Kremlin ensemble
In the center of the capital, on a picturesque hill above the Moscow River, stands the unique Kremlin ensemble, created by the talent and labor of many generations. We find the first mention of Moscow in documents from 1147, but excavations in the Kremlin show that there were already settlements here in the second half of the first millennium BC. Under Prince Ivan Kalita in 1339-1340. New walls were built from powerful oak trunks. And already under Dmitry Donskoy, when Muscovites were preparing for a decisive fight against the Tatars, the walls and towers of the Kremlin were lined with white stone from the Moscow region. Moscow was called the “Reigning City” under Ivan III, when in the second half of the 15th century it became the capital of the united Russian state. The largest construction of the Kremlin dates back to this time.
The three corner towers are round. The first of them is Vodovzvodnaya, near the B. Kamenny Bridge. It was named so because the first water supply system in Moscow for irrigating the Kremlin gardens was installed there. The upper floors of the tower housed huge tanks for storing water. The tower was built in the late 1480s. At the same time, a second corner tower was erected - Beklemishevskaya, or Moskvoretskaya - near the Moskvoretsky Bridge. According to legend, it got its name from the Beklemishev boyars, whose courtyard was located nearby. The third corner tower is Sobakina, or Corner Arsenalnaya, near Kremlinsky Proezd, adjacent to the Arsenal, built in 1492.
The four towers are quadrangular and drive-through. The main tower, through which there was a main entrance to the Kremlin, Frolovskaya, and from the 17th century.
Spasskaya, built in 1491 under the leadership of Peter Antonio Solarno.
The tower has ten floors, three of which are occupied by the clock mechanism. The first clock was installed in the 16th century, the current one - in 1851.
One of the tallest and most beautiful, this tower amazes with the subtlety and elegance of its white stone carved decorations and is a true masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture.
At the same time as Spasskaya, the Nikolskaya Tower was erected near the building of the Historical Museum, decorated like lace with white stone carvings.
The next passage tower is the Trinity Tower, rising above the Alexander Garden. It is connected to the openwork Kutafya tower by a stone bridge. The Neglinnaya River once flowed here. Now it is enclosed in a pipe under the Alexander Garden. Trinity Tower was built in 1495.
The Borovitskaya Tower rises near the Armory Chamber. Its name recalls the times when the Kremlin hill was covered with forest. The tower was erected in 1490.
From the point of view of military engineering, the Moscow Kremlin was an outstanding defensive structure of the 15th century.
Each tower is an independent fortress. The walls, rising up and down the hills, range in height from 5 to 19 meters and thickness from 3 to 6 meters.
In the center of the Kremlin is the ancient Cathedral Square and the monuments of Russian architecture located around it, which represent one of the most outstanding architectural ensembles in the world.
Crowned with five golden domes, the Assumption Cathedral was built by Russian craftsmen under the leadership of Aristotle Fioravanti in 1475-1479. It was a place of solemn ceremonies; here Russian tsars were crowned kings, metropolitans and patriarchs were buried. The iconostasis of the cathedral is a rare collection of ancient Russian icon painting. The wooden carved throne of Ivan the Terrible, made by Russian craftsmen in 1551, and the magnificent bronze tent by master Dmitry Sverchkov, cast in 1625, made in the cathedral make an unforgettable impression.
Pskov craftsmen erected it in 1484-1489. as the home church of the royal family, the picturesque architectural group of the Annunciation Cathedral. Here are collected the rarest icons by outstanding masters of the 15th century - Andrei Rublev, Theophanes the Greek, Prokhor from Gorodets. The wall paintings by Theodosius (early 16th century) are of great artistic value.
Pskov masters in 1484-1485. The Church of the Deposition was also built near the western porch of the Assumption Cathedral.
Next to the Annunciation stands the strict and solemn Archangel Cathedral, built in 1505-1508. Aleviz Novy.
Four massive pillars supporting the vaults of the cathedral are painted with portraits of the princes of North-Eastern Rus', whose possessions became part of the centralized Russian state. Before Peter 1, the Archangel Cathedral served as the tomb of Russian great princes and tsars. Here are the tombs of the collector of Russian lands Ivan Kalita, the great Russian commander, hero of the Battle of Kulikovo Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Ivan III, Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his sons.
The Faceted Chamber, built under Ivan III in 1491 by architects Marco Ruffo and Peter Antonio Solarno, overlooks Cathedral Square and is the oldest civil building in Moscow. It is named so because its eastern façade is faced with white cut stone. The Faceted Chamber hosted receptions of foreign ambassadors and festive celebrations, meetings of zemstvo councils, state meetings and the most important palace ceremonies.
The fabulous appearance of the chambers of the Terem Palace, built in 1635-1636, amazes with the splendor of its interior decoration, stone carvings, paintings, and tiles. Russian masters Bazhen Ogurtsov, Trefil Sharutin, Antip Konstantinov and Larion Ushakov. The two lower floors were built in the 16th century.
Used Books
“Moscow district guide” p. 41.
The Moscow Kremlin is located. The history of our Motherland is reflected in every building. These are ancient cannons and bells, cathedrals and palaces, museums and the residence of the President of Russia. High walls and loopholes tell us that this powerful and majestic structure is a fortress. At the same time, this building also reflects the spiritual life of Russia. The Kremlin in Moscow is an all-Russian national shrine, a symbol of Russia.
The Kremlin ensemble in Moscow includes the fortress itself with its powerful walls and towers, as well as temples and chambers, majestic palaces and ceremonial administrative buildings. These are ensembles of squares - Cathedral and Ivanovskaya, Senate and Palace, Troitskaya, as well as streets - Spasskaya, Borovitskaya and Dvortsovaya.
Towers of the Moscow Kremlin
The walls of the Moscow Kremlin have 20 towers, none of which are identical. The history of Moscow began at the Borovitsky Gate. Here is one of the southwestern towers of the Kremlin wall - Borovitskaya. It faces the Alexander Garden and Borovitskaya Square. According to legend, her name comes from the forest that covered one of the seven hills on which Moscow stands.
Cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin
The architectural ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin includes eight cathedrals. One of the main temples of the Russian state - Uspensky. It hosted the coronation of emperors, the crowning of the kingdom, the election of the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church and the burial of metropolitans and patriarchs. Now here you can see the place of worship of Ivan the Terrible, especially valuable icons, a necropolis and a majestic iconostasis.
Blagoveshchensky cathedral served as the personal temple of the Grand Dukes and Tsars of Moscow. It is believed that some of the icons of the temple were created by Andrei Rublev, as well as Theophanes the Greek.
Cathedral of the Archangel was the family tomb of the great princes and kings. It contains 47 tombstones and 2 shrines. Grand Dukes Ivan Kalita and Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan III and Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry and Tsars Mikhail and Alexei Romanov are buried here. The image of “Archangel Michael with his deeds” created during the Battle of Kulikovo can be seen in the iconostasis of the temple.
The home church of Russian metropolitans and patriarchs is small Church of the Deposition of the Robe. It features a four-tiered iconostasis in a silver frame and wall paintings in a single ensemble.
To the north of the Assumption Church and the bell tower of Ivan the Great are Patriarchal Chambers and small five-domed Temple of the Twelve Apostles, built by Russian masters Antip Konstantinov and Bazhen Ogurtsov.
Ten-headed St. Basil's Cathedral was in danger of demolition many times. Napoleon dreamed of taking him to Paris in 1812, and later wanted to blow him up. During Soviet times, the cathedral interfered with demonstrations and they also wanted to destroy it.
To the east of the Terem Palace there are four house churches: St. Catherine and the Verkhospassky Cathedral, the Church of the Crucifixion of Christ and the Church of the Resurrection of the Word.
Moscow Kremlin - history and architecture
The first mention of Moscow is found in the chronicle and dates back to 1147. In 1156, the first wooden walls were built on the banks of the Moscow River and the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. Rus' at that time was divided into separate principalities, so it could not resist the invasion of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in 1238. Moscow was devastated and the Kremlin was burned.
During the reign of Ivan Kalita, the Moscow Principality was strengthened and the Kremlin was rebuilt. Stone churches, cathedrals and strong oak walls were built. By decree of Prince Dimitry Donskoy, grandson of Ivan Kalita, white stone walls and towers were erected in 1367. Moscow began to be called white stone. Under Grand Duke Ivan III, the territory of the Kremlin expanded, a ditch was dug around the walls. Together with foreign architects, the Assumption and Annunciation Churches, the Chamber of Facets and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (watch tower) are being built. The Archangel Church was founded. With the flourishing of culture and architecture in the 17th century, the buildings of the Kremlin were also transformed. Tall brick tents with tiled coverings and gilded weather vanes appeared on the Kremlin towers.
At the beginning of the 18th century, by decree of Peter I, the Arsenal building was founded. With the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg, the Kremlin remained in an abandoned state. Almost all wooden buildings were destroyed by fires and were not restored.
Its construction began only in the 2nd half of the 18th century. The Senate building is being built according to the design of architect M. F. Kazakov. Under the leadership of the architect Ivan Yegotov, the first building for the Armory Chamber was built. During the War of 1812, Napoleon decided to blow up the Kremlin during his retreat. Only thanks to the courage of Muscovites, he was miraculously saved. Soon all of its damaged buildings were restored.
In 1917, the capture of the Kremlin completed the revolution in Moscow. The Soviet government moved here from Petrograd in March 1918. Today the residence of the President of Russia is located here.
On the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, a State Museum Complex was created, which includes the Armory Chamber and churches (Assumption, Arkhangelsk and Annunciation), the Church of the Deposition of the Robe and the Patriarchal Chambers with the Church of the Twelve Apostles, the ensemble of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, as well as collections of artillery guns and bells. The Kremlin complex and Red Square were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990 as one of the outstanding historical monuments of the planet.
In 1475–1479 the main temple of Moscow was built - the Assumption Cathedral, as we see it today. Its creator was the Italian architect Rodolfo Fioravanti, nicknamed Aristotle (c. 1415/20 - c. 1486). Together with Fioravanti, the Italian Renaissance comes to Russia. As N. wrote about that time. M. Karamzin, “Italy gives the first fruits of the arts that are born in it.” According to G.V. Florovsky, Ivan III had an undoubted taste and inclination towards Italy, from where he summoned masters to build and rebuild the Kremlin, palace and cathedrals. The Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin was not much different from the Suzdal models, since Aristotle Fioravanti was guided by Ivan III's instructions to follow the ancient types of Russian stone architecture, primarily the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir. But the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow is larger than its Vladimir prototype. Its appearance amazes with its integrity and power of volume. In its monumental forms, the sophistication and sophistication of the skill of Vladimir architects organically merged with the laconicism and austere simplicity of the professionalism of Novgorod masters. At the same time, it reflected the secular humanistic revivalist principle. Contemporaries noted that the cathedral was built in a “ward manner.” Its interior resembled (especially before the painting) a state hall. The architecture of the Assumption Cathedral was an early Renaissance modification of Russian monumental historicism.
In 1484–1489 Pskov architects are rebuilding the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - the home church of the Grand Dukes. As noted by Π. N. Milyukov, the arcature belt of the cathedral, crowning the apses, echoed the arched frame of the chapters and contributed to the compositional connection with the Assumption Cathedral. These Vladimir-Suzdal details were organically combined with the structural system of stepped arches characteristic of Pskov and the early Moscow method of arranging kokoshniks. Here, for the first time, new elements penetrate into stone Moscow architecture, “the origin of which must be sought neither in the East nor in the West, but in building forms local wooden architecture".
The penetration of purely Russian forms of covering into Moscow architecture at the end of the 15th century. (Annunciation Cathedral) gave a new impetus for their development. As a result, we have two outstanding monuments of the Russian style: St. Basil's Cathedral and the Ascension Cathedral in the village of Kolomenskoye.
In the same years (1484–1488), the home church of the Moscow metropolitans was built - the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, which also combined the artistic traditions of different schools. In 1505–1509 architect Aleviz Fryazin builds the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin are considered as a stage of the Russian Pre-Renaissance in the field of architecture.
In 1487–1491 With the participation of Italian architects Mark Fryazin and Antonio Solari, the Faceted Chamber with the ceremonial Throne Hall of the Russian Tsars is being built. The official appearance of the chamber was given by facing with faceted slabs of white limestone (hence the name). A similar single-pillar chamber was built two years before Granovita in the Simonov Monastery, and the model was the chamber of the Vladychny Court in Novgorod (1433).
In 1485, new brick walls of the Kremlin began to be built. By the beginning of the 16th century. (mainly in 1485–1495) the construction of the fortifications of the Moscow Kremlin, for the first time made of brick, was completed. In terms of its technical qualities, the Moscow Kremlin was not inferior to the best fortifications in Western Europe. The monumental archery of the Trinity Gate has survived to this day, although it has lost its battle teeth.
The Ivanovo Bell Tower (1505) crowned the composition of the Moscow Kremlin. The belfry pillar was raised in 1600 by order of Boris Godunov. Ivan the Great became the tallest building in Moscow (80 m) and a symbol of the Russian state. He begins and completes the development of Russian architecture of the 16th century.
The main structures of the Moscow Kremlin, which have survived to this day, were erected at approximately the same time (from 1475 to 1505). They form a single ensemble that has enormous social, practical and aesthetic significance. As P. A. Vyazemsky wrote:
Your Kremlin is our altar and stronghold,
He gathered Rus', consolidated it, erected it;
He is our strength and sanctuary,
Prayer book and archangel.
The construction of the Moscow Kremlin ensemble clearly demonstrates the rise of national self-awareness caused by gaining independence. From that moment on, the victorious march of the Russian state began, the symbol of which was the Moscow Kremlin. One word “Kremlin” is enough to make it clear what we are talking about.
With the liberation from the Mongol yoke, architecture changes. Modest and calm until the 15th century, she becomes stately and impressive. An expression of this is the Moscow Kremlin, the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Kolomenskoye and St. Basil's Cathedral. The architecture of the Muscovite kingdom differs both from early Muscovite architecture and from the creations of the architects of Vladimir, Novgorod and Pskov.
In 1492, the Ivan-Gorod fortress was built opposite the Parva Castle of the Livonian Order. In 1500–1511 The stone Kremlin of Nizhny Novgorod appears, located on an important trade and strategic road to the Kazan Khanate. This was followed by the stone fortresses of Tula (1514–1521), Kolomna (1525–1531), Zaraysk (1531), Mozhaisk (1541), Kazan (1555), Serpukhov (1556), Astrakhan (1582–1589). At the end of the 16th century. fortified cities were built on the Volga - Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, as well as Arkhangelsk on the Dvina (1583–1584), Tyumen (1586) and Tobolsk (1587) after the conquest of the Siberian Khanate in 1582. A first-class stone fortress in Smolensk (1597–1602) was built by Fyodor Savelyevich Kon. As K. G. Wagner notes, the general appearance of Russian fortifications is characteristic, devoid of the terrifying severity and gloom of Romanesque castles, as if baring the edges of battlements and spiers against the enemy. The city fortifications and monastery walls of Ancient Rus' exude a restrained strength. They did not so much threaten as they protected the townspeople.
Large monasteries also began to acquire their own fortifications: Trinity-Sergius (1540–1550), Kirillo-Belozersky (late 16th century), Solovetsky (1584–1599) and many others. In Moscow, the southwestern borders were guarded by the Novodevichy (1524) and Donskoy (1592) monasteries. The walls of the Spaso-Andronikov, Simonov, Novospassky and Danilov monasteries are being erected. After at the beginning of the 16th century. a “coenobitic charter” was adopted, requiring the monks to eat together, and refectories began to be built with a temple adjacent to the dining hall. The dining chamber of the 16th century, as a rule, had a square plan with a central pillar. The entrance to it was through the “red porch”.
At the end of the 15th century. with the strengthening of the Moscow state, it is established chamber-palace genre(The Faceted Chamber in Moscow, the palace in Uglich, etc.). To this day, residential buildings erected on stone basements of the 16th century have been preserved in Moscow, for example, the chambers of the Troekurov boyars, which now house a museum of musical instruments.
The most innovative direction in stone architecture of the 16th century. represent pillar-shaped tented temples. Most of the tent churches were of a memorial nature and were associated with important state events. The octagon with a tent (as the chroniclers wrote, the church “drevyana up”) was a traditionally Russian form of wooden church starting from the 12th century. Tent-shaped wooden churches played a decisive role in the formation of new forms of stone architecture in the 16th century. and were erected until the end of the 18th century, although they were banned already in the middle of the 17th century. Patriarch Nikon as not meeting the church rank, i.e. five-headed Above we talked about the pyramidal nature of early Moscow architecture (for example, the Spassky Cathedral of the Spaso-Lndronikov Monastery). The tented completion of the temple is the next stage in the development of the idea of pyramidality. At the same time, Renaissance features are visible here: purity of forms; rare but elegant Renaissance stucco; application of the golden ratio, etc. Tent weddings were compared to the silhouettes of pointed fir trees. An example of a tent-roofed church is the Cathedral of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow.
The Moscow Kremlin is the main attraction of the city. Getting there is quite easy. There are several metro stations, from which you can walk to the Kremlin. The Alexandrovsky Sad station will take you, as you can easily guess, straight to the Alexandrovsky Garden. The Kutafya Tower will already be visible there, where they sell tickets to the Kremlin and to the Armory Chamber. You can also go to the metro station. Library named after IN AND. Lenin. In this case, the Kutafya Tower will be visible across the road. The stations Ploshchad Revolyutsii and Kitai-Gorod will take you to Red Square, but from different sides. The first is from the side of the State Historical Museum, the second is from the side. You can also get off at Okhotny Ryad - if you want to stroll along the shopping row of the same name. Just be prepared for unusual prices)).
About prices for the Kremlin museums. A visit to the Kremlin is not a cheap pleasure. An hour and a half visit to – will cost 700 rubles, – 500 rubles, a walk around with inspection – 500 rubles. For more information about museums and some nuances about visiting them that you should know, see the links.
The Kremlin is called not only the walls with towers, as some people think, but also everything that is located inside it. Outside the walls on the ground of the Moscow Kremlin there are cathedrals and squares, palaces and museums. This summer on Cathedral Square every Saturday at 12:00 the Kremlin Regiment shows its skills. If I manage to escape to the Kremlin, I will write about it.
History of the Moscow Kremlin.
The word “Kremlin” is very ancient. The Kremlin or Detinets in Rus' was the name given to the fortified part in the center of the city, in other words, a fortress. In the old days, times were different. It happened that Russian cities were attacked by countless enemy forces. That’s when the city’s residents gathered under the protection of their Kremlin. The old and young took refuge behind its powerful walls, and those who could hold weapons in their hands defended themselves from enemies from the walls of the Kremlin.
The first settlement on the site of the Kremlin arose approximately 4,000 years ago. Archaeologists have established this. Shards of clay pots, stone axes and flint arrowheads were found here. These things were once used by ancient settlers.
The location for the construction of the Kremlin was not chosen by chance. The Kremlin was built on a high hill, surrounded on two sides by rivers: the Moskva River and the Neglinnaya. The high location of the Kremlin made it possible to spot enemies from a greater distance, and the rivers served as a natural barrier in their path.
Initially the Kremlin was wooden. An earthen rampart was built around its walls for greater reliability. The remains of these fortifications were discovered during construction work in our time.
It is known that the first wooden walls on the site of the Kremlin were built in 1156 by order of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. This data was preserved in ancient chronicles. At the beginning of the 14th century, Ivan Kalita began to rule the city. In ancient Rus', a kalyta was a money bag. The prince was so nicknamed because he accumulated great wealth and always carried a small bag of money with him. Prince Kalita decided to decorate and strengthen his city. He ordered the construction of new walls for the Kremlin. They were cut down from strong oak trunks, so thick that you couldn’t wrap your arms around them.
Under the next ruler of Moscow, Dmitry Donskoy, the Kremlin had other walls built - stone ones. Stone craftsmen from all over the area were gathered to Moscow. And in 1367 they got to work. People worked without interruption, and soon Borovitsky Hill was surrounded by a powerful stone wall, 2 or even 3 meters thick. It was built from limestone, which was mined in quarries near Moscow near the village of Myachkovo. The Kremlin so impressed its contemporaries with the beauty of its white walls that from then on Moscow began to be called white-stone.
Prince Dmitry was a very brave man. He always fought in the forefront and it was he who led the fight against the conquerors from the Golden Horde. In 1380, his army completely defeated the army of Khan Mamai on the Kulikovo field, not far from the Don River. This battle was nicknamed Kulikovskaya, and the prince has since received the nickname Donskoy.
The white stone Kremlin stood for more than 100 years. During this time, a lot has changed. Russian lands united into one strong state. Moscow became its capital. This happened under the Moscow Prince Ivan III. From that time on, he began to be called the Grand Duke of All Rus', and historians call him “the collector of the Russian land.”
Ivan III gathered the best Russian masters and invited Aristotle Fearovanti, Antonio Solario and other famous architects from distant Italy. And now, under the leadership of Italian architects, new construction began on Borovitsky Hill. In order not to leave the city without a fortress, the builders erected a new Kremlin in parts: they dismantled a section of the old white stone wall and quickly built a new one in its place - out of brick. There was quite a lot of clay suitable for its production in the vicinity of Moscow. However, clay is a soft material. To make the brick hard, it was fired in special kilns.
Over the years of construction, Russian masters stopped treating Italian architects as strangers, and even changed their names in the Russian way. So Antonio became Anton, and the complex Italian surname was replaced by the nickname Fryazin. Our ancestors called the overseas lands Fryazhsky, and those who came from there were called Fryazin.
It took 10 years to build the new Kremlin. The fortress was defended on both sides by rivers, and at the beginning of the 16th century. A wide ditch was dug on the third side of the Kremlin. He connected two rivers. Now the Kremlin was protected on all sides by water barriers. They were erected one after another, equipped with diversion archers for greater defensive capability. Along with the renovation of the fortress walls, the construction of such famous ones as Uspensky, Arkhangelsky and Blagoveshchensky took place.
After the crowning of the Romanov kingdom, the construction of the Kremlin began at an accelerated pace. The Filaret belfry was built next to the bell tower of Ivan the Great, Teremnaya, Poteshny palaces, Patriarchal chambers and the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles. Under Peter I, the Arsenal building was erected. But after the capital was moved to St. Petersburg, they stopped building new buildings.
During the reign of Catherine II, a number of ancient buildings and part of the southern wall were demolished for the construction of a new palace. But soon the work was canceled, according to the official version due to lack of funding, according to the unofficial version - due to negative public opinion. In 1776-87. The Senate building was built
During Napoleon's invasion, the Kremlin suffered enormous damage. Churches were desecrated and looted, and part of the walls, towers and buildings were blown up during the retreat. In 1816-19. Restoration work was carried out in the Kremlin. By 1917 There were 31 churches in the Kremlin.
During the October Revolution, the Kremlin was bombed. In 1918, the government of the RSFSR moved to the Senate building. Under Soviet rule, the Kremlin Palace of Congresses was built on the territory of the Kremlin, stars were installed on the towers, they were placed on pedestals, and the walls and structures of the Kremlin were repeatedly restored.
Introduction........................................................ ........................................... 3
Kremlin................................................. .............................................. 4
Walls and towers of the Kremlin.................................................... ........................... 5
Vodovzvodnaya tower (Sviblova)................................................... .................... 6
Borovitskaya Tower (Predtechenskaya).................................................. ................ 7
Commandant's Tower (Kolymazhnaya)................................................... ............... 7
Weapon Tower (Konyushennaya)................................................... .................... 7
Trinity Tower................................................... ..................................... 8
Kutafya Tower (Predmostnaya).................................................. ....................... 8
Nikolskaya Tower................................................... .................................. 8
Middle Arsenal Tower (Faceted)................................................. ............ 9
Corner Arsenal Tower (Sobakina)................................................. ............ 9
Senate Tower................................................... ................................... 10
Spasskaya Tower (Frolovskaya).................................................. ...................... 10
Tsar's Tower................................................... ..................................... 12
Alarm tower................................................... .................................... 12
Konstantino-Eleninskaya Tower (Timofeevskaya)................................................... . 12
Beklemishevskaya Tower (Moskvoretskaya).................................................. ......... 13
Petrovskaya Tower (Ugreshskaya).................................................. .................... 13
First Nameless Tower.................................................... ........................ 14
Second Nameless Tower.................................................... ......................... 14
Taynitskaya Tower................................................... .................................. 14
Annunciation Tower................................................... ........................... 15
Cathedral Square................................................ ............................. 15
Assumption Cathedral................................................... ................................ 15
Blagoveshchensky cathedral................................................ ....................... 16
Archangel Cathedral................................................... ........................... 17
Church of the Deposition of the Robe................................................... ....................... 17
Patriarchal Chambers and the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles..................................... 18
Bell tower of Ivan the Great and belfry.................................................... . 18
The Tsar Bell............................................... ................................... 19
Tsar Cannon............................................... ....................................... 19
State Kremlin Palace.................................................... .. 20
Amusing Palace................................................... .............................. 20
Teremnoy Palace................................................... ........................... 21
Residence of the President of the Russian Federation.................................... 21
Government building (former Senate building)..................................................... 21
The building of the former Arsenal................................................... .................... 21
State Armory Chamber................................................... ..... 22
Faceted Chamber................................................ ............................... 24
Grand Kremlin Palace.................................................... ............... 24
Red Square................................................ ........................... 25
Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin................................................... ........................... 26
Conclusion................................................. ........................................... 27
Literature................................................. ........................................... 28
List of illustrations................................................... ........................... 29
Introduction
At the present stage of development of society, it is very important not to lose touch with our roots, with everything that was created by our ancestors. Moreover, this applies not only to history as such, but also to the entire cultural heritage in general. As you know, architecture is an integral part of the culture of the Russian people. The Kremlin, the heart of Russia, is a silent witness to many of the most important events in world history. In addition to purely historical value, the Kremlin ensemble is an excellent example of the art of its time. The aesthetics of the modern Kremlin invites long-term contemplation of all the endless beauties of this magnificent monument, which essentially includes a number of objects, each of which deserves extremely careful study.
Although many people have touched on the topic of my essay before me, I am considering this problem in order to summarize and systematize scattered information and sources. The abstract is written in simple, accessible language, especially for a wide range of people interested in this issue; can be successfully used as additional material for independent study as a guide in preparation for classes in a number of humanities disciplines. Stocked rich illustrative material.
In my opinion, modern youth pays too little attention to their cultural development, so now it is especially important to concentrate on instilling in schoolchildren a sense of responsibility and patriotism through the prism of the richest Russian culture accumulated over many centuries of Russian history. Through my work, I also want to make a feasible contribution to the development of the local history movement. First, a little background...
Kremlin
The history of the Kremlin is closely connected with the history of Moscow, and not only Moscow, but also the Russian state as a whole. According to the oldest chronicle of Rus' - the Ipatiev Chronicle (XV century) - in 1147, the Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky invited the Seversky prince Svyatoslav Olgovich to a council in the small town of Moscow Novgorod. “Come to me, brother, in Moscow,” Yuri addressed Svyatoslav. This was the first chronicle mention of Moscow. However, this does not mean that 1147 should be considered the year of the founding of Moscow. The works of Soviet scientists prove that the place where Moscow is located was inhabited approximately 5 thousand years ago.
How the meeting of the two princes went, the chronicles were not brought to us. Although it can be assumed that a military alliance was concluded, as a result of which Yuri Dolgoruky, in order to protect the western borders of the Suzdal principality, built fortress cities: Yuryev-Polsky (1152), Dmitrov (1154) and Moscow (1156). In this case, we are not talking about the founding of Moscow, but about the construction of fortifications - wooden walls, which marked the beginning of the construction of the Kremlin.
True, the citadel built by Dolgoruky was not the first fortification structure on the territory of the modern Kremlin. Archaeologists have proven that at the beginning of the 12th century. there was a small fortress here, possibly the castle of a local feudal lord.
So, in 1156, a fortress was built on Borovitsky Hill with an eight-meter rampart and a powerful wooden wall at that time, reaching 3 m in height and 1200 m in length. The fortification existed in approximately this form until the winter of 1237–38, when the hordes of Khan Batu plundered and burned Moscow, and with it the Kremlin.
Over the next two and a half centuries, many trials befell Moscow and its citadel. Princely feuds, foreign invasions, countless fires seemed destined to destroy the city. But Moscow survived, moreover, it became the center that united the Russian people in the struggle for independence.
The Kremlin is growing and strengthening along with the city. In 1339–1340 under Ivan Kalita, powerful defensive fortifications were erected, and behind them were the mansions of the Grand Duke, metropolitan chambers, and white-stone cathedrals. Moscow becomes the political and spiritual center of Rus', and the Kremlin becomes the residence of the grand dukes and metropolitans.
In 1367–1368 Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (later named Dmitry Donskoy), fearing another Mongol-Tatar invasion, surrounded the fortress with white stone walls and towers, located approximately 60 m from the previous oak fortifications. The Kremlin area reaches almost modern sizes.
The Battle of Kulikovo (1380) was a turning point in the history of the Moscow Principality. She contributed to the liberation of Rus' from the Mongol-Tatar yoke and the formation of a centralized Russian state. In the second half of the 11th century. The Grand Duke of All Rus' Ivan III Vasilyevich is launching a grandiose construction project in the capital of the young and rapidly growing power. First of all, of course, the Kremlin is being rebuilt. The largest Western European architects, invited to Moscow, are developing projects for the reconstruction of the princely and metropolitan residence. In 1485–1495 the existing and to this day jagged brick walls with a length of more than 2 km and a height of 5 to 19 m are being erected, 18 large and small towers are being built at the same time, the Assumption Cathedral (1475–1479), the Annunciation Cathedral (1484–1489), the Stone Sovereign Palace with the Faceted Chamber ( 1487–1491), the foundation of the princely tomb is laid - the Archangel Cathedral (1505).
By the end of the 15th – beginning of the 16th centuries. The Moscow Kremlin becomes the most significant fortification in Europe. Moreover, its towers, cathedrals, and civil buildings are perfect not only in their architecture, but also in their interiors and decoration. In the 17th century The Kremlin towers, except Nikolskaya, are decorated with multi-tiered tents made in the traditions of ancient Russian architecture. Bright green tiles, white stone edges, gilded weather vanes - everything created the impression of festivity and elegance. Civil and religious buildings were also erected: Terem Palace (1635–1635), Amusement Palace (1651–1652), Patriarchal Chambers with the Church of the Twelve Apostles (1642–1656).
The transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1712 greatly affected the appearance of the former royal residence. Its walls and towers, palaces and towers fell into disrepair without proper care. Time was diligently helped by fires that destroyed many unique structures, and by people who thoughtlessly rebuilt ancient buildings and recorded the works of the old masters in brighter colors. However, in 1773, according to the design of V. Bazhenov, the Kremlin Palace was laid (however, due to lack of funds and for a number of other reasons, it was not built), in 1776–1787. M. Kazakov builds the Senate building in the Kremlin (the Council of Ministers of the USSR was located here), and in 1806–1812. I. Egotov - the building of the Armory Chamber, where it was located until 1851.
The French invasion of 1812 caused great damage to the Kremlin. By order of Napoleon, the Vodovzvodnaya and Petrovskaya towers and the belfry of the Ivan the Great bell tower were blown up. The Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya and Corner Arsenal towers were damaged. Restoration work was carried out in 1816–1819. under the leadership of architects O. Bove and F. Sokolov.
In the 30s–40s. XIX century The layout of the Kremlin territory is changing - old dilapidated buildings are being removed, and in their place, according to the design of K. Ton, the Grand Kremlin Palace (1838–1849) and the building of the Armory Chamber (1844–1851) are being erected.
In March 1918, Moscow became the capital of the Soviet state, and the Kremlin became the seat of government. After this, restoration work of historical and architectural monuments begins. The Nikolskaya Tower, which was damaged by artillery shelling during the October battles of 1917, is being restored, and the Kremlin territory is being cleared and improved. Subsequently, according to the design of the architect I. Rerberg in 1932–1934. The building of the School of Red Commanders named after. All-Russian Central Executive Committee (now the building of the Presidium of the Supreme Council). The halls of the Grand Kremlin Palace are being reconstructed.
Particular attention in the history of the Kremlin is paid to the stars that crowned its towers. In 1935, it was decided to remove the eagles from the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, and Trinity towers and install five-pointed stars with a hammer and sickle in their place. The stars were made from stainless steel and red copper according to the drawings of the decorative artist F. Fedorovsky in the workshops of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) and at Moscow factories.
The hammer and sickle signs were inlaid with rock crystal, amethysts, alexandrites, topazes and aquamarines. At night, the stars were illuminated by special spotlights. However, these stars did not last long: under the influence of precipitation, winds and frosts, the gems of the hammers and sickles faded, and the size of the stars turned out to be somewhat overestimated and violated the structural harmony of the towers. Fedorovsky made new sketches of the stars. Now their parameters corresponded to the size of the towers. Scientists and engineers have developed a fundamentally new star design made of stainless steel and ruby glass, illuminated from the inside by continuous lighting devices, thanks to which the stars emit light day and night. On November 7, 1937, the Kremlin stars flashed again in the Moscow sky. True, now there were not four, but five - a star was added to the Vodovzvodnaya Tower.
In 1945–1947 the stars were removed from the towers and reconstructed: the glazing was replaced with a more advanced one, the edges were again gilded (this took 27 kg of gold), and the lighting system was improved. Each star weighs almost 1 ton, but they rotate quite easily when the wind direction changes.
Walls and towers of the Kremlin
The walls and towers of the Kremlin, which still stand today, were built under the Grand Duke of All Rus' Ivan III Vasilyevich in 1485–1495. They were erected by Italian architects Anton Fryazin (Antonio Gilardi), Marco Fryazin (Marco Ruffo), Pyotr Fryazin (Pietro Antonio Solari), Aleviz Fryazin the Old (Aloisio da Carcano). All these architects, oddly enough, are not brothers or even namesakes. It’s just that in Rus' at that time Italians were called “Fryags” or “Fryazins”.
According to their configuration, Kremlin towers are divided into round and quadrangular. This is not a whim of the architect, but a kind of fortification technique. Located on Borovitsky Hill, the Kremlin has an irregular triangle with an area of 27.5 hectares, washed from the south by the Moscow River, bounded by the Alexander Garden from the north-west, and Red Square from the east. At the corners of the triangle there were round towers - Corner Arsenalnaya, Vodovzvodnaya and Beklemishevskaya, which were the most durable and allowed all-round shelling. In the place where important strategic roads approached the Kremlin, powerful quadrangular towers with passage gates were erected - Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya, Tainitskaya, Konstantino-Eleninskaya. From the outside they were protected by archers. The remaining towers were located between the corner and passage towers and were of a purely defensive nature. Until the 17th century (when tents appeared) the towers ended with battlements, under which there were machicolations - hinged loopholes for close combat. They have survived to this day on almost all the towers.
The total length of the Kremlin walls is 2235 m, thickness from 3.5 to 6.5 m and height from 5 to 19 m. From tower to tower you can walk along a military passage 2–4 m wide, laid along the top of the wall. From the outside it is covered with 1045 two-horned teeth 2–2.5 m high and 65–70 cm thick, and from the inside there is a parapet wall. Once upon a time there was a gable wooden roof over the wall, which sheltered the archers in bad weather and protected the wall from rain, snow and wind. In the 18th century it burned down and was no longer restored as unnecessary.
In 1973, major repair and restoration work began in the Moscow Kremlin. Damaged sections of masonry on some towers were replaced. On the Senate, Borovitskaya, Vodovzvodnaya and Beklemishevskaya towers, the tiled covering of the tents was replaced with copper sheets made in the form of tiles.
The Moscow Kremlin has 20 towers. The “eldest” of them is Tainitskaya (1485), the youngest is Tsarskaya (1680).
Vodovzvodnaya Tower (Sviblova)
In 1488, not far from the confluence of the Neglinnaya River with the Moscow River, on a place that, in the words of Peter I, “nature strongly strengthened,” a second round tower was erected - Sviblova, which also received its name from the boyar Sviblova. The tower had a well and a secret exit to the river.
In 1633, a water-lifting machine was installed in the Sviblova Tower, which pumped water from a well located at the bottom of the tower into a lead-lined reservoir located at the top of the tower. From there, water flowed through lead pipes into the water supply tent, which stood in the Kremlin near the Old Money Court and the Upper Embankment Garden. Through pipes laid in the ground, water spread throughout the Kremlin. As contemporaries testified, this machine, manufactured under the leadership of the Englishman Christopher Golovey, cost several barrels of gold. Since then, this tower began to be called Vodovzvodnaya.
In 1672–1686, the tower was built with a tiered top with a hipped roof. Dampness from the well and nearby rivers gradually destroyed the masonry of the walls. Architect V.I. Bazhenov proposed to demolish it and build again, but did not receive permission to do so. In 1805–1806, according to the project of I.V. Egot's tower was dismantled to its foundation and rebuilt. In 1812, during the retreat of Napoleonic troops from the Kremlin, the tower was blown up by the enemy, and in 1817–1819 it was restored under the leadership of O.I. Beauvais. The design of the tower includes classical and pseudo-Gothic details: the massive lower cylinder is rusticated, finished with decorative machiculars and cut through by large windows. The top of the tower is crowned with a ruby star. It was installed in 1937 in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
The height of the Vodovzvodnaya Tower to the star is 57.7 meters, with the star -61.45 meters.
Borovitskaya Tower (Predtechenskaya)
In the 90s of the 15th century, work on the construction of the Kremlin fortress was headed by Pietro Antonino Solari. Written sources note that it was at this time that the Kremlin acquired a grand scale and majestic severity.
On the site of the oldest exit from the Kremlin, on its western side, the Borovitskaya Tower passage was founded in 1490. From its gates there were convenient exits to the Neglinnaya River. Basically, the Borovitskaya tower was used for the household needs of the Zhitny and Konyushenny courtyards, which were located nearby. Its passage gates were like the “back” gates of the Kremlin.
The name of the tower reminds us that once here, on the Kremlin hill, a dense forest rustled. Some researchers associate the name of the tower with the fact that during the time of Dmitry Donskoy, this section of the white-stone Kremlin was built by residents of Borovsk, a large shopping center of that time.
In the 15th century, the quadrangle of the tower was covered with a wooden tent; the tower was connected by a bridge to the other bank of the Neglinnaya River. In the 17th century, 1666–1680, the powerful quadrangle of the tower was built on with three tetrahedrons decreasing upward, which gave it a pyramidal shape. The top of the tower was crowned with an open octagon and a high stone tent.
Simultaneously with the superstructure of the stepped top of the Borovitskaya tower, a diversion archway was attached to its side, which still exists today. On the sides of the passage gates you can see holes in the shape of keyholes, through which in ancient times the chains of the drawbridge across the Neglinnaya River were passed. The vertical grooves for the grating – gers, which protected the entrance to the gate – have also been preserved. A similar step pyramid can be seen in Kazan - near the tower of Queen Syuyumbeki.
In 1658, by royal decree, the Borovitskaya Tower was renamed the Predtechenskaya Tower, after the name of the church that stood nearby, but the new name did not take root. In the 18th century, white stone psedagothic details were introduced into the decor of the tower.
In 1812, during the explosion of the neighboring Vodovzvodnaya Tower by retreating French troops, the Borovitskaya Tower was also damaged - the top of its tent fell. In 1816–1819, the tower was repaired under the leadership of O.I. Beauvais. In 1821, when the Neglinnaya River was enclosed in a pipe, the Borovitsky Bridge was broken. In 1848, the altar of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist near Bor was moved to the Borovitskaya Tower.
A ruby star, installed in 1937, burns on the tower. The height of the Borovitskaya tower to the star is 50.7 meters, with the star -54.05 meters.
Commandant's Tower (Kolymazhnaya)
This is a small, blank, austere tower. Its construction was completed by 1495. Previously, it was called Kolymazhnaya - from the Kolymazhny yard in the Kremlin, where the royal carts and carriages were kept. It received its current name in the 19th century: the commandant of Moscow lived next to it in the Poteshny Palace. Like all the Kremlin towers, it was built with a tent and a tower in 1676–1686. The height of the tower from the Alexander Garden side is 41.25 m.
Weapon Tower (Konyushennaya)
Between the Borovitskaya and Commandant towers, from the side of the current Alexander Garden, there is the Armory Tower, formerly called the Konyushennaya Tower. It was built in 1493–1495 next to the royal stable yard. The name “Armory” tower received in 1851, when the building of the Armory Chamber was built on the territory of the Kremlin.
The tower was built in 1676–1686. Its height is 32.65 meters.
Trinity Tower
The highest tower of the Kremlin, Troitskaya, was considered second in importance after Spasskaya. Built in 1495. The massive quadrangle of the tower has six tiers, at its base there is a two-tiered basement with thick walls. All tiers are connected to each other by stairs. Initially the tower was called Epiphany, then Znamenskaya, Kuretnaya. By decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1658, it began to be called Trinity after the nearby Trinity Monastery Metochion.
In 1516, a stone bridge was built from the strelnitsa across the Neglinnaya River, connecting the Trinity Tower with the guard bridge tower - Kutafya. The gates of the tower served as passage to the chambers of the queen and princesses, to the court of the patriarch, through which the clergy came out to meet the king returning from campaigns.
In 1685, the tower was built with a multi-tiered top, reminiscent in its outline of the top of the Spasskaya Tower. It is decorated with decorative turrets with weather vanes and pointed arches. In 1686, a clock - chimes - was installed on the tower. After the fire in Moscow in 1812, the damaged chimes were no longer restored. In the 19th century, the tower housed the archives of the Ministry of the Imperial Household.
In 1937, a ruby star was installed on the Trinity Tower.
The height of the tower to the star from the Kremlin side is 65.65 meters, with the star – 69.3 meters. From the side of the Alexander Garden, the height of the tower to the star is 76.35 meters, with the star - 80 meters.
Kutafya Tower (Predmostnaya)
The approaches to the Trinity Tower were protected by the Kutafya Tower, the only surviving Kremlin bridgehead. It was built in 1516 opposite the Trinity Tower, at the end of the Trinity Bridge, under the leadership of the Milanese architect Aleviz Fryazin. Low, surrounded by a moat and a river, with a single gate, which in moments of danger was tightly closed by the lifting part of the bridge, the tower was a formidable barrier for those besieging the fortress. It had plantar loopholes and machicolations.
In the 16th–17th centuries, the water level in the Neglinnaya River was raised high by dams, so that water surrounded the tower on all sides. Its original height above ground level was 18 meters. The only way to enter the tower from the city was via an inclined bridge.
According to historians, the name “Kutafya” comes from the word “kut” - shelter, corner. The Kutafya Tower has never had a covering. In 1685, she was crowned with an openwork crown with white stone details.
In 1668, a through passage from the city to the Trinity Bridge was built through the tower, and the ancient side gates of the Bali were blocked. A guardhouse was built on the south side.
In 1976–1977, the tower was restored, the guardhouse was dismantled, the side arched openings and the two-color painting of the walls were restored.
The height of the tower on the city side is 13.5 meters.
Nikolskaya Tower
On the northern side of the Kremlin, at the same time as the Spasskaya Tower, Pietro Antonino Solari built Nikolskaya in 1491. Its powerful quadrangle contained a passage gate and a diversion arch with a drawbridge.
The name of the tower is associated with the icon of St. Nicholas, which was installed above the passage gate of the diversion arch. According to the existing tradition, controversial issues were resolved with this icon. People who usually entered through the gates of the Nikolskaya Tower were heading to the boyar and monastery farmsteads located in the Kremlin. Other sources associate this name with the Nikolsky Greek monastery, which was once located on Nikolskaya Street.
In 1612, during the fight against the Polish gentry invaders, the people's militia led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin fought through these gates and liberated the Kremlin.
In ancient times, as documents show, there was also a clock on this tower. In 1780, the Nikolskaya Tower was built on and completed with a low tent. In 1806, architect I.L. Ruska erected an octagon with lacy white stone details in the Gothic style and a tent over the quadrangle of the tower. In 1812, during the invasion of French troops, part of the quadrangle and the tower's tent were destroyed. In 1816–1819, at the suggestion of F.K. Sokolov, the tent was made of iron on a frame, and four white stone turrets were placed at the corners of the tower.
In the days of October 1917, the Nikolskaya Tower was heavily damaged by artillery shelling, but already in 1918, on the instructions of V.I. Lenin, it was restored by the architect N. Markovnikov.
The slender tent of the tower is crowned with a ruby star. The height to the star is 67.1 meters, with the star – 70.4 meters.
Middle Arsenal Tower (Faceted)
Built in 1493–1495 on the site of the corner tower of the Kremlin from the time of Dmitry Donskoy. The ancient tower stood quite high on solid ground, which made it less susceptible to destruction than others. In the 15th–16th centuries, there were dams near the newly erected tower on the Neglinnaya River.
At the beginning of the 18th century, during the construction of the Arsenal building, the tower received its current name. The outer edge of the tower is divided by two flat vertical niches. The top of the quadrangular volume ends with machicolations and a parapet with flies. Inside, the tower has three tiers, covered with cylindrical vaults, which are connected by stairs.
In 1680 the tower was built on. It is crowned with a through observation tower with a tent.
In 1821, according to the design of O. I. Bove, a grotto was built at the foot of the tower - one of the attractions of the Alexander Garden.
The height of the tower is 38.9 meters.
Corner Arsenal Tower (Sobakina)
This is the third corner tower of the Kremlin. It was built in 1492 by the architect Pietro Antonio Solari. It is the most monumental of the defensive structures. The walls of the lower massif are divided into 16 sides, the base is greatly expanded, the thickness of the walls is 4 meters. In the deep basement of the tower, which is accessed by an internal staircase, there is a spring - a well with clean, clear water, which has survived to this day. The spring, enclosed in a pine frame, was unusually clean and abundant, and when in 1894 they decided to pump out this water, it, as Kremlin historian S.P. Bartenyev wrote, arrived “every five minutes by 2 and a half inches.” The influx of water, as engineers calculated, was about 10–15 liters per second.
But the water did not cause any harm to either the tower itself or the archives stored inside it. In ancient times, there was a secret passage from the Corner Arsenal Tower to the Neglinnaya River. In the 15th–16th centuries, the tower was strengthened with an additional wall that went around it in a semicircle.
The tower received its original name - Sobakina - from the nearby courtyard of boyar Sobakin, and after the construction of the Arsenal in the 18th century it began to be called the Corner Arsenalnaya. In 1672–1686, an octagonal tent was erected over it, which ends in an openwork octagon with a tent and a weather vane. In 1894, the interior of the tower was redesigned for the Moscow provincial archive.
In 1812, when the French retreating from Moscow were blowing up Kremlin monuments, the blast wave tore off the top tent with a tower from the Corner Arsenal Tower, its mass cracked. In 1816–1819 it was restored under the leadership of the architect O. Bove. The tower was restored during Soviet times, in 1946–1957.
Its height from the side of the Alexander Garden is 60.2 meters.
Senate Tower
The tower is located immediately behind the Spasskaya Tower, behind the Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin. The tower was built in 1491 by the architect Pietro Antonio Solari. The Senate Tower performed purely defensive functions - it protected the Kremlin from Red Square. For a long time she was nameless. The tower received its name after M. Kazakov built the Senate building on the territory of the Kremlin in 1787, the dome of which is clearly visible from Red Square. Inside the main volume of the tower there are three tiers of vaulted rooms. The blank, square tower in 1860 was built with a stone tent, which was topped with a gilded weather vane. In 1918, in honor of the first anniversary of the October Revolution, V.I. Lenin unveiled a memorial plaque on the tower (sculptor S. Konenkov). During the restoration of the tower in 1950, the plaque was removed and transferred to the Museum of the Revolution. The height of the tower is 34.3 m.
Spasskaya Tower (Frolovskaya)
To strengthen the north-eastern part of the Kremlin, which was not protected by natural barriers, at the end of the 15th century, two more towers with passage gates were erected - Frolovskaya and Nikolskaya. In 1491, on the spot where the main gate of the Kremlin was located in ancient times, the Frolov Tower was built.
Even in those days, the tower with the main gate of the Kremlin made an indelible impression with its slender proportions and the richness of the white stone decorations of the facades, consisting of turrets, carved pillars, columns, and figures of fantastic animals. At the corners of the quadrangle there were pyramids with gilded weather vanes.
Until the 17th century, the tower was decorated with white stone reliefs by V.D. Ermolina. The tower had double walls made of large bricks (dimensions 31x14x18 cm); between the walls there was a staircase connecting all five tiers. The gate of this tower was protected by a diversion archer with two side bastions. The tower was connected to the archer by a wooden bridge.
The main gate of the Kremlin, i.e. The passage gates of the Frolov Tower were especially revered by the people and were considered “saints”. It was forbidden to ride through them on horseback or to walk through them with your head covered. Through them the regiments marching in and out entered and exited. Kings and ambassadors were met at these gates.
Above the gates of the tower on the inside and outside of the white stone boards were carved inscriptions in Latin and Russian, telling the history of its construction: “John Vasilyevich, by the grace of God, Grand Duke of Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Tver... and others and The sovereign of all Russia, in the 30th year of his reign, ordered the construction of these towers, and Peter Anthony Solarrius, a Mediolian, did it in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1491.” These were the first memorial plaques of our capital.
Since 1625, the Kremlin towers began to be built on. First of all, the main tower of the Kremlin, Frolovskaya, was built on. The superstructure of the tower was in harmony with its ancient massif, with the entire appearance of the Kremlin, with St. Basil's Cathedral, which was erected in the middle of the 16th century in honor of the victory of Russian troops over the Kazan Khanate under Ivan the Terrible.
In the 50s of the 17th century, the coat of arms of the Russian Empire - a double-headed eagle - was erected on top of the tent of the main tower of the Kremlin. Later, similar coats of arms were installed on the highest towers - Nikolskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya.
In April 1658, a royal decree was issued to rename all Kremlin towers. The Frolovskaya Tower was renamed Spasskaya in honor of the icon of the Savior of Smolensk, placed above the passage gate of the tower from the side of Red Square, and in honor of the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, located above the gate from the Kremlin.
In the 17th century, a Stone Bridge was built across the moat that ran along the Kremlin wall, on which books began to be sold. Along with books of spiritual content, “scriptures” of secular content were sold here; you could also buy tales of miracles, stories from the “Great Mirror” or handwritten “The Tale of Woe and Misfortune”, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “Shemyakin’s Court”, etc. Here they also sold “printed sheets” - facial images of saints and royal persons. The book trade on the Kamenny (Spassky) Bridge continued until 1812.
The main clock of the state was placed in the tented top of the tower, built by the Russian master Bazhen Ogurtsov. According to archival documents, the first clock on this tower was installed much earlier, back in 1491, immediately after its construction.
It must be said that the history of the Moscow Kremlin tower clock goes back centuries. The first tower clock was installed in 1404 in the courtyard of Grand Duke Vasily, son of Dmitry Donskoy. In the Trinity Chronicle it is written that “this watchmaker will be called the watchmaker, at every hour he strikes the bell with a hammer, measuring and calculating the hours of the night and day...”. The watch was made by master Lazar Serbin. This clock was the second in Europe in terms of the time of its construction, and only decades later tower clocks appeared in Veliky Novgorod, and then in Pskov.
In 1625, under the leadership of Christopher Golovey, Russian blacksmiths and watchmakers Zhdan, and his son and grandson installed a clock on the Spasskaya Tower, and thirty bells for the clock were cast by foundry maker Kirill Samoilov. The design of Christopher Golovey's clock was significantly different from modern ones. The watch had a huge rotating dial, divided into 17 parts. The clock began striking at sunrise, and at sunset the clock was transferred to night time. At different times of the year, the duration of night and day time is different. On the days of the summer solstice, when the days are the longest, the clock struck 17 times, and at night - 7 times.
But such a countdown was very inconvenient. And at the beginning of the 18th century, Peter I issued a decree according to which the entire country switched to a single daily countdown for all of Russia. At the same time, a Dutch clock with music and a 12-hour dial was installed on the Spasskaya Tower. This huge clock, brought on 30 carts, was installed by blacksmith Nikifor Yakovlev “comrades”. But soon this clock stopped, and after the fire of 1737 it became unusable.
The clock that we see now on the Spasskaya Tower was installed by the Butenop brothers in 1851–1852. They occupy three floors of the tower - 7th, 8th, 9th - and consist of three units: the running mechanism, the quarter striking mechanism and the clock striking mechanism. The watch is powered by three weights weighing from 160 to 224 kilograms. Their precision is ensured by a pendulum weighing 32 kilograms. The striking mechanism consists of 10 quarter bells and a bell that strikes one hour. The bells were cast in the 17th–18th centuries by Russian and foreign craftsmen. The signature on one of the bells reads: “This bell for striking the quarters of the Spasskaya Tower was cast in 1769, Mayan 27th day. Weight 21 pounds. Lil master Semyon Mozhzhukhin." All bells are placed on the 10th tier of the tower in open bells under the tent.
The clock, which is usually called a chime, has four dials, the diameter of each is 6.12 meters, the height of the numbers is 72 centimeters, the length of the hour hand is 2.97 meters, the length of the minute hand is 3.28 meters. The total weight of the watch mechanism is about 25 tons.
During the October 1917 battles for Soviet power, the Spasskaya Tower was damaged by artillery shelling. The shell disabled the watch. After sightseeing in the Moscow Kremlin, V.I. Lenin gave instructions on the restoration of historical monuments. Then they began to repair the Spasskaya Tower and clock. The amount of work was considerable - it was necessary to make a new pendulum disk, restore the dial,
make a minute hand, restore broken gears, straighten bent shafts.
The clock on the Spasskaya Tower was fixed by the Kremlin mechanic N.V. Behrens, and his two sons, Vladimir and Vasily, helped him. And the artist and musician M. M. Cheremnykh scored revolutionary melodies on the chiming shaft.
In August 1918, the clock on the Spasskaya Tower played new melodies for the first time - the party anthem “Internationale” and the march “You have fallen as a sacrifice.”
During its existence, the chimes have been restored several times. The last, most serious restoration was carried out in 1974. Experts disassembled and checked the entire mechanism. designed and manufactured more than a thousand new parts, created new automatic software installations. Comprehensive work to update the main clock of Moscow was carried out in a short period of time. The warranty period for repairs is 30 years. This means that chimes will have to show time in the 21st century.
The Spasskaya Tower has 10 floors. Its height to the shining ruby star is 67.3 meters, with the star – 71 meters.
Tsar's Tower
Between the Spasskaya and Nabatnaya towers, right on the Kremlin wall, there is a small tower - the Tsarskaya. In ancient times, judging by the plans of Moscow, there was a tetrahedral wooden tower in this place. Tradition says that from this tower, Tsar Ivan the Terrible watched from the walls of the Kremlin the events taking place on Red Square.
In 1680, on the site of a tower on the Kremlin wall, this small, unusual stone beauty tower, reminiscent of a tower, was built. An elegant octagonal tent, topped with a gilded weather vane, rests on four jug-shaped pillars. It once housed the bells of the Kremlin fire service. The tower has survived to this day without any major changes. And its name, apparently, retained the echo of an ancient legend.
The height of the tower with a weather vane is 16.7 meters.
Alarm tower
The blank Alarm Tower was built in 1495 between two others - the Tsar's and Konstantino-Eleninskaya. Inside it is divided into two tiers. Its lower tier is a complex multi-chamber room connected to the running parts of the walls by stairs. In 1676–1686, a hipped tetrahedral roof was added.
This tower housed the bells of the Spassky Alarm, the Kremlin’s fire service. The alarm bell was cast by master Ivan Motorin, as the inscription reads: “On the 6th day of July 1714, this alarm bell was cast from the old alarm bell, which was broken from the Kremlin of the city to the Spassky Gate. It weighs 150 pounds.”
The events of the Plague Riot of 1771 are associated with the alarm bell, when the rebel Muscovites sounded the alarm, calling the people. The uprising was suppressed, and Catherine II ordered the tongue of the “troublemaker-bell” to be torn out. Without a tongue, the bell hung on the tower for more than 30 years. In 1803 it was removed and transferred to the Arsenal, and in 1821 it entered the Armory, where it is kept to this day.
The height of the Alarm Tower is 38 meters.
The need to build a new tower in the same place was determined by the fact that on this side of the Kremlin there were no natural barriers in case of an enemy attack; the place was open and vulnerable to defense. The new tower protected Veliky Posad, the entrances from the pier on the Moscow River from the nearby streets - Velikaya and Varvarskaya. It had a powerful diversion arch, a drawbridge and passage gates to the Kremlin.
The tower received its name in the 17th century from the Church of Constantine and Helena, which stood nearby in the Kremlin.
In 1680, a slender hipped roof was erected over the tower on an arched quadrangular base. At the same time, the tower gates were closed, and the outlet archway was turned into a dungeon. In 1707, by order of Peter I, loopholes were cleared out on the Konstantino-Eleninskaya Tower to install cannons. In the 18th – early 19th centuries, the bridge and diversion arrow were dismantled.
The height of the Konstantino-Eleninskaya Tower is 36.8 meters.
Beklemishevskaya Tower (Moskvoretskaya)
In 1487, the Italian architect Marco Fryazin built a high round tower, Beklemishevskaya, in the south-eastern corner of the Kremlin. It is located near the current Moskvoretsky Bridge and is clearly visible from Red Square. This tower, due to its location, was the first to take the blows of the approaching enemies. Inside it was a hiding place - a well. It received its name from the courtyard of boyar Beklemishev, which was located in the 15th century next to the tower on the side of the Kremlin.
In the 17th century, the tower was built with a beautiful high tent, thanks to which it acquired slender architectural forms, losing its fortress-like severity. At the beginning of the 18th century, in connection with the Russian-Swedish war, bastions were built around it, hewn out, and loopholes were expanded to install more powerful guns. During the restoration work carried out on the tower in 1949, the loopholes were restored to their original form.
In 1917, during the battles for the Kremlin, the top of the tower was hit by a shell, but it was soon restored. This is one of the few Kremlin towers that has not undergone major reconstruction.
The height of the Beklemishevskaya, or Moskvoretskaya, tower is 46.2 meters.
Petrovskaya Tower (Ugreshskaya)
From century to century, the military defense system of the Kremlin fortress was improved, its combat qualities increased, and in accordance with the development of artillery, the architecture of the fortress structures changed.
The advent of artillery was the greatest invention of the Middle Ages. Gunpowder revolutionized all military affairs. Cannons become the main means of destroying fortresses and almost completely replace throwing technology. At this time, natural barriers are not a big obstacle to the offensive. The fortresses are being stormed from all sides. As a result, their defenders strive for uniform placement of towers along the entire perimeter of the fortress walls.
The distance between the towers was determined by the range of the weapon. Where the wall was in greater danger, the towers became crowded.
So, on the southern side of the Kremlin, between the Tainitskaya and Beklemishevskaya towers, three more towers are grouped in a relatively small area. Initially they were all nameless. Later, one of them, standing next to Beklemishevskaya, received the name Petrovskaya - from the church of Metropolitan Peter, which was located in the courtyard of the Ugreshsky Monastery, located in the Kremlin, next to the tower. In 1676–1686 the tower was built on.
In 1771, in connection with the construction of the Kremlin Palace under the leadership of V.I. The Bazhenov Tower, the Church of Metropolitan Peter and the courtyard of the Ugreshsky Monastery were dismantled.
In 1783 the tower was restored. In 1812, it was destroyed by the explosion of a gunpowder charge planted in it by the French. In 1818, the tower was restored again, for the third time, under the leadership of architect O.I. Beauvais.
The Petrovskaya Tower, erected “for a better appearance and strength,” served the needs of the Kremlin gardeners.
The height of the tower is 27.15 meters.
First Nameless Tower
In the 1480s, next to the Taynitskaya Tower, the First Nameless Tower was built, distinguished by its spare architectural forms. She always performed purely defensive functions. The tower ends with a tetrahedral pyramidal tent. The architectural proportions of the tower indicate that it was built later than the Second Nameless Tower. In the 15th–16th centuries, gunpowder was stored in this tower. The tower has a difficult fate. In 1547, the tower collapsed due to a gunpowder explosion, and in the 17th century it was rebuilt. At the same time it was built with a tent tier. In 1770–1771, the tower was dismantled to make way for the construction of the Kremlin Palace according to the design of V.I. Bazhenov. When construction of the palace was stopped, the tower was built again in 1783 somewhat closer to the Tainitskaya Tower. In 1812, the tower was blown up by retreating French troops, but it was soon restored in its previous forms by the architect O.I. Bove. In this form it has survived to this day. The height of the tower is 34.15 m.
Second Nameless Tower
To the east of the 1st Nameless Tower is the 2nd Nameless Tower. In 1680, it was built with a tetrahedral tent topped with an observation tower. The tower is crowned with an octagonal tent with a weather vane.
In ancient times this tower had a gate. In 1771, in connection with the construction of the Kremlin Palace, it was demolished, and after construction ceased, it was rebuilt. Inside the quadrangle there are two tiers of vaulted rooms.
The height of the 2nd Nameless Tower is 30.2 meters.
Taynitskaya Tower
In 1485, when Ivan III began construction in the Kremlin, the Italian architect Anton Fryazin laid the foundation for the first tower of the new Moscow Kremlin, which was named Tainitskaya. The chronicler describes this event as follows: “... a strelnitsa was laid on the river in Moscow at the Sheshkov Gate, and a cache was built under it, and it was made by Anton Fryazin.” These passage gates were built on the site of the old Cheshkov Gate of the Kremlin from the time of Dmitry Donskoy.
As the chronicler correctly noted, during the construction of the tower, a well and a secret passage to the Moscow River were dug under it, supplying Muscovites with water in the event of a siege, hence its name. The Tainitskaya tower with a passage gate had a diversion archway connected to it by a stone bridge; inside the tower there was a huge room with powerful vaults. Judging by Godunov's plan of the Moscow Kremlin, drawn up in 1597, until the 17th century, at the top of the tower there was a hipped roof with a log superstructure, which housed a tent with a bell. The sentries on the tower watched Moskvorechye and in the event of a fire, they used special bell signals to let them know about it.
In 1670–1680, Russian craftsmen erected a stone top over the quadrangle of the tower - an open arched quadrangle, completed with a tetrahedral tent with an observation tower.
In 1770–1771, in connection with the construction of the Kremlin Palace according to the design of V.I. Bazhenov, the Taynitskaya tower was dismantled. In 1812, during the retreat of Napoleon's troops from the Kremlin, the tower was damaged by an explosion, but was soon rebuilt. In 1862, according to the design of one of the Campioni family of artists, the archery was also restored. In 1930–1933, the archer was dismantled again, at the same time the passage gates were blocked and the well was filled in.
The height of the Taynitskaya tower is 38.4 meters.
Annunciation Tower
The tower was built in 1487–1488. This is a low tetrahedral tower. At its base there are slabs of white limestone. They are preserved from the ancient white stone Kremlin of the 14th century. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, the tower was used as a prison. At the end of the 17th century, a stone tent with a decorative watchtower was built on the Annunciation Tower. The name of the tower comes from the miraculous icon of the Annunciation that was once placed here, and is also associated with the Church of the Annunciation, which was added to the tower at the beginning of the 18th century. At the same time, a bell tower was built in the watchtower, where seven bells were placed, and the weather vane was replaced with a cross. The tower served as a chapel for the church; ancient loopholes were hewn into large windows. In the 17th century, the Portomoyny Gate was built next to the tower for the passage of palace laundresses to the Portomoyny raft on the Moscow River to rinse their ports and linen. In 1813, the Portomoynye Gate was blocked, but traces of them are still preserved and are clearly visible from the inside of the Kremlin. In the depths of the tower there was a deep underground. Tower height – 30.7 m (with weather vane – 32.45 m).
Cathedral Square
Cathedral Square of the Kremlin is one of the oldest in Moscow. Its appearance dates back to the beginning of the 14th century. The Assumption, Annunciation and Archangel Cathedrals, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, the Faceted Chamber and other monuments of Russian architecture rise on the square. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the area was covered several times with slabs of strong sandstone. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was freed from the accumulated cultural layer, and in the 30s of our century it was paved. In 1955, the asphalt was removed and the original stone surface was restored.
Cathedral Square was the main square of the Kremlin. In the old days, ceremonial processions took place on it on the occasion of the crowning of kings and the coronation of emperors. They were usually accompanied by magnificent military escorts. Foreign ambassadors were met in front of the Red Porch of the Faceted Chamber. Funeral processions were also held here at the Archangel Cathedral - the tomb of the Moscow Grand Dukes and Tsars - and the Assumption Cathedral - the burial place of Moscow metropolitans and patriarchs. The uniquely beautiful architectural ensemble of Cathedral Square, picturesque and harmonious, was created by the labor and talent of Russian masters from Moscow, Vladimir, Pskov, and Italian architects. Built more than 500 years ago, this magnificent ensemble still excites today with the grandeur of its design.
Assumption Cathedral
The Assumption Cathedral stands on the site of the first stone cathedral in Moscow built by Ivan Kalita in 1326–1327. It, in turn, was preceded by the oldest Moscow churches - a wooden one from the 12th century and a stone one from the 13th century. The Assumption Cathedral was built by the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti, invited by Ivan III. The cathedral was built in 1475–1479 on the model of the Assumption Cathedral of the 12th century in the ancient Russian city of Vladimir. This emphasized the continuity of Moscow in relation to one of the ancient centers of the Russian land. For four centuries, the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin remained the main temple of Rus', where heirs to the throne were crowned, state acts were announced, metropolitans and patriarchs were elected at church councils, and other solemn ceremonies were performed. The cathedral served as the tomb of Moscow patriarchs and metropolitans. Their tombs line the walls. The main entrance to the temple is located from the cathedral square. The wide staircase ends with a portal of three semicircular arches. The entrance to the building is guarded, as it were, by the Archangel Michael and the Guardian Angel; figures of saints are inscribed in the arches above. Above them is an image of the Virgin and Child. These multicolor frescoes were painted by unknown Russian artists of the 17th century. Inside, the central part of the cathedral is separated from the altar by a five-tiered 17th-century iconostasis about 16 meters high, covered with chased gilded silver at the end of the 19th century. The iconostasis was made in 1652–1653 by painters from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. In 1682, the icons were damaged by fire and were updated by the royal isographers Kirill Ulanov, Georgy Zinoviev and Tikhon Filatyev. Over the centuries, icons created by Russian painters accumulated in the Assumption Cathedral. The most ancient icon of the cathedral is “St. George” (in front of the iconostasis). During the Patriotic War of 1812, the cathedral was devastated by Napoleonic troops. A chandelier that hangs in the center of the cathedral was forged from some of the silver that was then beaten off by the Russian Cossacks. The oldest monument of applied art in the cathedral is its southern doors (brought to Moscow from the Suzdal Cathedral, dating back to the beginning of the 15th century), on which 20 images on biblical themes are painted in gold over black varnish.
Blagoveshchensky cathedral
In the southwestern part of Cathedral Square there is an elegant nine-domed Annunciation Cathedral with golden domes. The cathedral was built in 1484–1489 by Pskov craftsmen as the house fortress of the Grand Duke of Moscow. Initially, the temple was small and crowned with three domes. In the 60s of the 16th century, four single-domed churches (chapels) were erected above the galleries of the cathedral and two false ones - thus, the cathedral turned into a nine-domed structure. In the 70s of the 16th century, a porch with a high white stone porch was built for Ivan the Terrible. The cathedral was connected to the palace by a special passage. During ceremonies held on Cathedral Square, the temple served as the grand exit from the palace for the prince (later the tsar) and his retinue. The cathedral was built in the traditions of early Moscow architecture. But since it was built by Pskovites, then, naturally, there are features of Pskov architecture: an octagon under the central drum, original belts on the heads and many other decorative elements. There are two entrances with high porches leading to the temple from the square. They enter the cathedral through the northern porch and find themselves in a gallery, the walls of which are painted with frescoes on biblical themes (“The Miracle of the Prophet Jonah,” “He Rejoices in You,” “The Trinity,” “The Tree of Jesus,” “The Exploits of Monastic Hermits” and others). In the piers, on the slopes of the vaults and on the pilasters, ancient philosophers and writers are depicted in full height: Aristotle, Thucydides, Plutarch, Homer, Virgil and others - at that time educated people in Rus' were familiar with their works. From the gallery, through a portal decorated with white stone carvings, you can enter the central part of the temple. The greatest value of the cathedral is the iconostasis. The icons in the iconostasis are arranged in five rows. The third row is called “festive” - its icons depict various Christian holidays. Seven icons on the left side of the row (except for the fourth, it was painted by an unknown Pskov master of the 16th century) - “Annunciation”, “Nativity of Christ”, “Candlemas”, “Baptism”, “Transfiguration”, “Resurrection of Lazarus” and “Entrance into Jerusalem” – belong to the brushes of Andrey Rublev. The remaining icons in this row of the iconostasis - “Last Vespers”, “Crucifixion”, “Entombment”, “Descent into Hell”, “Ascension”, “Descent of the Holy Spirit”, “Assumption” - were made by the artist Prokhor from Gorodets. The main row of the iconostasis is deesis (from the Greek word “deesis” - prayer). It is located below the festive one. The main theme of the series is the intercession of saints (they are depicted in full growth) for mere mortals before God. Most of the icons in this series (except for “Archangel Michael” and “Apostle Peter”) were painted by Theophan the Greek. Of considerable interest is the cathedral's murals, made in 1508 by an artel of artists headed by Theodosius, the son of the famous Dionysius. There are both traditional motifs and new ones characteristic of the 16th century. A large place in the painting is occupied by scenes on the theme of the Apocalypse (to the right and left of the iconostasis on the vaults under the choir and on the arches supporting the choir). In addition to biblical scenes, in the wall paintings one can see purely secular motifs - images of Byzantine emperors and Russian princes (pillars of the central part of the temple and pilasters). At the western wall, according to custom, choirs were built for the queen and the royal children. The floor of the cathedral looks very unusual. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, the floor was paved with tiles made of precious agate-like jasper. Above the exit from the cathedral, a wall painting depicting the Savior Not Made by Hands, made by the famous 17th-century Russian painter Simon Ushakov, attracts attention.
Archangel Cathedral
The Archangel Cathedral was built in 1505–1509 by the architect Aleviz Novy, invited from Italy, in the traditions of Russian architecture, but its rich decoration bears the features of the Italian Renaissance. Construction began under Ivan III and was completed under his son, Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich. Before this, there was an ancient Archangel Cathedral here, built by Ivan Kalita in 1333 in memory of the deliverance of Moscow from severe famine. At the beginning of the 16th century, due to its cramped space, it was dismantled to make way for the construction of a larger temple. The walls of the cathedral end with zakomapas. The rooms are decorated with white stone sinks, and the facades are decorated with pilasters with capitals, cornices and a high white stone plinth. From the outside, the walls of the cathedral are divided into two tiers by a horizontal belt, which gives it the appearance of a two-story civil building. The cathedral is crowned with five domes. The central dome was gilded, the sides were painted with silver paint. On the eastern side of the cathedral, at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, two single-domed churches were added - St. Wan and John the Baptist. In the north and west, the cathedral is decorated with carved white stone portals in the style of the Italian Renaissance. On the southern, western and northern sides there were covered galleries, broken in the 18th century (only the gallery on the southern side was preserved). At the end of the 18th century, on the northern side, the architect M.F. Kazakov added a portal in the Gothic style, which was dismantled in 1920. A stone tent adjoins the cathedral on the southwestern side. It was erected in 1826 on the site of the former “court hut of the Arkhangelsk estates,” in which the trial of quitrent peasants who did not pay taxes was held. The cellars of this hut have survived to this day. During Napoleon's invasion of Moscow, the French built a wine warehouse in the Archangel Cathedral, and used the altar as a kitchen. All the valuables of the cathedral were stolen. After the defeat of Napoleonic troops, the cathedral was restored to its original form. In addition to daylight, the cathedral is illuminated by nine gilded pendants made in the 17th century. Since the time of Ivan Kalita, the Archangel Cathedral has been the tomb of the great Moscow princes and tsars. The oldest tomb of Ivan Kalita, who died in 1342, is located near the southern wall of the cathedral. Burials in the cathedral continued until Peter I. An exception is the burial of Emperor Peter II, who died in Moscow from smallpox in 1730. In total, there are 54 burials or 46 tombs in the cathedral (there are tombs with two and three burials). The tombs are gravestones made of white stone. They are carved with inscriptions in Slavic script about the time and name of the buried prince or tsar. Dmitry Donskoy and Ivan III (tombs near the southern wall), Ivan the Terrible and his sons (tombs in the southern altar) and other figures of Russian history are buried in the cathedral. At the right south-eastern pillar there is a shrine to the son of Ivan the Terrible - Tsarevich Dmitry, whose remains were transferred to the cathedral by Tsar Vasily Shuisky in 1606 from Uglich. A carved white stone gilded autumn was made above the tomb. In 1955, it was restored as a monument of history and applied art of the early 17th century and returned to its original appearance.
Church of the Deposition of the Robe
The small one-domed Church of the Deposition of the Robe was built by Pskov craftsmen in 1484–1486. This church is located on the site of the ancient Church of the Deposition of the Robe, erected in 1451 by Metropolitan Jonah in memory of the deliverance of Moscow from the invasion of the Tatar hordes of Mazowsza. On the night of July 2, 1451, the Tatars approached Moscow, but suddenly retreated, abandoning all the stolen goods. This event was caused by the political struggle in the enemy’s camp, but the church gave it a purely religious significance, since it coincided with the church holiday of the “Position of the Robe.” The church was named in memory of this. In 1473, it burned down along with the metropolitan's courtyard. In the vacant space, a new brick church was erected on a basement, surrounded on three sides by an open porch-promenade. It retained its old name. In the 17th century, the church was rebuilt and a hipped roof was made. The porch on the western side was covered with vaults. Along the resulting covered gallery, which still exists, the female half of the royal family moved from Terem to the Assumption Cathedral. In a fire in 1737, the church burned down and was restored by the architect I.F. Michurin. A new chapter in the form of a vase was built and the altar areas were hewn out. In the 19th century, a covered staircase was added to the church on the south side. It led to the western facade, on which the icon “Pechersk Mother of God” was painted. Therefore, the church was sometimes called Pechersk.
Patriarchal Chambers and the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles
To the north of the Assumption Cathedral and the bell tower of Ivan the Great are the Patriarchal Chambers and the small five-domed Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles, built in 1635–1656 by Russian masters Antip Konstantinov and Bazhen Ogurtsov by order of Patriarch Nikon. The Cathedral of the “Twelve Apostles” was built on the site of the old temple of the “Solovetsky Wonderworkers” and part of the courtyard of Boris Godunov and was called the Church of the Apostle Philip. The roofs and crosses of the temple were covered with copper sheets and gilded. In 1680, the cathedral was rebuilt and given its modern name. The former Patriarchal Court consisted of a whole series of chambers, rooms, passages and stairs built into the thickness of the walls. Many of these structures have retained their ancient appearance and have survived to this day. In terms of luxury and size, the Patriarchal Palace was not inferior to the Tsar's Teremny Palace, and in some ways even surpassed it - Nikon here seemed to be proving the superiority of church power over the tsar's. However, the ambitious confessor was soon punished by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich for obstinacy and exiled. The son of Alexei Mikhailovich Peter I, striving for sole power, completely “abolished” the patriarchate and transferred the management of church affairs to the Synod, whose Moscow office was located in the former Patriarchal Palace.
Bell tower of Ivan the Great and belfry
In the center of the Kremlin, on Cathedral Square, stands one of the most remarkable buildings of the 16th century - the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. It unites all the ancient churches of the Moscow Kremlin into a majestic architectural ensemble. The bell tower is considered a miracle of architectural art of the 16th century. The history of the bell tower goes back centuries. Under Ivan Kalita in 1329, approximately on the site of the existing bell tower, a small stone church was built in honor of John Climacus. In 1505 this church was dismantled and in 1508 a new one was founded, the builder of which was the architect Bon Fryazin. In 1532–1543, the architect Petrok Maly added a rectangular belfry of the Novgorod-Pskov type with the Church of the Ascension to the north side of the bell tower. The belfry housed a thousand-pound bell called the Blagovestnik. To enter the temple, which was located on the third tier of the belfry, Moscow craftsmen built a high stone staircase in 1552. The Ivan the Great Bell Tower is a three-tiered pillar made of elongated, tapering octahedrons, placed one on top of the other. Each of the octahedrons has a terrace and an open gallery, in the arched spans of which bells are placed. The galleries of the tiers house bells, which are remarkable monuments of Russian foundry art of the 16th–19th centuries. There are 21 of them in total. All bells are decorated with ornaments, bas-reliefs and inscriptions that tell about the history of the bell, the date of casting, weight, and master. The largest bell, the Assumption Bell, weighs 70 tons. It was cast in the 19th century by masters Zavyalov and Rusinov. Another bell weighing 19 tons was cast by Andrei Chokhov in 1622. In the Filaret annex hangs a bell weighing 12.5 tons, cast in the 18th century by Ivan Motorin. The height of the bell tower is 81 meters. It was the main watchtower of the Kremlin, from the height of which Moscow and its surroundings within a radius of up to 30 kilometers were clearly visible. In 1624, on the northern side of the belfry, master Bazhen Ogurtsov erected the so-called Filaretov extension, which ended with white stone pyramids and a tiled tent. Its second and third floors were reserved for the patriarchal sacristy. In 1812, Napoleonic troops retreating from Moscow tried to blow up the bell tower. It survived, but the belfry and the Filaretov extension were destroyed. In 1819, they were restored by the architect D. Gilardi according to the type of the old ones, but with some elements of 19th century architecture.
The Tsar Bell
For more than 150 years, at the foot of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin, on a white stone pedestal, a unique monument of Russian artistic casting of the 18th century has been kept - the famous Tsar Bell. Back in the 16th–17th centuries in Moscow, at the Cannon Yard, large bells were cast, which have not survived to this day. Sometimes they broke over time, from too strong blows, but most often they were damaged during fires. This happened with the Great Assumption Bell, made by master Alexander Grigoriev, whose weight, apparently, reached 8 thousand pounds. During a severe fire in Moscow in 1701, it fell and broke into many pieces. Later it was decided to pour it into a new bell, increasing the amount of metal to 10 thousand pounds. According to the decree of Empress Anna Ivanovna of 1730, the casting of the bell was entrusted to the Moscow Office of Artillery and Fortification. The work of designing and casting the bell was entrusted to the Moscow master Ivan Fedorovich Motorin, a hereditary foundry worker. To install the mold of the future giant, a ten-meter-deep casting pit was built. Work began on the manufacture of the bell mold and casing, which lasted from January 1733 to November 1734. Pedestal masters Vasily Kobelev, Pyotr Galkin, Pyotr Kokhtev, Pyotr Serebrennikov, molder Pyotr Lukovnikov and sculptor Fyodor Medvedev worked on the production of decorative decorations and inscriptions. The first attempt to cast a bell ended in failure. Foundry furnaces failed, and a fire broke out in the Kremlin, damaging wooden structures. Restoration work continued until November 1735. At this time, Ivan Motorin dies. Now all the work on preparing and casting the bell was headed by his son, Mikhail Motorin. Finally, on November 25, 1735, the Tsar Bell was cast. The entire casting process took only 1 hour and 12 minutes. The dimensions of the Tsar Bell are very impressive: its weight is more than 200 tons, its height is 6 m 14 cm, its diameter is 6 meters 60 centimeters. Recent studies carried out during the restoration work (1979–1980) showed that the Tsar Bell was made of typical bell tin bronze containing impurities and metals (gold and silver). During a fire in May 1737, due to uneven cooling, the bell cracked several times, and a piece weighing 11.5 tons fell off. The Tsar Bell lay in a foundry pit for more than 100 years. It was lifted and installed on a pedestal in 1836 by the architect and engineer August Montferrand.
Tsar Cannon
The Tsar Cannon, cast by Andrei Chokhov, is an ancient, largest weapon in the world. It was created in 1586 in Moscow, at the Cannon Yard, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible’s son Fyodor Ivanovich. The appearance of such a unique work was a natural result of the development of the oldest branch of Russian craft - foundry, which has been known in Rus' since the 10th century. The length of this huge weapon is 5 m 34 cm. The outer diameter of the barrel is 120 cm, the diameter of the patterned belt at the muzzle is 134 cm, the caliber is 890 mm. The barrel of the Tsar Cannon, cast from high-quality bronze, has a conical shape. The entire surface of the barrel is decorated with cast figured friezes, ornamental belts, and inscriptions. The muzzle and breech edges of the barrel have high belts protruding above the surface with figured five-petal rosettes. The central part of the trunk is divided by convex ornamental and flat relief friezes. On the sides of the barrel there are eight cast brackets designed to strengthen the ropes when moving the gun. Above the front right bracket is the inscription “By the grace of God, Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, sovereign and autocrat of all great Russia.” Here is a cast image of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, crowned, sitting on a horse with a scepter in his hand. On the upper part of the barrel two inscriptions are cast: on the right - “By the command of the pious and Christ-loving Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, the sovereign autocrat of all great Russia under his pious and Christ-loving queen Grand Duchess Irina”, on the left side - “This cannon was drained in the most famous city of Moscow summer 7094, in the third year of his state. The cannon was made by a cannon littsian, Ondrei Chokhov.” On the breech of the gun, in front of the last, rear wide belt, there is a seed hole in the barrel. And then, on the trunk itself, it is cut down: “2400 poods.” This is the weight of the Tsar Cannon, which is 39,312 kilograms. During its four-hundred-year existence, the Tsar Cannon changed its place more than once. In the 18th century, it was moved to the Moscow Kremlin and was first located in the courtyard of the Arsenal building, and then at its main gate. The Tsar Cannon, placed on a carriage, was installed opposite the Arsenal. Four cast-iron decorative cores, each weighing 1000 kilograms, were placed at its foot. In 1960, in connection with the construction of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, the Tsar Cannon was solemnly moved to Ivanovo Square to the Church of the Twelve Apostles, where it remains to this day.
State Kremlin Palace
In 1960–1961, a new palace was built on the territory of the ancient Kremlin to host congresses and conferences, congresses, public meetings, theatrical performances, and concerts. Its construction was carried out in record time. A new, modern public building, universal in its purpose, was erected in less than two years. For the first time, the State Kremlin Palace opened its doors on October 17, 1961. The State Kremlin Palace combines the features of modern architecture with the traditions of Russian architecture. Tactfully integrated into the ancient Kremlin complex, it does not stand out in height from the bulk of the surrounding buildings. The palace is sunk into the ground to the height of a five-story building, where part of the service premises is located. In total, the State Kremlin Palace has over 800 rooms. Upon entering the Palace, the visitor finds himself in a spacious foyer with a wardrobe. The color scheme of the foyer interior is created by white polished Ural marble of columns, stairs, and light tones of the floor. Stairs and escalators lead to the auditorium. The Palace's auditorium seats 6 thousand people. The hall is illuminated by 4,500 electric lamps and colored fluorescent lamps located in the suspended ceiling. The stage is one of the largest theater stages in the world. It is equipped with a perfect lifting and lowering device. A banquet hall is located above the auditorium.
Amusing Palace
Near the Kremlin wall between the Komendatskaya and Troitskaya towers there is an interesting civil building from the mid-17th century - the so-called Amusement Palace. It was built in 1652 for the boyar N.D. Miloslavsky, the father-in-law of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The Russian autocrat did not spare money for the father of his beloved wife. And three-story stone mansions with outbuildings, deep cellars where wine and food were stored, with an elegant church and an indoor garden grew up near the Kremlin wall. A talented architect, who remained unknown, managed to place all the buildings of the boyar’s estate on a relatively small area. Boyar Miloslavsky lived in the chambers for 16 years. After his death they went to the treasury, and from 1679 they were converted into a theater. Various kinds of “fun” were held here - entertainment for the royal family. And the former Miloslavsky mansion received the corresponding name - Amusement Palace. In the 19th century, new buildings were added to it: on the side of the Kremlin wall there was a balcony on pot-shaped pillars, on the street there was a magnificent carved white stone portal with half-columns. It was moved here from the dismantled porch of the palace facade. All this significantly changed the appearance of the Amusement Palace. However, its main part has survived to this day. The upper tier of the palace forms a tower, or tower, with Byzantine arches. In the old days, a house church was located here. A turret on four pillars has been preserved above the refectory of the church, which at one time was used as a bell tower and a watchtower. In the 19th century, the commandant of Moscow lived in the Amusement Palace. The Amusing Palace is the only architectural monument of boyar housing preserved in the Kremlin.
Terem Palace
The Terem Palace was built on the site of the ancient palaces of Vasily III and Ivan IV in 1635–1636 by Russian architects Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov, Trefil Sharutin and Larion Ushakov. They built on the surviving parts of the 16th century palace with three new floors. The tiered composition of the towers, the framing of the facades with white stone carved window frames, tiles of portals, cornices, and parapets reflected the traditions of wooden Russian architecture. The residential royal chambers were located in the Terem Palace in the 17th century. The Terem Palace includes a group of churches. In 1680–1681, they were united by a common cornice and a single copper roof, topped with 11 elegant domes on thin drums, covered with multi-colored tiles made by master Osip Startsev based on the drawings of the famous 17th-century carver Elder Ippolit. The copper roof of the cathedral has been preserved since the 18th century.
Residence of the President of the Russian Federation
Not far from the Spassky Gate is the Residence of the President of the Russian Federation, the former building of the Presidium of the Supreme Council. This is the first Soviet-era building in the Kremlin. It was built in 1932–1934 according to the design of the architect I.I. Rerberg. The proportions, neoclassical style of the facade, and color scheme of the building were influenced by the nearby building erected by the architect M.I. Kazakov. Initially, this building housed the Military School named after the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In 1938, the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR moved here. In 1958, the interior of the building was rebuilt by the architect A.D. Khryakov into the Kremlin Theater, the auditorium of which was designed for 1,200 seats. In 1969–1970, a group of architects under the leadership of M.V. Posokhin again carried out a significant reconstruction of this building.
Government building (former Senate building)
This building was built in 1776–1788 by architect M.F. Kazakov in the style of Moscow classics. Previously, in its place there were monastery farmsteads and courtyards of the Trubetskoy princes. After the Arsenal, it was the second largest building in the Kremlin at the end of the 18th century. The former Senate building has the shape of a triangle with cut corners and three courtyards, which was determined by the size and shape of the land plot allocated for construction. Despite such an inconvenient site, M.F. Kazakov masterfully solved the task assigned to him and created an exceptionally beautiful building for the Moscow branch of the Senate. In the center of the main facade, facing the Arsenal, there is a passage to the courtyard, made in the form of a triumphal arch with a four-column portico and pediment. In the center of the building, a huge dome rises above a majestic round hall. Previously, this hall was called White or Catherine's and was intended for noble meetings. This is one of the best round halls in Moscow both in terms of the richness of the architectural decoration and the boldness of the constructive solution. Its diameter is 24 meters, height is 29 meters. Inside, the hall is decorated with 18 columns, stucco moldings, and bas-reliefs depicting the great Russian princes and tsars. These are copies of marble bas-reliefs made by sculptor F.I. Shubin and now located in the Armory Chamber.
Former Arsenal building
This austere and expressive building with a vast courtyard, which goes well with the Kremlin fortress walls, is located between the Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers. The architecture of the Arsenal is distinguished by its monumentality and simplicity. The arsenal was founded by order of Peter I on the site of the former Zhitny Dvors, which burned down in the great Moscow fire of 1701. The building was intended to be a warehouse for all kinds of military weapons and equipment, and, in addition, was to become a museum. For this purpose, a special decree was issued on the collection of copper and iron cannons and all kinds of military signs taken in battles with foreign invaders. These trophies were ordered to be delivered to Moscow and “placed in the newly built Zeichaus for memory and eternal glory.” Architect D. Ivanov, H. Konrad with the participation of I. Cheglokov built it intermittently from 1701 to 1736. Construction began in 1702 and was suspended in 1706 due to the war with Sweden. Construction resumed only in 1722 and continued until 1736. During the great Moscow fire of 1737, the Arsenal was partially burned down; it was restored in 1754 by the architect D. Ukhtomsky. This two-story building, divided by a cornice and decorated with a carved white stone frieze, has a height of over 30 meters. Rarely spaced paired windows with large slopes emphasize the harsh power of the walls. The arsenal is a wonderful example of architecture from Peter's time. Poleon's troops retreating from Moscow in 1812 blew up part of this grandiose building between the Nikolskaya and Corner Arsenal towers. In 1816–1828 it was restored by the architect O.I. Bove. In the times of Peter the Great, the museum was never created in the Arsenal. In the middle of the 19th century, it was planned to organize a museum of the War of 1812 in the Arsenal. Therefore, the walls of the building were decorated with stucco military attributes, and 875 captured cannons, captured by Russian troops from Napoleon’s army, were displayed along the southeastern façade of the Arsenal. Among these guns: French - 365, Austrian - 189, Prussian - 123, Neapolitan - 40, Bavarian - 34, Italian -70, Dutch -22. True, this time the museum was not organized either. But the guns at the Arsenal building remained. In 1960, along the southern wall, cannons cast by Russian craftsmen of the 16th–17th centuries Andrei Chokhov (“Troilus”), Martyan Osipov (“Tamayun”), Yakov Dubin (“Wolf”) and others were placed. Almost all guns have marks indicating the date of casting, the name of the craftsman and the weight. During the latest restoration work carried out in the Kremlin, these guns were also restored. Now the magnificent mastery of the artistic execution of the guns and carriages is especially visible.
State Armory Chamber
Almost five centuries have passed since the first mention of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin that has survived to this day was recorded in ancient acts. This happened in the past since the first mention of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin that has survived to this day was recorded in ancient acts. This happened in 1508. But long before this date, in 1339, the spiritual letter of the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita spoke about the values that laid the foundation for the creation of the grand ducal treasury. Mention was made of jewelry, dishes made of precious metals, church vessels, clothing made of magnificent fabrics, and expensive weapons. A century later, the grand ducal treasury already included numerous valuables stored in the basements of the Kremlin palaces and cathedrals.
By the end of the 15th century, Moscow became a kind of center of artistic crafts. There are many skilled Russian and foreign craftsmen working at the Moscow court who have created many excellent monuments. Many of them became part of the Armory Chamber. The political successes of the Moscow princes allowed them to establish diplomatic relations with the major powers of the East and West. Numerous foreign embassies delivered luxurious gifts to Moscow: silver cups, precious fabrics, pearls, military equipment, ceremonial horse harness. During the reign of Ivan III, the grand ducal treasury grew so much that in 1485, a two-story stone building with a high hipped roof and deep basements was specially erected to store it in the Kremlin, between the Archangel and Annunciation Cathedrals. It was called the “state yard”. The treasures of Moscow rulers were kept here for almost three hundred years. A significant part of the treasures of the State House consisted of products made on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, in art workshops, or “chambers”. The current museum owes its name to the leading Kremlin workshop, the Armory, which has long produced bladed weapons and firearms, as well as military armor of all types. Many first-class examples have survived to this day, doing credit to Russian weapons craftsmanship. The Konushennaya Treasury was also located on the territory of the Kremlin, the products of which - saddles, blankets - were given an important place in the design of all court ceremonies: royal trips, hunting, ambassadorial meetings. In the Tsaritsyn and Sovereign Chambers, also located in the Moscow Kremlin, luxurious clothes were sewn from imported fabrics, laying out patterns of remarkable beauty and richness on their surfaces with pearls and gems. The craftsmen of the Golden and Silver Chambers made precious dishes and a huge amount of gold jewelry in the Kremlin. Irreparable damage to the Kremlin treasury was caused during the reign of the impostor - False Dmitry (1605–1607). After his deposition and murder, the plundered treasury continued to rapidly decrease. Due to a lack of money in the state, Vasily Shuisky, who ascended the throne, was forced to order that precious items belonging to the treasury be converted into coins. During the stay of the Polish interventionists in Moscow (1610–1612), the Kremlin treasury was almost completely emptied. However, soon after the liberation of Moscow, the activities of the Kremlin workshops were resumed, and already in the second half of the 17th century they were experiencing their heyday. At this time, during the period of rapid economic and political growth of the state, many highly artistic works were created that became the pride of Russian art. At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, the activity of art workshops in the Moscow Kremlin gradually declined. By order of Peter I, the best Moscow masters were recalled to the new capital - St. Petersburg. And yet, Peter sought not only to preserve, but also to increase the treasures accumulated over the centuries. In December 1709, shortly after the victory at Poltava, Peter ordered all weapons, banners and other trophies captured in the battle to be transferred to the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1718, he also ordered the chamber premises to be renovated and oak cabinets made in order to “...arrange all things in those cabinets clearly under glass.” Peter’s concern for the Kremlin relics was not limited to this: in 1720, he ordered Prince Odoevsky to check all the Kremlin’s repositories. And having examined and described everything, ensure their protection. Seven years later, in 1727, a new order was received from St. Petersburg to Moscow: all ancient repositories should be combined into one under the name of the “Workshop and Armory Chamber” and transferred to the jurisdiction of the Senate. However, a lot of time passed before the Armory became a real museum. In 1844, St. Petersburg architect K.A. Ton begins construction of a new building at the Borovitsky Gate of the Kremlin, completing it by 1851. The spacious halls of the second floor of this building house the relics of the Armory Chamber. The exhibition presents weapons, military armor and attributes of the 13th–18th centuries: bows, quivers, arrows, armor, chain mail, sabers, swords, maces, spears, battle axes. Two halls contain wonderful works by Russian gold and silversmiths of the 12th–19th centuries. The only collection of fabrics and clothing from the 14th to 19th centuries in the world in terms of its completeness and uniqueness of exhibits contains the best examples of artistic weaving, embroidery with gold, silver and pearls of Byzantine, Iranian, Turkish, Italian, Spanish, French and Russian production. Among the gifts to the Russian tsars from foreign countries of the West and East, exhibited in the museum, are works of Polish, German, English, Dutch, French jewelers of the 15th–19th centuries, oriental products made of crystal, jasper, and ivory. On display are court vestments from various eras, secular clothing of the 16th–17th centuries, ceremonial military armor, Russian pre-revolutionary orders and orders of foreign states, tapestries, and tapestries. The so-called stable treasury is on display - ceremonial horse equipment made by Russian and foreign masters, a unique collection of carriages, where each is a work of art. The Armory Chamber, one of the world's richest treasuries, continues to grow in our time: the collection is constantly replenished with rare items donated to the museum by various government agencies, as well as private individuals.
Faceted Chamber
The Faceted Chamber is one of the few surviving parts of the royal palace, built at the end of the 15th century by Ivan III, his ceremonial throne room. This is the oldest of the stone civil buildings in Moscow. It was built in 1487–1491 by Russian craftsmen under the direction of Italian architects Marco Ruffo and Pietro Antonio Solari. The chamber building with a clear silhouette of a simple rectangular volume is distinguished by the unusual decoration of the main facade. It is faced with tetrahedral white limestone (hence the name), starting from the basement floor and ending below the cornice. The Chamber itself is a huge square hall with cross vaults resting on a central pillar. The majestic and spacious hall, 9 meters high, is illuminated by 18 windows located on three sides, and in the evening by 4 round massive chandeliers. They were made in the 19th century from bronze according to the model of ancient Novgorod chandeliers. The floor area of the Chamber of Facets is 495 square meters. In the second half of the 16th century, the Chamber of Facets was decorated with murals on church and biblical themes. In 1668, the artist Simon Ushakov resumed the mural painting and made a detailed inventory of it. After the fire of 1682, the chamber was restored and beautifully decorated. The windows were hewn and decorated on the outside with white stone carved frames. The roof was covered with gilded sheets and painted with colored ornaments on top. In a fire in 1696 this roof burned down. During the invasion of Napoleonic troops, the chamber was damaged by fire, but was soon restored. In the 80s of the 19th century, artists from Palekh, the Belousov brothers, painted the walls anew - according to the inventory of Simon Ushakov. Over the centuries, many major events in the life of the Russian state were celebrated in the Faceted Chamber; it was the ceremonial throne room. Foreign ambassadors were received there, the heirs to the Russian throne were solemnly announced, Zemsky Councils met, at one of which, more than 300 years ago, the issue of reunification of Ukraine with Russia was resolved. The victories of the Russian troops were celebrated here. Thus, Ivan IV celebrated the capture of Kazan here in 1552, and Peter I celebrated the Poltava victory in 1709, and in 1721 the conclusion of the Peace of Nishbadt, which ended the Northern War.
Grand Kremlin Palace
The Grand Kremlin Palace is located on the high Borovitsky Hill. Its facade faces the Moscow River and stretches from west to east for 125 meters. The palace was built in 1838–1849 by a group of Russian architects - D.N. Chichalov, P.A. Gerasimov, A.N. Bakarev, F. Richter and others - under the leadership of K.A. Ton. The palace was the temporary residence of the imperial family during its stay in Moscow. A palace of the 18th century, built by the architect V. Rastrelli, previously stood on this site. At the main entrance to the Grand Kremlin Palace there is a large marble vestibule with polished columns made of Serdobol granite. To the left along the corridor there is a suite of rooms - the so-called Own Half, intended personally for the emperor and his family. The interiors of the Own Half correspond to the monumental architecture of the palace and at the same time they are characterized by intimacy and homeliness. In decorating the Own Half, architects and artists used techniques and decorative elements of the Baroque, Rococo, and Classicism styles. There is no historical pattern in the alternation of interior styles. Each of the seven rooms - Dining Room, Living Room, Empress's Study, Boudoir, Bedroom, Emperor's Study, Reception - is designed in its own style and represents an artistic whole. The space on the Own half is divided by pillars into two parts: into a kind of corridor, creating an enfilade, and into the main part of the rooms with furniture and other elements of decoration. The arrangement of the rooms in an enfilade creates a change of impressions and highlights the uniqueness of each room. A wide grand staircase made of Revel stone leads from the lobby to the second floor of the palace. It is framed by walls made of beautiful artificial marble. There are more than 700 rooms in the Palace. We will dwell only on the most significant ones, representing both architectural, artistic and historical interest. From the antechamber, tall gilded doors, richly decorated with carved gilded ornaments, lead to the famous St. George's Hall. St. George's Hall is the most majestic and most beautiful hall of the palace. It is dedicated to the military Order of St. George the Victorious, established to reward officers and generals for military distinction. The decoration of the hall also corresponds to the name. It is decorated with 18 twisted zinc columns, covered with ornaments and crowned with statues of victories with laurel wreaths and memorable dates. One of the statues represents the reunification of Ukraine with Russia. All statues were made by sculptor I.P. Vitali. The decoration and stucco decorations of the hall are dedicated to the victories of the Russian army in the 15th–18th centuries. St. George's Hall is illuminated by three thousand light bulbs placed in gilded chandeliers, wall sconces and cornices. The parquet was made from twenty valuable types of wood according to the drawings of academician F.G. Solntsev. The furniture consists of gilded banquettes covered with silk moiré in the colors of the St. George Ribbon. The length of the hall is 61 meters, width – 20.5 meters, height – 17.5 meters. Through the mirrored doors of the St. George's Hall we find ourselves in the octagonal Vladimir Hall, named in honor of the Order of St. Vladimir, established in 1782. It connects the palace, built in the 19th century, with buildings from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. In the construction of this hall, the architects achieved the versatility of the architectural image. The alternation of arches, columns, pilasters, lined with artificial marble in delicate tones, creates a beautiful play of light and shadow. The dome of the hall is noteworthy; insignia with the motto “Benefit. Honor. Glory." This is the work of two serf masters - Fyodor and Nikolai Dylev.
The Meeting Hall is the largest and most majestic hall of the palace. It is located next to St. George's Hall. Its double-height windows face the Moscow River. White walls, divided by pilasters, and an illuminated ceiling give the hall solemnity, grandeur and at the same time extraordinary simplicity. The furniture is made of polished walnut wood. The hall was created in 1933–1934 according to the design of the architect I.A. Ivanov. The front half is completed by a walnut dressing room, the walls and ceiling of which are lined with walnut wood panels. This is the work of a Moscow master - K. Hertz. The dressing room is illuminated by a chandelier carved from alabaster; it is decorated with an engraved pattern. The shape of the chandelier is reminiscent of antique models, imitation of which was a fashionable phenomenon in the art of the first half of the 19th century.
Red Square
The square arose, according to chronicles, at the end of the 15th century, when Ivan III ordered the demolition of wooden buildings around the Kremlin, which constantly threatened it with fire, and allocate this place for trade. This is how the first name of the square appeared - Torg. True, the square was not called that way for long. In the 16th century, it began to be called Trinity - after the Church of the Holy Trinity, on the site of which St. Basil's Cathedral was subsequently erected. Documents from the 17th century indicate that in those days the square was called Pozhar. It must be said that in Rus' one and the same object could have several names. So Krasnaya Square (from V.I. Dahl’s dictionary it follows that the word “red” among our ancestors meant beautiful, beautiful, excellent, best) officially began to be called only in the 19th century, although it was mentioned under this name in documents of the 17th century. Different centuries have left their traces on the square: the 15th century - the Kremlin wall with the Spasskaya, Senate and Nikolskaya towers; XVI century – Place of Execution and St. Basil's Cathedral; 19th century – a monument to Minin and Pozharsky, the building of the Historical Museum and the Upper Trading Rows (GUM); 20th century – Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin and necropolis near the Kremlin wall. The compositional center of Red Square is the Lenin Mausoleum. On January 27, 1924, the first wooden building of the Mausoleum was erected - a cube topped with a three-stage pyramid. In the spring of 1924, this Mausoleum was replaced by another. The modern building of the Lenin Mausoleum was built in 1930 according to the design of the architect A. Shchusev. In 1917, the beginning of the revolutionary necropolis was laid. Behind the Mausoleum there are graves with tombstones and busts of Lenin's closest associates. On both sides of these graves there are mass graves where more than 300 people are buried. More than 100 urns with the ashes of prominent party and government figures, leaders of the international communist and labor movement, scientists, writers, famous military leaders, heroes - pilots and cosmonauts are walled up in the Kremlin wall. On the southern side of Red Square is the Intercession Cathedral, or, as it is more often called, St. Basil's Cathedral. Behind the fence of the temple there is a monument to Minin and Pozharsky - the first sculptural monument in Moscow, built in 1818. Lobnoye Mesto is also located nearby. The northern part of Red Square is occupied by the red brick building of the State Historical Museum, built in the 70–80s of the last century by the architect V. Sherwood.
Mausoleum of V.I.Lenin
The compositional center of Red Square is the Mausoleum - a monument-tomb, in the Funeral Hall of which there is a crystal sarcophagus with the body of V.I. Lenin. As soon as news of his death became known, the Party Central Committee and the Council of People's Commissars began to receive telegrams and letters asking them not to bury his body. At the funeral meeting of the Second Congress of Soviets, the decision of the USSR Central Executive Committee to build a Mausoleum near the Kremlin wall was announced. The project was carried out by architect A. Shchusev. By January 27, 1924, a temporary Mausoleum was built. It was a cube topped with a three-tiered pyramid. In the spring of the same year it was replaced by another temporary Mausoleum, also made of wood. The modern stone Mausoleum was built in 1930, also according to the design of A. Shchusev. This is a monumental structure, faced with dark red granite, porphyry and black labradorite. Its external volume is 5.8 thousand cubic meters, and its internal volume is 2.4 thousand cubic meters. Red and black tones give the Mausoleum a clear and sad severity. Above the entrance, on a monolith made of black labradorite, there is an inscription in red quartzite letters: LENIN. At the same time, guest stands for 10 thousand people were built on both sides of the building along the Kremlin wall. At the entrance to the Mausoleum there was a guard, established by order of the head of the Moscow garrison on January 26, 1924, the day before Lenin’s funeral.
Conclusion
So, we see what a vast part of Russian history the topic of the essay covers. Of course, this is the history of our culture, embodied in stone and metal. As you may have noticed, the Kremlin is a very extensive complex of buildings, monuments and squares, which also includes many modern museums and even a mausoleum. It is almost impossible to examine in detail such a number of outstanding examples of architecture of the past, so we had to limit ourselves to only the basic parameters and data regarding the objects under study. However, my work contains a sufficient number of facts and information to form an objective opinion about the Kremlin as an architectural ensemble. In order not to get lost in the mass of minor details, the essay succinctly outlines the history and architectural features of each part of the Kremlin. I hope my work still covers quite fully the vast majority of the Kremlin’s beauties.
Literature
1. Ryumina T.D. History of Moscow. M.: Publishing House “International House of Cooperation”, 1996
2. Sakharov A.N., Buganov V.I. “History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century.” - Moscow: Education, 1995
3. Military encyclopedic dictionary.-M.: Voenizdat, 1983
4. REA im. Plekhanov. Historical Department. “Domestic History” /edited by Munchaev Sh.M/.-M., 1994
5. Soviet encyclopedic dictionary.-M.: “Soviet Encyclopedia”, 1982
6. Chronicle of humanity./ Comp. Harenberg B.-M.: “Big Encyclopedia”, 1996
7. Encyclopedia for children. T.5, part 3. Russian history. XX century / Comp. S.T.Ismailova.-M.: Avanta+, 1996
8. Encyclopedia for children: volume 5, part 1 (History of Russia and its closest neighbors). - Comp. Ismailova S.T.-Moscow: Avanta+, 1995
9. Encyclopedia for children: vol.7. Art. Part 1. Architecture, fine and decorative arts from ancient times to the Renaissance. - Moscow: Avanta+, 1997
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