Ivanskaya Tower is the largest four-tiered gatehouse tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, built between 1500 and approximately 1516. It is situated in the lower, riverside section of the fortress, between the Chasovaya and Belaya towers. It is a federally listed cultural heritage site.[1] The lower stretch of Ivanovskiy Descent, formerly known as Bolshaya Mostovaya Street, passes through the tower. The tower takes its name from the Church of St. John the Baptist, which stood at its approaches. The Church of St. John the Baptist is one of the oldest places of worship in Nizhny Novgorod: a wooden church on this site is recorded from the fourteenth century; according to one tradition, it was on its porch that Kuzma Minin addressed the townspeople, calling them to resist the foreign invaders. The stone Church of St. John the Baptist was built at the expense of the merchant Gavriil Stepanovich Dranishnikov, who received the metropolitan's blessing for its construction in 1676; after the patron's sudden death in 1679, construction was completed by his brother Lavrentiy, and the church was consecrated in 1683.[2][1]

History

According to one theory, Ivanskaya Tower was the first stone tower of the Kremlin and was originally called the Tverskaya Tower — its laying is dated to 1500, although no documents bearing that name have survived. In support of the idea that construction of the Kremlin began with this tower, researchers point to a strategic argument: the tower protected the most important part of the city, with its trading posad and river wharves.[1]

A legend connected with the tower concerns the siege of Nizhny Novgorod in 1505 by the combined forces of the Kazan Khan Muhammad-Amin and his brother-in-law, a murza of the Nogai Horde. According to the tradition, the death of the Nogai murza from a shot fired from Ivanskaya Tower by a captured Lithuanian gunner was the reason the siege was lifted.[1]

Of all the Kremlin's surviving towers, Ivanskaya Tower has reached the modern era in the most damaged condition, owing to the constant action of water running down from Chasovaya Hill along the curtain walls, which had no roofing. Its walls have been reinforced on the outside by buttresses on wooden piles since the earliest repairs. The tower suffered repeatedly from fires, and in 1531 a gunpowder explosion occurred inside it, necessitating substantial reconstruction. After the explosion, the outer walls above the surrounding gallery were not rebuilt: on the north-eastern wall of the gallery, merlons were fashioned from the former piers between the embrasures, while the remaining sides received small decorative merlons.[1]

The tower's side chambers were used as storerooms. The southern part of the annex served as a prison, and in the 17th century a gubная izba (a local criminal court) operated nearby, where interrogations and investigations were conducted.[1] After the Kremlin lost its military significance (by 1697), repairs and alterations continued. Following a fire in 1715, the upper superstructure was rebuilt and came to resemble an ordinary single-story house, complete with windows, a low roof, and a chimney. In 1786–1788 the tower was repaired and fully converted into a prison. In 1815, a breach gate with a flat lintel was made in the adjoining wall. In 1819 the tower suffered its last fire. Until 1887 it housed the Ivanovo police station and fire brigade.[1]

Architecture

The tower has a rectangular base and four tiers. Structurally it belongs to the gateway-tower type: traffic on The Ilyinsky Descent passes through it. The walls were reinforced with buttresses on numerous occasions over the centuries; behind them, rubble of stone and brick debris accumulated over time.[1]

Restoration

The tower acquired its present appearance in the 1950s, when restoration work raised it to approximately twice the height it had retained up to that point. In this way, the restoration effectively doubled the tower's height relative to the condition in which it had survived into the mid-20th century.[3] This intervention was subsequently assessed by specialists as a distortion of the structure's historical appearance.[1]

In 2005, ahead of the first nationwide celebration of National Unity Day on 4 November, the Nizhny Novgorod State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve prepared an exhibition project in the Ivanovo Tower entitled "5 Minutes of History," dedicated to the history of the Nizhny Novgorod Militia of 1611–1612; the exhibition occupied approximately 60 square metres.[4]

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (ru) — Ivanskaya Tower (archive)
  2. nne.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis — The Church of John the Baptist, which gave the tower its name, is one of the oldest churches in Nizhny Novgorod: a wooden church has been documented here since the 14th century. According to one version… (archive)
  3. ru.ruwiki.ru — During the restoration of the 1950s, the tower was rebuilt to twice the height at which it had survived to that point… (archive)
  4. nne.ru — In 2005, for the first nationwide celebration of National Unity Day on November 4, the Nizhny Novgorod State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve prepared (archive)
  5. experience.tripster.ru — Unusual guided tours and excursions around the world (archive)
  6. travel.yandex.ru