Bauman Street

Bauman Street is almost as old as Kazan. In the times of the Kazan Khanate, it was called Nugaj Yuly, or the Nogai Road, that started at the Kremlin and went all the way to the Southern Gates.  People traded fish behind the Southern Gates, and this tradition was preserved for a very long time - the site of today’s “Ring” was called Rybnoryadskaya Square (Beautiful Fish Square).

From here, the merchants entered the city.  Many of them stayed here in caravanserais - large houses that were used as shelters and parking for trade caravans.

In 1552, during the storming of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, the Kremlin walls to the South and North of the street were battered. Hence the old name of the street - Prolomnaya (Battered) and then Big Prolomnaya. When in the second half of the 18th century it was decided to subjugate the urban development of Kazan to the master plan, Prolomnaya Street was the only one that did not need to be changed - it was already a straight line.

The buildings on Prolomnaya Street often changed their appearance and purpose, and the natives of Kazan, as well as the visitors of the city, kept coming here in large numbers.  Many of them, just like now, came here for entertainment; and Prolomnaya Street has never disappointed in this regard

In 1849-1852, the stone building for the theater (the future Kachalovsky) was constructed on Prolomnaya Street. In 1902, a private movie theater opened its doors in the house of merchant Afanasyev. At first, the movie theater was called Fantasy, after the Bolshevik Revolution - Gringri, and in 1938, after the reconstruction, it acquired its current name - Rodina (Motherland).

At the end of the 19th century, Big Prolomnaya Street acquired a new high-rise building -

the Bell Tower of the Cathedral of Epiphany. In 1910, the guest house of Smolentsev and Shmelev camaraderie (later the Soviet Hotel, and today - the Chaliapin Palace Hotel) was built nearby. In 1914-1915, Prolomnaya Street received a new addition - the building of the State Bank, where during World War I, a part of the gold reserves of the country were moved; the gold reserves miraculously disappeared from there during the Civil War.

The street acquired its current name in 1930, in honor of the revolutionary, who was born in Kazan. At the same time, the street was once again adorned by an outstanding building in the Constructivism style, created by architect Semyon Pen - the Printing House. In the 90s, Orthodox monuments of the street came alive again - the Epiphany, St. Nicholas, and St. John the Baptist Cathedrals.

Bauman Street tram system replaced the cabbies in 1899, but it lasted much less than the trolleybus. In 1948, a special Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR ordered the launch of the first trolleybus line along Bauman Street that connected Lenin District with Kuibyshev Square -the first in Kazan. Even in 1986, when the street was officially turned into a promenade, trolleybuses continued to circulate in the area of Chernyshevskaya and University Streets.

Only in the 90’s, when the asphalt surface was replaced with cobblestones, did the street definitely acquire the status of a promenade; since then, residents of Kazan and visitors of the city stroll down the street all the way into the night. Some are coming to get some echpochmaks at the House of Tatar Cuisine, some are taking pictures near Chaliapin monument, some make sketches of the colorful architectural pattern of Kazan, while others are listening to street musicians who perform by the Bell Tower of the Cathedral of the Epiphany, or are dazedly admiring the monument to the non-official symbol of Kazan - a kind-hearted cat Alabrys, or are heading over to the House of Tatar Cuisine to taste some traditional meals.

No matter when you decide to visit the downtown of Kazan - you will always find something exciting and interesting to do on Bauman Street.