Address: Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, between Borisoglebskaya and Powder Towers
Start of construction: 1508 year
Completion of construction: 1511 year
Coordinates: 56 ° 19'48.2 "N 44 ° 00'32.4" E
Content:
Brief history and description
The square tower named after Georgievskaya rises at the eastern end of the Kremlin on the edge of the Volga bank. Near the building there is a monument to the legendary pilot V.P. Chkalov and a Chkalovskaya staircase leading to the Nizhne-Volzhskaya embankment.
Today this place has gained fame as the most popular observation deck in Nizhny Novgorod: citizens and guests of the city often come here to admire the immense Volga expanses. The tower is named Yegoryevskaya (Georgievskaya) in honor of the church of St. George the Victorious, which once stood on the site of the current Volzhsky Slope hotel.
View of the tower from the Volga
According to the Nizhny Novgorod historian N.I. Khramtsovsky, the St. George Church was distinguished by its elegant exterior architecture in the Renaissance style and rich interior decoration. The main pride of the church was a five-tiered gilded iconostasis, ancient icons of the Hodegetria of the Smolensk and Jerusalem Mother of God, several Gospels of the 16th-17th centuries, and silver dishes.
In the 1930s, when the Soviet authorities actively promoted atheism, the church of St. George was demolished by the decision of the Central Executive Committee and was no longer restored. According to another version, not the name of the church is immortalized in the name of the St. George Tower, but the name of Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich, the founder of Nizhny Novgorod.
View of the tower from the monument to V.P. Chkalova
In the 1220s, here, on the edge of the slope, there was George's travel house ("Georgievsky terem"). Since the St. George Tower is located above the steep, its walls are reinforced with "bulls" - powerful retaining structures. From the outside of the fortification, two through slots are visible - these are traces of the chains that raised the drawbridge... In the past, the tower had a driveway, but by the 17th century they were not in use. According to the scribal book of 1622, the gates are closed "with iron bars and there is no bridge from the city." The corner passage leading to the inside of the Kremlin excluded the possibility of continuous shelling of the fortress by the enemy. The tower has 4 tiers, and its lower floor, located below the level of the passage gate, is practically covered with earth. In the thickness of the walls of the first tier, there are three combat chambers: two of them are facing the Volga cliff, and one is in the direction of the Powder Tower.
View of the tower from the side of Minin and Pozharsky square
With the help of vaulted passages, arranged in the thickness of the spindle adjacent to the St. George's Tower, a communication has been established between the first and third tiers, the battle churas of which are directed to all four sides. The upper tier consists of teeth cut with loopholes. In the 18th - 19th centuries, the George Tower was used as a repository of the sovereign's grain and cannon supplies.... During the restoration in 1953, the hipped roof of the tower was restored.
