- Type
- Fortress
- Heritage
- UNESCO World Heritage List
- Coordinates
- 55.7974°, 49.1072°
History
A fortress stood on the hill above the meeting of the Kazanka and the Volga in the Middle Ages, and in the 15th and 16th centuries it was the seat of the khans of Kazan. In 1552 Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible took the city after a siege, ordered its mosques pulled down and had a new Russian fortress built in their place. Its white stone walls were raised by master builders from Pskov, and the Annunciation Cathedral went up in the second half of the 16th century. In the 19th century a governor's palace was built inside the walls, and today it is the office of the President of Tatarstan. The kremlin was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2000, and in 2005, for Kazan's millennium, the Qolşärif Mosque opened, recalling the mosque destroyed in 1552.
What to see
Visitors enter through the Spasskaya Tower and can see the Annunciation Cathedral, the leaning Söyembikä Tower and the Qolşärif Mosque with its museum of Islamic culture. The old kremlin buildings house several museums, including an exhibition centre of the Hermitage. From the walls on the river side there are views over the Kazanka and the city's modern embankments.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q603622
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