Michael A. Stecker
mastecker@gmail.com

Spasskaya (Savior's) tower, Kazan Kremlin

Spasskaya Tower is at the southern end of the Kremlin and serves as its main entrance. The tower is named after the Spassky Monastery, which used to be located nearby. Among the monastery's buildings were the Church of St. Nicholas (1560s, four piers) and the Cathedral of the Saviour's Transfiguration (1590s, six piers). They were destroyed by the Communists during Stalin's rule.

Since its very beginning, the Kazan Kremlin has undergone various changes, yet it has always played a central role in the region. Before the 10th century, during its pre-urban period, it was an unfortified settlement, a humble precursor of the city which would later blossom into Kazan.  Its military and commercial role was developed in its pre-Mongol days, from the 10th until the middle of the 13th century, when it became a fort. By the 12th century, it already featured as a stone fortress, a stronghold on the northern boundary of Volga Bulgaria.

From the second half of the 13th century until the first half of the 15th century the Kremlin, or, in Tatar, the Kerman, became the centre of the Kazan Princedom that formed part of the Golden Horde.

On the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Kremlin became the governmental and military base of the Kazan Khanate, which existed as an independent polity from 1438 until 1552.

The Kremlin retained its position of importance after the fall of Kazan to the Russians and was converted into the administrative and military centre of the annexed Middle Volga region (1552-1708). From 1708 onwards, it became the centre of the first, and, from the second half of the 18th century, the second Kazan district of the Russian empire.
 

references: 1, 2, 3