Kremlin, 1g, Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russia, 603082
The Clock Tower is a tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, located at the top of the Kremlin hill on the Volga riverbank slope between the Northern and Ivanovskaya towers, at the very edge of the Kremlin hill. The span between the Clock Tower and the Northern Tower is the shortest in the Kremlin: its length is only 39 meters.
In ensemble with the Northern Tower, complemented by the giant steps descending from the cliff wall, this section is the most beautiful in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
The tower got its name from the tower clock, which existed on it as early as the 17th century. Positioned at the highest point of the fortress, the Clock Tower served as the main watch post and was likely the command center for the fortress garrison. According to the Nizhny Novgorod local historian Nikolay Khramtsovsky, the tower’s name can be explained as follows: in the 16th century, at the expense of the state treasury, the main city clock and alarm bells were installed on the structure, the ringing of which called the defenders of the citadel to defense.
The 1621 census book writes about them: “...and on the tower a clock house made of logs, and on the tower battle clocks, clocks and a bell made from the state treasury.” By the beginning of the 18th century, the tower clock was reconstructed and marked the fractions of the hour by bell strikes. “In those clocks there are two bells for the hours, and a large hour bell” (1703).
The clock mechanism was located at the top of the tower, inside a wooden clock house shaped like a pentagonal log structure. According to the daily count of Ancient Rus, the dial had 17 divisions, corresponding to the number of hours of the longest summer day. Daytime and nighttime hours were counted separately: the first hour of sunrise marked the 1st hour of the day, and the hour of sunset marked the 1st hour of the night.
In the 18th century, after reconstruction, the clock mechanism began to strike fractions of the hour, as evidenced by the 1703 inventory made by the Nizhny Novgorod voivode. A specially trained clockmaker was assigned to the tower to monitor the accuracy of the clock. From the watchtower of the Clock Tower, they observed the approach of the enemy along the Volga and by land. The fortification had no artillery installations or cannons, but gunpowder and food supplies were stored in the tower’s cellar.
During the fire of 1807, the Clock Tower lost its stone vaults, and through cracks appeared on the walls. In 1954, restorers revived the structure, restoring the vaults, battlements, fragments of damaged masonry, and the wooden superstructure. The upper spire of the tower was crowned with a gilded weather vane-flag in the shape of a deer — the symbol of Nizhny Novgorod.
During the Great Patriotic War, anti-aircraft machine guns were stationed on the upper platform of the Clock Tower, serving as air defense for Nizhny Novgorod.
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