The Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
Round White Tower is located in front of a turn of the Kremlin’s exit and is the only round tower in the mountain-foot section of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin that has remained intact. It received its name at a later (XIX c.) time because of the whitestone paneling of its lower part from the field side. The documents of XVII-XVIII centuries call the tower Simeonovskaya after Simeonovsky monastery located beside it within the Kremlin.
The neighboring Zachatskaya Tower received its name after Zachatievsky monastery founded in the middle of XIV century and located nearby outside the Kremlin’s walls. It has not remained until present time.
Rectangular Georgievskaya Tower that was a pass tower in the past is located above a steep bank of the Volga River near a monument to V. P. Chkalov at the beginning of Volzhskaya Staircase. The tower received its name either from a church located nearby or from “Georgievsky Chamber”, which is vaguely mentioned in the documents — a palace of the city’s founder Yuri (Gregory) Vsevolodovich.
Today’s Georgievskaya tower in its appearance and structure significantly differs from the other pass towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and bears marks of a number of remodelings.
The ground of the Georgievskaya tower and its curtain walls was filled with earth in XVIII-XIX 3-4 meters high; as the result, the visible height of the wall decreased here.
Borisoglebskaya tower is a monument to a Boris-and-Gleb Church in Nizhny Novgorod. From the Borisoglebskaya tower the Kremlin wall rises by smooth steps in the form of huge stairs along the Volga’s bank towards the Georgievskaya tower. The curtain wall’s length is – 174 meters.
Round Porokhovaya Tower received its name at a later time because of the way it was used — as a storage place for munitions. Documents of XVII century call the tower Spasskaya because of Salvation Cathedral located nearby. In XVIII, the tower also bore the name Streletskaya because of a streletsky district located near it in the Upper Town. Until 1952 it was believed that the tower only had three levels. In 1952, during excavation a fourth — the lowest level of the tower was discovered that is now fully beneath the horizon of the soil in front of the tower.
The underground facility of the lowest level is well preserved. On the ceilings of the battle-chambers of the lowest level a very interesting phenomenon was observed: formation of slime stalactites (icicles) 20 centimeters long. This phenomenon was caused by an intensive washing out of lime solution by atmospheric waters, which are thrown down on the wall and the adjoining buildings.
The majority of the Kremlin towers — and not only in Nizhny Novgorod — are called either after the names of the saints or after the nearest natural landmark, or by its usage, sometimes — according to a legend. The Dmitrievskaya tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin seems to be the only one in its kind of all Kremlin towers, which bears the name of its founder, Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich, with whom an attempt of creating Nizhny Novgorod White Kremlin in XIV is associated.
In the documents of XVII century the Tainitskaya tower is also called Mironositskaya and “On Zelenee.” The first name is derived from Mironositskaya church located on the other slope of the ravine; the second — from “a zeleiny workshop” — a powder mill, which was also located on the other side of the ravine’s slope. Zelensky exit also received its name from the “zeleiny workshop.”
In ancient authorities there are allusions to existence of different crypts, underground passways and so forth in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. The underground facilities of the fortress, unfortunately, have not been researched yet.
The total number of gun-holes and battle windows in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is 1290, which allowed having a thick flank fire without being concerned for the machicolations.
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