the Bulgars fled to the Kazanka regions and founded Iske-Kazan, a city 45 kilometers from Kazan. In 1370, the Bulgar prince Hasan laid the foundation of a fortress on the site of the modern Kazan Kremlin, which served as the residence of the Bulgar princes until 1445.

XV - first half of the XVI century. Khan's fortress

After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Kremlin became the center of the Kazan Khanate, which existed from 1445 to 1552. In the fall of 1445, the Horde khan Ulu-Mukhammed with a detachment of 3,000 soldiers captured Kazan, executed the Bulgar prince Alimbek, thus founding the Kazan Khanate on the ruins of Volga Bulgaria, and soon resumed the Horde system of collecting tribute from the Moscow principality.

Khan's citadel ( Ark) was surrounded by oak (possibly stone in places) walls, up to 9 meters thick with 4 travel towers: Nur-Ali, Elabuga, Big and Tyumen Gates. Ilisty Bulak (from Tat. "sleeve", a channel connecting the Kazanka River and Lake Kaban) defended the fortress from the west; and with the least protected south- east side the fortress was fenced with deep ditches.

Andrei Kurbsky left the following description of Kazan: “And from the Kazan River the mountain is so high that you can’t even close your eyes; there is a city on it and the royal chambers and mosques are very high, walled, where their dead kings were laid, we remember the number of them, five of them ... "(“walled” - stone).

According to legend, the cathedral mosque had 8 minarets; at the mosques there were madrassas and mausoleums (durbe). There is every reason to believe that the appearance of the mosques was similar to the stone buildings of the same time in Kasimov and Bulgar, where the smooth planes of the walls contrast with elegant carved and ceramic inserts of decorative elements.

Tezitsky (Arab. tezik - merchant) a ditch separated the khan's citadel from the southern part, where the buildings were wooden. The khan's close associates settled here and there was a cemetery.

Second half of the 16th century. Construction of a stone Kremlin

After the siege of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible in 1552, the fortress lay in ruins. To build a new white-stone Kremlin, the tsar called on the Pskov architects Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shirai (builders of St. Basil's Cathedral), as the chronicle tells “The sovereign commanded the broken and burnt city walls to edify,” for which purpose the Pskov elders “and with them the church and city master Postnik Yakovlev and the Pskov masons Ivashka Shirya and his comrades for spring in Kazan new town Do Kazan, recruit two hundred people from Pskov masons, wall workers and scrapers, as many as fit people will be.”. The fortress was significantly expanded, 6 towers (out of 13) were built of stone (five were travelable), but in the 16th century it was possible to replace only a third of the wooden walls (with a total length of 1800 meters) with stone and most of The walls and towers of the Kremlin were built from oak. Only at the beginning of the 17th century did the final replacement of the wooden defensive structures of the Kazan Kremlin with stone ones take place.

Along with the construction of the walls, Pskov craftsmen also built the first Orthodox churches Kazan Kremlin: Annunciation Cathedral, the Church of Cyprian and Justina, the Church of Dmitry of Thessaloniki at the Dmitrievskaya Tower, the Spasskaya (in honor of the icon of the Image Not Made by Hands) church at the Spasskaya Tower, as well as two monasteries - Trinity-Sergius with wooden Trinity and Sergius churches and Spaso-Preobrazhensky, with the stone church of St. Nicholas the Ratnoy and the stone, hewn limestone, basement of the wooden (in the 16th century) Transfiguration Cathedral.

For a long time (more than a century and a half), five stone buildings from the khan’s time (the khan’s mosque, the khan’s palace and mausoleums) were preserved in the Kazan Kremlin, used as storage facilities for storing weapons and ammunition, but over time they were dismantled due to disrepair. The Englishman D. Fletcher left remarkable memories of Russian Kremlins in the 16th century: “four fortresses - Smolensk, Pskov, Kazan and Astrakhan - were built very well and can withstand any siege... they are considered impregnable.” An interesting testimony of the Kremlin and the city at the turn of the century was left in 1599 by the secretary of the Persian embassy, Orudzh-bek (who later converted to Christianity in Spain and was later known as Don Juan of Persia), sent to Tsar Boris Godunov: "We arrived at a very Big city, belonging to the Russian Tsar. It is called Kazan and has more than fifty thousand Christian inhabitants. There are many churches in the city and there are so many large bells in them that it is impossible to fall asleep on the eve of the holiday. ... All the houses of this city are wooden, but there is a large and strong fortress with stone walls; it contains a very significant number of warriors who hold posts at night - just like in Spain, Italy and Flanders.”

17th century

After the fire of 1672, brick construction began in the Kremlin; a number of towers, including Spasskaya, were significantly rebuilt by Moscow (judging by stylistic criteria) architects.

XVIII century

Due to the expansion of the Russian state, the Kazan Kremlin lost its military function, but strengthened its administrative and Cultural Center Volga region. In 1708, the Kazan province was formed, which was reflected in the architectural appearance of the Kremlin; over the following centuries, the Governor's Palace, government buildings, a cadet school, a new bishop's house, the building of a spiritual consistory were erected there, and the Annunciation Cathedral was significantly reconstructed.

The Pugachev uprising of 1773-1775 again turned the Kazan Kremlin into a fortress, which the rebels shelled with cannons for two days. On July 14, 1774, the troops of Emelyan Pugachev were forced to retreat from Kazan. Nevertheless, Emelyan Pugachev still visited the Kazan Kremlin - he was kept there in one of the casemates before being sent to execution in Moscow.

Since 1774, the architect V.I. Kaftyrev began to implement the highest approved regular plan for the urban development of Kazan, which provided for the construction of an ensemble of Government places in the Kremlin. Comprehensive development of the squares and streets adjacent to the Kremlin began. He became hers Starting point- wide streets radiated away from it.

19th century

In 1800, the publisher and educator Maxim Nevzorov left a description of the main fortress of the vast Kazan province: “It contains the cathedral Church of the Annunciation, the 2nd class Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery, the Church of Cyprian and Justina, the bishop’s house with a spiritual consistory, government offices and connected to They include the governor-general’s house with all the services, the artillery workshop, the guardhouse, the old commandant’s house, well casemates, old wooden provisions and salt stores.” During the Napoleonic invasion, a factory for the manufacture and repair of cannons operated on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. TO end of the 19th century century, both the internal architectural complex of the Kremlin itself and the modern urban ensemble surrounding it took shape.

XX century

After the revolution of 1917, in the 1920-1930s, during the period of struggle against religion, the bell tower and cathedral church of the Spassky Monastery, the bell tower of the Annunciation Cathedral, the Church of Cyprian and Justinia, the Spasskaya Chapel at the Spasskaya Tower were destroyed, the iconostases, revered icons and relics of Kremlin churches. During the Soviet period, the archaeological study of the Kremlin continued (since 1917: N. Borozdin, N. Kalinin, since 1976 - A.X. Khalikov), begun in the 19th century by Kazan University professor N.P. Zagoskin, P.A. Ponomarev and other Kazan local historians. In the 1960s, the Tatar restoration workshop was formed. With the formation of the Republic of Tatarstan in 1992, the Kazan Kremlin became the residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan.

In 1993-1994, the “Main directions for the reconstruction and development of the Kazan Kremlin complex” were developed. On January 22, 1994, by decree of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, the State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve “Kazan Kremlin” was created, marking the beginning of a systematic scientific study and restoration of the Kremlin complex. Most of the defensive walls were restored, as well as three towers - Preobrazhenskaya, Tainitskaya, Voskresenskaya. The bases of four previously collapsed and dismantled towers were studied by archaeologists, after which they were conserved and museumified. Also, several objects of the 15th-16th centuries in the ancient part of the Kremlin were subjected to conservation and museumification: the archaeological remains of one of the representative buildings from the complex of the Khan’s court, the Khan’s mosque, the tomb of the Kazan khans. The construction of a mausoleum was begun for the reburial of the remains of the khans recovered during the excavations. During the excavations, the graveyard of the Trinity Monastery, the necropolis and the “cave” of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery were also discovered, where the burials of locally revered Kazan saints were preserved under a layer of asphalt and rubble (after the explosion of the Transfiguration Cathedral in 1930). By strengthening the foundations, it was possible to stop the fall of the Syuyumbike tower (with a deviation from the axis of almost 2 meters). At this time, the Governor's Palace was completely restored (with the revival of the palace enfilade layout and the front square in front of the main facade) and the Palace Church.

Four buildings included in the Cannon Yard complex were also restored. The Cathedral of the Annunciation has been restored in the complex of the Bishop's Court. In 1995, work began on recreating the legendary Kul Sharif mosque and restoring the interiors: uncovering frescoes, recreating the iconostasis of the Annunciation Cathedral. Under the cathedral, the underground church of “All Saints” with the necropolis of the Kazan bishops was cleared, and the cell of the Kazan High Hierarch Gury, adjacent to the cathedral from the south, was restored. The mosque complex was originally planned as a religious, cultural, educational and memorial center, so the Museum of Islam was located in the lower floor of the building.

On November 30, 2000, at the session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Kazan Kremlin has absorbed the achievements of Tatar and Russian urban planning art; in memory of this, a monument to Russian and Tatar architects was erected in the Kremlin in the park near the Annunciation Cathedral.

Architectural ensemble of the Kazan Kremlin

Towers and buildings of the Kazan Kremlin:

Walls and towers

After the completion of the construction of walls and towers by Pskov architects, the Kremlin had 13 towers, of which 5 were travel towers, 7 were round and 1 was pentagonal in plan. Due to dilapidation, the North, East, Pentagonal and one unnamed western tower were dismantled in the 19th century. During reconstruction in the 1st half of the 18th century, the Spasskaya and Tainitskaya towers were built with additional brick tiers; the Preobrazhenskaya, Consistorskaya and the second nameless Western towers also acquired brick completions. In the 19th century, the Dmitrovskaya Tower was dismantled, a passage arch appeared in its place, and the Resurrection Tower lost its gate church. The spindles between the towers initially ended with straight battlements, covered with a hewn roof, and by the 17th-18th centuries. took on the appearance of a battle wall with arched decorations - “swallow tails” on its facade. The walls and towers were laid using lime mortar.

Spasskaya Tower. Built in the 2nd floor. 16th century Pskov architects Ivan Shiryai and Postnik Yakovlev. On the inner, northern side of the fortress, the Spasskaya Tower was adjacent to the gateway Spasskaya Church, which by now had become one with the tower. Its façade, typically Pskov in its architectural elements, faces the main street of the Kremlin. At the end of the 17th century, instead of the 3rd tier, the tower was built on with two 8-sided brick tiers with a brick tent, receiving its current appearance, familiar to Kazan residents. Until 1917, the tower was crowned with the double-headed coat of arms of the Russian state, in the upper tier in the 18th century a clock “with ringing” was installed and even earlier a large alarm bell was moved from a small belfry (now lost, located on the wall on the left side of the tower). In front of the tower until the middle of the 19th century there was a moat with a stone bridge.
Southwest Tower It was built simultaneously with the Spasskaya Tower by Pskov craftsmen and is a classic example of the Pskov style of defensive structures.
Preobrazhenskaya Tower. The tower received its name from the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery of the Kremlin, which it fenced from the north-west. Despite the fact that the Preobrazhenskaya Tower was also built by the Pskov architects Postnik and Barma, it may have been significantly rebuilt later, as it has strong traces of the architectural influence of Moscow defensive architecture. The territory from the Preobrazhenskaya Tower to the Spasskaya passage was added to the old Khan's fortress by Pskov craftsmen.
Polyhedral (pentahedral) tower also built by Pskov architects. The skeleton has been preserved.
Unnamed Round Tower - a brick building, presumably erected by Moscow architects in the 17th century.
North-West Tower. The skeleton has been preserved.
Taynitskaya Tower- erected in its present form in the 1550s by Postnik Yakovlev, it was named after a secret source from which water could be taken during a siege (there were similar “secret” springs at the Vodovzvodnaya, corner Arsenalnaya and Zamoskvoretskaya (Beklemisheva) towers of the Moscow Kremlin). The entrance to the tower is made in the shape of a “knee”, which increased the defense capability of the Kremlin. At the site of the Taynitskaya tower, during the time of the Khanate, there was the Nur Ali tower, in the Russian transcription of Muraleev. It was through the Muraleev Tower that the 22-year-old Tsar Ivan the Terrible entered the conquered city.
North round tower. The skeleton has been preserved. Built by Moscow architects in the 17th century. Dismantled after Pugachev's siege of Kazan.
Resurrection Tower built in brick, presumably (according to stylistic criteria) by Moscow architects in the 1670s. The travel card has a cubic shape.
Northeast round tower dismantled after Pugachev's assault.
Dmitrievskaya travel tower dismantled after Pugachev's assault. The tower got its name from the church of St. Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica.
Consistory Tower built in brick by Moscow architects in the 17th century, it received its name in the 18th century from the Spiritual Consistory located next to the tower in the Kremlin. You can climb the tower and walk along the wall - towards the South-East tower. Near the tower, archaeological excavations revealed the so-called. Tezitsky (tezik Arabic - merchant) ditch, which went from the Consistor Tower to Preobrazhenskaya, the famous archaeologist N. Kalinin and a number of scientists considered the Tezitsky ditch southern border Khan's fortress.
South-East round tower- a striking example of Pskov architecture of the 16th century.

Tower Syuyumbike

Scientists disagree on the dating of the construction of the tower. In the authoritative work “Kazan in historical and cultural monuments. Ed. S. S. Aidarova, A. Kh. Khalikov, M. Kh. Khasanova, I. N. Aleev” the tower approximately dates back to 1645-1650. Proponents of the hypothesis of the emergence of the tower after 1552 as a sentinel point to the similarity of the Syuyumbike tower with the Borovitskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin. The famous Kazan local historian, professor of the Kazan Imperial University N.P. Zagoskin in the 19th century considered the question of dating the tower open and was inclined to the version of its origin in the Khan period. Perhaps the tower was built during the reign of Khan Shah Ali, who established good relations with the Moscow prince. It has been suggested that the Moscow prince could have sent craftsmen who built the Moscow Kremlin to build the tower to Kazan, which could ultimately affect the similarity of the Syuyumbike tower with the Borovitskaya tower.

Tower architecture

The tower consists of 7 tiers: the first three tiers are square in plan and have open galleries, the remaining four are octagonal. The tower is completed by a 6-sided brick tent (height 58 meters or 34 fathoms 6 feet), which until 1917 was crowned with a double-headed eagle resting on a gilded “apple” (according to the legends of the Kazan Tatars, important documents related to history and culture were enclosed in the ball Tatars). The edges of all tiers are decorated with blades or thin brick ridges. There is a through passage in the lower tier of the tower. On the western and eastern facades, the pylons of the lower tier each have 2 attached columns of the Corinthian order, crossed in the middle of the height by “typically Russian horizontal ridges.” The walls are brick, the mortar is lime, the foundation rests on oak piles. From 1917 to the 1930s, the Russian coat of arms was replaced by a crescent; in the 1930s, the crescent was removed; in the 1990s, the crescent was re-installed on the tower. The tower is included in the list of the forty leaning towers of the world. Its deviation from the vertical is 2 meters. The deviation occurred due to subsidence of the foundation in one part. To date, the fall of the tower has been stopped.

Palace (Vvedenskaya) Church

In the authoritative work “Kazan in historical and cultural monuments. Ed. S. S. Aidarova, A. Kh. Khalikova, M. Kh. Khasanova, I. N. Aleeva,” the authors are inclined to the version that the Palace Church “was erected on the site where the Nur-Ali mosque stood during the period of the Kazan Khanate,” however this version is based on later sources (explications to the city plan of 1768, where the temple is indicated as “a church facing from a mosque”) and is one of the hypotheses for the history of the Vvedenskaya Church (consecrated in the 19th century in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit).

The Vvedenskaya Church was severely damaged by the fire of 1815 and stood in ruins for a long time. By order of Nicholas I, who visited Kazan in 1836, the church was restored according to the “highest” design approved in 1852 as a palace at the Governor’s Palace. In 1859, the church was consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The new temple accurately reproduced the design scheme and stylistic features of the former Vvedensky Church, the architectural analogues of which in Kazan can be considered the destroyed Vvedensky Cathedral of the Kizichesky Monastery, and the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery (“Bishop's Dacha”), which also had covered arched galleries and a stepped volume scheme. The palace temple of the Descent of the Holy Spirit itself with the chapel of St. The martyr Queen Alexandra occupied only the second floor; on the first floor there was a chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the temple icon to which was donated in the mid-19th century by Anna Davydovna Boratynskaya.

The alternation of 4 and 8-sided volumes, the stepped structure of the church itself, is consonant with the stepped architecture of the Syuyumbike tower, surpassing the watchtower in the richness of its decoration.

Nowadays there is a Museum of the history of statehood of the Tatar people and the Republic of Tatarstan.

Governor's Palace

The Palace of the Kazan Governor is located in the northern part of the Kremlin, on the site where in ancient times there was the palace of the Kazan khans, and in the 18th century - the chief commandant's house. The building was built in the 40s. XIX century in the so-called pseudo-Byzantine style. The project for the “house of the military governor with premises for imperial apartments” was drawn up by the famous Moscow architect K. A. Ton, author of the Bolshoi project Kremlin Palace and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The palace consists of a main building and a circle of services adjacent to the courtyard. The construction of the palace was led by the architect A. I. Peske, sent from St. Petersburg, who rebuilt Kazan after the city fire of 1842. The interior decoration was carried out under the guidance of the architect M. P. Korinfsky, one of the architects of the Kazan Imperial University complex. The center of the main facade is a risalit, completed by a front with three keeled arches, possibly similar to the architecture of the Khan's palace. The building has two porches on 2 order columns with arched doorways. The first and second floors are divided by a number of order pilasters and arched window openings. The facade is a semicircle in plan and has a passage to the palace courtyard. The eclectic decor of the building combines elements of Russian classicism (partitioning with the Corinthian order, rustication of the 1st floor, general symmetry), baroque (bracing of the entablature above the beams of columns of the main projection, the character of the pediments of the porticoes) and ancient Russian architecture (hanging weights of the paired arches of the windows of the 2nd floor, keel-shaped zakomaras of the central risalit, the nature of the figured supports of the arched suspended passage to the Palace Church).

During the Soviet period, the building housed the Presidium of the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Currently it is the residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Kul Sharif Mosque - the main juma mosque of the Republic of Tatarstan and Kazan (since 2005); located on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin.

Construction of the temple began in 1996 as a recreation of the legendary multi-minaret mosque of the capital of the Kazan Khanate, the center of religious education and the development of sciences in the Middle Volga region of the 16th century. The mosque was destroyed in October 1552 during the assault on Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible. Named in honor of its last imam, Seid Kul-Sharif, one of the leaders of the defense of Kazan.

The 36 m high dome is decorated with shapes associated with the image and decorative details of the “Kazan Cap”. The height of each of the four main minarets is 58 meters. The architectural and artistic solution to the external appearance of the mosque was achieved through the development of semantic elements that bring the architecture of the mosque closer to local traditions. Constructed of white marble and granite, the dome and minarets are turquoise.

Blagoveshchensky cathedral

Built in the 16th century by Pskov architects Ivan Shiryai and Postnik Yakovlev. The white-stone, cross-domed cathedral was originally almost half the size of the modern church, which was expanded as a result of several reconstructions. The vault rests on 6 round pillars, like in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The domes of the cathedral in the 16th century were helmet-shaped. At the end of the 16th century, side chapels were added to the temple: the northern one in the name of St. Peter and Fevronia of Murom and the south in the name of St. Princes Boris and Gleb, connected by a porch that went around the central cubic volume of the cathedral.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, a series of alterations radically changed the appearance of the cathedral, especially the view from the west. In 1736, the helmet-shaped domes were replaced with bulbous ones, and the central dome was completed in the form of a so-called “bath” in the Ukrainian Baroque style. Next to the cathedral stood the Church of the Nativity of Christ, built in 1694 under Metropolitan Markell of Kazan. By 1821, the Church of the Nativity of Christ had become very dilapidated and the technical commission proposed building a new warm church in its place. Emperor Nicholas I, who visited Kazan in 1836, proposed building a new warm refectory of the Annunciation Cathedral on the site of the Nativity Church, expanding the cathedral to the west. According to the project of the Kazan provincial architect (1834-1844) Thomas Petondi (1794-1874), the cathedral was expanded to the west, north and south, for which the one-story refectory and the old porch of the 18th century were demolished. This reconstruction made the cathedral more convenient for prayer, but greatly changed its originally harmonious appearance. Since then, the exterior of the cathedral has not changed, except for the destruction of the cathedral porch built according to Petondi’s design, which was demolished after the revolution, and the destruction in 1928 of the magnificent 5-tier bell tower of the 17th century, which housed the largest bell of pre-revolutionary Kazan. Its weight was 1,500 pounds (about 24,570 kg).

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery

Founded in the 16th century by St. Barsanuphius. During the period of the Kazan Khanate, on the territory that was at that time outside the walls of the fortress, on the site where the ruins of the museum complex of the Spassky Monastery are currently located, there was a cemetery. This territory continued to serve as a necropolis in subsequent centuries: “on the ancient monastery necropolis during the XV-XX centuries. at least a thousand people were laid to rest (including burials from the period of the Kazan Khanate). So it is both multi-layered (up to 6-8 levels) and multinational.”

The fraternal building in the northern part of the monastery has been preserved; brick fence on the eastern side of the monastery, the Church of St. Nicholas the Ratnogo, reconstructed in the forms of the 19th century (which served as a teahouse in the Soviet time here is a military unit); the basement of the Transfiguration Cathedral, which was blown up in the 1930s; the foundation of the monastery bell tower with the church of St., destroyed after 1917. Barbarians in the lower tier, the foundation of the Church of St. Cyprian and Justinia.

Public offices building (provincial office)

The 2-story building of the governor's office - public places - is located on the right side of the main Kremlin street and the Spasskaya Tower. The project was drawn up by V.I. Kaftyrev, who was sent by the Senate to Kazan in 1767 to detail the general plan of the city, developed by the commission of St. Petersburg and Moscow after the great fire in Kazan in 1765. The main floor was the second floor, where senior officials and important visitors climbed up the main staircase, and where the “audience” hall was located in front of the “trial chamber” - a central hall with 4 windows. Adjoining it were the “secret” and “secretary” rooms; in the remaining rooms there were “official servants”. The building has a basement with vaulted rooms. For access to the long courtyard between the public offices building and the eastern entrance Kremlin wall, the building has two through passages dividing the building into 3 sections. The building of the former Consistory adjoins the building on the north side.

Cannon yard complex

The cannon yard ensemble consists of four buildings. One of the largest factories in Russia for the production and repair of artillery pieces was located here. The Kazan Cannon Factory contributed to the victory of Russian weapons in the War of 1812. After the fire of 1815, the factory ceased to exist.

Consistory building

The building of the ecclesiastical department in the 19th century. During Soviet times, the building housed the Ministry of Health of the TASSR.

Bishop's House

From the establishment of the Kazan diocese in 1555 until the revolution of 1917, the residence of the Orthodox bishops who ruled the Kazan diocese (which coincided in territory with the Kazan province and previously with the “Kazan kingdom”) was in the Kazan Kremlin. The bishop's house is a typical administrative building of the 19th century. The central and side projections face the eastern wall. After Pugachev’s siege of the Kremlin and fires, the bishop’s house was uninhabitable for many years and needed serious restoration. At the direction of Emperor Nicholas I, who visited Kazan in 1836, funds were allocated for the restoration of the Bishop's House, and already in 1841, Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsk Vladimir (Uzhinsky) moved from country residence Kazan bishops - the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery - to the Kremlin.

Junker School

On the left side of the main Kremlin street there is a building built in the mid-19th century for a cadet school on the site where, before its abolition in the 18th century, there was the Trinity Monastery (founded in the 16th century), and later in the 18th-19th centuries - an arsenal and an artillery yard, where in 1812-15 there was one of the largest cannon factories in Russia, new cannons and parts for them were manufactured, and damaged ones brought from the army were repaired. The building was built by architect P. G. Pyatnitsky (architect of the Kazan University buildings) “in the style of late Russian classicism,” as evidenced by the clear symmetrical layout, high, bright classrooms on the sides of the central corridor, the strict exterior of the building and facade finishing elements: profiled platbands and rustication on the first floor. The main entrance is accented by a hanging metal pediment.

Now the building houses the Khazine National Art Gallery and a branch of the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg).

Manege

The drill arena for conducting exercises at the Kazan Military School was built in the 1880s according to a design of 1881 carried out in St. Petersburg. The engineering solution for the roof of the building made it possible to cover a significant area (18 x 56 meters) with single-span rafter structures. After carried out in 2003-2006. During the restoration, it is planned to create a storage and reading room in the building for the Museum of Ancient Books and Manuscripts.

Guardhouse building

It is located in the southeast corner, to the right of the main entrance of the Spasskaya Tower. The building was built in the 19th century on the site where, since the 18th century, there had been a stone workshop - a warehouse for military equipment at the provincial chancellery, which stood nearby. The architecture of the building is extremely ascetic.

Lost buildings and structures of the Kazan Kremlin

The 17th century bell tower of the Annunciation Cathedral (destroyed in 1928, had 5 tiers and served as a storage place for the largest bell of pre-revolutionary Kazan),
Transfiguration Cathedral (bombed in the 1930s);
Bell tower with the Church of St. Barbarians in the lower tier (destroyed after 1917),
Church of St. Cyprian and Justinia.

Archaeological research of the Kazan Kremlin

The basis for archaeological research was laid in the 19th century by Kazan local historians, professor of KSU (now KFU) N.P. Zagoskin and P.A. Ponomarev, who explored the pit on the site of the Junker School building under construction. Significant archaeological excavations were carried out in the 1920s. N. F. Kalinin and N. A. Bashkirov. Systematic research conducted since 1971 under the leadership of L. S. Shavokhin and A. Kh. Khalikov made it possible to determine the stratigraphy of cultural deposits. In the 1990s, a number of archaeological studies were carried out, in particular, they did not confirm the version that the Annunciation Cathedral was allegedly built on the site of the main mosque of the Khanate: no archaeological foundations from the period of the Kazan Khanate were identified under the cathedral.

Organizations operating in the Kazan Kremlin

Office of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan
Arbitration Court of the Republic of Tatarstan
Museum of Islamic Culture
Museum of Natural History of the Republic of Tatarstan
Museum of the History of Statehood of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Tatar People
Center "Hermitage-Kazan" - Branch of the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)
National Art Gallery "Hazine"
WWII Memorial Museum
Central Election Commission of the Republic of Tatarstan
Institute of History named after. Sh. Marjani AS RT
Public Chamber of the Republic of Tatarstan
Advice municipalities RT
Post office No. 14

(EGROKN)
object no. 1610053000(Wikigida DB)

Khan's citadel ( Ark) was surrounded by oak (possibly stone in places) walls, up to 9 meters thick with 4 passage towers: Nur-Ali, Elabuga, Big and Tyumen Gates. Ilisty Bulak (from Tat. "sleeve", a channel connecting the Kazanka River and Lake Kaban) defended the fortress from the west; and on the least protected south-eastern side the fortress was fenced with deep ditches.

Palace (Vvedenskaya) Church

The Vvedenskaya Church was severely damaged by the fire of 1815 and stood in ruins for a long time. By order of Nicholas I, who visited Kazan in 1836, the church was restored according to the “highly” approved project in 1852 as a palace at the Governor’s Palace. In 1859, the church was consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The new temple accurately reproduced the design scheme and stylistic features of the former Vvedensky Church, the architectural analogues of which in Kazan can be considered the destroyed Vvedensky Cathedral of the Kizichesky Monastery, and the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery (“Bishop’s Dacha”), which also had covered arched galleries and a stepped volume scheme. The palace temple of the Descent of the Holy Spirit itself with the chapel of St. The martyr Queen Alexandra occupied only the second floor; on the first floor there was a chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the temple icon to which was donated in the mid-19th century by Anna Davydovna Boratynskaya.

Nowadays there is a Museum of the history of statehood of the Tatar people and the Republic of Tatarstan.

Presidential palace

The Palace of the Kazan Governor is located in the northern part of the Kremlin, on the site where in ancient times there was the palace of the Kazan khans, and in the 18th century - the chief commandant's house. The building was built in the 40s. XIX century in the so-called pseudo-Byzantine style. The project for the “house of the military governor with premises for imperial apartments” was drawn up by the famous Moscow architect K. A. Ton, author of the project for the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The palace consists of a main building and a circle of services adjacent to the courtyard. The construction of the palace was led by the architect A. I. Peske, sent from St. Petersburg, who rebuilt Kazan after the city fire of 1842. The interior decoration was carried out under the leadership of the architect M. P. Korinfsky, one of the architects of the Kazan Imperial University complex. The center of the main facade is a risalit, completed by a front with three keeled arches, possibly similar to the architecture of the Khan's palace. The building has two porches on 2 order columns with arched doorways. The first and second floors are divided by a number of order pilasters and arched window openings. The facade is a semicircle in plan and has a passage to the palace courtyard. The eclectic decor of the building combines elements of Russian classicism (partitioning with the Corinthian order, rustication of the 1st floor, general symmetry), baroque (bracing of the entablature above the beams of columns of the main projection, the character of the pediments of the porticoes) and ancient Russian architecture (hanging weights of the paired arches of the windows of the 2nd floor, keel-shaped zakomaras of the central risalit, the nature of the figured supports of the arched suspended passage to the Palace Church).

Kul Sharif Mosque

The fraternal building in the northern part of the monastery has been preserved; a brick fence on the eastern side of the monastery, the Church of St. Nicholas the Ratnoy, reconstructed in 19th-century forms (which served as a teahouse in the military unit located here during Soviet times); the basement of the Transfiguration Cathedral, which was blown up in the 1930s; the foundation of the monastery bell tower with the church of St., destroyed after 1917. Barbarians in the lower tier, the foundation of the Church of St. Cyprian and Justinia.

Public offices building (provincial office)

The 2-story building of the governor's office - public places - is located on the right side of the main Kremlin street and the Spasskaya Tower. The project was drawn up by V.I. Kaftyrev, who was sent by the Senate to Kazan in 1767 to detail the general plan of the city, developed by the commission of St. Petersburg and Moscow after the great fire in Kazan in 1765. The main floor was the second floor, where high officials and important visitors climbed the main staircase, and where the “audience” hall was located in front of the “court chamber” - a central hall with 4 windows. Adjoining it were the “secret” and “secretary” rooms; in the remaining rooms there were “official servants”. The building has a basement with vaulted rooms. To access the long courtyard between the public offices building and the eastern part of the Kremlin wall, the building has two through passages dividing the building into 3 sections. The building of the former Consistory adjoins the building on the north side.

Cannon yard complex

Consistory building

The building of the ecclesiastical department in the 19th century. During Soviet times, the building housed the Ministry of Health of the TASSR.

Bishop's House

Manege

Guardhouse building

Lost buildings and structures of the Kazan Kremlin

The 17th century bell tower of the Annunciation Cathedral (destroyed in 1928, had 5 tiers and served as a storage place for the largest bell of pre-revolutionary Kazan),
Transfiguration Cathedral (bombed in the 1930s);
Bell tower with the Church of St. Barbarians in the lower tier (destroyed after 1917),
Church of St. Cyprian and Justinia.

Archaeological research of the Kazan Kremlin

The basis for archaeological research was laid in the 19th century by Kazan local historians, professor of KSU (now KFU) N.P. Zagoskin and P.A. Ponomarev, who explored the pit on the site of the Junker School building under construction. Significant archaeological excavations were carried out in the 1920s. N. F. Kalinin and N. A. Bashkirov. Systematic research conducted since 1971 under the leadership of L. S. Shavokhin and A. Kh. Khalikov made it possible to determine the stratigraphy of cultural deposits. In the 1990s, a number of archaeological studies were carried out, in particular, which did not confirm the version that the Annunciation Cathedral was allegedly built on the site of the main mosque of the Khanate: no archaeological foundations from the period of the Kazan Khanate were identified under the cathedral.

History of the Kazan Kremlin
A thousand years ago, Finno-Ugric tribes settled on a high hill at the confluence of rivers. After the emergence of the Great Volga Bulgaria state on the territory of modern Tatarstan in the 10th-13th centuries, Kazan was a small fortress on the border with Russia.
After the Mongol invasion of 1236, the Bulgarian population from Volga Bulgaria, devastated by the Mongols, came to the walls of Kazan, the city became a trade and political center.
Then, after the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Kremlin became the center of the Kazan Khanate, which existed for about 100 years, from 1438 to 1552.
In the mid-16th century, conflicts with the Principality of Moscow intensified, and the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible went to war against the Kazan Khanate. In October 1552, Russian troops conquered Kazan and destroyed its kirman (fortress). Architects from Pskov and Novgorod are invited to build a new Kremlin under the leadership of Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryaev. The white stone fortress that can be seen now was built after the mid-16th century by Russian architects from white Volga stone.
Today the Kremlin serves as the residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan and is valuable as the southernmost example of the Pskov architectural style in Russia.

The Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The architectural ensemble of the Kazan Kremlin is interesting because even today it retains the features of all the centuries that have passed over it.

What to see in the Kazan Kremlin
- The very walk along the high white stone walls makes an impression, and if you climb the Preobrazhenskaya Tower to the very roof - the entire city center is at your fingertips! The only and the main street the fortress remembers the Bulgarian emirs, Golden Horde khans and Russian tsars. This is the first street in Kazan paved with cobblestones, and it still has a historical appearance today.
- On the territory of the fortress there is the famous “leaning” tower of Queen Syuyumbike.

It deviates from its axis by 2 meters. The tower was named in honor of the last Kazan queen. The legend says: Ivan the Terrible, having learned about the beauty of the queen, wanted to take her as his wife. Having received a refusal, Ivan the Terrible attacked Kazan. Wanting to save her besieged city, Syuyumbeki agreed to become his wife, but set a condition: let the chosen one build a seven-tiered tower in a week. And when the request was fulfilled, the queen threw herself down from her. In fact, Syuyumbeka’s fate was different: the 29-year-old daughter of the Nogai Murza was taken to Moscow and there she was separated from her young son.

Opened in 2005 new mosque Kul Sharif, which became the main mosque of Tatarstan. Kul Sharif was the name of the chief priest of the Kazan Khanate, a Muslim theologian and educator. He died in 1552 during the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, and at the same time the cathedral mosque was burned to the ground. The iconic building in the Kazan Kremlin was recreated almost five hundred years after its destruction. The main dome is shaped like a “Kazan hat” - the crown of the Kazan khans, which was taken to Moscow after the fall of Kazan and is now on display in the Armory Chamber. Kul Sharif was built by Turkish builders, the chandeliers for it were made in the Czech Republic, granite and marble were brought from the Urals. More than two thousand square meters of the mosque are covered with Persian carpets - a gift from the Iranian government. In addition to the prayer halls of the mosque, in the Kul Sharif building you can visit the Museum of Islamic Culture located in the basement.

- By the millennium of Kazan, a branch of the St. Petersburg “Hermitage” was also opened, located in the building of the former Junker School. In the same building there are museums - the Museum-Memorial of the Great Patriotic War, the Museum of Natural History, art Gallery"Khazine" ("Treasury").
- The first one is located in the Kremlin orthodox cathedral in the Middle Volga region - the Annunciation Cathedral, built immediately after the capture of Kazan. It was built in the middle of the 16th century by Pskov craftsmen.

Its architect Postnik Yakovlev was the author of the famous St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. According to ancient sources, the cathedral was built the day before the attack on Kazan by the soldiers of Ivan the Terrible. Over its long history, the temple has gone through many reconstructions. In May 1836, the cathedral was visited by Nicholas I. After imperial orders, the cathedral was expanded and turned into a winter cathedral. He was visited by Peter I, Catherine II and almost all members of the imperial house, as well as Radishchev, Pushkin, Rachmaninov. Fyodor Chaliapin sang in the church choir here more than once.

Special offers on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin
At the Hermitage-Kazan center, school excursions are offered the quest “In Search of Treasure.” This is an alternative to the traditional tour of the Kazan Kremlin, a walk with riddles and competitions around the ancient fortress.
In the Museum of Islam in the Kul Sharif Mosque, you can attend a master class “The Art of Wearing a Headscarf” and learn what beauty means in Muslim terms, how Kazan Tatar women wore headdresses at the end of the 19th century, why Muslim women leave only their faces and hands exposed, what 15 There are ways to tie a scarf.

How to get to the Kazan Kremlin
The citadel can be seen in the city center from all sides. Since the 16th century, the Kremlin has stood on a hill, surrounded by a strong white stone wall. At the foot of the hill there is the Kremlyovskaya metro station, next to the Circus bus stop.

Visiting rules
To enter the Kremlin, you need to go to the Spasskaya Tower on May 1 Square. Here you can book a tour, or buy a guide to the fortress and walk around on your own.
The Kremlin is open to individual visitors free of charge.
The cost of an excursion to the Kazan Kremlin in Russian and Tatar languages: group of up to 10 people - 500 rubles (each subsequent - 50 rubles).

In our country there are so many interesting and memorable places that life is not enough to see them all. Today we will go to Tatarstan. The landmark that the capital of the republic is proud of is the Kazan Kremlin, the oldest part of the city, a unique complex of historical, archaeological and architectural monuments that reveal the centuries-old history of the Tatar people, the ancient city and the republic as a whole.

The entire territory of the complex today is a museum-reserve, which has been under the protection of UNESCO since 2000. The Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan) is the main attraction of the republic. The vast territory harmoniously combines Tatar and Russian cultural traditions.

After Kazan was taken by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, most of the Kremlin’s structures were damaged and almost all the mosques were destroyed. The Tsar ordered the construction of a white stone Kremlin here, and for this purpose, architects were sent from Pskov to build the Moscow St. Basil's Cathedral. The fortress was significantly expanded, and wooden defensive structures were replaced with stone ones in the first half of the 17th century.

In the 18th century, the Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan) lost its military function and became the cultural and administrative center of the Volga region. In subsequent centuries, the construction of the Governor's Palace, a cadet school, a bishop's house, a spiritual consistory, and government buildings was carried out here. In addition, the Annunciation Cathedral was reconstructed.

After the October Revolution (1917), the bell tower of the Annunciation Cathedral, the temple of the Spassky Monastery, the chapel at the Spasskaya Tower and other unique objects were destroyed in the Kazan Kremlin. In the nineties of the 20th century, the Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan) became the residence of the president of the republic. At this time, large-scale restoration work began.

Since 1995, work began on the construction of the Kul-Sharif mosque. Today it is one of the largest in Europe. The Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan) is a one-of-a-kind, striking example of the synthesis of Russian and Tatar architectural styles. It is also the most northern point spread of Islamic culture in the world.

Today many tourists from different countries of the world visit Tatarstan. The landmark of the republic that arouses the greatest interest is the Kazan Kremlin. It should be noted that in order to explore all its structures, it will take at least two days, and the sightseeing tour lasts only an hour and a half. But, since we are not limited in time, we will get to know the sights of the Kremlin in more detail.

Kremlin buildings

The Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan) is a museum-reserve occupying an area of 13.45 hectares. The perimeter of the walls is about 1.8 thousand meters. On this vast territory there are the WWII Memorial Museum, the Museum of Islam, the Hermitage-Kazan Center, the Museum of the History of Tatarstan and other institutions.

Spasskaya Tower

This tower houses the Main Gate to the Kremlin. Architects Shiryai and Yakovlev built the tower in 1556. The height of this structure is 47 meters. The tetrahedral base has a straight arched opening. The octagonal tier has arched openings on each side and is the belfry where the alarm bell is located.

On top there is a brick cone, which is crowned with a five-pointed star. Another octagonal cone houses a striking clock. They glorified the Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan). The interesting design of the first clocks, which were installed in the 18th century, interested many foreign craftsmen producing such mechanisms. This was explained by the fact that the clock was designed in a very unusual way - the dial rotated around fixed hands.

They were replaced with a traditional analogue in 1780. The clock that is located on the walls of the Spasskaya Tower today was installed in 1963. It is noteworthy that with the start of the chiming clock, the snow-white walls gradually turn a rich crimson color.

Offices

The project of the provincial chancellery was developed by the architect from Moscow V. I. Kaftyryev. The building appeared in the Kremlin at the end of the 18th century. There were offices (for receptions) and living rooms for the governor's family. The second floor was dedicated to a luxurious throne room with choirs for the orchestra. In the place where the Sovereign's courtyard was located in the 15th-17th centuries, a guardhouse was built in the mid-19th century.

Today, the premises of the former chancellery house the Department of External Relations of the President of Tatarstan, the Central Election Commission and the Arbitration Court.

Transfiguration Monastery

The Kazan Kremlin, the description of which can be seen in almost all advertising brochures of the city, is famous for another object. In the southeast of the Kremlin territory there is a monastery complex. In its center are the remains of the Transfiguration Cathedral, destroyed in the twenties of the 20th century. At the foot of the main wall of the cathedral you can see a small cave, which since 1596 was the burial place of the Kazan miracle workers.

The fraternal building borders the monastery fence. In 1670, monastic cells were built here. Much later, a gallery and a treasury house were erected. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, as well as the archimandrite’s chambers, are located at the western wall of the complex. The church building was reconstructed according to the design of A. Schmidt in 1815. It is interesting that during the reconstruction the basement of the 16th century was preserved in its original form.

Junker School

On the territory of the Kremlin there is an arena, which was built according to a design previously built in St. Petersburg. This building was intended for combat training. Today the Institute of Literature and Art is located here. Ibragimova. Behind the arena is the school building. It was created by the architect Pyatnitsky as barracks for cantonists.

The building was transferred to the military department in 1861, and later a cadet school was opened in it.

Kul Sharif Mosque

In the courtyard of the school there is the most beautiful mosque in the city. Four minarets soared fifty-seven meters into the sky. The capacity of this grandiose structure is 1,500 people. The minarets are painted turquoise, which gives the building a surprisingly light image. In addition to the mosque, the complex includes a huge open library-museum, a publishing center and the office of the imam.

A round, small, beautiful building with a turquoise dome, located south of the mosque, is a fire station, which is stylistically associated with architectural complex. Kul Sharif was recreated in 2005. Funds for its construction were donated by citizens, as well as enterprises of the capital.

Blagoveshchensky cathedral

This is the oldest stone structure in Kazan that has survived to this day. It was consecrated in 1562. The architecture of the cathedral traces the trends of Pskov, Vladimir, Ukrainian and Moscow architecture. The helmet-shaped crowns, located on the side heads, were replaced in 1736 with bulbous ones. The central dome is made in the Ukrainian Baroque style.

In the main basement part of the temple, a museum of Orthodoxy of the Volga region was created. A little further is the bishop's house, which was built in 1829 on the site where the palace of the Kazan bishops was previously located. The ensemble is completed by a consistory. This building was rebuilt from the bishop's stables.

Artillery yard

Behind the mosque and school is the Cannon Yard, or more precisely, its southern building. Exactly this ancient building complex - it was built at the very beginning of the 17th century. An artillery factory began operating here in the 19th century. And last year restoration took place here. The creation of the exhibition of the Cannon Yard Museum began.

Nowadays, the complex hosts permanent exhibitions, demonstrations of fashion collections, and chamber performances. Near the southern building you can see a fragment of a brick building on a stone foundation. In terms of its depth, this object dates back to the Khan era of the Kremlin. In those days, residential buildings were built here.

Governor's Palace

It was built in 1848 for the governor of Kazan with royal chambers for especially honored guests. The work was supervised by K. A. Thon, who is known for his amazing works. This is the Cathedral of Christ and the Bolshoi in Moscow. The Khan's palace ensemble was previously located on this site.

The second floor of the palace is connected to the palace church by a passage. It was called Vvedenskaya and was built in the 17th century. Today the Museum of the History of Statehood operates inside the church, and the President of Tatarstan and his family live in the governor’s palace.

Tower Syuyumbike

This is the symbol of Kazan. The tower was named after the Tatar queen. As the legend says, Ivan the Terrible, who learned about the beauty of Syuyumbik, sent messengers to Kazan with an offer beautiful girl become the queen of Moscow. But the envoys brought a refusal from the proud beauty. The angry tsar captured Kazan. The girl was forced to agree to Ivan the Terrible’s proposal, but she put forward a condition: that in seven days there should be a tower in the city that would outshine all existing minarets in height.

Ivan the Terrible fulfilled his beloved's wish. During the festive feast, Syuyumbike said that she wanted to say goodbye hometown looking from the height of the newly built tower. Having climbed to the top platform, she rushed down.

Externally, this building is very reminiscent of the Moscow Kremlin. Unfortunately, no exact data has been preserved about the time of creation of this attraction.

The tower consists of five tiers, which decrease in size. The last levels are octahedrons, which are crowned by a tent in the form of an octagonal truncated pyramid and a spire with a crescent. From the spire to the ground, the height of the building is 58 meters. In the last century, three reconstructions took place here, since it was recorded that today the deviation from the vertical of the spire is 1.98 meters.

Taynitskaya Tower

Below Syuyumbike there are the Tainitsky entrance gates. This name was given to them in honor of the dungeon that leads to the source. During the siege of the city, it was used by local residents. Previously, the tower was called Nur-Ali. The Russian residents of the city called her Muraleeva. It was blown up during the capture of the Kremlin. It was through these gates that Ivan IV entered the city.

The tower was restored, but the architectural decoration was done in the 17th century. Now on the upper tier there is a cafe “Muraleevy Vorota”.

Kazan Kremlin: excursions, prices, opening hours

The Kremlin excursion department invites city guests and local residents to take a walk through the museum-reserve, accompanied by professional staff. Tours are conducted in Tatar, Russian, German, English, Turkish, Italian and French.

The entrance is open daily through the Spasskaya Tower. The Tainitskaya Tower is also the entrance to the Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan). Opening hours: in summer - from 8:00 to 22:00, and in winter - until 18:00.

The cost of the excursion for a group of six people is 1,360 rubles. For a group of more than six people - 210 rubles per adult.

How to get there?

The Kazan Kremlin (Tatarstan), whose address is Kremlevskaya, 2, is located on the left bank of the Volga. You can get here by buses No. 6, 29, 37, 47, trolleybuses No. 4, 10, 1 and 18. Stop “TSUM”, “Ul. Bauman" or by metro - stop "Kremlevskaya".