Kazan: A City of Harmonious Contrasts

11 points4 km1 hour

Get to know Kazan, where an ancient kremlin sits beside modern rebuilds, a mosque beside an Orthodox cathedral, and city legends beside real historical events. The route starts in the heart of the city, the Kazan Kremlin, and leads along touristy Bauman Street to the quiet Black Lake park, Freedom Square and the National Library, ending on the Kremlin Embankment with views of “The Bowl” and the Ferris wheel.

Route author

Alina Rakhmanova

Things to do

👀 Watch city life
🏛️🕰️ Compare the eras
📸 Take photos

Route points (11)

Sheinkman Passage and the Spasskaya Tower in Kazan

Point on route “Kazan: A City of Harmonious Contrasts”

Point 6

Sheinkman Passage and the Spasskaya Tower

⭐️ Famous people • 📜 Historic site

Historical Background

The main street inside the Kazan Kremlin is called Sheinkman Passage. It starts right under the Spasskaya Tower, the main entrance to the Kremlin. Walking along it, you'll see the Cathedral of the Annunciation, Kazan's oldest Orthodox church, standing literally a few steps from the Kul Sharif Mosque. A mosque and a church facing each other across a square are perhaps the clearest of Kazan's contrasts. Here too are the Khazine Gallery and the courtyards of the Government Offices building. The Cathedral of the Annunciation was built by the Pskov masters Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shiryai between 1555 and 1562 on the orders of Ivan the Terrible. It is Kazan's first Orthodox church and the oldest one still standing. The cathedral once had a round five-tier bell tower from the mid-17th century; it was demolished in 1922. In its day, the bell tower was second in height only to the Söyembikä Tower.

The Name and the Architecture

The passage is named after the revolutionary Yakov Sheinkman, who was shot after anti-Bolshevik forces took Kazan in 1918. On the front of the Spasskaya Tower you'll see an emblem announcing that the Kazan Kremlin has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Near the Spasskaya Tower, just outside the Kremlin, stands a monument.