Taynitskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin

The Taynitskaya Tower is a gate tower on the northern side of the Kazan Kremlin in Kazan, facing the Kazanka River. One of the entrances to the Kremlin passes through it, and it is the only Kremlin tower that has kept its historic bent passage.

History

The tower was built in the 1560s, soon after Ivan the Terrible's army took Kazan, on the site of the destroyed Nur-Ali tower of the khans' fortress. The stone Kremlin is attributed to the Pskov masters Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryai. The tower was originally called the Nikolskaya Tower.

It owes its present name to the "tainik", a secret underground passage to a spring at the foot of the Kremlin hill, later known as the Taynitsky spring. According to tradition, during the siege of 1552 the defenders fetched water through this passage, and Ivan the Terrible had it blown up to cut them off from the spring. Tourist guides say the spring itself was filled in during the Soviet period.

Together with the other fortifications, the tower guarded the fortress on the Kazanka side, where the steep hillside and the river formed a natural barrier.

Architecture

Originally the Taynitskaya Tower was a single-tier structure with a bent passage, a turning corridor that kept an enemy from charging straight into the fortress, and a wooden four-sided tent roof. In the 18th century it was rebuilt with two tiers, a terrace and a stone parapet. The top is now occupied by a guardhouse with a low metal roof bearing the UNESCO World Heritage emblem; the Kazan Kremlin ensemble has been on the list since 2000.

What to see

The tower is the way into the Kremlin from the Kazanka embankment and the Central Stadium, and its vaulted passage still follows the bend laid out by the 16th-century builders. Souvenir stalls occupy the vaults of the lower tier. The tower and the nearby stretch of wall look out over the Kazanka and the districts across the river.

Getting there

The tower stands by Sheinkman Passage in the northern part of the Kremlin. The nearest metro station is Kremlyovskaya, a few minutes' walk uphill. The Central Stadium and Sports Palace stops are also close by. Check the opening hours of the Kremlin grounds and museums on the Kazan Kremlin museum-reserve website before visiting.