Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

 Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

 

Description of Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

The Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin is a fortress in the historical center of Nizhny Novgorod and its oldest part, the main socio-political, historical and artistic complex of the city. The official residence of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia in the Volga Federal District, the Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Mayor of Nizhny Novgorod.

It is located on the right high bank, at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers. The northwestern part of the Kremlin descends almost to the foot of the slopes, the southeastern part overlooks Minin and Pozharsky Square, and the southwestern part rises above the deep Pochainsky ravine and National Unity Square.

 

History Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

XIV century
As the chronicle testifies, in 1221 Nizhny Novgorod was founded by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich, which was protected by wooden and earthen fortifications. The first attempt to replace a wooden fortress with a stone Kremlin dates back to 1374. At this time, Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich laid the foundation stone for the Kremlin. However, due to financial and political problems, only one tower was built - Dmitrievskaya, which has not survived to this day. The modern Dmitrievskaya Tower was built a century and a half later, along with the entire Kremlin.

XVI-XVII centuries
Under Ivan III, Nizhny Novgorod played the role of a border city, having a permanent army, and served as a military gathering place during Moscow's actions against Kazan. In order to strengthen the defense of the city, work was again begun on the construction of fortress walls. The construction of the stone Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin began in 1508-1509 in the upper part of the city of the Tverskaya (now the Pantry) tower. The work was interrupted by the raid of the horde of Khan Mohammed-Amin in 1505. Construction was resumed in 1508. At the same time, the preserved old oak Kremlin was destroyed in a severe fire in 1513. Construction was completed, it is believed, sometime after 1516. The main work on the construction of the Kremlin was carried out under the guidance of the architect Pietro Francesco (Peter Fryazin), sent from Moscow. In the 16th century, the Kremlin was repeatedly subjected to sieges and attacks by the Kazan Tatars (in 1521 and 1536), while it was never surrendered to the besieging army. By 1697, the Kremlin had lost its military significance.

 

Fortification

The two-kilometer wall had 13 towers: 5 - rectangular in plan - are passable (or gate) and 8 towers are round deaf. In front of the Dmitrov Tower there was a remote fortification - a stone bridge with a diversion tower, which was a novelty in Russian fortress architecture.

On the upland side, the Kremlin was surrounded by the so-called "dry moat" with a depth of 2.5 to 4 m and a width of about 25-30 m. It is believed that the moat could have separate recessed sections filled with groundwater. This applies to the Dmitrov Tower area. Nevertheless, the Scribe Book of 1622 speaks of digging a ditch 1 sazhen (about 2.5 m) deep and about 4 sazhens (10 m) wide opposite the entire line of walls in the upper part. In any case, it can be a ditch in a ditch (ditch), since a dry ditch was not enough. In this new ditch, groundwater could stand. And there could not be water in a dry moat, since the towers were immersed in it for a whole tier. The loopholes of this level, together with the loopholes in the additional side casemates of the strands (walls), were a lower or plantar battle. In the 17th century, a moat also appeared in the foothills - in a small area in front of the Ivanovskaya Tower. There are reports of cases of discovery of underground galleries located deeper than the sole fight and connecting some of the towers. But this issue has not been investigated.

"Stone City" had a permanent garrison. Nothing is known about the Kremlin artillery in the 16th century. Although the structure of the fortress allowed, if necessary, to increase the artillery many times over, in the 17th century the artillery armament of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin was relatively small, since after the capture of Kazan by Russia in 1552, its military-defense value significantly decreased. In 1621, the Kremlin had 22 cannons, in 1663 - 20, in 1619 - 19. Most of its guns were small-caliber zatin (that is, serfs) "squeaks of a small outfit" - volkoni, and there were much fewer squeaks of medium and large caliber. There were also single mattresses that fire shot. Most of the cannons were copper and only a few were made of iron. Some of the guns stood on stands - the so-called "dogs", some - on wheeled carriages. In addition to artillery in defense, of course, hand firearms were also used, for example, squeak-gakovniki (fortress guns), and all kinds of edged weapons were stored in the cellars of the towers, along with a supply of gunpowder.

18th century
In January 1714, Nizhny Novgorod province was formed by Peter I. Since that time, the Kremlin has become the administrative center of the Nizhny Novgorod province and the center of Nizhny Novgorod.

Under Catherine II, in 1785-1790, the Kremlin was repaired, during which the roof was dismantled, lying on the battlements of the wall. As a result, under the influence of atmospheric precipitation, the masonry of the walls began to gradually collapse. The teeth themselves were shortened by more than half, and this was done not because of new aesthetic ideas, but in order to obtain material for the repair of the Kremlin itself. The external fortifications of the main tower were dismantled, and in 1834-1837 a moat was filled up, which lowered the height of the Kremlin by about 4 meters. At the same time, the lower tiers of the towers were underground, which led to their flooding with groundwater and gradual destruction. At the same time, the entire Kremlin was whitewashed, and its roofs were repainted red.

19th century
For a long time, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin was not properly cared for. When the Patriotic War of 1812 began, the Nizhny Novgorod militia set off from its walls. At that time, the Kremlin was not a defensive structure, but in 1894 the reconstruction of the Dmitrievskaya Tower began. The author of the project and the head of the reconstruction was the architect Nikolai Sultanov. He was instructed to remake it into an art and history museum. To do this, it was necessary to return the tower to its leading position in the Kremlin. The museum was opened in 1896. At the same time, the Dmitrievskaya Tower again greatly changed, acquiring an appearance unusual for the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. At the top of the roof was placed a double-headed eagle - the coat of arms of the Russian Empire. The whole Kremlin was completely whitewashed again.

In order to get to the Kremlin, a funicular was built from Rozhdestvenskaya Street in 1896. With its help, visitors climbed from Skoba to the territory of the fortress. But it existed for a relatively short time. In 1926, the funicular was closed, as a tram line was built along the Zelensky Congress, connecting Rozhdestvenskaya Street and Bolshaya Pokrovskaya.

 

Soviet period

With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, significant changes took place in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. It was repainted red again, and the roofs on the towers became green. A double-headed eagle was removed from the Dmitrievskaya Tower; the flag of the USSR was placed instead. The Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior was also demolished - the House of Soviets was built in its place (other churches of the Kremlin that survived at that time did not escape a similar fate, with the exception of the Archangel Cathedral).

In 1935-1937, a new threat loomed over the Kremlin. The authorities decided to expand Sovetskaya Square, for which it was necessary to demolish part of the wall and, in particular, the Dmitrievskaya Tower. According to the project of the Leningrad Institute "Giprogor", the square was supposed to pass through the Kremlin territory to the House of Soviets. The Kremlin, on the other hand, was perceived in those years as "a monument to greedy feudalism and tsarist autocracy, a witness to the terrible pages of a bloody past."

The architect of Giprogor Nikolay Ushakov wrote:
The wall overlooking Sovetskaya Square has been deprived of its value and charm by later restorations. The towers, especially Dmitrovskaya, have been significantly altered. At the same time, it is here that the walls of the Kremlin close the square from the uniquely beautiful distances of the Trans-Volga region and from the greenery inside the Kremlin. Therefore, from the House of Soviets to the St. George's Tower on the embankment, these walls are scheduled for demolition. Some buildings inside the Kremlin are also demolished. Get a large round area. In its center, on the site of the Dmitrov Tower, a monument to Comrade. Sverdlov, and around him a ring breaks the square. Opposite the building of the Agricultural Institute, on the site of the old arsenal, a large building of the regional party committee and the regional executive committee is being erected, in addition to their old buildings. The heavily greened area inside the Kremlin will surround the House of the Red Army, located on the site of the former Cadet Corps. Ya. Sverdlov Street will expand to 40 meters due to the left side. All buildings on this side are gradually being demolished and replaced with new ones.

However, the outbreak of war prevented the implementation of this plan. On June 22, 1941, a meeting of the Gorky Regional Committee was held in the Kremlin. On Sovetskaya Square that day, a rally of thousands took place, at which the secretary of the Gorky Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, I. M. Guryev, spoke and appealed to the Gorky residents with a call to defend their homeland from the Nazi invaders. Later, the Gorky division gathered near the walls of the Kremlin and went to the front.

The Kremlin at that time occupied a significant place in the defense of Gorky. During the war, the roofs of the Tainitskaya, North and Clock towers were dismantled and anti-aircraft machine guns were installed on the upper platforms. So the fortress protected the airspace of the city from German aircraft. Nazi pilots tried to bomb the Kanavinsky Bridge, but met the Kremlin anti-aircraft fire on the way to it.

At the end of the Great Patriotic War, near the walls of the Kremlin, on Minin and Pozharsky Square (renamed Sovetskaya Square), a grandiose Victory Parade was held, ending with a big fireworks display.

Large-scale restoration of the Kremlin
For 200 years, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, having lost its defense value, was slowly collapsing. Fortress walls and uncoated towers were subjected to repeated freezing, and their masonry stratified and collapsed. Bulk soil, accumulated on the inside of the walls in volumes of tens of thousands of cubic meters, in some places created a layer up to 12 meters thick; the lower section of the Kremlin with a length of 250 meters was completely destroyed, nothing remained of the Borisoglebskaya and Zachatievsky towers (their foundations were found during excavations). The deformation of many surviving sections reached catastrophic limits and threatened the continued existence of the monument, requiring urgent restoration work.

For the first time, the problem of restoring the Kremlin was raised in 1938 in the Gorky Rabochy newspaper by the architect Svyatoslav Leonidovich Agafonov, who worked on the master plan for the city of Gorky, and Mikhail Petrovich Zvantsev, an employee of the Gorky Art Museum. However, as in the case of the Soviet Square expansion project, the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War delayed this large-scale project.

On January 30, 1949, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR issued a decree on the restoration of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, which was part of the general improvement plan for the city of Gorky.

Restoration and restoration work began in the fall of 1949 and was carried out by the Republican Special Scientific and Restoration Workshop under the guidance of architect I.V. Trofimov, historians, geologists, civil engineers were involved in them. Geodetic survey was carried out by the Giprokommunstroy Institute. Since 1951, S. L. Agafonov has become the supervisor and author of the project. At the first stage, a general survey of the object and experimental restoration of a small section of the wall took place; for a number of years, preparatory work and the development of a restoration project were carried out, which was completed in 1961. In addition to historical and architectural work, modern means of engineering protection of the monument were also provided, carried out under the guidance of engineer V. M. Kostomarov: installation of drains, slope planning, anti-landslide measures.

The restoration took place in 3 phases and was mostly completed by 1965. The fourth stage began the restoration of completely destroyed sections, which lasted until 1981:
1st stage - restoration of the wall sections overlooking the Minin and Pozharsky Square, from the Koromyslovaya to the St. George Towers.
2nd stage - restoration of the river facade from Georgievskaya to Taynitskaya tower, with the exception of the lower, completely destroyed part.
Stage 3 - restoration of the western section along the Pochainsky ravine, where before that large-scale preparatory earthworks were underway.
4th stage - restoration of the northern coastal part of the Kremlin, where the walls were completely destroyed by a landslide. In 1974, the Borisoglebskaya tower was rebuilt on the site of the old one.

Thus, all the remaining walls and towers were put in order or restored (with the exception of Zachatievskaya, restored already in the post-Soviet period), wooden tents on the towers and roofs on the walls were recreated, and engineering protection was equipped. Subsequently, the restoration was limited to a partial re-cladding of the masonry.

Based on the results of the restoration and related archaeological and historical research, the author of the project and scientific director of the restoration of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, S. L. Agafonov, published the book “The Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. Architecture, history, restoration”.

Since 1973, the beginning of the practice of transferring the premises of the fortress to commercial facilities (tasting room in the Pantry Tower, later a bar) has been marked. On May 8, 1975, the exhibition “Gorky to the Front” was solemnly opened in the Kremlin, dedicated to the memory of the labor exploits of the Gorky people during the Great Patriotic War. In 1979, the Gorky City Executive Committee decided:
“On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Victory, the weapons exhibition in the Kremlin will be given the status of a memorial. Install a memorial sign "Gorky to the front" on the territory of the memorial."

Modernity
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, restoration work ceased. Around 2005, the Kremlin wall gave dangerous cracks in several places. In addition, in many places the brickwork is crumbling, covered with moss and lichen. In the same 2005, the restoration of the Kremlin resumed, but not everything was done up to the mark - there are examples of intensive alterations that significantly distorted the appearance of the fortress.

The use of the fortification as an excursion object has also only worsened in recent decades. This is a consequence of abandonment and misuse of objects. So, the small gate in the porch between the Tainitskaya and Severnaya towers was walled up without a trace from the inside and locked from the outside. Entire towers were occupied by third-party organizations: the economic service, the post of the Eternal Flame, the club of reenactors. In many niches of the Kremlin wall (between the Kladovaya and Nikolskaya towers, as well as near the Arsenal), glazing was carried out and trade pavilions were opened for the sale of souvenirs, called the "City of Masters". Until 2020, souvenir shops were also located in the passage of the Dmitrievskaya Tower. Now they are inside the annex next to the Ivanovskaya Tower and near the Clock Tower.

Also equipped with bars and cafes. Of these, the oldest is the cafe "Grad Kamen", attached to the Dmitrievskaya Tower from the side of Minin and Pozharsky Square (now liquidated), and later - the Podkova bar in a wall niche near the tower. In one of the niches of the "City of Masters" there was a cafe "Gubernskoye", and after the liquidation of the "Horseshoe" - a cafe in a niche near the Arsenal, instead of a souvenir shop. Back in the 1970s, the pantry tower was first given over to a tasting room, and then to a bar, which also occupied and rebuilt part of the wall around it.

In 2012, the reconstruction of the Zachatskaya Tower was carried out, after which the ring of the Kremlin walls became closed. At the same time, on the territory of the Kremlin, next to the existing Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod region, another government building was built.

In 2021, large-scale emergency work and decorative repairs of the fortress itself began, timed to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the city. By the same anniversary date, a bronze model “The Historical Image of Nizhny Novgorod at the Beginning of the 20th Century” was opened on the territory of the Kremlin, 2.8 by 2.1 meters in size, which depicts the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and 480 existing and lost historical buildings within the modern streets of Piskunov, Dobrolyubov, Ilyinskaya and Markin Square.

 

Kremlin architecture

Towers of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
To date, all 13 towers of the Kremlin have been preserved or restored. Counterclock-wise:
St. George's Tower - named in the neighborhood of the Posad St. George's Church. Square 4-tiered tower, until the 17th century - with a drawbridge.
Borisoglebskaya Tower - named after the church in honor of the saints Boris and Gleb, which stood below the Kremlin, near the banks of the Volga. By 1622 it was rebuilt anew. As a result of constant ground movements, the tower collapsed, and was finally dismantled in 1785. In 1966, the remains of the Borisoglebskaya tower were excavated, and in 1972-1974 the tower was re-erected in its original place.
Zachatievsky (Zachatskaya) tower - named after the Zachatievsky monastery located nearby. Sometimes it is referred to as the Zhivonosnovskaya Tower (according to the church and monastery in honor of the Life-Giving Spring) or Belaya (by analogy with the neighboring one). Two-tier rectangular tower with a gate. Destroyed by a landslide in the 18th century, restored in 2012.
The White Tower is named after the white-stone cladding of the lower part of the outer facade. The later name of the 17th-18th centuries is Simeonovskaya, after the Simeonovsky monastery, which was located next to it inside the Kremlin. Round 4-tier tower.
Ivanovskaya Tower - named in the neighborhood of the township church of John the Baptist.
The clock tower is named after the clock installed on it in the 16th century. In 1836, during a second visit to Nizhny Novgorod, Emperor Nicholas I, who was distinguished by eccentricity, ordered to arrange comfortable rooms for himself and the Empress in the Clock and North Towers, explaining this by the fact that in twenty years he was going to renounce the crown and move to the city to live. The towers were hastily renamed into Nikolaevskaya and Aleksandrovskaya.
North Tower - named for its northern position relative to other Kremlin towers; It was also known as Ilyinskaya because of its location opposite the Posad church of Elijah the Prophet in Zapochainye.
The Taynitskaya Tower is named after the "secret passage" in the wall near it to the Pochaina River. It was also called Mironositskaya - after the Church of the Myrrh-bearing Women on the other side of the Pochainsky ravine - and On Zelena - in the ravine under the tower there was a "green yard" - a gunpowder factory with a water mill, also Pochainskaya.
Koromyslov Tower - named after the legendary girl with a yoke allegedly buried under it.
Nikolskaya Tower - named in the neighborhood of the Posad Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which stood on the opposite side of the moat. A pedestrian bridge over the Zelensky congress, built in the 1980s, leads to the tower.
Storage tower - served as a storage place. It was also called Round, Tseykhgauznaya (Tseikhgauz - with German - "military pantry") and Alekseevskaya - there was Alekseevskaya Church nearby.
Dmitrievskaya (Dmitrovskaya) tower - named after the Grand Duke of Nizhny Novgorod Dmitry Konstantinovich. According to another version, the name is associated with the church in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, built by Prince Dmitry in front of the tower in 1378. It was first mentioned in 1372-1374, being considered the oldest tower, but it received its modern look in 1895 when adapted for the Art Museum (currently it houses an exhibition hall). It has the coat of arms of the city and a gate icon of the canonized founder of the city, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich.
Powder tower - used to store gunpowder and other ammunition. Later names - Spasskaya (located next to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral) and Streltsy (next to the Streltsy Sloboda). Round 4-tier tower. There are no frontal loopholes in the lower tiers, that is, the tower plays the role of a caponier for conducting sole fire along the adjacent fortress walls.

 

Churches of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

There were many temples on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, however, by the 21st century, only the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral, built no later than the middle of the 16th century and rebuilt in 1628-1631, was preserved - the oldest building preserved in the Kremlin. The grave of Kuzma Minin is located in the cathedral.

In 2020-2021, for the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod, the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite was restored, located in the northern part of the Kremlin and demolished in 1928. The reconstruction of the church was preceded by archaeological excavations, during which (in October 2018) the remains of a medieval settlement and a cemetery with about 900 graves were discovered on this site. The oldest cultural layer dates back to 1221, when Nizhny Novgorod was founded. The found items were museumified, and the ashes were reburied in a special ossuary located in the altar of the temple.

Lost Churches
Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral (destroyed in 1929-1930, the bell tower was restored)
Military Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (destroyed in 1929)
Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (dismantled in 1845)
Resurrection Cathedral Church (dismantled in the 1780s)
The Cathedral of All Who Sorrow is a warm (winter) cathedral in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of All Who Sorrow Joy at the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior. It was located to the northeast of the latter. It was an elongated narrow building a little over 38 meters long. Built in 1745. Broken down in September 1841

monuments
Obelisk to Minin and Pozharsky
Memorial complex in honor of the Gorky people who fell in the Great Patriotic War
Memorial "Gorky to the front"
Monument to Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich and Bishop Simon of Suzdal
Monument to Prince Dmitry Donskoy and his wife Euphrosyne of Moscow

Other buildings
At the end of the 18th century, a celebration square (parade parade) was laid out in the center of the Kremlin. On the square were erected buildings of government offices (1782-1785), the palace of the vice-governor with an outbuilding (1786-1788) and the garrison house (1791-1801). A bank office building (1785-1786) was built next to the offices. In 1797-1806, in accordance with the decree of Emperor Paul I, two barracks were built for the families of officers of the garrison battalion: one on the south side of the parade square, the other near the vice-governor's house.

In 1837-1841, the house of the military governor was built (now the building houses the Art Museum) with an outbuilding, in 1840-1843, at the direction of Nicholas I, the Arsenal building was built. In connection with the reorganization of the territory of the Kremlin, only in 1837-1841 all private buildings were finally taken out of the fortress.

At the end of the 19th century, for the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896, 2 funiculars were built in the city, called the Kremlin and Pokhvalinsky, in the city they were called elevators. In 1914-1915, the Red Wing of the Cadet Corps was built.

In 1931, the House of Soviets was built on the site of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior. The building is made in the style of constructivism and resembles an airplane from above. Now the building houses the City Duma and the administration of Nizhny Novgorod.

In 1934-1935, according to the project of architect Vladimir Orelsky, a garage of the Regional Committee (building No. 4a) was erected near the St. George Tower. The building was made in the style of post-constructivism, using the theme of the so-called "red" or "proletarian dorica" by the architect Ivan Fomin, whose follower was Orelsky.

In 1965, next to the obelisk to Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, the Eternal Flame was lit and a memorial complex was opened in honor of the Gorky people who fell in the Great Patriotic War.

From 1928 to 1968, a tram depot was located on the territory of the Kremlin in the building of the former Manege; subsequently it was converted into warehouses and garages, after which it fell into disrepair. Only in 2018-2020 did the restoration of the original appearance of the building begin - the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker adjoining the arena was rebuilt (and consecrated), and in 2021 the arena itself, now used as an exhibition space, was rebuilt.

Influenced by the architecture of the Moscow Palace of Congresses, in 1975, on the site of the demolished Assumption Cathedral, the building of the Gorky Regional Party Committee (architects V. V. Voronkov, V. N. Rymarenko) was erected.

The Spassky Chapel was built in 2012. It was erected in front of the administration building of Nizhny Novgorod in memory of the Transfiguration Cathedral destroyed in Soviet times.

In the early 2000s, the construction of modern administrative buildings was launched on the territory of the Kremlin, violating federal legislation on cultural heritage sites (construction is prohibited on the territory of the ancient architectural complex). In 2008, the construction of the first stage of the Government Complex began in the southeastern part of the Kremlin (architects A. A. Khudin, M. V. Dutsev). In 2014, the Treasury Building was erected (architect Yu. N. Kartsev), adjacent to the historical building of the Banking Office. In June 2015, it became known that the construction of the mentioned buildings was suspended.

 

Squares, streets and gardens of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin

Ivanovsky congress (former Bolshaya Mostovaya street)
parade square
Cathedral Square (the House of Soviets was erected on the site of the square)
Governor's Garden
Minin Garden (now there is a memorial with the Eternal Flame on its territory)
Spruce Square
literary garden

Located outside the territory of the Kremlin, but forming a single ensemble with it:
Minin and Pozharsky Square
Zelensky congress
Kremlin Boulevard
National Unity Square
Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment (the foot of the Chkalov Stairs and the square in front of the Zachatievsky Tower)

 

Organizations that operate in the Kremlin

On the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin there are:
Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region;
Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region;
House of Soviets - administration and City Duma of Nizhny Novgorod;
Arbitration Court of the Nizhny Novgorod Region;
Department of the Federal Treasury for the Nizhny Novgorod Region;
Museum "Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin" - a branch of the Nizhny Novgorod State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve;
Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum (house of the military governor);
Branch of the National Center for Contemporary Art (Arsenal building);
The Kremlin Concert Hall is a venue for various events;
Russian Orthodox Church - Michael the Archangel Cathedral, the Transfiguration of the Savior Bell Tower, the Church of Simeon the Stylite, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at the arena.