Minin and Pozharsky: Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow, 1612

In autumn 1611 a delegation offered Pozharsky command of the Second Volunteer Army, then gathering in Nizhny Novgorod. He agreed on one condition: that Kuzma Minin, the merchant behind the army's founding, would help him. The merchants had chosen Minin, a guild member they trusted, to handle the public funds they donated. Minin is buried in the citadel, and an obelisk to both men stands in front of the Archangel Cathedral. The square before the Kremlin carries their names.

Location precision: The call to arms was raised in the city, not at one named spot; the pin marks the Kremlin, where Minin is buried and the obelisk stands.

Visitor guidance: The obelisk stands in front of the Archangel Cathedral inside the Kremlin.

Pozharsky's army marched towards Yaroslavl first and stayed there for half a year. From April to June 1612 the city became the de facto capital of Russia, because the most important matters of state were settled there. The army was rested and helped by the townspeople, and with that support it was able to liberate Moscow and end the Polish-Lithuanian intervention.

Location precision: The sources name the city, not a building, as the militia's base; the pin marks Yaroslavl.

Pozharsky knew this monastery well: wounded in March 1611, he had been carried here to recover. In 1612 his march was slow: it took him several months to reach the Trinity, and its authorities tried in vain to speed his forces. The walls had earned their fame by withstanding a 16-month Polish-Lithuanian siege in 1608-1610. Today the Lavra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 1993.

Location precision: The text says the army reached the Trinity but not which building; the pin marks the monastery complex.

Visitor guidance: The monastery complex is in Sergiyev Posad.

Before advancing on Moscow, Pozharsky prayed fervently before Our Lady of Kazan, one of Russia's holiest icons. After the city was recovered, he credited his success to that icon and paid from his own funds for a wooden church to the Virgin of Kazan on Red Square. The garrison inside the Kremlin, starved, surrendered in October. The cathedral, destroyed under the Communists, was the first church to be completely rebuilt afterwards, in 1990–1993.

Visitor guidance: On Red Square, near the Minin and Pozharsky monument.

The two leaders are honored in bronze on Red Square. The army they raised was credited with clearing the Moscow Kremlin of Polish forces on 1 November 1612. Sculptor Martos won the design competition, and Napoleon's invasion delayed the unveiling until 1818. The plaque reads: "In memory of citizen Minin and Grand Duke Pozharsky, in 1818 by grateful Russians." Minin originally stood extending his hand toward the Kremlin.

Visitor guidance: On Red Square, near the Kazan Cathedral.