History of the "Gostinniy Dvor" in Kazan.

According to the «Book of Kazan Trade» 1566 scribes Mikita Borisov and Dmitry Kikin and city customs officer Matvey Tarakanov, near Spasskaya and Voskresenskaya streets, opposite the Spasskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin, there was a wooden “Guest yard for visiting guests” with shops and barns, built at the expense of the state treasury by state carpenters. There was also a customs hut. The square was called Kazan trading and was a commercial center of the posad, a folding point for goods Volga merchants.

At the end of the 16th century, there were more than 365 shops, about 250 small commercial premises (benches, regiments, huts, smiths), where trade took place in winter and summer. Behind the Gostinniy Dvor, behind the fish stood the church of Nicholas the Wonderworker.

At the end of the 16th century, only merchants could trade and live in the Gostinniy Dvor, which was stipulated in a special charter in 1593. In the second half of the 17th century, the Gostinniy Dvor held a monopoly in urban commerce. According to the adopted in 1667 «New Trade Charter» (former «Charter» - 1653) trade was allowed only in the Gostinniy Dvor and around it.

In 1770, the Kazan architect V. I. Kaftyrev rebuilt the Gostinniy Dvor building to the size of a quarter. The number of shops was increased to 777.