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Walking routes in Kazan

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      The Kremlin in an hour

      ⏱ 1 h 20 min🚶 1.3 km🍽 1📍 5 stops
      🐢 A little — under 3 km

      If you're short on time: the main gate, the oldest cathedral, the leaning Söyembikä Tower and the visitors' balcony of the Qolsharif Mosque, all within the Kremlin walls.

      🏛 History and architecture
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🏛 Spasskaya Tower
        Кремль, со стороны площади 1 Мая
        The Kremlin's main gate, with a clock and a tent roof; the walk around the fortress starts here. Inside is a museum of the tower's history.
        From Kremlyovskaya metro it is 5 minutes to 1 May Square. The gate is open around the clock, and walking around the Kremlin is free.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Spasskaya Tower
        © A.Savin · FAL
        Spasskaya Tower
        © Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The tower was built in the 16th century by the Pskov architects Ivan Shiryai and Postnik Yakovlev.
        • It is named after the icon of the Saviour Not Made by Hands that hung above the gate.
        • After the fire of 1694, two octagonal brick tiers and a tent roof were added on top.
        • The tower is 47 metres tall.
        • The through passage was only cut in the late 1920s; before that, people entered by a side gate.
        • Since 1 September 2023 the tower has housed a museum of the Kremlin's fortifications.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🏛 Annunciation Cathedral
        Кремль, 2
        🆓 free entry
        The oldest church in the Kremlin: a five-domed white-stone cathedral from the 16th century, built by Pskov masters.
        The Kremlin's oldest church, 16th century: step inside to see the wall paintings; entry is free.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Annunciation Cathedral
        © Валерий Дед · CC BY 3.0
        Annunciation Cathedral
        © A.Savin · FAL
        • The cathedral was consecrated on 15 August 1562; it was built by masters led by Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryai, the authors of St Basil's Cathedral.
        • It is the oldest surviving monument in the Kremlin and in the whole city.
        • The stone was brought from the high opposite bank of the Volga; it is Volga limestone.
        • From 1552 to 1918 it was the cathedral church of the Kazan diocese.
        • The five-domed church on six pillars followed the plan of the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.
        • The cathedral's bell tower was destroyed in the 1920s–1930s.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Söyembikä Tower
        Кремль, 17
        A leaning seven-tier red-brick tower, one of the symbols of Kazan and the heroine of city legends.
        Walk around the tower and stand at the corner: that is where you see the tilt, with the spire almost two metres off the vertical.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Söyembikä Tower
        © A.Savin · FAL
        Söyembikä Tower
        © A.Savin · FAL
        • The tower is 58 metres tall and has seven tiers: three square and four octagonal.
        • It really does lean: the spire is about two metres off the vertical.
        • Nobody knows exactly when it was built; researchers give dates from the 15th to the early 18th century.
        • Legend has it that Queen Söyembikä threw herself from the seventh tier; there is no scientific evidence for it.
        • A double-headed eagle was raised on the spire around 1730, and in 1993 a gilded crescent appeared there again.
        • The foundation rests on oak piles, and the lower tier has a passage leading to the former governor's courtyard.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🏛 Qolsharif Mosque
        Кремль, 13
        🆓 free entry · the Museum of Islamic Culture inside is ticketed
        A white mosque with a turquoise dome and four 58-metre minarets, opened for Kazan's 1000th anniversary.
        Go up to the visitors' balcony above the hall; 10–15 minutes is enough. On Fridays 11:30–13:15 the mosque is closed to tourists.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Qolsharif Mosque
        © A.Savin · FAL
        Qolsharif Mosque
        © A.Savin · FAL
        • The mosque was built in 1996–2005 and opened on 24 June 2005, for the city's millennium.
        • It is named after Sayyid Qolsharif, who died defending Kazan in 1552.
        • Each of the four main minarets is 58 metres tall.
        • It was built mostly with donations: the names of more than 40,000 donors are written in books in the main hall.
        • The carpets were a gift from the Iranian government, and the chandelier, weighing almost two tonnes, was made in the Czech Republic.
        • For visitors there are two viewing balconies above the prayer hall.
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        ☕️ Aulak café
        проезд Шейнкмана, 5, в кремле
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        If you have 15 minutes left, have an echpochmak or a viburnum pie at the café right in the Kremlin. To leave, go back through Spasskaya Tower or down to the Kazanka through Tainitskaya (until 20:00).
        🍴 A Tatar cuisine café in the Kremlin with an open kitchen and cooks in national costume. What to order: echpochmak, pies with cherry, viburnum or pumpkin, the big Tatar breakfast.

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      Data: © OpenStreetMap · DB-IP · weather — Open-Meteo
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