Top Russian Kremlins apart from Moscow Kremlin

There are 12 kremlins, which fully or partially survived and you can visit them.

What is a kremlin? It is a fortified kernel of a historical Russian city, its center and the oldest part protected by thick walls with towers.

Here are top 6 Russian kremlins which are in no way inferior to the one in Moscow. And since everyone knows about the Moscow Kremlin it is not on this list. Here you go.

This relatively small stone kremlin was built in the mid-16^th century by the father of the Russian Tsar who later became known as Ivan the Terrible. The Zaraysk Kremlin repelled several assaults by the Crimean Khanate troops.

It is still intact and all of its 7 original impressive towers are still there. Besides there's a nice museum in one of the Kremlin buildings where you can see some rare items like a figure of a bison and two female statuettes dating some 22,000 years back!

Kazan Kremlin is one of the oldest citadels in Russia. The present-day complex was built over the ruins of the previous kremlin – the stronghold of the Kazan Khanate where the Khan and his entourage resided.

The fortress was almost totally destroyed during the siege of Kazan by the troops led by Moscow tsar Ivan the Terrible in the 16^th century. Take a walk through its vast squares, past the newly-built Qul-Sharif mosque and climb the Soyembika Tower, one of the few leaning towers in Russia

The imposing Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin stands on a hill above the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers. The northwestern part of this fortress runs down to the foot of the hill. Built in the beginning of the 16^th century by an Italian architect the fortress had 15 towers and gave the city the so much needed protection against the Tatarsю

Basically, the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin was used by the Muscovites as a base to move eastwards towards the Kazan Khanate, which they finally conquered. Interestingly a huge part of this magnificent fortification was about to be pulled down during the Soviet times but WWII changed the plans completely. Now you can book a room at the Sheraton Hotel right next to the ancient kremlin wall and enjoy a great view.

One of the strongest Muscovites' fortresses, the Kolomna Kremlin was built in the mid-16^th century when Muscovites thought they had enough of Tatar incursions. Tatars kept seizing Kolomna and burning its wooden fortress during each of their raids. Once the redbrick kremlin was built Tatars could no longer seize and burn it.

It is believed that the walls and the towers of this kremlin were built under the supervision of Italian architects - which was often a case in the medieval Rus'. Those who visited castles and fortresses in Northern Italy will surely find similarities. The Kolomna Kremlin had 16 towers out of which only 7 survived – after losing the military importance the kremlin degraded and locals used the bricks for their own purposes. Now the area around it is well-looked after and you can enjoy a stroll along the redbrick towers chewing on a local delicacy – kalach.

This northwestern Russian kremlin on the Volkhov river was completed in stone already in the first half of the 15^th century. Why? Because the Novgorod Republic, which back then was an independent medieval state and a member of the Hanseatic League needed to protect itself from Swedes and Muscovites who were more than happy to lay their hands on it.

Finally, Muscovites did it and they rebuilt the Veliky Novgorod Kremlin to make it even stronger and more up-to-date. Some of the towers have gate churches which is quite a rarity for Russian kremlins while the 38.5m tall Kokuy tower was used as an observation point by Nazis who occupied the city during WWII.

The Pskov Kremlin also known as Pskov Krom withstood 26 major assaults during its history. Germans, Danes, Swedes, Lithuanians sought to destroy it and conquer the independent medieval Republic of Pskov. Already in the 10^th century some turns of the kremlin wall were made of stone, which makes the Pskov kremlin one of the oldest stone fortresses of Russia.

You will be fascinated by the various shapes of the kremlin towers and the views of the surroundings they offer. There's also an open-air archaeological site called Dovmontov gorod (the city of Dovmont) adjacent to the Pskov Kremlin wall. Back in the Middle Ages it had 17 churches and several administrative buildings to run the flourishing republic. Muscovites annexed Pskov in 1510 as the unification of traditional Russian lands was coming to an end.