Description of the attraction
The Palace (Vvedenskaya) Church is located in the northern part of the Kazan Kremlin. It is located next to the Syuyumbike Tower and the Governor's Palace. The buildings form a single complex.
The palace church was built in the 17th century and named Vvedenskaya. She served as the church of the Kazan governors, as well as the parish church. Servants and guards could go here to pray. On the staff of the church there was one priest who lived in the palace, and the psalmists were invited.
In 1815, the church was almost completely burned down. Until 1849, a powder warehouse was located there. In the middle of the 19th century, by order of Nicholas I, the church was restored. The project was approved in 1852. The reconstruction was supervised by the architect F. I. Petondi. He redesigned the church, closed the two-storey galleries (lower and upper) and moved the main entrance to the western façade. The interiors of the church were designed in the style of classicism. The construction was completed in 1859.
The church was consecrated in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The new building exactly copied the scheme and style of the old Vvedenskaya church. The Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit with the chapel of the Holy Martyr Alexandra was located on the second floor. On the ground floor there was a side-altar with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, donated to the temple in the middle of the 19th century by A. D. Boratynskaya. The church was connected by a covered gallery with the Governor's Palace (now the Residence of the President of Tatarstan is located here).
The stepped architecture of the Vvedenskaya church makes its proximity to the stepped Syuyumbike tower very harmonious. Now the church houses the Museum of the History of Statehood of the Tatar People and the Republic of Tatarstan.
