Address: Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, between the Clock and Taynitskaya towers
Coordinates: 56 ° 19'43.3 "N 43 ° 59'53.3" E
Content:
Brief history and description
Above the upper edge of the Pochainsky ravine rises the round North Tower, facing the Volga slopes with its facade. This defensive structure is not the northernmost one in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, but the fortress wall, stretching from the Taynitskaya tower towards the Severnaya one, coincides with the direction to the north.
In historical documents of the 17th century, the North Tower was also called the Naugolnaya Tower, since it occupied the corner of the fortress wall, turning sharply from the Pochaina ravine to the slope of the Clock Mountain. Later, the present North Tower was known as Ilyinskaya because of the proximity to the Church of St. Elijah the Prophet, located on the opposite side of the ravine. It is no coincidence that this temple was consecrated in honor of the patron saint of gunners - the prophet Elijah, who commands thunder and lightning.
View of the tower from Kremlin Boulevard
As the legend says, in 1505 Kazan Khan Makhmet-Amin, having collected a huge army of Tatars and Nogai, went to war against Nizhny Novgorod. Pushkar Fedya Litvich volunteered to shoot from a cannon at the Tatars, but he hit so well that he destroyed Khan Makhmet-Amin along with his tent with one shot. According to the chronicler, the Tatar hordes, having lost their leader, fled, “like (frightened) flocks of birds” were outraged and did not fight with the Nizhny Novgorod residents.
And at the place where Fedya's core fell, the townspeople erected the Ilyinsky Church in honor of the Holy Thunderer Ilya. In its design, the Northern Tower is similar to the Taynitskaya Tower: it had 4 tiers with combat windows. Along the passage, equipped in the thickness of the wall, one could go down to the lower tier, where there was a small room with a staircase and "small exit doors" leading to the city. These gates played a service role: messengers and soldiers who replenished the army during the siege of the fortress were allowed through them. In the 18th century, the North Tower was occupied by the military warehouse of the provincial company, and in 1827 it was converted into a warehouse for the police department..
View of the tower from the side of the Zelensky Congress
In the 19th century, there was a rumor among the townspeople that Nicholas I ordered the establishment of a royal residence within the walls of the Northern Tower. The legend makes sense: in 1835-1841, after the visit of Nicholas I to Nizhny Novgorod, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin was landscaped, clearing it of private houses and building new buildings (the governor's house, etc.). At the same time, an estimate was made for the repair of the Northern Tower in the amount of 150 thousand rubles, but this project was not implemented.
