What is the name of the location of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin? Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin - the stone necklace of the city
Continuation of New Year's walks around Nizhny Novgorod. .
The Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, standing high above the Volga at the top of the Dyatlov Mountains, is more modest than the Moscow one. But there is much less officialdom in it. The Kremlin is considered the main attraction Nizhny Novgorod. Therefore, without stopping at the hotel, we immediately went to the Kremlin.
We go up to the Kremlin along the Zelensky Congress.I was counting on parking under the eastern wall of the Kremlin on Minin and Pozharsky Square, but it was banned. Having somehow parked the car in one of the neighboring courtyards (thanks for the fact that they had not yet managed to install a barrier there), we went to the monument to Valery Chkalov.
The monument to the famous Soviet pilot of the 30s was erected in 1940, shortly after his death. The author of the statue, sculptor I. Mendelevich, was a friend of V. P. Chkalov.
Valery Chkalov was born on Nizhny Novgorod soil in the village of Vasilevo (since 1937 Chkalovsk). Set up in his father's house. Nizhny Novgorod residents are proud of their legendary fellow countryman.
The pedestal depicts flight diagrams of Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyakov to Udd Island and through the North Pole to Vancouver. Let's not forget that the pilots were flying a single-engine (!) aircraft with a conventional gasoline engine, an unpressurized cabin, and no radar or satellite navigation. For the first time in the history of aviation, they flew to America not through Atlantic Ocean, and through the North Pole.
From the monument to Chkalov, the colossal Chkalov or Volga staircase descends down the slope. Probably, this landmark of Nizhny Novgorod is more famous than the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin itself.
In 1939, the chairman of the Gorky City Executive Committee, Alexander Shulpin, proposed building main staircase, which would surpass the famous Potemkin Stairs in Odessa. The grandiose plan was postponed due to the outbreak of war and was returned to it only in 1943. According to the project of Leningrad architects Lev Rudnev and Vladimir Muntz, the staircase began from the building of the Rossiya Hotel, but Shulpin ordered it to be moved to the monument to Chkalov. Nizhny Novgorod architect Alexander Yakovlev received second prize in the competition for designs for a future staircase. It was he who linked the project to the area, carried out design supervision and is deservedly considered the creator of the staircase, together with Rudnev and Muntz.
Initially, the staircase was called Stalingrad in honor of the famous battle on the Volga. It was built by German prisoners of war and city residents, a common practice in Soviet time using the “people’s construction” method. Construction lasted six years and was completed in 1949. The staircase cost the budget 7 million 760 thousand rubles. Shulpin was later accused of embezzlement of public funds, convicted and exiled to Siberia. He was rehabilitated after Stalin's death.
The staircase consists of 442 steps. Sometimes the number is called 560 steps. But in this case they are considered on both sides of the “eight”, in the form of which the Chkalov Stairs are built.
Chkalov staircase. View from Nizhnevolzhskaya embankment. There is a car tunnel under the lower flights of stairs. Tall cars go around the stairs on the left.The Chkalov staircase has long become the most memorable symbol of Nizhny, but the Kremlin itself is much older and more interesting.
Construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin began in 1500 and was completed 11 years later. It was erected by Russian masons with the participation Italian architect Peter Fryazin (Pietro Francesco), who worked on the construction of the Moscow Kremlin.
We will start at the St. George Tower, closest to the Chkalov Stairs and the monument to the pilot. Its name was given after the non-preserved Church of St. George the Victorious. This corner square tower was once a gate tower, i.e. travel card However, already in the 20s of the 17th century the gates were “closed with iron bars and there was no bridge from the city.” The tower looks too squat, because it was half covered with earth during the construction of the Chkalov Stairs.
Let's go along the south-eastern part of the Kremlin wall to the breach gate located between the St. George and Porokhovaya (Arsenal) towers. The classical palace is clearly visible from the breached gate. In 1834, Nicholas I, during a visit to Nizhny Novgorod, supported the idea expressed by local authorities of building a new governor's house with special chambers for the visits of members of the reigning dynasty and dignitaries. The palace was built in 1841 according to the design of the St. Petersburg architect I. Charlemagne.
It was here in 1858 that the governor of Nizhny, Alexander Nikolayevich Muravyov, a former member of the Union of Welfare, exiled to Siberia in the Decembrist case, introduced Alexandre Dumas to the heroes of his novel “The Fencing Teacher” Ivan Annenkov and his wife Praskovya, née Polina Gebl. Whether the “spreading cranberries” under which Dumas drank tea while in Russia grew in the governor’s garden, history is silent. 🙂
The Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum has been located in the palace since 1991.
The main tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is called Dmitrievskaya. This tower has long been considered the main symbol and main attraction of Nizhny Novgorod. The tower was named after the Church of Demetrius of Thessalonica, which, alas, was lost. In the 18th century, the Kremlin finally lost its defensive significance and the moat in front of the tower was filled up along with its lower tier. The Dmitrievskaya Tower differs from the others in its spectacular, even fabulous appearance. This is the result of reconstruction at the end of the 19th century, carried out by an expert on Russian antiquity, architect N. Sultanov. The tower was adapted as a city museum for the opening of the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in 1896.
Having passed the Dmitrievskaya Tower, we leave the Kremlin through another breach gate, built in the southern part of the wall.
Prolomny gate, decorated with the luminous coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod. According to Vl.Al.Gilyarosky, the coat of arms was disrespectfully called “The Cheerful Goat.”The Zelensky Congress goes down from the broken gate (from the distorted “potion”, i.e. gunpowder), and the boulevard runs along the Kremlin wall. It passes by the round Storage Tower to the Nikolsky Gate. Nikolskaya travel tower named after another temple. The ancient church has not survived; in Soviet times, the site was needed for the Moscow Hotel. The hotel, in turn, was demolished in 1997. At the very end of 2015, at this place we saw the new St. Nicholas Church, slightly stylized as ancient Russian architecture of either the 12th or 15th centuries. He looks quite good.
Modern St. Nicholas Church on the opposite side of the Kremlin of the Zelensky Congress. Zelensky Congress. On the left is the Nikolskaya Tower, on the right in the distance is the Nikolskaya Church. The concrete bridge was built in 1982.The Nikolskaya Gate Tower managed to serve as a provisions store, a military warehouse, and now it is an exhibition hall of the Nizhny Novgorod Museum.
On the southwestern corner of the Kremlin there is a round Koromyslov tower. The Nizhny Novgorod legend tells about a girl who went by water to Pochaina and met an enemy detachment. The girl scattered all the enemies with her yoke, and when a new horde came running, she killed him too. Only when her strength ran out did she fall dead. The enemy commander decided that if the women of Nizhny Novgorod were so strong and brave, then what kind of men would be warriors and ordered a retreat. And the girl was buried with honors under the tower, which has since been called Koromyslova.
There is another, sad legend that explains the name of the tower. When the craftsmen began to build the tower, they did not succeed. Everything that was erected during the day was destroyed by the next morning. Then the masons remembered an ancient custom: in order for the building to be strong, a living person who would be the first to appear in that place must be walled up in its foundation. This turned out to be a young woman named Alena. She took buckets and a rocker and set off on the water. When, having collected water, it began to climb the mountain, the craftsmen grabbed it and walled it up at the base of the tower along with the rocker. That’s why it’s called the Koromyslova Tower.
The neighboring round tower is called Tainitskaya. It is named after the secret passage that led to Pochayna. In the old days, every fortress had these underground passages so that the besieged could take water. However, this name appeared only in 1765. Previously, the tower was called Mironositskaya “on the green,” i.e. gunpowder. During World War II, the tower's tent was dismantled and anti-aircraft machine guns were installed. Gorky, being the center of the military-industrial complex, was seriously damaged by Nazi air raids.
From the western side of the Kremlin wall there are wonderful views of Zapochainye with the churches of Elijah the Prophet and the Kazan Icon of the Virgin Mary
and on the spit of the Volga and Oka with the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
The next round tower is called North. It really stands on the northern corner of the fortress. Previously, it was called Ilyinskaya (after the Church of Elijah the Prophet), Naugolnaya, Zelenskaya. In the 19th century, it was intended to house state chambers for the highest persons visiting Nizhny Novgorod. But instead, the tower was abandoned - in 1881 there were no more floors inside, only load-bearing beams remained. The northern tower, like the neighboring Taynitskaya, was used as an air defense firing point during the war.
Wonderful views open from the North Tower. First of all, this is a view of “Skoba”, of which only the “back” remains - a red two-story building behind the trees in the depths of the square.
From the North Tower you can clearly see the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Nizhny Posad. How original Russian name“Bracket” is better than the deliberate “National Unity Square”.
From the North Tower to Nizhny Posad you can go down a multi-flight staircase, which is very dangerous in winter. Since the author had already chosen his norm of falls and subsequent injuries, instead of going down he went to the next arch in Kremlin wall between the North and Clock Towers.
The Clock Tower is perhaps the most remarkable after Dmitrievskaya, although it stands in far corner The Kremlin, where not everyone will reach. The brick tower is topped with a wooden frame “clock hut”, over which a guard tower is built. In the old days, a log cabin housed a clock mechanism, and dials were mounted on the outer walls. The inventory of 1621 says: “and on the tower there is a fighting clock,” that is, a striking clock that chimes every hour.
The dials were divided not into the usual 12, but into 17 o'clock. In pre-Petrine Rus', daytime and nighttime hours were counted separately. The dial is designed for maximum daylight hours. In June it just reaches 17 hours. The watch was supervised by a special master “watchmaker”. The clock was lost because in 1807 there was a strong fire in the tower and the wooden parts were burned. From the Clock Tower you can clearly see the Ivanovo Tower below.
The Ivanovo Tower is the largest in area in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
Svyatoslav Leonidovich Agafonov, an outstanding architect, historian and restorer who saved the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin from destruction, believed that it was from the Ivanovo Tower that the construction of the Kremlin began in 1500. It was the most important defense center on the most accessible side of the mountain.
The legend about the famous gunner Fyodor Litvich is associated with the Ivanovo Tower.
In 1505, the Kazan Khan Muhammad-Emin approached the unfinished Kremlin with a huge horde of Tatars and Nogais and stood on the opposite bank of the Pochaina. There was no large army in Nizhny, and there were few weapons. No help was expected from Moscow. The Nizhny Novgorod residents had several arquebuses with cannonballs, but no one knew how to shoot from them. Then the governor remembered the Lithuanian prisoners languishing in the casemates of the Ivanovo Tower. He invited them to deal with the arquebuses, promising freedom in return. The most skilled gunner Fedya Litvich volunteered to fire the first cannonball at the Kazanians. Yes, he demolished the khan’s own tent with the first shot. The Tatars and Nogais began to fight each other and left Nizhny with nothing.
The Nizhny Novgorod governor kept his word. Some of the Lithuanians wanted to go home, but some stayed and settled in the so-called “Pansky Hills”. This name was in use until recently.
The tower stands at the Ivanovo Congress. In this place in 1611, Kuzma Minin-Sukhoruk addressed the residents of Nizhny Novgorod with his famous appeal:
We want to help the Moscow state, so we don’t spare our property, don’t spare anything, sell yards, pawn our wives and children, beat with our foreheads the one who would stand up for the true Orthodox faith and be our boss.
S.M. Soloviev. “History of Russia from ancient times.”
A wonderful painting by the artist Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky, known as “Minin’s Appeal to the People of Nizhny Novgorod,” is dedicated to this most important episode of the Time of Troubles. This monumental painting was created in 1896 and presented at the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod.
Image taken from art-assorty.ruThe full title of the painting is “Minin on Nizhny Novgorod Square, calling on people for donations.” The painting was acquired by the Ministry of the Court and in 1913, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, presented it to the city. Since 1972, the creation of Konstantin Makovsky has been presented at the Art Museum in the annex to the mansion of the merchant Dmitry Sirotkin.
However, we have strayed somewhat from the topic. Let's return to the Clock Tower and enter the Kremlin again.
Unfortunately, the inside of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin looks rather empty. There are quite a lot of official administrative buildings in it, but few churches and monuments have survived. Taking photographs of the Kremlin from the inside is not very interesting. The gaze lingered on the former banknote office, where in Catherine’s times gold and silver were exchanged for banknotes. The house then served as a police station, a fire brigade and a lamp brigade, and about a hundred years ago it was rebuilt as a telephone exchange. Since then, the facades in the rational modern style have been preserved (architect N. Veshnyakov). It all started with money and ended with money. For the last 20 years, the building has belonged to the treasury department of the Nizhny Novgorod province of the region.
The government building of government offices, although it was built by F.B. Rastrelli’s student Yakov Ananin, does not evoke enthusiasm. The only thing that makes this building remarkable is the fact that Pyotr Nikolaevich Nesterov, the son of the teacher of the Arakcheevsky Cadet Corps, the famous Russian aviator, who performed the first loop and air ram in the history of aviation, was born here in 1887.
Cathedral of the Archangel. View from the east. In the background is a fragment of the facade of the Government Building (Arakcheevsky Cadet Corps).But nearby stands the real pearl of Nizhny - the Archangel Cathedral - the only surviving of the three Kremlin churches. Exactly this ancient building Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, not counting the walls and towers, and one of the most striking attractions of the city.
The Archangel Cathedral traces its history back to the founding of the city in 1221. Here, by order of Yuri Vsevolodovich, Grand Duke of Vladimir, a wooden church of the same name was erected.
The current tented temple dates back to the time of Mikhail Fedorovich, the first Tsar of the Romanov Dynasty. The cathedral was built by architects Lavrenty and Antipas Vozoulin in 1628-31. It served as a tomb for the Nizhny Novgorod princes, and in 1962 Kozma Minin, the organizer and leader of the 1612 militia, was reburied there.
In 2008, a monument to the founder of the city, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, and his spiritual mentor, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal Simon, was erected to the south of the cathedral.
The monument is quite standard. Similar monuments appeared in large numbers in Russian cities in the first years of the 21st century.
The second most important monument within the walls of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is an obelisk in honor of Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, created by the architect Abram Ivanovich Melnikov and the sculptor Ivan Petrovich Martos.
According to legend, the famous monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow, created by Ivan Martos and Samsosn Sukhanov, was intended for Nizhny Novgorod. However, Emperor Alexander I ordered it to be installed on Red Square. Only 10 years later, a much more modest obelisk, made in St. Petersburg, was installed in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. During transportation, the upper part of the obelisk split. The cracks are still visible to this day.
Two gilded bronze bas-reliefs adorn the base of the obelisk. They were carried out by I.P. Martos. On the bas-reliefs, the geniuses of glory crown Russian national heroes with laurel wreaths - Kozma Minin
and Dmitry Pozharsky
Among the state-owned buildings of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, the former regional committee of the CPSU looks especially shabby. Moreover, it was stuck in the place where the Assumption Cathedral stood. Another heavy box in the style of “victorious socialism” resembles the Palace of Congresses of the Moscow Kremlin. The signs, of course, were changed, but the regional committee is the regional committee, whatever you call it. This Soviet chest came into the frame completely by accident; in fact, I was photographing the obelisk for Minin and Pozharsky.
Concluding our acquaintance with the bureaucratic and official component of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, let's look at the house of the vice-governor, which until 1917 housed the local Presence and garrison barracks. Both buildings were built by the provincial architect Ananyin. The barracks were used as the headquarters of the Nizhny Novgorod garrison, and now they are also occupied by numerous officials.
On the left is a fragment of the vice-governor's house, in the center are the garrison barracks.Looking at the local bureaucratic structures, you involuntarily remember the great scoffer A.K. Tolstoy
I noticed that yellow is the color
It especially flatters the heart of a patriot;
Coat a house or an infirmary with vokha
The Russian hunt is irresistible;
The bosses have also been in this for a long time
The well-intentioned sees something
And they will swarm in the provinces shoulder to shoulder
Chambers, temple, prison and tower.
At my age it was good form
Imitate barracks taste,
And four or eight columns
It was my duty to hang around in a line
Underneath the inevitable Greek pediment.
There is such grace in France
He brought, in his age, warlike plebeians,
Napoleon, - in Russia, Arakcheev.
Nevertheless, there is an amazing feeling in the Kremlin - you are in the center of a city of one and a half million people and, at the same time, close to nature. From the edge of the hill there is a view of the Volga and the Trans-Volga region. The landscape is by no means urban; on the contrary, it is almost unspoiled by human presence.
View from the Kremlin to the Volga region. Below is the White Tower.Ivanovo Descent goes down from the regional committee.
Next to the Ivanovskaya Tower there is another breached gate overlooking Nizhny Posad, directly to the place of Minin’s appeal. But before we leave the Kremlin again, it’s worth paying attention to a fragment of the western wall, descending in ledges from the Clock Tower along the steep slope of the Dyatlovy Mountains.
At the foot of the hill next to the Ivanovskaya Tower there is an “epic stone” made in 1976 by the sculptor Bebenin, dedicated to the first residents of Nizhny Novgorod. The fact that the city will not be overcome by enemy forces is understandable, but why is this city of stone if we are talking about the year 1221?
The most inaccessible tower of the Kremlin is called the Belaya. I just can't imagine how to get to her. The photo was taken from Kozhevennaya Street into the gap between the houses. The tower is called White because its base is made of white stone, not brick.
The last two towers of the Kremlin - Zachatskaya (Zachatievskaya) and Borisoglebskaya - have not survived to this day. Both were destroyed by landslides in the 18th century and later restored. The Conception Tower was rebuilt quite recently according to the design of S.L. Agafonov. The photo clearly shows that the masonry of the tower and the adjacent sections of the wall is completely fresh. The brick has not yet had time to darken. The tower houses the Nizhny Novgorod residence of Father Frost.
In front of the residence of Father Frost there is a monument to Peter I. I wonder when Russian governors command something, what do they think? Is it really a stuffed head? Still, Peter the Great is too large a historical figure to confuse him with Santa Claus. The monument to Peter I was erected in 2014 in honor of the 300th anniversary (again!) of the formation of the Nizhny Novgorod province. The statue of Peter resembles a “standard project” created by Mark Antokolsky and replicated many times in Arkhangelsk, Taganrog, St. Petersburg and, in my opinion, in Petrozavodsk and Voronezh. Modern sculptor Alexander Shchitov, instead of a cane, handed the bronze emperor a scroll with a decree and “took away” the spyglass.
The Borisoglebskaya tower, like the Zachatievskaya tower, was rebuilt more than 40 years ago in the 70s of the last century. Fragments of the original tower have been preserved at its base.
We walked around the Kremlin in a circle and returned to the foot of the Chkalov Stairs and the St. George Tower standing at the top of the slope.
It remains only to recall that the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin was built in 1500-1511, its area is almost 26 hectares, and the perimeter of the walls is slightly less than 2000 meters. The Kremlin lost its defensive significance at the beginning of the 18th century; in 1736, the last three cannons were taken to Moscow and melted down into coins.
Renovations from the time of Catherine II distorted the appearance of the ancient fortress. The main damage to the Kremlin was caused by the Soviet comrades, who considered the Kremlin a monument to the “damned feudal past.” The Assumption and Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedrals (the ashes of Kozma Minin rested in the latter) were demolished, most of walls and towers fell into a catastrophic state.
The salvation of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is the work of the great restorer Svyatoslav Leonidovich Agafonov, who spent his life preserving unique monument ancient Russian fortress architecture. The restoration began in 1949 and ended in 2012 with the restoration of the Zachatskaya (Zachatievskaya) tower.
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the heart of the historical part of Nizhny Novgorod, a unique military engineering structure of the early 16th century, and the oldest architectural monument cities.
Guests of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, independently or with a tour, can take a walk through its vast territory, the wall and admire the panorama of the city from it, as well as enter the four active towers where museum exhibitions are located:
Dmitrievskaya Tower (history of the Kremlin, nature department);
Nikolskaya Tower (exhibitions about the wars of the 20th century);
Ivanovo Tower (events of the Time of Troubles, the feat of the Nizhny Novgorod people's militia of 1612);
Conception Tower (archeology of medieval Nizhny Novgorod).
The history of the Kremlin begins in 1221 - from the time of the founding of Nizhny Novgorod, when the chain of fortifications of the city was wooden. In 1500-1511 was built stone kremlin, to protect the southeastern borders of the Moscow state.
Currently there are 13 towers in the Kremlin. The length of the Kremlin wall is more than 2 km. On the territory of the Kremlin there are government and cultural institutions, historical and architectural monuments, eight of which are of federal significance.
Address: Russia, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Nizhny Novgorod, Minin and Pozharsky Square
Start of construction: 1508
Completion of construction: 1513
Number of towers: 13
Length of walls: 2080 m.
Coordinates: 56°19"42.2"N 44°00"10.6"E
An object cultural heritage Russian Federation
Short description
At the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers, on the top of a mountainous cape, rises a grandiose brick fortress with 12 towers - the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. Built in 1515, it was considered one of the most advanced structures of Russian military fortification architecture.
View of the Kremlin from Pochainskaya Street
For centuries, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin successfully performed two important functions - defensive and administrative. As a reliable shield, it protected the population from enemy raids and served as a meeting place for government bodies.
Today the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is the pride and decoration of the city, a museum under open air and a favorite place for walks. The best way to admire the panorama of the Kremlin is from the water - from the deck of the ship.
Dmitrievskaya Tower
Three rebirths of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin - from wood to brick
Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is historical Center city, the place where the history of Nizhny Novgorod originates.
The monument was transformed three times - it was wooden, stone, and finally, 5 centuries ago, it appeared before the townspeople in a brick guise.
Koromyslova tower
The first chronicle mention of the Kremlin dates back to 1221, when Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich (nephew of Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder of Moscow) founded Novgorod at the mouth of the Oka River, that is, “ new town", and surrounded it with a wooden-earth fortress. In the 1370s, due to the growing influence of Nizhny Novgorod, which became the capital of the Grand Duchy, Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich attempted to build a stone citadel.
According to historians, some semblance of a stone Kremlin was erected, in the center of which stood the Dmitrov Tower. At the beginning of the 16th century, when military conflicts escalated between the Russian state and the Kazan Khanate, stone fortifications were erected in order to strengthen defense. The start of construction was marked by the construction of the Ivanovo Tower in 1500, but the main work was carried out in a short time - from 1508 to 1515. under the leadership of a talented Italian military engineer and architect, whose name in Rus' was Peter Fryazin.
Ivanovo Tower
The Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin became an important stronghold in the fight against the Kazan Khanate. The 2-kilometer brick wall of the Kremlin was reinforced by 13 towers, 12 of which have survived to this day. Thanks to its high engineering and fortification characteristics and solid artillery weapons, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin withstood repeated sieges and shelling and was never taken by storm. In the 1550s. after the annexation of Kazan to the Moscow state, the “stone city” lost its defensive significance, and in the future Kremlin towers used for various needs government agencies, warehouse premises.
Legends of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin - robbers, victims and treasures
Taynitskaya Tower
One of the legends says that when the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III decided to build a stone Kremlin, robbers were languishing in Nizhny Novgorod prisons. Their chieftain, Danilo Volkhovets, was a jack of all trades: he could forge a blade, make a bell, build a white-stone palace, and repair a ship. The robbers spent a year in prison, but one day sunny days The doors opened and the guards led the criminals to work. The brave fellows cut stones, carried bricks, and dug deep pits.
And the robbers were so dexterous in their work that Voivode Volynets, upon completion of construction, decided to set them all free. However, work progressed slowly, and Basil III hired the Italian master Petruja Francesco and his assistant Giovanni Tatti. In Peter, the townspeople immediately saw a talented man, but his assistant did not understand serfdom and was known as a brawler and a bully, asking for quarrels himself.
From left to right: Koromyslova Tower, Nikolskaya Tower
For his tricks, the Russians remade the Italian name - Giovanni Tatti - in their own way and nicknamed the assistant Chevan Tatem. Another legend explains the origin of the name of the Rocker Tower. One day, enemy scouts tried to take possession of the “stone city,” but on the way they met a girl who, at dawn, went to the river to fetch water. She began to defend herself with a yoke and killed a dozen enemies. The scouts marveled at the woman’s courage and retreated. Another version of the same legend says that the construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin began precisely with the Koromyslova Tower, and according to ancient belief, at the moment of laying the first stones it was necessary to sacrifice Living being, which will be the first to appear in this place. A girl walked by with buckets on a yoke.
On the wall of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
This girl was walled up at the base of the wall. But the main secrets of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin are hidden deep underground. According to legend, in the depths of the fortress lies the library of Ivan the Terrible, brought from Byzantium by Sophia Paleologus, the wife of Ivan III. The treasure has not yet been discovered.
Being the main and most famous landmark of the city, as well as the main historical, artistic and socio-political center, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is the most grandiose and majestic of those preserved in the central part of Russia medieval fortresses. Currently, the complex is the only one among all the fortifications in the country included in the list of 14 wonders of Russia. Being one of the most advanced and unparalleled engineering and fortification structures of the Middle Ages, the Kremlin in Nizhny Novgorod still amazes today with its grandeur and external inaccessibility. The grandeur of the building is emphasized by the fact that the total length of the fortress wall exceeds two kilometers, and it is strengthened in various places by 13 towers, while all the towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin are unique: they have their own name, architectural features, purpose and centuries-old history.
St. George's Tower
According to the main version, the St. George Tower received its name from the Posad church of St. George the Victorious that existed nearby and has not survived to this day. The angular location of the tower, right on the edge of the slope leading to the Volga, forced during its construction to resort to the construction of powerful buttresses. In plan, the square St. George Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin was originally a passageway, while the passage into the Kremlin is equipped at an angle to avoid through gunfire. As a result of adding soil in the 19th century, the currently visible height of the tower's façade decreased by several meters, and the gate itself was practically buried and today only the upper part of its arch can be seen. The distinctive features of this four-tier tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin are narrow side loopholes, a jagged fourth tier and a hipped roof.
Borisoglebskaya tower
Located on a steep hillside, the Boris and Gleb Tower, like St. George's, owes its modern name to the church of St. Boris and Gleb that once functioned nearby. The tower acquired its second name - Dukhovskaya - in 1584, when a monastery of the same name was founded nearby, which existed within the walls of the Kremlin for 190 years.
Due to constant landslides that threatened the tower with collapse, it was rebuilt several times, and in 1785 it was completely dismantled. Only in 1966, as a result of excavations, fragments of the foundation of the Borisoglebskaya Tower were discovered, and 6 years later, the four-tier round tower with 11 battlements on the upper tier was restored.
Zachatievskaya Tower
The completion of the construction of the Conception Tower and the adjacent sections of the fortress wall in 2012 marked the complete restoration of the complex, which after 125 years again acquired the appearance of a completely closed belt. Unlike most other towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, Zachatievskaya is only externally identical to its original appearance: the fortification elements are imitation, and the structure of the tower and the adjacent walls are hollow and built on a modern pile foundation. A distinctive feature of the Zachatievskaya Tower is the use of not only brick, but also white limestone during the construction of the lower tier. Currently, the tower houses a museum exhibition, which includes, among other things, fragments of the ancient tower found during excavations.
White Tower
The white name is the round four-tiered tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, located in its piedmont (lower) part. A distinctive external feature of the tower is the well-preserved white stone cladding of the lower tier facing the Volga. From others round towers The Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin Belaya is distinguished by its thinner walls, which in turn made adjustments to the construction of floors and transitions between its individual tiers. Modern look, as close as possible to the original, the tower acquired after reconstruction in the 60s of the 20th century.
Ivanovo Tower
One of the largest towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and the main one in its foothills. To defend the city's trading post and the ships stationed on the Volga roadstead, the Ivanovskaya Tower was equipped with the most powerful weapons, which were periodically replaced with even more modern ones. In plan, the tower has a square shape and differs from the other four square towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin by the higher height of the base and its increased area. The most noticeable external difference of the tower is its stepped construction, in which the area of the uppermost tier under the roof less area previous tiers. Currently, the tower houses a museum exhibition.
Clock tower
The only one of all the corner towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, built with a ledge inward, which automatically transferred it to the category of buildings that were not very important in the defensive sense, without which the fortress could well have done. Therefore, the tower initially served more as a main guard post, because it is located at the very top of the Kremlin hill, from where it offered a magnificent view.
And thanks to the “clock hut” - an additional wooden superstructure with a clock installed on the tower in the 16th century, the Clock Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin also performed and continues to perform an aesthetic function. The clock installed on the tower was the city's main clock for a long time.
North Tower
The northern tower of the fortress, located in the northwestern corner of its mountainous part and facing the Volga slope with its outer facade, is one of the well-preserved round towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. Originally called Ilyinskaya (due to its location close to the Church of Elijah the Prophet), in structural terms the North Tower differs little from the neighboring round towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin: four tiers, a small number of battle windows, square battlements in the upper part. There are two entrances to the central rooms of the North Tower, and to enter its lower tier, you must use a special passage in the thickness of the wall next to the tower.
Taynitskaya Tower
Another round tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, rising above the steep slope of the Pochainsky ravine. The tower was named Tainitskaya due to the secret underground passage built next to it under the fortress walls to the Pochayna River, which once flowed along the bottom of the ravine and made it possible to replenish drinking water supplies unnoticed by the enemy besieging the Kremlin.
For a long time, the Taynitskaya Tower served as a storage place for gunpowder used to protect the fortress, which was produced in a ravine nearby. Having a similar design to other round towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, Taynitskaya is equipped with large loopholes, which indicates the former installation of more powerful weapons in it, allowing it to fire at the enemy over long distances.
Koromyslova tower
The corner round tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, erected in the chain of the mountainous section of the fortress walls, at the junction of the Pochaina River with an artificial defensive ditch. According to two different legends, the tower owes its name to a young girl with a rocker buried under its base. According to another version, the tower, together with the longest spindles (fortress walls) in the entire Kremlin, resembles a rocker from afar. The main difference between the tower and others is the use of white limestone for construction and interior design. Among all the other round towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, it is the Koromyslova, which is crowned with a green hipped roof, that has been best preserved to this day in its original form.
Nikolskaya Tower
The passage tower, square in plan, named after the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker built nearby, differs from others by the presence of an additional turret placed on the roof - a watchtower, due to which the total height of this tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is approximately 30 meters. Once upon a time, getting into the fortress through the Nikolskaya Tower was possible only with the help of a suspension bridge lowered on chains across the fortress moat. In the 80s last century through the Zelensky Congress was built pedestrian bridge, which leads directly to the passage gate, partially blocked at the beginning of the 18th century. Initially, the lower tier of the Nikolskaya Tower was made of white stone, but during reconstruction in the mid-20th century, the stone that had lost its strength was replaced with red brick masonry.
Pantry tower
It was from the Kladovaya Tower that the construction of the Kremlin began more than 500 years ago in the form in which the fortress can be seen today. The wide round tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, currently facing the city square of Minin and Pozharsky. The tower received its current name due to the fact that for a long time its lower tiers were used as a storage place for weapons and ammunition, oil for street lighting poles and other things useful in the city economy. The tower seems smaller than it actually is, because almost its entire lower tier is now located underground. However, the presence of combat chambers with embrasures in its walls indicates that during construction the soil level was significantly lower. The main difference between the upper part of the Kladovaya Tower and other round towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is the absence of battlements on the fourth tier of the facade facing the courtyard and the transitions between the individual tiers built in the thickness of the flat rear wall.
Dmitrievskaya Tower
Due to its location in the center of the mountainous section of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, the square Dmitrievskaya Tower occupies a dominant position in it. The facade of this powerful tower, together with the roof, is 33 meters high. From the very end of construction, the gates of the Dmitrievskaya Tower served as the main entrance to the fortress, and the numerous weapons installed in it were superior in power to the weapons of other towers and made Dmitrievskaya the main center of defense of the entire upper part of the Kremlin. According to various sources, initially the main tower had from 4 to 6 tiers, but due to major reconstruction at the end of the 19th century, the tower did not retain its original appearance. And at present, Dmitrievskaya stands out among other towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin with a number of distinctive features: inclined loopholes, an expanded superstructure in the upper part, the presence of an “upper light” equipped in the upper tier, necessary for high-quality illumination of the museum exhibits located inside the tower. Since 1965, the coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod - a gilded walking deer - has been installed on the spire of the tower.
