The exhibition “House with the Imperial Apartment” in the Kazan Kremlin

On August 22, 2024 in the exhibition hall of the Museum of History of Statehood of the Tatar People and the Republic of Tatarstan of the Kazan Kremlin opened the exhibition “House with the Imperial Apartment”, which presents items from the Museum of Archaeology of the Republic of Tatarstan of the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. The exposition is dedicated to the complex of the Governor’s Palace and presents items, that illustrate the rich history of not only the building itself, but also the surrounding area.

The Governor’s Palace in the Kazan Kremlin was built by decision of Nicholas I. He chose to build it in the same place where the palace of the Kazan khans used to be, thus emphasizing the continuity of the center of power in the region. Therefore, part of the exhibition is dedicated to the prehistory – the Khan’s Court of the Kazan Khanate and the Tsar’s Court of the XVI-XVII centuries.

The territory of the Governor’s Palace complex, including the Palace Church, the Syuyumbike Gate Tower and mausoleums, has been actively studied by archaeologists. In total, about 40 excavations were laid within its borders, and the total number of finds amounted to more than 15,000 items. Currently, they are kept in the Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve and the Museum of Archaeology of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The exhibition presents household items and material culture objects from the Kazan Khanate and the Russian Empire periods. Here one can see a chess piece of the first half of the XVI century, clay rattles and penny whistles of the XVI-XVIII centuries. Leather goods from the period of the Kazan Khanate are represented by fragments of shoes. Bone and iron arrowheads are witnesses to the military events of the period of the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. The most remarkable exhibit is a unique coin hoard of the XVI century, which was discovered by archaeologists during excavation on the territory of the Governor’s Palace.