In the center of the Kazan Kremlin, a little distance from its ancient walls, stands a tower that attracts the eyes of tourists with its unusual appearance. She has a very noticeable slope, and the audience gets the impression that in a moment they will witness her crushing fall. But minutes, years and even centuries pass, and the tower remains motionless.
The death of the royal bride
An ancient legend says that, having conquered Kazan in 1552, Ivan the Terrible wished to marry the Tatar queen Syuyumbike - the beautiful widow of the khan Safa Girey who died on the walls of the city. In the event of a refusal, he threatened to expel anger on all of her people. Wanting to save compatriots, the queen agreed, but with the condition that a seven-story tower would be built for her within 7 days.
Tower in a week ?! No joke! However, there is nothing to do. The king gave the command, and the work began to boil. Somehow managed at the appointed time. After all, you will not spoil Ivan Vasilievich - the chopping block with an ax is always at hand, so to speak, for greater motivation. In a hurry, however, they made a little noise, but there was no time to redo it.
And then the unexpected happened. On the eve of the wedding day, the Tsar’s grandmother rose to the very top of the tower, spread her little white hands and rushed down from a terrible height. Died, but did not go by force under the crown. Since then, they began to call this tower "Syuyumbike" in honor of the beautiful widow. At first they were upset that she had tilted sideways painfully, but as they heard about the world fame of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, they were perked up - and, they say, no worse. Nakosyachit, they say, and we are masters.
Another version of the legend
There is another legend about the Syuyumbike tower, and many consider it more believable, albeit less romantic. According to this version, there was no sexual harassment from the king-father (tea, not Weinstein), but the khan's widow Syuyumbike simply ordered to erect a tower in memory of her late husband Safa Girey.
And her faithful died not on the battlefield, but was poisoned by her own courtiers, trying to arrange a coup. So it happened or otherwise - it is not known, but since then the “falling” Syuyumbike tower (such a beautiful name it has received among the people) competes with the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa and is one of the attractions of the Tatar capital.
Documents that died in the fire
These are legends, but what is the real story of the Syuyumbike tower? Hearing this question, pundits only shrug. The fact is that to this day no historical documents have been preserved that shed light on the appearance in Kazan of such an unusual architectural monument. All of them were once stored in Moscow and were the property of the so-called Order of the Kazan Palace. But in 1701, a terrible fire swept the capital, in the fire of which documents related to the management of Kazan died. As for the Tatar archives, relating to the period of the possible construction of the Syuyumbike tower, all of them were destroyed during the assault on the city by the troops of Ivan the Terrible in 1552.
In this regard, the question of when, by whom and under what circumstances the tower was built, remains unanswered. Even its approximate dating is controversial. In the course of discussions that have been going on for many years, they are often called the 17th and 18th centuries, but a number of researchers believe that this could have happened before 1552, that is, during the Kazan Khanate.
Exiled Khan
Starting the article with the legends about the Syuyumbike tower, which are the product of popular fantasy, it is appropriate to cite several hypotheses belonging to pundits. The author of one of them - the most popular today - is Professor N.P. Zagoskin, who before the revolution taught at Kazan Imperial University. According to his version, the construction of the tower is associated with the names of two historical figures - the Tatar Khan Mohammed Amin and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III.
The fact is that in the second half of the 15th century, the Kazan Khanate was swept by a bloody war between applicants for the Khan’s throne. One of them, still young at that time, Mohammed-Amin, saving his life, took advantage of the refuge granted him by Ivan III in Moscow. It just so happened that the young man fell in love with the Grand Duke, and in 1487 he helped him seize power.
Kazan brainchild of Italian architect
Remembering the princely benevolence, the khan decided, having built a mosque, to immortalize in stone a peaceful union concluded during his reign between Kazan and Moscow. To this end, Mohammed-Amin again turned to his benefactor with a request to send at his disposal the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti, who lived in Moscow and was known to him for the construction of the Borovitsky Tower of the Kremlin, which was carried out during his stay in the capital.
Thus, the author of the project of the Syuyumbike tower could be a famous Italian architect, who decorated many European cities with his works, or one of his students. This hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that its architectural appearance is in many respects similar to other works of the master, and if it is true, then the construction of the tower should be attributed to the end of the 15th century. At the same time, the upper part of the building was rebuilt in the XVIII century, due to the fact that the former mosque, erected by Khan Mohammed-Amin and called Nur-Ali, was turned into an Orthodox church.
The hypothesis of the Russian roots of the Kazan tower
However, this point of view is disputed by those who believe that the history of the Syuyumbike tower (Kazan) began a century and a half later. The data obtained as a result of archaeological excavations carried out in the period 1941-1978 speak in their favor. Having studied the cultural layers of the soil, into which its foundation deepened, and the artifacts discovered during this, the researchers date the construction of the tower to the Russian period and attribute it to 1640–1650.
“Beloved mistress”
So what about the Khan’s widow, whose name the tower bears, in both cases, it turns out that she not only didn’t jump from it, but even had nothing to do with the construction? Linguists answered this question. As it turned out, Syuyumbike is not a proper name at all, but a noun, the first part of which is “syum”, translated from Old Tatar means “beloved”, and the second “bique” is translated as “mistress”.
In other words, it turns out that the tower, erected in the very heart of the Kazan Khanate, the people called "Beloved mistress." It is possible that, based on the legend of how the Khan’s widow preferred death to marriage to the Orthodox Tsar, her image was idealized in the public consciousness and took on the features of a certain national heroine. Further, the fantasy ascribed to her an unearthly beauty and state wisdom. So ready, "Beloved mistress" - Syuyumbike. However, other options are not excluded. Perhaps, in different eras, this name meant other Khan's wives. It is even suggested that real women have nothing to do with it, and her name is just a beautiful poetic metaphor.
Twenty falling towers
As for the distinctive feature of the tower - the slope, as a result of which, with a total building height of 58 m, its spire shifted from the center line by 1.98 m, the reason lies in the error of the architectural design, made without taking into account the peculiarities of local soil. Throughout the world, “falling towers,” and there are currently about two dozen of them, are the result of soil erosion, which played a detrimental role in this case.
The only world-famous among them was only one, which is part of the architectural ensemble of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. The rest of her sisters, with rare exceptions, are in obscurity. How many, for example, can answer the question of which city the Syuyumbike tower is located in or, say, the Great Lavra Bell Tower (Kiev)? Nevertheless, all these buildings are unique architectural monuments, and on the basis of modern technologies, work is underway to preserve them and protect them from possible destruction.