Kremlin Embankment

Kremlin Embankment is a pedestrian zone along the left bank of the Kazanka River in the historic center of Kazan, stretching from the walls of the Kazan Kremlin toward the Millennium Bridge and the “Uram” extreme sports park. Over a decade and a half of redevelopment its length has grown to several kilometers, and today it is one of the main recreation spots for residents and visitors, open year-round, around the clock.

A promenade along the Kazanka had existed before, but it remained modest in terms of amenities. The impetus for its transformation came with the appearance, in 2010, of Palace Square and the Palace of Farmers building near the Kremlin walls: the city authorities decided to put the adjacent stretch of riverbank in order as well. The first phase of work was completed in time for the 2013 World Summer Universiade — when a two-kilometer stretch of the embankment was widened and reinforced with concrete structures. The fully landscaped embankment opened in the summer of 2015, and its present name was chosen by the residents themselves: out of a hundred options proposed in an open online vote, “Kremlyovskaya” (“Kremlin”) won. A few years later the stretch from the National Library of Tatarstan to the Millennium Bridge was also landscaped, and on August 30, 2021, on Republic and City Day, two new sections of the embankment were opened.

The area is divided into themed zones — the “Alley of Arts,” the “Family Alley,” and the “Youth Alley” — each aimed at a different audience. Restaurants, cafés, and bars operate along the route, fountains, sculptures, and other small architectural forms are installed, and attractions are in operation. At the start of the embankment there is a sports ground and a pier for pleasure boats. The promenade includes separate paths for pedestrians and a lane for rollerbladers and cyclists, which also carries children’s road trains shaped like a toy locomotive with carriages.

Festivals, exhibitions, creative evenings, sporting competitions, and other public events drawing residents of all ages take place on the embankment year-round. In winter a “Winter Town” is set up here with a citywide Christmas tree, and a skating rink nearly a kilometer long is laid out — one of the longest in Russia and Europe, drawing thousands of skating enthusiasts every year.

Today Kremlin Embankment ties together the main symbols of Kazan’s renewed center — the Kremlin walls, Palace Square with the Palace of Farmers, and the National Library building — forming a unified tourist and recreational route along the water. It has become a showcase of the large-scale reconstruction of the waterfront that the city underwent ahead of its millennium anniversary and the student Universiade. From a modest riverside path, the embankment has turned into a landscaped public space that defines the image of modern Kazan and the city’s relationship with its embankment as the main open-air living room of the city.