Webcam Astrakhan. Bratsk Garden, Prechistenskaya Belfry online
At the foot of the Prechistensky Bell Tower and the fortress wall of the Astrakhan Kremlin stretches a large Bratsk Garden. Astrakhan citizens and guests of the city like to stroll along its alleys. The building with a classic semicircular façade overlooks it from the east. In the 19th century it was the home of the Governor-General of Astrakhan province.
For several centuries on the site of the Bratsk Garden was the main square of White City, which was called the Market Square. The White City of Astrakhan is a settlement, which was formed near the Kremlin in the early 17th century. But raids by steppe nomads in those days remained a serious problem for Astrakhan, and in the mid-16th century, it was decided to wall the White City with an almost as strong a wall as the Kremlin itself.
Rich suburbs of merchants from Russia, Persia, Armenia, and India formed there, and the city itself was eventually built up with beautiful stone buildings, while the rest of Astrakhan continued to be wooden. In the 19th century, the walls of the White City were torn down due to dilapidation, but the layout of this quarter has been preserved, especially around the Bratsk Garden, which overlooks the beautiful buildings built in the strict classicist style in the 19th century.
In 1884 a monument to Emperor Alexander II was erected on the Market Square, and the square was called Alexander Square. In 1917 this monument was removed, and in the next year, 1918, 180 people who died during the battles for the establishment of Soviet power in Astrakhan were buried there. After that, the square was planted with trees, and a garden was formed here, which was called the Bratsk garden.
