It is absolutely logical that at the confluence of two great Russian rivers, the Volga and the Oka, in 1221, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich founded the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, which quickly became the center of a major Russian city.
At the confluence of the rivers are located Woodpecker mountains – these are low hills, but with very steep slopes. They have become a natural protection for the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, which can only be approached from Minin square.
Located at the intersection of trade and military routes, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin withstood many sieges and assaults. Only a century after its foundation, the Kremlin wall was rebuilt in stone, as this city was a key point in the struggle of the Moscow princes against the Golden Horde, and then against the Kazan khanate that formed in its place.
In the period 1508-1515, the Moscow Tsar Vasily III built a powerful two-kilometer fortress wall with 13 towers around the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. The construction was supervised by Italian architect Pietro Francesco (Peter Fryazin).
The Dmitrievskaya tower is located in the center of Minin Square and is the main gateway to the Kremlin. On the side of the Volga river, the passage tower is Ivanovskaya. Ivanovo descent leads down to the district Zaipochaine.
After the victory over the Kazan khanate, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin completely lost its defensive significance, since there were no enemies left from the East that could threaten the borders of Russia, so in the Kremlin was placed buildings of local authorities. Most of the historical buildings inside the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin have not been preserved.
The oldest building of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral. The exact date of its construction is unknown, but it was built in the middle of the 16th century under the Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Also inside the Kremlin there is a building of Public offices, which is now transferred to the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod region. All other buildings were built in the modern period.
