How many floors in the Kazan Kremlin. Kazan Kremlin: what to see
A thousand years ago, Finno-Ugric tribes settled on a high hill at the confluence of the rivers. After the emergence of the state of Great Volga Bulgaria in the territory of modern Tatarstan in the 10-13th centuries, Kazan was small fortress on the border with Russia.
After the Mongol invasion in 1236, the Bulgar population came under the walls of Kazan from the Volga Bulgaria devastated by the Mongols, 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 middle of the 16th century, conflicts with the Moscow principality escalated, 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 the new Kremlin under the guidance of Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryaev. The white-stone fortress, which can be seen now, was built after the middle of the 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 Transfiguration Tower to the very roof - the whole center of the city is in full view! The only and the main street The fortress remembers the Bulgar emirs, the Golden Horde khans and Russian tsars. This is the first street in Kazan, paved with cobblestones, it has a historical look even today.
- On the territory of the fortress is the famous "falling" tower of Queen Syuyumbike.
It deviates from its axis by 2 meters. The tower is named after 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 been refused, Ivan the Terrible attacked Kazan. Wanting to save her besieged city, Suyumbeki 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 rushed down from it. In fact, the fate of Syuyumbeki was different: the 29-year-old daughter of the Nogai Murza was taken to Moscow and separated from her young son there.
In 2005, a new mosque, Kul Sharif, was opened, which became the main mosque of Tatarstan. Kul Sharif - that 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, 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 cap" - the crown of the Kazan khans, which was taken to Moscow after the fall of Kazan and is now on display in the Armory. Kul Sharif was erected by Turkish builders, 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 Junkers' School. Museums are located in the same building - a museum-memorial of the Great Patriotic War, a museum natural history, art gallery "Khazine" ("Treasury").
- The Kremlin houses the first 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 masters.
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. During its long history, the temple has undergone many reconstructions. In May 1836, the cathedral was visited by Nicholas I. Following imperial orders, the cathedral was expanded and turned into a winter one. He was visited by Peter I, Catherine II and almost all members of the imperial house, as well as Radishchev, Pushkin, Rachmaninov. More than once Fyodor Chaliapin sang here in the church choir.
Special offers on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin
In 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 walker with riddles and competitions in the ancient fortress.
In the Museum of Islam in the Kul Sharif Mosque, you can visit the master class “The Art of Wearing a Headscarf” and learn what Muslim beauty means, how Kazan Tatar women wore headdresses at the end of the 19th century, why Muslim women leave only their faces and hands open, what 15 ways of tying a headscarf exist.
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 is the metro station "Kremlyovskaya", next to bus stop"Circus".
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 take a walk 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: a group of up to 10 people - 500 rubles (each subsequent one - 50 rubles).
Year of inscription world heritage: 2000
Kazan, one of the ancient cities of Russia, is located on the banks of the Volga, in its middle course, about 700 km east of Moscow.
The historical center of Kazan the Kremlin has gone through several stages in its historical development, which together cover a thousand-year period. First, a wooden fortress arose (at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries), then a stone one (the 12th century). From the second half of the XIII century. until the middle of the 16th century. the Kremlin served as the center of the Kazan Principality as part of the Golden Horde, and then the Kazan Khanate.
In autumn 1552, after a long 40-day siege, Kazan was captured by the army of Ivan the Terrible. The Kazan Khanate joins Rus', and a new stage of development begins ancient city. By order of the Russian tsar, the Kazan Kremlin is being reconstructed, the fortress walls destroyed during the assault are being restored in stone, new buildings are being erected (for example, the main entrance tower Spasskaya). The restructuring is carried out in the old Russian architectural style, for which the Pskov architects Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryai are involved in the work. At the same time, the fortification system of the Tatar fortress that had developed before the capture is preserved, the location of the ruler's palace and religious buildings, as well as the main travel gates with diverging roads-streets, are also preserved. On the site of the mosques of the fortress, churches are built, a monastery complex is erected. The city turns into a stronghold of Orthodoxy on the Volga land, becomes an important center of pilgrimage.
The territory of the Kremlin has the configuration of an irregular polygon, elongated from north to south under the influence of the terrain. This polygon is clearly outlined by the fortifications of the Kremlin - its fortress walls 8–12 m high and towers, which originally were 13. Modern walls and towers were built in the period of the 16th-18th centuries, however, archaeologists discovered much more ancient masonry at their base, dating back to the period of the 10th-16th centuries. The total length of the walls is 1800 m.
Of the towers of the Kazan Kremlin, two are the most famous. Firstly, it is the front entrance Spasskaya tower with a gate church, made in the classic white stone style. Secondly, it is the stand-alone watchtower of Syuyumbek, seven-tiered, 58 m high, built of red brick. Presumably, it was erected at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, and named after the last queen of the Kazan Khanate. However, about the origin, purpose and architectural style of the Syuyumbek tower, appearance which contrasts sharply with the rest of the buildings of the Kremlin, scientists have not yet come to a consensus. And indeed, in its appearance, features are found that are inherent not only in Russian and Tatar culture, but also in Italian, so there is even a version that Italian architects took part in its construction (and according to this version, the age of the tower increases even more - it dates back to the end of the 15th century).
Inside the fortress walls there are both church and civil buildings. The main church building of the Kazan Kremlin is the Annunciation Cathedral, it is the oldest of all the stone buildings of Kazan that have survived to our time. The cathedral was built of white stone in the middle of the 16th century, but after that it was rebuilt several times, survived several fires and subsequent restorations and reconstructions. Its complex also includes the Bishop's House and the Consistory. The complex of the Transfiguration Monastery next to the Spasskaya Tower also belongs to the Orthodox church heritage of the Kazan Kremlin.
The main civil building of the Kazan Kremlin - dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Governor's Palace (architect K.A. Ton). Until 1917, it served as the residence of the Kazan governor, and now it is the residence of the President of Tatarstan. This palace was built on the site of the former residence of the Kazan khans, which included the khan's palace, surrounded by numerous pavilions, galleries and outbuildings. Only the remains of the Khan's mosque, two old white-stone mausoleums and some other structures have survived from it to this day.
Thus, the Kazan Kremlin is an outstanding example of the synthesis of different artistic styles, demonstrates the interpenetration of different cultures (Bulgarian, Golden Horde, Tatar, Russian, possibly Italian), and reflects the originality of different - replacing one another - historical eras.
In the early 2000s The Kazan Kremlin became the site of significant restoration work in preparation for the August 2005 celebration of the city's millennium. As part of the implementation of the federal target program “Preservation and Development of the Historical Center of Kazan”, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in 2001, seven valuable objects were restored in the Kremlin, including: the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Transfiguration Monastery, the Governor's Palace, the Cannon Yard, etc. A huge new cathedral mosque Kul-Sharif was built, which became a symbolic successor to the main mosque of the same name in Khan's Kazan, destroyed after the capture of the city by the troops of Ivan the Terrible.
Since 1994, the State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve "Kazan Kremlin" has been functioning.
The stone Kremlin appeared on this site in the 12th century. In 1552, the troops of Ivan the Terrible captured Kazan: old fortress, including the mosque located on its territory, was destroyed. The construction of new fortifications, which have survived to our time, began in 1556. The work was supervised by the builders of the Moscow Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed - Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryai.
In 2000, the architectural complex of the Kazan Kremlin was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Photo of the Kazan Kremlin
Historical and architectural complex
Modern complex The Kazan Kremlin occupies an area of 150 thousand square meters, the length of the walls of the Kremlin is almost two kilometers, the width reaches three meters, and the height is more than six meters. Outside the walls of the Kazan Kremlin there are many interesting objects - like historical monuments and modern attractions. - the symbol of the Kazan Kremlin. By official version, it was built at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century as a watchtower and the entrance to the courtyard of the chief commandant. However, there are different opinions about the age of the tower. One of them says that it was built at the end of the 15th century and survived the ruin of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible.
The tower has five tiers. The first three are tetrahedra, the last are octahedrons. The height of the building is about 58 meters, it is crowned with a spire. The Syuyumbike tower is tilted to the side. The deviation from the vertical axis is almost 2 meters. - the youngest and most luxurious building of the Kazan Kremlin. It was erected in 1996-2005 for the millennium of Kazan. Part of the building performs religious functions, part of the museum - it houses the Museum of Islamic Culture.
The Kul Sharif Mosque has five floors. The plan is two intersected squares. The building is faced with white marble and covered with a blue dome. Around there are four minarets 55 meters high with the same blue tops. Stained-glass windows are inserted into the windows of the mosque, the building is partially covered with ornaments.
The monument has its own history. Until the 16th century, when Kazan was taken by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, there was a mosque of the same name, named after its last imam. So the construction of a new building is not only a symbol of the equality of religions in the republic, but also a tribute to history.
Also on the territory of the Kremlin (in its southeastern part) is Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery complex, which has its own buildings. The monastery is not active today.
The main temple of the monastery was Transfiguration Cathedral built in the late 16th - early 17th century. The cathedral was blown up in the 1920s. Now only the basement remains. Near the wall of the cathedral there is a small cave in which wonderworkers were buried.
Also included is Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. This church, built in the second half of the 16th century and rebuilt several times later, survived in Soviet times. IN this moment restoration is underway. The last building included in the monastery complex is fraternal corps built in the second half of the 17th century.
In addition, in the Kazan Kremlin are located:
- Presidential palace(former governor's palace)
- bishop's house
- cannon yard
- Junker School(the building houses museums and an art gallery)
- Arena
The pearl of the Kazan Kremlin is built in the middle of the 16th century - the main Orthodox building of the Kazan Kremlin. It began to be built in 1556 and was completed by 1562. The reason for the construction was the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Tradition says that the king himself even chose a place for laying the foundation of the cathedral. Until 1922, the temple had a bell tower, which was later blown up.
Spasskaya Tower
The Spasskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin was erected in the 16th century, it is located on the side of May 1 Square. This is the main tower of the Kremlin with an entrance gate, adjacent to it is the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands, from which the tower got its name. The tower was completed more than once, rebuilt and repeatedly burned. In the 18th century, a clock was installed on it. After the revolution, the double-headed eagle that crowned the bath was replaced by a golden star - it remains on the tower to this day.
Taynitskaya tower
The Taynitskaya tower was erected in the 16th century on the site of the destroyed Nur-Ali tower, from which Ivan the Terrible entered the captured Kremlin. The tower got its name later: all because of secret passage that went from here to the pure source. Here it was possible to take water, even when the Kremlin kept the siege. The source has not been preserved to this day.
The Spasskaya and Tainitskaya towers were built at the same time, initially they were very similar. However, over time, due to numerous reconstructions, their appearance began to differ.
Museum-reserve
Museum Reserve "Kazan Kremlin" was established in 1994, all historical buildings on the territory of the Kremlin are under its jurisdiction. They house expositions of several museums, as well as exhibition halls.
Among them, the Museum of Natural History of Tatarstan stands out, in which you can see the skeletons of prehistoric animals and finds from the era when the ancient sea was located on the territory of Kazan.
The Museum of Islamic Culture located in the mosque is also interesting.
The Museum of the History of the Statehood of the Tatar People and the Republic of Tatarstan is located on the territory of the Khan's court. Here you can see a coin that is about 1000 years old, ancient jewelry and other items that tell about the material culture of the people and their way of life.
cannon yard
The Cannon Yard complex, which consists of four buildings, dates back to the 17th century, various reconstructions were carried out until the middle of the 19th century. The Cannon Factory, one of the largest in the empire, worked here. After a major fire, they stopped making weapons here, the School of Battalions of Military Cantonists was opened in the buildings of the Cannon Yard, in 1866 it was replaced by the Junker Infantry School.
In 2014, the restoration of the Cannon Yard was completed, temporary exhibitions are held in the buildings and a permanent exhibition is being prepared.
Monument to architects
The monument to the architects of the Kazan Kremlin was opened in 2003, it is located in front of the Bishop's House. The idea of the composition is as follows: to celebrate the merits of both Russian architects, whose creations have survived to this day, and the talent of Tatar architects who built the Kremlin destroyed by Ivan the Terrible. Today, the fragments excavated by archaeologists help us to appreciate the grandeur of this original building - they are specially open for viewing.
Embodying the idea of friendship between peoples, the sculptures created the figures of two men - one of Slavic appearance with a drawing of the Spasskaya Tower, and the second - Tatar, with a drawing of the Khan's Palace. The pedestal is surrounded by Russian and Tatar national ornaments.
Excursions
In the Kremlin, you can order a number of exciting excursions that are held not only on the territory of the Kremlin itself, but also in its environs - Kremlin Street, for example. Duration sightseeing tour by the Kremlin - about 1.5 hours, it also includes a visit to the Kul Sharif mosque and the Cathedral of the Annunciation.
Scheme and map of the Kremlin
Working mode
Kazan Kremlin
In the UNESCO lists, it is listed as "the only surviving Tatar fortress." But, in order not to mislead you, let's tell the truth. In front of you is a Russian fortress, built on the site of the Tatar one by Pskov masters Ivan Shiryai and Postnik Yakovlev, nicknamed Barma.
The Tatar fortress was cut down from wood. Eyewitnesses describe oak walls in two rows, between which sand and stone were poured. The stone houses in the Kremlin itself and in the suburbs surrounding it were built from river rubble, which is “afraid” of fire and crumbles. Therefore, after the capture of Kazan, the city was built completely anew and today, alas, apart from the foundations, not a single building from the period of the Kazan Khanate has been preserved in it!
So we see spasskaya tower and on its sides - two later reconstructed turrets. In the one on the right, there was once a "Black" prison, in the basement of which the Yaik Cossack Emelyap Pugachev was kept.
Here he was imprisoned for the fact that "having drunk a pian, in taverns he called himself an empire." The prisoners got food for themselves, and so Pugachev walked all day long around the city with an escort, begging for alms. The soldier accompanying him was old and blind, and soon the Cossack fled. Right there in the city, he hid in a hole, then the Old Believers - "kindred souls" - transported him to the other side of the Volga, from where he went to the free Yaik. Just a year later, in July 1774, the Cossack returned as an “empiricist” and laid siege to the city. But Pugachev was prevented by the unbearable heat that prevailed that summer. The heat was such that "haystacks flared up in the meadows, and gunpowder in guns, and people were saved standing up to their necks in the river." Fire and looting started. Pugachev could no longer gather together his drunken army!
The Spasskaya Tower has survived to this day in its original form. Only the Outside Chapel was lost, which was, as it were, “stuck” in front of the entrance to the tower, and the double-headed eagle that crowned its top until the revolution of 1917, and a deep ditch was also filled up, over which a drawbridge was thrown. The tower itself was not always white stone, at one time it was painted with ocher.
Now let's enter the Kremlin. Pay attention to the thickness of the walls and the fastening loops left from the fortress gates. We are located on the shortest street in Kazan (about 500 meters long), which is named after the Red Commissar Yakov Sheinkman, who was shot by white Czechs near the walls of the Kremlin. The rebellious regiment of Czechs, in August 1918, knocked the Reds out of the city for two days, during which time the entire gold reserve of the Russian Empire disappeared from the vaults of the Kazan Bank, which was transported here shortly before from Moscow. They say that gold was taken from Kazan on sixteen carts towards the city of Laishev. Part of the supply was lost there ...
Near Kazan, Yaroslav Gashek, who later became a famous writer, went over to the side of the Reds. True, here he introduced himself by the name of his literary hero - Josef Schweik! He was appointed commandant of Bugulma, where, according to eyewitnesses, he zealously set to work. He passed sentence on the enemies of the revolution and carried it out himself. Here he got married, however, leaving the borders of Russia and filling out a questionnaire, he put in the column "marital status" - "single".
In Prague, in the homeland of Hasek, this blood-red "page" of his biography is well remembered, and in Bugulma, on the contrary, they are even proud that he "managed" it so well. IN provincial town grateful descendants opened in the building of the former commandant's office literary museum Yaroslav Hasek.
Kul Sharif Mosque
To the left of us, if you follow the signs, there is a passage to Cathedral Mosque Kul Sharif is the biggest place of worship Muslims in northeastern Russia.
“... The wide popularity of Kul Sharif in the last period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate is confirmed by many historical sources, as well as information preserved in the people's memory and summarized by Shigabutdin Marjani. Based on them, it can be argued that Kul Sharif in the khanate on the eve of its fall was the head of the Muslim clergy, the supreme seid. Andrei Kurbsky, describing the episode connected with the capture of Kazan by the Russian army in 1552, calls him in a European way "great biskup", that is, a bishop, and adds that the Tatars themselves consider Kul Sharif "the great anaryi", or "amir".
The supreme seid Kul Sharif died during the capture of Kazan by the Russians in 1552 during the battle with them. Marjani, relying on folk legends, reports that Kul Sharif with his followers, united in a special military unit "regiment", consisting of young dervishes and Sufis, defended up to the building of the madrasah, then, retreating, climbed onto its roof, where he was stabbed and fell down. So the life of this outstanding personality of the era of the Kazan Khanate was tragically interrupted.
Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kazan Kremlin
If, during the construction of the Kul-Sharif Cathedral Mosque, archaeologists tried to restore the religious building destroyed during the siege, then they should have taken as a basis St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow, built "for the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates", since there is an assumption that after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate, the same Pskov masters who rebuilt the Kazan Kremlin erected a small copy of one of the architectures in the very center of Moscow enemy symbols. However, for some unknown reasons, then they began to build the main Orthodox (Epiphany) Cathedral on the land of the Gentiles.
The consecration of the five-domed Cathedral took place in 1562. For the construction, according to the Kazan scribe book, "1148 rubles 24 kopecks and a half was spent, and iron was bought for 100 rubles." In the forms of the Cathedral, one can feel the influence of the styles of Pskov, Vladimir and Moscow architecture.
Since then, all the royal persons of the Russian Empire, from Peter I to Nicholas II, have attended divine services here. Today, the Cathedral has been restored and is open to the public, church services are held here.
Tower Syuyumbike
Now, from the Cathedral of the Annunciation, we will proceed to the falling tower of Syuyumbike (Syuyum is a female name, and bika, or bike is a respectful appeal to an adult woman).
She really falls to the side Presidential Palace, on which you see the flag of Tatarstan with the coat of arms - a white leopard. Why they chose this particular animal, one can only guess, because snow leopards have never been found on the fauna-rich land of Tatarstan.
The deviation of the tower from the main axis is 1.98 meters. This slope is clearly visible next to the Annunciation Cathedral.
Tower Syuyumbike- an architectural and spiritual symbol of Kazan. Her image can be found on many emblems of various Tatar societies, for example, the Association of Tatars in America. We can also recall the analogue of the Tatar tower in Moscow - this is the building of the Kazan railway station.
No written sources containing mention of the time of construction of the tower and its original purpose have been found. On the earliest plans of the city of the 18th century, it is shown as the entrance to the courtyard of the commandant's house, which stood on the site of the "old tsar's court".
Favorable location of the building on the very high point hill suggests its use as a watchtower. Inside, narrow staircase galleries are made in such a way that only one archer could hold back a whole enemy detachment with a spear. A supply of stones, tow, resin, spears and arrows, as well as provisions would allow holding a siege long time small group of defenders.
Before the revolution, the Syuyumbike tower was open to tourists and served as observation deck. On the oak door of the upper tier, there is an inscription made by a certain traveler - “Gavrilov was here”.
Some researchers are inclined to believe that the Syuyumbike tower with "non-Russian architecture" was built by Pskov craftsmen on the foundation of the high seven-tiered gates, which were dilapidated during the capture of Kazan, installed at the entrance to the Khan's Palace. Perhaps the Russian masons were struck by the shape of the gate and they did not rebuild it, but only restored its former appearance. On the one hand, it was the front gate, on the other - a watchtower, on the third - a minaret for calling for Friday prayers, as well as for announcing Khan's decrees to the people. There is another version according to which the tower structure is a mausoleum or a memorial mosque.
Many legends are associated with the Syuyumbike tower. There is a legend that it was built on the burial site of three Muslim saints, to the graves of which local residents and dervishes went to worship. And recently, at the foot of the tower, archaeologists unearthed the burial places of the khan's period, where the last Kazan khans rest, including Safa Giray, who died in 1549. A legend passed down by the Tatars from generation to generation tells about the weeping of Queen Syuyumbike over the resting place of her beloved husband.
Folk tales depict Syuyumbike as an indescribable beauty, having heard about which, Ivan IV sent ambassadors to her with a proposal to become a Moscow queen. And the refusal of Syuyumbike was the reason for the Russian campaign against Kazan. When the Russian troops besieged the city, the proud khansha agreed to the marriage on the condition that within a week the archers would be able to raise a tower above all the minarets of the "Pearl of the East". The requirement of the princess was fulfilled on time. Seven days - seven tiers! During the wedding feast, the bride expressed her desire to take a last look at hometown from the height of a seven-tiered tower. She climbed to the highest platform and rushed down.
In fact, it was much more prosaic. After the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, by order of the Russian Tsar, she was forcibly married off to the Kasimov Khan Shah-Ali, who was pro-Moscow. This marriage served the king as the best reason for refusing her father, the Nogai Khan Yusuf, who requested the return of his daughter and grandson Utyamysh. About him, the king wrote to the khan "we hold your grandson for my son." In fact, he was separated from his mother and baptized. In one of the Moscow monasteries, the grave of Syuyumbike's son has been preserved, a new name is engraved on the slab - Simeon.
Monument to Russian soldiers who died during the capture of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible
From the site near the Syuyumbike tower, you can see the Kazanka River, which flows into the Volga a few kilometers from here. If you look closely, you will see an acropolis monument standing in the water, resembling a small pyramid, erected in 1823 in memory of the capture of Kazan. In 1552, the bodies of dead soldiers were brought here, into a hastily dug mass grave. Despite the fact that not only the Orthodox, but also the Gentiles, who went over to the side of the Russian Tsar, took part in the siege of the city, they buried everyone indiscriminately and buried them in a Christian way. Later, a chapel was built over the grave, and after the flood of the Kuibyshev reservoir, the water came up to the monument, turning it into an island.
Why was it decided to arrange the burial of soldiers in this place? According to chronicle sources, it was here that the headquarters of Ivan the Terrible was located (by the way, the tsar was only 24 years old at the time of the siege). From his royal tent, he led the capture of the city. There is a version that an underground manhole led from the tent of Ivan the Terrible to the walls of the Kremlin. Allegedly, it existed even before the revolution, and Nicholas II himself, when he was visiting the sights of the city, descended into it, but blockages prevented him from going to the Kremlin. Be that as it may, one thing is certain that the engineer Butler, who was specially brought to undermine the fortress walls with "Apglitz bombs", approached the wall unnoticed along the dug passages and laid barrels of gunpowder under its base. After the explosion, two breaches were formed. One of the explosions thundered just under the wall, which overlooks the monument-tomb.
Kazan was besieged by a 150,000-strong army against 33,000 defenders, and the Russian Tsar had 160 cannons, as well as engineer Butler with his "infernal machines."
On October 2, 1552, the Kazan Khanate was annexed to the Russian kingdom, and the last Khan, Yadyger, was taken into captivity.
Ivan the Terrible was sewn a Kazan hat from ferrets, which were found in abundance in local forests, and decorated it with precious stones from the Khan's rod.
Apart from a dozen pebbles, nothing of value was found in the Khan's palace. The treasury was empty, which then gave rise to a legend about a treasure at the bottom of Lake Kaban.
They say that the king got only the khan's library with Arabic folios. They replenished his legendary collection of rare books, which, however, are still being sought.
It was the fifth siege by the Russians of the capital of the Kazan Khanate. The previous ones ended in failure (once even the cunning khan, like Kutuzov, ordered the surrender of the capital to the enemy troops. A month later he entered the city back and rebuilt on the site of the ashes new town better than before!).
The fifth trip was much better prepared. Above the Volga, on the island of Sviyazhsk, a fortress was built in advance for wintering troops and storing weapons and fodder. A temple and a monastery were also erected here to conduct missionary activities among the “non-Christs”. Rooks, loaded with everything necessary for the siege of the city, regularly went from Sviyazhsk to Kazan. Today, the island of Sviyazhsk can be reached both by water on a sightseeing boat, and by land. A bulk dam leads to the island from the side of the village of Vasilyevo. Sviyazhsk has retained the charm of a Russian province; services are held in its darkened churches. Several dozen monks support life on an island forgotten by civilization. Here, on the church vaults painted by icon painters, you can see a rare image of St. Christopher the pseudo-headed... but with a horse's head.
Taynitskiye gate
On the left side of the Syuyumbike Tower is the Cannon Yard (the inscription says this on the weather vane). Blacksmith workshops have been located here for a long time, where chain mail, armor, arrowheads and spearheads, swords were made, and cannons and cannonballs were cast.
Now let's head down to Tainitsky gate. One glance is enough to understand that we have not a remake, but a really old fortress building. Inside it you will hear the rumble of footsteps and feel the coolness of the past. Pay attention to the thickness of the walls and massive fastenings for gates and bars, and also to the characteristic cranked - from left to right - passage to the fortress. This was done so that the enemy army, armed with swords and shields, during the siege would turn out to be its unprotected side to the garrison of the fortress. After all, as usual, the shield was held in the left hand, and the sword in the right!
The Taynitskaya tower was erected in the 16th century on the site of the Nur-Ali tower blown up during the siege of Kazan. She got her new name from the blown up secret passage to the spring, from which the besieged took water. Ivan the Terrible, after the capture of Kazan, solemnly entered the city through these gates.
Coin of St. Wenceslas and the 1000th anniversary of Kazan
In 1997, during excavations on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin, archaeologists found a lead coin, which, according to the largest numismatist in Europe, Czech researcher Yarmila Haskova, was made in Prague. The most plausible date of minting can be considered 929-930. At that time, jewelry was made from lead. In addition, there is a hole on the coin. This allows us to conclude that the coin was also used as a decoration. The coin is unique - the only one in the world. According to this archaeological find, it was proved that Kazan is more than a hundred years old.
Today, architectural monuments of various 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 most 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 by water on three sides, was well suited for building a fortress.
Kremlin during the Mongol-Tatar yoke
The stone Kremlin was erected in the 12th century for defense northern borders Volga Bulgaria. By the middle of the 13th century, the Mongol hordes, led by Batu Khan, had made significant progress in Eastern Europe. The dominance of the Golden Horde was established over Russia and the 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 did not stick. The former name returned, and the Golden Horde principality became known as the Kazan ulus.
After the collapse of the Golden Horde in 1438, Genghisid Ulug-Mohammed founded an 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 the military." The Khan's palace and several mosques were erected 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 within Russia
To this day, not a single khan's building has survived. When the Kazan Kremlin became a Russian fortress in the middle of the 16th century, Orthodox churches were built on the sites of “centers of infidelity”, in other words, on the ruins of Muslim buildings. Even the famous Syuyumbike tower, which until the 19th century erroneously referred to the Khan’s time, was erected much later, already in the Russian period, “the evidence for this is the architecture, especially the pilasters, 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 started building the Kremlin. At first, the main part of the buildings - towers and temples - was built of wood. It is believed that the small church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, built around 1558, was the first to be built of stone. The main cathedral 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 on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin with premises for imperial apartments. The palace was designed with the participation of the architect Konstantin Ton, who planned to create a small copy of the Grand Kremlin Palace in Kazan. Nicholas I personally oversaw the progress of construction. The resulting building is a vivid example of the so-called Russian-Byzantine style.
Kazan Kremlin today
Over a thousand-year history, the appearance of the Kazan Kremlin has changed many times, but deep underground, the masonry of ancient fortresses, mosques and burials has been preserved. Now there are several museums on its territory dedicated not only to the fortress itself, but also to the history of the Tatar people, Islamic culture and nature of Tatarstan. There is also a museum-memorial of the Great Patriotic War, in memory of 350 thousand Tatarstan citizens who did not return from the front.
"In order to preserve historical continuity" in 1995, it was decided to recreate main shrine Kazan Khanate - Kul-Sharif Mosque.
And in 2003, a symbolic sculpture "Architects of the Kazan Kremlin" was opened in the park near the Annunciation Cathedral - Russian and Tatar architects look at the fruits of their labors. After all, unique architectural ensemble created by the efforts of both peoples. However, the unique Kremlin complex is not only a place of pilgrimage for tourists, but also a center of administrative control. On the territory of the Kremlin, in the former building of the Governor's Palace, today there is the official residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan.