Undoubtedly, the most important date of the second decade of the 21st century in the City of Masters was the day when the Kazan Embankment opened in Tula after a hundred years of desolation.
Many citizens met this event with tears of joy in their eyes because several generations of Tula residents have not seen the Northern exterior of the Tula Kremlin. The overgrown area with a muddy silted river could only be seen through the cracks in the high fence.
Kazan Embankment, as a cartographic feature, appeared only in 1907. It stretched from the Sretensky Church (today, the monument to S.I.Mosin) to the Kazan Church (today, Tula Engineering College). Between these churches, there were two-story houses of Tula residents, the addresses of which contained the street name of "Kazan Embankment."
But the history of this strip of land from the Ivanovo Tower of the Tula Kremlin to the Chugunny Bridge (today, Zarechensky Bridge) had started much earlier!
Old engravings may reveal to you the fact that back in 1856, the townspeople liked to walk here.
At the beginning of the 18th century, a garden of the unprecedented beauty with fountains and a building called "voxal," which hosted balls and staged performances, was planted along the Eastern wall of the Kremlin. The garden reaches the very Upa River.
Later, an equally luxurious Lower Garden was arranged from this building to the Water Gate tower. It served as the originator of the current Kazan Embankment. The building of the Winter Theater and an expensive first-class restaurant with delicious dishes was located here. A boat station operated here for a long time. The Upa was wide and full-flowing.
Butcher shops stretched from the Water Gate tower to the Corner Tower and a shopping area that descended up to the river extended from the Western walls of the Tula Kremlin to the Kazan Church.
After the beginning of the first world war the territories of the Lower Garden, shopping area and Kazan Embankment were moved in favor of strengthening the Tula Weapon Factory. Stocks of firewood and combustible materials for machines and equipment of the enterprise began to be stored here. This territory in the heart of the Workshop of Russia got behind a high fence for more than a hundred years.
The years went by. A large area behind the Kremlin was covered with garbage and overgrown with weeds. The Upa River was getting more shallow.
However, in 2016 it was decided to return the old embankment to Tula residents…
During the work, more than 40 thousand cubic meters of silt were removed, two dams were built, and an artificial landscape was arranged.
Today, the Kazan Embankment in Tula has three zones.
· Pryanik Zone, with restaurants, flower beds, gazebos, and rotundas.
· Concert Zone, with a stage and a square in front of it, with art objects and swings.
· Children and Sports Zone, with slides, gorodki, horizontal bars, parallel bars, a football field box and ping-pong tables.
Photos of the Kazan Embankment from different eras are interesting to compare with each other. Unhurried noble walks of the 19th-early 20th century, the desolation of the Soviet period and the smoking entertainment life of the 21st century.
The Kazan Embankment is easy to find on the map! Just find the Tula Kremlin and the Upa River! Now you know the address and coordinates!
