The Guardhouse Building

In the 16th and 17th centuries, in the southern part of the fortress, so-called Sovereign's Yard was located, where the city military governor lived. In 1708 (when the Kazan Province was formed), the governor’s house, governor’s office, armory and guardhouse appeared on the site of the Yard. The unadorned facade of the military installations was common and simply included smooth plaster.

The guardhouse, which was built in the 19th century, has survived to the present day, with renovation taking place in 2003. In Tsarist Russia, it was the place that housed the main guard, and only afterwards, it became a site for the detention of military personnel. Today it houses the police station.

It is worth recalling that at that moment, the tourists are at the site of the former Large Street, currently known as Yakov Sheinkman Proezd, which acquired its name in honor of the first Secretary of the Provincial Committee of Kazan of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Chairman of the Board of Kazan.

In August 1918, it was here that a real tragedy unfolded. An example of moral endurance, when the People's Army of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (KOMUCH), together with Czechoslovak legionaries and Serb volunteers, began an offensive on Kazan, surrounded the city on three sides and captured most of the defenders.

Yakov Sheinkman, as well as other Bolsheviks, Chairman of the Central Muslim Military Collegium Mullanur Vakhitov, Commissioner of Justice Martyn Mezhlauk, Secretary of the Trade Union of Construction Workers Sergey Gassar, and Trade Unionist Abram Komlev were placed in detention in the building of the former guardhouse and then shot to death right in front of the Kremlin.

Today, streets and squares of Kazan carry the names of these people. This is why, quite possibly, Sheinkman Proezd preserved its name. In memory of the fact that the Kremlin was not only a fortress or the center of provincial life, but also a monument of the civil war.