The main thing that is worth visiting for the admirers of architecture and history in Astrakhan is the monument of federal significance Astrakhan Kremlin, a unique example of military engineering in the second half of the 16th century. It is located on an island whose banks are washed by the waters of the Volga, Kutum, Tsarev and Erica Kazachy.

The Kremlin can not pass by. Firstly, it is located on the highest hill of the island, called the Hare Ridge. Secondly, on the territory of the Kremlin there is a high bell tower with Prechistenskiye gates, which can be seen practically from any point of the city. Thirdly, the territory is fenced with stone walls with a height of 3 to 8 meters. Agree, the monumental structure.

History of the Astrakhan Kremlin

Construction of the first wooden structures of the Astrakhan Kremlin in 1558 .became the beginning of the chronology of the new Astrakhan .Already in 1562 on the hill stood one battle tower and a gateway, but there was still no high bell tower and stone walls .The construction of the stone Kremlin was begun in the reign of John IV of Grozny, and was completed already with his son Tsar Fedor Ioannovich with the direct participation of Boris Godunov .It was in the midst of the Troubles due to the constant military conflicts and civil strife that the need arose to build a stone fortress for defense .The tower began to build up buildings - the very first walls of the Kremlin were erected from the brick of the former Golden Horde capital .

Potsroyki in the Astrakhan Kremlin

The Astrakhan Kremlin initially had eight towers, of which up to the present time there are three passages and four deaf ones. The thickness of the walls of the towers of the Kremlin reached 3-3.5 m.

Prechistenskie gates and the cathedral belfry of the Astrakhan Kremlin

The eight-meter tall four-tier bell tower above the Kremlin's main gateway is visible to Astrakhans from virtually anywhere in the city. The gate, on which it is installed - Prechistenskie - since the XVII century, the Kremlin was connected with the White City. The modern bell tower was erected in 1910, before it there were 4 more belfries in the Kremlin. In 1912, chimes were installed here. The chimes are beaten every quarter of an hour, every hour and twice a day (at 12 and 18 o'clock) play the melody of Glinka "Glory".

Bishop's Tower

East corner blind tower - Bishops - is located to the left of Prechistenskaya cathedral bell tower. It received its name after the establishment of the Astrakhan diocese in 1602, when a place for the Bishops' monastery was allocated in the southeastern part of the Kremlin. The present walls of the tower were erected during the reconstruction of the Kremlin in 1828.

Zhitnaya tower

The southern wilderness Zhitnaya tower is one of the few preserved since the construction of the Kremlin - a small, protected on both sides by the lake and buildings of the Zhitny Dvor, it has always been in the safest place of the structure. It received its name from the "small fortress" adjoining the southern wall of the Kremlin, called the Zhitny Dvor, that is, "the place where any necessary stock lies."

The Crimean Tower

The Crimean tower has always been the most powerful strategically - directly to it was the Crimean shlyakh, from where the Crimean raids were made (why the tower got its name). Repeatedly repelling raids, it has been rebuilt more than once.

The tower "Krasnye Vorota"

The tower "Red Gate" - the highest place of the Kremlin hill in the north-western wall, at the steep Volga coast. It is the only one of all the towers of the Kremlin has a vaulted overlap and is a 12-facet, which was extremely convenient for circular defense. Evidence has survived that the core flew 200-300 meters from it, shooting two-thirds of the Volga. Stairs that lead to the tower, in the old days did not exist - in its current form it was erected in 1958 according to the drawings of the 16th century. The Red Gate was given its name as "the best, elegant".

Water Gates

In one of the manuscripts 17 in .there was information that under the hill between the Nikolsky and the Red Gates there was a brick cache with latticed gates .During the reconstruction of 1970 g .in the fortress wall below the foundations of the soldiers' infirmary just to the left of the Nikolskaya Gate Church there was a half-filled passage - these were the so-called Water Gates .They were in the XVI-XVII centuries .were considered the gateway to life: during the siege only through them it was possible to get to the bank of the Volga and collect water .Above the trellised gates a metal grille was mounted on the drum: on alarm, it dropped, blocking the way to the enemy, and from the fortress walls the nuclei and bullets fell on him .

The Nikolsky Gates. The Gate Church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

The St. Nicholas Gate got its name from the church of St. Nicholas of Myra on the northern tower. At the beginning of the 18th century. Nikolsky (Kremlin) gates met Peter I, but the current construction of the gate and the gate church was erected later, closer to the middle of the century.

Torture (Artillery) tower. The Green Yard

For a long time the corner northeast tower of the Kremlin remained unnamed. To it adjoined the Yard ("potion" in the old days was called gunpowder), where up to now the same age as the Kremlin towers and walls - an ancient powder cellar. The very tower in the beginning of 07 c. used as a torture chamber for carrying out judicial inquiries (tortures), for which the tower got its name.

Assumption Cathedral

The main cathedral of the Kremlin is a fine example of Russian church architecture built in 1710. From a distance, when the city itself seems still in a fog, the silhouette of the cathedral with sparkling domes is already clearly outlined. The cathedral itself is two-story: the lower low tier is the burial vault of Astrakhan hierarchs, including the holy martyr of Metropolitan Joseph of Astrakhan and the Georgian kings of Vakhtang VI and Teimuraz II, the upper temple is clear and spacious, with two tiers of windows.

Trinity Cathedral. Kirillov Chapel

The first in the city was built the Trinity Monastery, the main temple of which is dedicated to the life-giving Trinity. A stone church on the site of a wooden church was erected in the beginning of the 17th century. It consists of three churches on one sublet: Sretenskaya, Vvedenskaya and Troitskaya. Next to the Trinity Cathedral is the Cyril chapel, in which the first hegumen of the Trinity Monastery, Kirill, was buried.

The Astrakhan Kremlin as a museum and exhibition complex

The Astrakhan Kremlin Museum opened in 1974 .Since the 1970s, the walls, bays and internal structures of the Kremlin have been restored, and the complex itself has been given the status of a nature reserve .Today it is not only a monument of the Russian military fortress - it houses the richest ethnographic museum (its main buildings are in the former administration of the military commander of the fortress of the XIX century .buildings, the Artillery Tower and the "Red Gate") .The following exhibitions were opened: "History of the city's formation near the north-eastern walls of the Kremlin", "History of the Astrakhan garrison", "History of corporal punishment in Russia" and other expositions .It is also possible to assess Astrakhan and the Volga in all its glory on the lookout tower of the "Red Gate" .

Panorama of the Kremlin and the embankment

The Kremlin in Astrakhan

Domes of the Astrakhan Kremlin

Cathedral of the Astrakhan Kremlin

The walls of the Astrakhan Kremlin

The fountain on the territory of the Astrakhan Kremlin