Description of the attraction
Aleksandrovsky Passage is located in the very center of Kazan on Kremlevskaya Street. The passage building was built from 1880 to 1883. In the 80s of the XIX century, the Kazan merchant Aleksandrov announced a competition for the design of the building. Suslov won the project. The construction was supervised by the architect Heinrich Bernardovich Rusch.
The passage is a rectangular building with a system of courtyards. The rounded corners of the building are crowned with domes in which the clock is embedded. Elements of various styles were used in the architecture of the building: Renaissance, Baroque and Classicism. The main entrance is decorated with a portico with sculptural figures of caryatids. There was a glass dome in the front yard. In the center of the courtyard there was a bronze sculpture - a lamp in the form of a woman with a child. The author was the sculptor Schroeder. The building had elevators, heating and an unusual roof - a lantern.
The building did not generate income, and Alexander Sergeevich sold it to his sister Olga Gaines. The passage was not profitable for her either. O. Gaines transfers it to the city for the formation of a museum. The building was not suitable for the museum for technical reasons. The Passage housed the editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, furnished rooms, shops and Kharitonov's printing house. In 1908, Hirsch Rosenberg opened the Passage Electrotheatre. Before the revolution, it housed the Palais de Cristal restaurant. Since 1930, the Pioner cinema has been operating in the passage.
Nobody cared about the building of the Aleksandrovsky Passage, and by the end of the Soviet period, it was in disrepair. The northern block sagged and collapsed. The building was repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, restored. Only the foundation was strengthened. Self-made restoration was not successful. The collapsed northern block was dealt with by the Polish company Budimex.
One of the main architectural monuments of Kazan was preserved. Reconstruction of the Aleksandrovsky passage continues.
