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The Moscow Kremlin is the oldest and central part of Moscow (the capital
On the Borovitsky Hill, on the left bank of the Moscow River, one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles in the world.
The area of the Kremlin in the plan is an irregular triangle and is equal to 27.5 hectares.
The laying of the oak walls of the Moscow Kremlin took place on November 25, 1339.
The history of the Moscow Kremlin is closely connected with the most important events in the life of the Russian state.
In the 12th century, Moscow was a small settlement, an outpost that protected the way to Vladimir.
In 1156, at the behest of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, a fortified settlement center was built — the Kremlin.
The choice of the place for construction was dictated by strategic considerations: the Kremlin on a high hill at the confluence of the Neglinnaya River with the Moskva River should protect the mouths of two navigable rivers — the Yauza and the Vshodni.
The beauty of the place also played a role — the hill was covered with a dense forest, and in front of it were picturesque meadows cut by loops of rivers.
The very first Kremlin occupied an area of about four hectares.
In addition to wooden walls, it was protected by ditches and earthen ramparts.
In 1339, under the Grand Duke Ivan Kalit, powerful oak walls were erected around the Kremlin.
In 1367, the walls and towers were built of white stone, in 1485-95 of brick.
The towers received in the 17th century the existing tiered and hipped completions.
In the Kremlin, Moscow class monuments of Russian architecture of 15-17 centuries: the Cathedral of the assumption (1475-79), the Annunciation (1484-89) and Arkhangelsk (1505-08), bell tower of Ivan the Great (1505-08, built in 1600), the Palace of facets (1487-91), Terem Palace (1635-36).
1776-87 built in the Senate building in 1839-1849 — B. Kremlin Palace in 1844-1851 — Armory.
In 1959-61, the State Kremlin Palace was built.
Among the 20 towers of the Moscow Kremlin, the most significant are Spasskaya (with Kremlin chimes), Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya.
The remarkable monuments of Russian foundry art are preserved — "Tsar Cannon" (16th century) and "Tsar Bell" (18th century).
In 1991, the State Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve "Moscow Kremlin"was established.
The Moscow Kremlin is the residence of the President of the Russian Federation.
Historical sketch of the Kremlin of Moscow The oldest archaeological finds on the Kremlin territory date back to the 2nd millennium BC .
Slavic settlements on the site of the Kremlin existed no later than the 11th century.
In 1145, the village on the Kremlin Hill was surrounded by the first wooden walls and towers.
It was first mentioned in the chronicle in 1147.
The convenient location — at the confluence of the Moscow and Neglinka rivers, the river route from the western Russian regions (Chernihiv, Kiev, Smolensk) to the Vladimir Suzdal Principality passed contributed to the growth of the settlement, selected from the Kuchkov boyars by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky.
The wooden fortress (in ancient times it was called "grad"; the name "Kremlin" appeared no earlier than the 14th century), built by Yuri Dolgoruky in 1156, became the protective gate of the Vladimir Suzdal principality.
The river roads were joined by land roads converging to the Kremlin from other Russian cities.
The original settlement of "Kuchkovo" occupied about 1.5 hectares in the southwestern tip of the Kremlin Hill, the detinets of Yuri Dolgoruky already occupied 5-6 times more territory.
Under the protection of the fortress, a torzhishche, the future Red Square, was formed.
In 1237, during the invasion of the Tatars, the city was destroyed.
Under Ivan Kalit, the Kremlin was expanded and surrounded by oak walls (logs in diameter reached one meter).
At the same time, several stone churches were built inside the Kremlin (the remains of the foundations were found by archaeologists).
The first white stone walls made of stone from the Moscow region were erected in 1367 under Dmitry Donskoy, and the territory of the Kremlin expanded almost to the size of the modern one.
The invasion of Tokhtamysh in 1382 again caused terrible damage to the Kremlin, although restoration work was undertaken.
In the middle of the 14th century, the Chudovsky Male and Resurrection female monasteries were founded in the Kremlin.
In the second half of the 15th century, the old white stone walls of the Kremlin became dilapidated and partially collapsed.
For its reconstruction, Ivan III, perhaps on the advice of his wife Sophia Palaiologos, decided to invite Italian ("Fryazhsky") architects, as the best in Europe at that time.
The reconstruction of the Kremlin began with the construction of the new Assumption Cathedral in 1475-79, located in the center of the Kremlin triangle: the old stone Assumption Cathedral no longer met the requirements for the main metropolitan church, which was supposed to contain the graves of Russian metropolitans and take place weddings to the kingdom.
The Assumption Cathedral, built by the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti in the traditions of Vladimir masters from white limestone and brick near Moscow, marked the beginning of the ensemble of the Cathedral Square.
In 1484-88, Pskov craftsmen erected the Church of the Assumption and the Annunciation Cathedral.
The second most important Kremlin cathedral is the Archangel Cathedral.
It was built by the Italian architect Aleviz Novy in 1505-1508, thirty years after the construction of the Assumption Cathedral.
During this time, the Russian state finally threw off the Tatar Mongol yoke and strengthened economic and cultural ties with European countries.
The stone Sovereign's Palace with a Faceted Chamber (1487-91) completed the formation of the western side of the Cathedral Square.
The bell tower of Ivan the Great became the dominant feature of the square, the Kremlin and the whole of Moscow.
The Kremlin walls and towers, built (1485-95) taking into account the fortification requirements of that time, have been preserved with alterations to the present time.
By 1516, work on the construction of the moat from the Red Square was completed.
During the Time of Troubles, the Kremlin was occupied by the Poles and held by them for two years; it was liberated by the people's militia of K. M. Minin and D. M. Pozharsky on October 26, 1612.
With the accession of the Romanovs, intensive construction began.
Next to the "Ivan the Great" in the 1620s, the Filaret belfry was erected, a stone tent (1624-25) was built over the Spasskaya Tower, a clock is arranged on the bash.
A decade later, the Terem Palace and palace churches were built, in the 1650s the Funny Palace, the Patriarchal Chambers and the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles.
In the 1680s, all the wall towers (except Nikolskaya) received a tent like completion.
Peter I takes measures to strengthen the Kremlin militarily: the construction of the Arsenal begins (1702-36), the Kremlin walls and towers are reinforced with earthen bastions.
The transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg temporarily stopped new buildings.
At the behest of Catherine II, V. I. Bazhenov plans to erect new structures on the site of the Kremlin.
Freeing up the territory for the construction of a new palace, in 1773 a number of ancient Kremlin buildings and part of the southern wall were demolished, the foundation of the palace was laid, but by the personal order of Catherine II, the work was canceled (officially due to lack of funds, in fact — due to negative public opinion), and the walls were restored.
In 1776-87, the Senate building was built.
The invasion of Napoleon in 1812 caused huge damage to the Kremlin.
The French, in search of valuables, desecrated graves, looted churches.
Retreating, Napoleon ordered to blow up part of the walls, towers and structures.
Restoration work was carried out in 1816-19 under the direction of O. I. Bove.
In the 1830s and 40s, the Grand Kremlin Palace (1839-49) and the Armory Chamber (1844-51) were built.
By 1917, there were 31 churches in the Kremlin, including two monasteries.
During the October Coup, the Kremlin, occupied by a small detachment of junkers, was bombed, which continued after the surrender of the Junkers.
In November 1917, revolutionary detachments entered the Kremlin.
On March 10-11, 1918, the government of the RSFSR moved from Petrograd to Moscow and settled in the Kremlin in the building of the former Senate.
During the years of Soviet power in the Kremlin was built the building of the School of red commanders to them.
Of the Central Executive Committee (1932-1934), and the Kremlin Palace of congresses (1959-1961), the five towers set of the stars (1935-37), on special pedestals of monuments of Russian foundry art King cannon (1485) and the Tsar bell (1733-35).
The walls and buildings of the Kremlin has been repeatedly renovated.
On Easter 1918, the last service was held in the Assumption Cathedral, after which the Kremlin churches and monasteries were closed, their partial demolition began, and a strict access regime was introduced in the Kremlin.
Since the mid 1950s, access to some museums located on the territory of the Kremlin has been opened.
Since the 1990s, worship and bell ringing have gradually resumed in some churches.
The first was built in 1435, the Taynitskaya tower with a gate and a secret passage to the river.
Then, in 1435-38, two round corner towers were laid: Vodovzvodnaya and Beklemishevskaya.
After that, the construction of the southern wall with towers along the Moskva River was completed.
The main entrance to the Kremlin led through the Frolov Gate, then called the Spassky Gate.
In the 16th century, a wooden superstructure with a clock and a bell was made.
In the 17th century, the Spasskaya Tower, and then others (except Nikolskaya) received decorative tent finishes.
Today it is difficult to imagine how the Moscow Kremlin looked like for one hundred and eighty years without picturesque superstructures over its towers.
The Nikolskaya Tower with gates (1491, architect Pietro Antonio Solari) opens onto Red Square.
In 1805, the tower was built and rebuilt in the Gothic style by the architect K. I. Rossi.
In 1812, it was blown up by the retreating troops of Napoleon, but soon restored according to the project of O. I. Beauvais.
The Kremlin wall, facing Neglinka (Alexander Garden), was closed in nature and had a single travel tower in the center — Troitskaya (1495-99, architect Aleviz Fryazin).
It was built by analogy with the Spasskaya Tower in 1685.
A stone bridge on arches, one of the first in Moscow, was built across Neglinnaya and Prudy opposite the Trinity Gate.
Access to the bridge was protected by a branch strelnitsa Kutafya Tower.
The wall at the Moscow River ended with the Borovitsky Gate, through which they entered the royal palace.
The Borovitsky Tower, built in 1490 by the architect Pietro Antonio Solari, was added to the tiered completion at the end of the 17th century.
Along the Moscow River, in addition to the main wall with towers, there was a lower wall parallel to it without towers.
This is due to the fact that the southern facade of the Kremlin was the most dangerous in military terms.
In 1495, all the buildings across the Moscow River from the Kremlin were demolished, which increased fire safety, opened up space for shooting from guns and improved the viewing of the Kremlin from Zamoskvorechye (gardens were subsequently planted there).
In the years 1680-1681, the Kremlin Towers received picturesque superstructures that doubled their height.
They enriched the architecture of the Kremlin, gave it a fabulous appearance, which is characterized by the Russian compositional principle of tiering.
Archangel Cathedral In 1505, on the site of the white stone Archangel Church of 1333, the construction of the Archangel Cathedral begins, which then became the grand ducal, and later the royal tomb.
The architect Aleviz gave a new appearance the temple features features of classical architecture of the Italian Renaissance, expressed in perfect proportions and forms of order architecture.
At the same time, he preserved the traditional cubic architectural composition of the Russian cathedral church.
The Archangel Cathedral, with its proportions and classical facades, made a strong impression on contemporaries and became an object of imitation.
The preserved wall painting dates back to the 17th century.
After Bazhenov's attempt to build a new palace, for which grandiose earthworks were carried out in the Kremlin, the Archangel Cathedral cracked.
The Annunciation Cathedral, the Red Porch and the Church of the Assumption In 1484-89, the Annunciation Cathedral (the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos) was erected by Pskov craftsmen southwest of the Assumption Cathedral, which became the house church of the Moscow princes.
Initially, the temple was three domed and had an open bypass gallery.
Then the gallery was built up, and the temple was enriched with six more chapters.
The Annunciation Cathedral attracts attention with a fine white stone carving of architectural details and a high basement.
The interior space is small.
The iconostasis was made in the 15th century, it includes icons by Andrey Rublev, Feofan the Greek, Fyodor from Gorodets.
The walls were painted in 1508 by Theodosius, the son of Dionysius.
The floor is covered with printed jasper.
Between the cathedral and the Faceted Chamber there is a Red porch designed for solemn royal exits.
In the 1930s, it was destroyed, a canteen for employees of Kremlin institutions was built in its place; in 1999, it was restored.
Adjacent to the western wall of the Assumption Cathedral is a small single domed church of the Sacrament (in honor of the position of the Robe of the Mother of God in Blachernae), built by Pskov craftsmen in 1450 in memory of the deliverance of Moscow from the raid of the Tatar Tsarevich Mazovsha, which coincided with the holiday of the position of the Sacrament.
Its architecture is a kind of fusion of Moscow and Pskov architecture.
The compact and at the same time monumental volume of the church is completed with elegant keel shaped zakomars.
The bell tower of" Ivan the Great " plays an extremely important compositional role in the ensemble of the Cathedral Square and the entire Kremlin.
Its lower part was built on the site of the church of John the Ladder (14th century) by the architect Bon Fryazin (1505-08), and Petrok the Small added a belfry to it (1532-43).
Under Boris Godunov (1600), the tower was built to its present height, and then in the 17th century, the so called "Filaretov Extension"was erected on the north side.
The resulting picturesque group of buildings is dominated by an octagonal tower - "Ivan the Great".
There are 21 bells on the bell tower and belfry.
In 1812, during the retreat of Napoleon's troops from Moscow, the belfry and Filaret's annex were partially blown up, but soon restored (architects I. V. Egotov, L. Ruska, D. I. Gilardi).
The picturesque group, consisting of buildings of different times, makes a surprisingly solid impression and separates the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin from Ivanovskaya, where the buildings of Orders and central state institutions used to be located.
"Ivan the Great" noted the Kremlin hill as the dominant point of the Moscow state of the 16th 17th centuries, on which the main city highways radially converged.
The pillar of "Ivan the Great" was the dominant feature of ancient Moscow.
The Kremlin Palace was located on the opposite side of the Cathedral Square, from which the Faceted Chamber — the main throne hall of the palace has been preserved.
Faceted chamber.
It got its name from the faceted rust covering its main facade.
Faceted chamber.
The facade was built by the Italian architects Pietro Antonio Solari and Mark Fryazin (1687-1891?)
The faceted chamber is a single column structure with an area of about 5000 square meters, covered with four cross vaults.
The modern painting was made in 1881 by the Paleshan masters according to the inventory of Simon Ushakov.
The Faceted Chamber is adjacent to the vestibule, above which there are rooms for the queen and her entourage (women), so that they can observe the solemn ceremonies that took place in the chamber.
The wooden Kremlin Palace, which stood behind the Faceted Chamber, burned down in 1636-1637, the living quarters of the palace, the so called "Bed Chambers", were re built (of brick) and became known as the "Terem".
This palace has a stepped three dimensional composition.
The upper terem was intended for the royal children.
Teremny Palace.
The upper part of the Facades of the Terem Palace are richly decorated with decorative paintings and glazed tiles.
The interiors are covered with" grass " patterns and decorative carvings.
The stoves are lined with polychrome tiles.
A unique piece of blacksmithing art is the Golden lattice that protects the main entrance to the palace.
All the rooms were decorated with paintings that have not survived to this day.
The Grand Kremlin Palace and the Armory Chamber In 1838-1849, next to the Terem Palace, the Grand Kremlin Palace was built according to the project of Academician K. A. Ton, which was supposed to combine palace buildings of different times.
The length of its main facade is 117 m.
The palace is characterized by an eclectic mix of different styles, characteristic of the architecture of the mid 19th century.
In the plan, it has the shape of a square with a courtyard.
There are about seven hundred rooms in the palace.
The facades and interiors are designed in the Russian style, the propagandist of which was the Tone.
On the first floor of the palace there were residential and utility rooms, on the second — the front rooms with two light halls.
The halls are dedicated to pre revolutionary Russian orders.
The largest of them, St. George's, is covered with a cylindrical vault, on its walls there are boards with the names of military units and the names of officers awarded the Order of St. George.
In addition to the Vladimir and Catherine Halls, there are also St. Andrew's and Alexander's halls.
They were rebuilt in 1934, restored again in 1999.
Solemn receptions are held in the St. George's Hall, the inauguration of the president of Russia takes place.
In 1851, he built the Armory building next to the Borovitsky Gate, which is similar in architecture to the Grand Kremlin Palace.
It is a rectangular two story building, on the second floor of which there are two light halls, the walls are decorated with 58 marble bas relief portraits of medallions of Russian princes and tsars by the sculptor F. I. Shubin.
Since 1806 a museum, since 1813 it has been open to visitors.
Arsenal and the Senate The northern zone of the Kremlin is formed by the buildings of the Arsenal, the Senate and the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.
The arsenal was built in 1702-36 (architects X. Konrad, D. Ivanov, M. Tchoglokov) between the Troitskaya and Nikolskaya towers and was intended for storing weapons and various military equipment.
The building was repeatedly burned, and it acquired its final appearance in 1737, when the architect D. V. Ukhtomsky built the second floor; in 1816-28 it was restored according to the Beauvais project.
Captured French cannons are placed along the facade of the Arsenal in memory of the war of 1812.
Between the Nikolsky and Spassky Gates, next to the Arsenal, in 1776-84, the Senate building was built according to the project of the architect M. F. Kazakov.
The compositional center of the building is a solemn round meeting hall, crowned with a 20 meter dome located along the axis of the Senate Tower.
The beautiful Corinthian colonnade, the coffered sphere of the dome is one of the highest achievements of the architecture of Russian classicism of the 18th century.
Triangular in plan, the building has three courtyards.
In 1959-61, the building of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses was built opposite the Arsenal (architect M. V. Posokhin).
Its architecture has the character of an official parade and is dissonant with the surrounding monuments of the Kremlin.
At a height of 29 m, the building is buried in the ground for 15 m.
The meeting room is designed for 6000 seats.
Today, the building is used as the second stage of the Bolshoi Theater.
Chudov Monastery
The Chudov Monastery (Alekseevsky Archangel Mikhailovsky) was founded in 1365 by Metropolitan Alexey in memory of the miraculous healing of Hansha Taidula by him.
It is named after the central church of the Miracle of Archangel Michael in Honekh.
During the invasion of Tokhtamysh in 1382, it was burned, it was devastated by fires several more times, but it was always renewed.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, it became the Great Lavra; in 1744-1833, it was the location of the Moscow ecclesiastical Consistory.
It was severely damaged during the invasion of the French in 1812: the altar of the cathedral church was turned into the bedroom of Marshal Davout, the shrines were desecrated, the relics of the founder of the monastery, Metropolitan Alexey, were thrown out of the shrine (later found).
Many historical legends are associated with the monastery.
In 1918, together with the nearby Voznesensky Monastery (founded in the late 14th early 15th centuries by Grand Duchess Evdokia, in the monastic life of Efrosinya, the widow of Dmitry Donskoy), it was closed by the Kremlin commandant Malkov as a "nest of counter revolutionaries".
In the early 1930s, both monasteries were blown up and dismantled.
In their place, the building of the School of Red Commanders (later the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; architect I. I. Rerberg) was built. (V. A. Rezvin)
Do you know how the Kremlin was hidden?
In the first 30 days after the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Moscow Kremlin "disappeared" from the face of Moscow.
The Fascist aces were quite surprised that their cards were lying, and they could not detect the Kremlin while flying over Moscow.
The thing is that according to the masking plan, the stars on the towers and crosses on the cathedrals were covered, and the domes of the cathedrals were painted black.
Three dimensional models of residential buildings were built along the entire perimeter of the Kremlin Wall, the battlements were not visible behind them.
Part of the Red and Manezhnaya Square and the Alexander Garden were filled with plywood decorations of houses.
The mausoleum became three storied, and a sandy road was built from the Borovitsky Gate to the Spassky Ones, depicting a highway.
If earlier the light yellow facades of the Kremlin buildings were distinguished by their brightness, now they have become" like everyone else " – dirty gray, the roofs also had to change color from green to the all Moscow red brown.
Never before has the palace ensemble looked so democratic.
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