Söyembikä Tower
Башня Сююмбике / Сөембикә манарасы
A leaning red-brick tower inside the Kazan Kremlin, visibly tilted, with the romantic legend of a Tatar queen.
This seven-storey red-brick tower, about 58 metres high, was built around the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Its top leans nearly 2 metres to the northeast, and it is known as Kazan's 'Leaning Tower'. According to legend, Söyembikä, the last queen of the Khanate of Kazan, jumped from the top of the tower to avoid being forcibly married to Ivan the Terrible. Though historically unreliable, the legend has made it Kazan's most romantic landmark. The tower is not open to visitors, but it can be admired up close from the nearby Presidential Square, and it is best photographed alongside Kul Sharif Mosque.
Opening hours
Exterior viewable all day (within Kremlin opening hours)
Nearby sights
- Annunciation Cathedral (Kazan Kremlin)
- Kazan Kremlin
- Kul Sharif Mosque
- National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan
- Palace of Farmers
- Kazan Bogoroditsky Monastery
- Peter and Paul Cathedral
- Kazan Family Center