Those that are not familiar with Russian cities are sometimes confused to hear about “kremlins,” yes, in plural. It is a common misconception that Kremlin is a landmark of Moscow, the country’s capital. Some red and cool place for tourists to hang out and take way too many selfies. In reality, the word simply translates to a fortified city centre, one that can be found in a plethora of old Russian cities. Generally speaking, they have walls that fully surround them, a few governmental and religious sites, and often a park or two. In some cases, a few museums here and there are added in between their walls, and sometimes said walls can become museums themselves. That is why, one can routinely hear about Nizhny Novgorod or Kazan’s kremlins, after all, many cities have these as a centrepiece. Sure, likely none of them really comes close to the prominence of the one in Moscow, but that is hardly a reason to look down on the rest. Nizhny’s kremlin offers some of the most breath-taking views of the city, a few wonderful parks, and many orderly roads to walk around in, as well as the best art museum of the city between its beautiful red walls. Let us know take a closer look into this space, in which I am quite certain most tourists and residents alike spend a considerable time whenever they are around the centre of Nizhny.
One of the first things that you will notice as you enter through the main gate of Nizhny’s kremlin are these old military vehicles. There are quite a few of them, perhaps around twenty in total. Given how most kids that I saw had their photos taken atop tanks, I am quite certain that it is okay to touch them to a degree as well. Such military displays are quite commonplace in the Russian Federation, and sometimes they are found in even the unlikeliest of places. This is not one of them. Given the historical importance of this location, it makes sense to make a nod to the USSR’s crucial role in the Second World War, or the Great Patriotic War as it is often referred to as here in the Russian Federation.
Though one cannot find a kremlin in all Russian cities, I am quite certain that an “eternal flame” is ubiquitous around almost all settlements in the ex-USSR space. They too are often located in the more central parts of a city, or village, and in this case Nizhny’s eternal flame is found in the middle of its illustrious kremlin. It sure is one of the more “true to its name” eternal flames with me never seeing it run out of gas in any one of the many times I have been there, though I am not certain whether it ever stopped working for a period of time after the Great Patriotic War. The site that it is located in has two murals dedicated to the martyrs of the war as well. Certainly, a small but beautiful place well worthy of a visit.
Soviet history is not the only that is being put on display within the walls of Nizhny’s kremlin. There are quite a lot of churches, towers, museums, and art galleries, almost all of which are involved in telling a story out of Russian Tsardom’s rather long history. In this photo, one can see a monument dedicated to Prince George and Saint Simon, former of which founded the city in 1221. To be fair, if I had more interest in the earlier centuries of Russian history, I am quite certain that I would have noticed way more than just this protruding piece. Alas, that is not the case. Moreover, some of the museums in the area are dedicated to specific Russian arts or Russian Tsardom related history as well, most of which I preferred to skip.
Though history is certainly quite an integral part of such a historical kremlin, it should be noted that seeing “old stuff” is not the only reason to come to this place. For me, the highlight is certainly the ability to walk in a very well maintained and beautiful park (which is what I really consider this kremlin to be, despite there also being some governmental buildings and a few museums) whilst enjoying the finest views of the Oka and Volga with kremlin’s walls always adorning your photos of the vistas. In fact, I am yet to scale said walls and take a tour where you walk on around half of it and see these sights that way. I do not understand why I would NOT want the walls themselves in my photos, but each to their own. I suppose, eventually I will see what the walls themselves hold in their repertoire for me, but until then, this sneak peek into Nizhny’s beating heart, it’s lovely kremlin, should come to an end.