Nowadays, the Kazan Kremlin is a restored medieval architectural ensemble with buildings of the 16th-21st centuries. The Spasskaya and Preobrazhenskaya travel towers were the first to be erected on the territory of the Kremlin. The Spasskaya Tower was built on the site of the main gate of the destroyed Tatar Kerman and was the main entrance to the Kremlin. Today, the tower also houses the main entrance to the Kremlin. The Spasskaya Tower has a passage gate and a gate church of the Savior Not Made by Hands built in 1552. The tower was restored in the 18th century, at the same time a unique musical clock was installed on it, the dial of which rotated at a fixed hand. In 1963, the clock was replaced with new electric ones. The Transfiguration Tower also belongs to the 16th century, but its appearance changed in the 19th century, when it was covered with a wooden tent with a watchtower. In total, under Ivan the Terrible, 13 towers were erected, only 8 of them have survived to this day. Between the Spasskaya and Preobrazhenskaya towers there is a round South-Western tower, and then – a round Nameless Tower. In the northwestern corner of the Kremlin rises the Taynitskaya tower. It was named in memory of a secret passage, which was located somewhat east of the tower and led to a spring with drinking water, from where the Khan’s court took water during the siege of Kerman by the troops of Ivan the Terrible. The passage was blown up during the assault on the fortress. In the northeast corner of the Kremlin rises the Voskresenskaya Tower. Next is the Konsistorskaya Tower, located opposite the Consistory of the Kazan Diocese. The southeastern tower stands next to the Spasskaya Tower and closes the fortress walls in a ring.
Along the Kremlin walls, you can see the ruined foundations of the unpreserved towers of the Pyatyhedral, Dmitrovskaya, North-Western, Northern and North-Eastern towers. The walls of the Kremlin themselves were erected in two tiers 8-12 m high. In the lower tier there were loopholes for cannons, in the upper one – archers. To date, the length of the Kremlin walls is 1800 m. Sheinkman street stretches from north to south in the inner part of the Kremlin. It connects the Spasskaya and Taynitskaya towers. The street got its name by the name of a famous Bolshevik figure in 1931, before that it was called Bolshoy.
According to Fashionissupreme.com, one of the most important buildings inside the Kremlin walls is the Cathedral of the Annunciation.. It was built in 1562. The cathedral was laid on the orders of Ivan the Terrible opposite the place where the main mosques of the capital of the Kazan Khanate were once located. The five-domed Annunciation Cathedral has two side chapels – Borisoglebsky and in the name of the Murom miracle workers. In the 17th century, a stone church in the name of the Nativity of Christ was added to the north of the cathedral, and in 1736 a brick refectory appeared near the western part of the cathedral. The cathedral was restored more than once, as it burned several times. Its interior paintings date back to the end of the 19th century; they were made by the icon painter Safonov. Since ancient times, bishops of the Kazan diocese were buried in the Cathedral of the Annunciation. Burials are located throughout the cathedral and the outer temples, but they are not marked in any way. In 1918 the cathedral was closed. In the same year, all the domes of the cathedral were destroyed during the shelling. The restored domes are truly unique – the side domes have a Tatar appearance, and the central dome is made in the Ukrainian style. The Annunciation Cathedral was re-consecrated only in 2005. Standing next to him a monument to Russian and Tatar architects who worked in the Kremlin in different eras. It represents two figures – a Tatar court architect with a drawing of the Khan’s Palace and a Russian architect with a drawing of the Spasskaya Tower.
A little to the south of the Annunciation Cathedral is the Bishop’s House. Already from the middle of the 16th century, the living quarters of the Kazan bishops were located here, and later the residence of the bishop with utility and living quarters was erected. By the beginning of the 19th century, due to the poor financial condition of the diocese, these buildings fell into disrepair and were demolished. The bishop’s house was restored in 1829, and since 1909 the bishops began to live here again. In Soviet times, government offices were located in the Bishop’s House. The building has also survived to this day. Spiritual Consistory of the late 18th century, which stretches along the eastern part of the fortress wall. At the consistory along Sheinkman Street there is a long two-story building of the former Presences of the 18th-19th centuries. From the south it is adjoined by the guardhouse building of the middle of the 19th century. Opposite the building of the Presences, on the other side of Sheinkman Street, the complex of the Junkers’ School stretches. It was built at the end of the 19th century. Military educational institutions were located here at different times.
