Söyembikä Tower

The Sujumbike Tower ( Tatar Сөембикә манарасы / Söyembikä Manarası; Russian башня Сююмбике / Baschnja Sjujumbike ) is a tower in the Kazan Kremlin and an important landmark of the city. It was built between the second half of the 17th and the early 18th century and named after the last ruler of Kazan Sujumbike.

The tower is 58 m high and consists of seven storeys. The first three are square, which corresponds to the Russian traditions that are overlying octagonal, which is typical of the Tatar architecture. This is explained by the fact that the Russian Tsar tried to reconcile the two Kazan populations ( Russians and Tatars ) and their religions. Anywhere in Kazan you can feel the influence of both cultures. Inside the tower, the wooden stairs have been preserved from the 18th century. The railings are decorated with Arabic ornaments. During the tsarist empire was located on the Spire, a double-headed eagle, in Soviet times, a Red Star and today there is a crescent moon mounted.

With a deviation of 1.98 m in the vertical of Sujumbike Tower is considered one of the leaning towers. This is because that the western parts of the tower are built on the foundations of a Tatar watchtower, while the eastern half is on nichtverdichtetem ground. In the 20th century stabilization work was carried out several times, succeeded in halting the further reduction.

Under the tower 1977, the sarcophagi of the Tatar khans were found behind the tower, there is now a mausoleum. The place at the Tower has always been a sacred place for the Muslims of Kazan.

To the tower climbs a legend that linked him with the storming of Kazan by Russian forces in 1552. She reports Sujumbike, the last ruler of Kazan, had been so beautiful and intelligent that foreign travelers reported that there was in Moscow barely a wiser and more beautiful woman. The legend also says that Ivan IV wanted to conquer the Khanate of Kazan only because Sujumbike. He asked for her hand, but she gave him a basket. So Ivan IV stood with his troops to the Kremlin walls. Sujumbike was then but her consent, but here she put a condition: In seven days of the Russian Tsar was to build the biggest tower in the city. After seven days, the tower was finished. Before the wedding Sujumbike asked permission to rise up to say goodbye to the city. But when she saw the city from above, she understood that it was outside of their forces to leave the town, and she threw herself from the tower to his death. As far as the legend - in reality Sujumbike was abducted with her young son as a hostage to Moscow, where he died about 1554th