Government Offices Building (Kazan Kremlin)

The Government Offices Building, known in Russian as Prisutstvennye Mesta, is an 18th-century two-storey complex of provincial institutions in the south-eastern part of the Kazan Kremlin, along its main street, Sheinkman Passage. A classicist landmark designed by the Moscow architect V. I. Kaftyrev, it belongs to the Kremlin ensemble, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today it houses the Kazan Kremlin visitor centre.

What "prisutstvennye mesta" means

In the Russian Empire, prisutstvennye mesta were buildings housing a province's institutions: chancelleries, chambers and courts. Townspeople came here on official business and civil servants worked here. In the Kazan building the central section held the Court Chamber, its main rooms on the first floor, alongside offices for clerks.

History

The stone provincial chancellery was built from 1767 to 1773 under V. I. Kaftyrev, sent to Kazan by the Senate. In 1781, after the Kazan Viceroyalty was created, the governor-general needed a residence, and part of the building was given over to his quarters. The main block became a stately two-storey house fifteen windows wide, with a wing added at an angle. Upstairs a throne room was arranged, the richest room of the institution, with a musicians' gallery on columns. The viceroy's family lived next to the offices.

According to accounts, in 1798 a ball was held here for the visit of Emperor Paul I, and besides the nobility the wealthiest Tatar merchants with their families and the clergy, including the mufti, were invited.

Later new two-storey buildings were added to the main block, until the whole stretched 202 metres. After the fire of 1815 the complex was rebuilt to designs by the architect A. Schmidt and took its present form as a single building. A major restoration was completed in 2005. In 2016–2019 emergency works removed a later fourth-floor addition, stripped modern finishes, restored the brickwork, recreated the cornices between floors and repainted the facade.

Architecture

The building is classicist. The main facade is broken by shallow projections that suggest a central and two side risalits, decorated with rustication and crowned by a triangular pediment. Two through passages divide the main block into three sections and lead to the inner courtyard between the fortress wall and the building. The basement keeps its vaulted rooms with windows facing outward.

Getting there

The nearest metro station is Kremlyovskaya, a few minutes' walk from the Kremlin; enter through the Spasskaya Tower and the building is on the right of the main street. The visitor centre hands out maps and leaflets, gives information on the Kremlin museums and books guided tours. The complex also has exhibition and lecture halls, cafés and souvenir shops, and the courtyard hosts a New Year fair in winter and a place to relax in summer.