Zaraysk Kremlin

The brick fortress of 1528-1531, built under Vasily III on the Oka defensive line, is the only kremlin in the Moscow region to survive complete.

The walls

The walls form an almost regular rectangle about a hundred and fifty metres on a side, with seven towers, three of them gatehouses. The brickwork rests on a white stone base, and the walls reach nine metres. By modern standards it is small, but because nothing is missing the sense of a fortress is stronger here than at ruins twice the size.

The Time of Troubles

The fortress was built against Crimean raids and saw plenty of use: fighting took place under these walls during the Time of Troubles, when Dmitry Pozharsky was voivode in Zaraysk. It was from here that he began gathering men against the pretenders, well before the militia at Nizhny Novgorod.

Inside

Within the walls stand St Nicholas Cathedral of 1681 and the Cathedral of John the Baptist, built between 1901 and 1904 with money from the Bakhrushins, a merchant family from Zaraysk who made their fortune in Moscow. A visitor walkway runs along the walls, and a museum occupies the kremlin buildings.

The bison

The museum's greatest rarity was found right here, below the walls: a Stone Age settlement was excavated on the kremlin hill, and from it comes a bison carved from mammoth ivory, about twenty thousand years old. It is one of the oldest sculptures found in Russia.

The kremlin occupies the top of the high bank of the Osyotr and is visible from far off on the way into town.

Address

Muzeynaya Street 1a, Zaraysk · above the Osyotr

Opening hours

Grounds free, museum Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00

Prices

Grounds free, museum 150 RUB

On the map