Who built the Kremlin wall. Who built the Moscow Kremlin - a symbol of the Russian state. Moscow Kremlin under different rulers

The Kremlin wall was built in 1485-1495. made of red brick. Its length is 2,235 meters. The wall, as if following the outline of the Kremlin hill, becomes higher and lower. The thickness of the Kremlin wall is 3.5-6.5 meters with a height of 5 to 19 meters. There are 20 towers of various heights, shapes and styles.

Today we will commit walk along the Kremlin wall and climb the inaccessible towers.

This was probably one of my most difficult shoots. It took more than one month to get it approved - we had to collect many signatures, write a list of desired points and obtain a dozen permits. At some point I had already forgotten about the Kremlin, when suddenly they took the filming and allowed it!

The list of desired points was severely cut - they did not allow photography from the roofs of buildings, they did not allow climbing some towers, but most importantly, the Kremlin wall was left. Walking along the Kremlin walls, climbing inaccessible towers, was mine old dream, and now it has come true!

This is the staircase that leads to the Spasskaya Tower. There are two platforms on the tower, one under the clock, the second above it:

Trees grow on the Spasskaya Tower! There are clocks on almost every side, it’s not visible from Red Square, but they are there:

Bricks on the floor of the Spasskaya Tower:

View of Red Square from the Spasskaya Tower:

View of the Historical Museum and Mausoleum from the Spasskaya Tower:

Kremlin Wall. View from Konstantino-Eleninskaya Tower:

Beyond the Wall everything is not as beautiful as in the tourist areas. For example behind the Beklemishevskaya tower some garbage piled up. On the left you can see the mount for the Kremlin Christmas tree:

There are spotlights on the Kremlin wall. It's difficult to walk freely there:

Staircase in one of the towers. Most towers empty inside, electrical equipment and communications are located there:

Despite the large number of sensors and cameras, city crazy people sometimes try to take the wall by storm.

Near the Kremlin wall between the Komendatskaya and Trinity towers there is an interesting civil structure from the mid-17th century. - the so-called Amusing Palace:

In the 19th century The commandant of Moscow lived in the Poteshny Palace; in the 20th century, I.V.’s first Kremlin apartment was here. Stalin (until 1932). The Amusing Palace is the only one preserved in the Kremlin architectural monument boyar housing.

Commandant's Tower:

View from observation deck Borovitskaya Tower to the Armory Chamber and BKD:

Kremlin wall, view from the tower:

Behind the wall are these crow traps. Sometimes up to 200 birds are crammed into a cage. Their further fate is unknown. What do you think they do with the crows later? An FSO employee denied the information that he makes cutlets out of crows in the Kremlin canteen 😉

Bench in the Tainitsky Garden. The President sat on it:

Some towers have a special telephone number:

The walls inside some towers are no different from the entrances of houses in disadvantaged areas. This refutes the theory of some scientists that they shit and shit where it is dirty. The Kremlin is very clean, but cattle crap even on the centuries-old Kremlin walls:

Surprisingly, there is a gate on the wall. They are needed here so that the musicians of the Presidential Orchestra located in the Trinity Tower cannot escape 😉

There are many pipes along the Kremlin wall:

And this is a greenhouse in which plants are grown that decorate the interiors of the Kremlin premises:

Eternal flame glory at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:

Grotto "Ruins" in the Alexander Garden:

The doors in the tower are old:

And this Tsar's Tower. A small tower was placed directly on the wall in the 80s of the 17th century between the Spasskaya and Nabatnaya towers of the Kremlin. Its octagonal tent on jug-shaped pillars resembles the porch lockers of stone residential mansions that were common at that time:

The name of the tower is associated with a legend according to which it served as a kind of canopy over the royal throne, from where the sovereign of all Rus' could observe the events taking place on Red Square from the walls of the Kremlin.

And this is the sunset from the Spasskaya Tower:

Today's buildings were built mainly in 1485-1495 years is not the place of dilapidated white stone walls erected in 1366.
Fortress with twenty towers connected by walls, has a triangular shape.
Three corner towers have round shape for conducting circular fire, the rest are square, very different from one another.
The length of the Kremlin wall is 2335 m, height is 8-19 m, and its thickness is 3.5-6.5 m.
The towers have details characteristic of Italian architecture of that time, which is not surprising, since they were built by Italian architects.
IN tower names reflects their history and the history of the place.

The towers of the Moscow Kremlin with peaked tents and walls with battlements in the form of “swallow tails” are irreplaceable elements of the capital’s panorama. On the site where the Kremlin stands, a settlement has been located since ancient times. This location is very advantageous: on the high Borovitsky Hill, at the confluence of two rivers - the Moskva River and the Neglinnaya. The first fortifications that appeared here were wooden. And in 1366-1368, Prince Dmitry Donskoy built the first white stone Moscow Kremlin. The walls and towers that appear before us now are basically fortifications built in 1485 - 1495. by Italian architects on the site of the former, dilapidated white stone walls.

Kremlin construction techniques and fortress plan

Twenty Kremlin towers, connected by walls, form an irregular triangle with an area of 27.5 hectares. The fortifications were built taking into account the most modern military technologies of the 15th century. The towers protrude beyond the line of the walls so that soldiers can not only fire, but also control the situation in close proximity to the walls. Round towers were erected at the corners (Vodovzvodnaya, Moskvoretskaya and Arsenalnaya) - this shape was chosen both because of their greater strength and for conducting all-round fire. They also had the opportunity to arrange hidden wells with water. Most towers are square at the base, but differ quite greatly from each other, depending on their purpose. The travel towers (Spasskaya, Borovitskaya, Troitskaya and others), erected on the axes of the roads leading to the Kremlin, were the most powerful and well fortified. The towers were also endowed with a symbolic meaning of protection, protecting the Kremlin from the penetration of evil and evil spirits. Therefore, icons can still be seen above the gates of some towers.

Most of the towers had diversion arrows attached - fortifications that were carried outside the fortress walls or beyond the ditch for additional defense. This type of fortification fully met the requirements of the late 15th century. Of the archery towers, one has survived - Kutafya, which covers Trinity and in our time serves as the main entrance for tourists to the Kremlin. When constructing fortifications, various measures were taken against enemy attacks. This, for example, is the construction of secret underground passages leading outside the walls to protect the city from undermining. A through tunnel was built inside the walls to quickly move defenders.

The length of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin is 2235 meters, the thickness of the walls ranges from 3.5 to 6.5 meters, and the height from 8 to 19 meters. The highest walls are located on the side of Red Square, where there was no natural oh water hazard. The walls were not built immediately, their construction began from the south-eastern part (from the side of the Moscow River), continued to the east and west and was completed in 1516. The most old tower Kremlin - Tainitskaya.

The construction technique itself is also interesting. The walls were built on the foundations of the previous ones, white stone, the material was large red brick, which was used to lay out the front walls, and the gaps were filled with the remains of the collapsed walls of the time of Dmitry Donskoy. So, since 1485, the walls of the Moscow Kremlin acquired a recognizable color. The towers were erected by visiting Italian architects (Friazis, as they were called then): Pietro Antonio Solari, Marco Ruffo, Aleviz di Carcano. This explains their unusual, strange appearance for that time. The fact is that the design of loopholes in the form of the famous “swallow tails” was a typical detail of Northern Italian architecture, characteristic of buildings in cities where the ruling “party” were the Ghibellines - supporters of rapprochement with the emperor (unlike the Guelphs, supporters of the Pope, who decorated the walls of their cities are battlements with a straight ending). These battlements were not only decoration: they protected the upper battle platforms.

Angular and travel towers after another fire, they were decorated in the 17th century with stone tents with weather vanes. They served as watchtowers, and signal bells were also located there. In the second half of the 18th century. famous Russian architect V.I. Bazhenov completed the design of the Kremlin Palace - a large-scale building in a classicist style, reminiscent of the architecture of French palaces. The project proposed to line the hill leading to the cathedrals with turf - this place would become one of the first “walks” in Europe. To build such a huge structure, it was necessary to demolish a third of the Kremlin walls. At one site, which is located near the Moscow River, work began on dismantling the fortifications, but soon due to the growing colossal costs, this project was curtailed. In the 19th century During Napoleon's invasion of Moscow, serious damage was caused not only to the palaces and temples of the Kremlin, but also to the Kremlin walls. The architect who was involved in the restoration of the damaged Kremlin towers was O.I. Beauvais (ironically, also Italian).

Spasskaya Tower and Kremlin chimes

The most famous of all the Kremlin towers, Spasskaya, built in 1491 by Pietro Antonio Solari, deserves special mention. Tsars entered the Kremlin through it and religious processions took place. Since the 15th century Only dedicatory white stone slabs have reached us, which tell in Cyrillic (from the Kremlin side) and in Latin (from Red Square) about the order and construction of this tower. Its general appearance and decoration then were much more modest: it was almost half the size, and it was originally called Frolovskaya, after the Church of Flora and Lavra on. The Spasskaya Tower began to be called after the icon of the Savior, known throughout Russia, which was placed above the entrance in the middle of the 17th century. It was considered lost, but in 2010 it turned out that Soviet time it was simply covered with plaster. In the 17th century The tower was one of the first to be built with a multi-tiered elegant top. And the history of the clock on the Spasskaya Tower deserves a separate story.

The first clocks on the Kremlin, still white-stone towers, were installed in 1404 by Lazar Serbin. In the 17th century, the Spasskaya Tower acquired a very unusual clock thanks to a native of Scotland, Christopher Galovey. They were a sun-shaped hand with a rotating dial, on which 17 o'clock was marked. The famous Kremlin chimes, which can still be seen today, date back to the mid-19th century. They were made by watchmakers, brothers named Butenop - the founders of the company of the same name. IN different time the chimes sounded different melodies. Since 1770 it has been the song “Oh, my dear Augustine”, since the middle of the 19th century. ‒ “How glorious is our Lord in Zion”, after the revolution the clock began to play “The Internationale”, and since 2000 you can hear the famous excerpt from Glinka’s opera “A Life for the Tsar”. Currently, the clock mechanism occupies three whole floors, and until 1937 this clock was wound manually with a cast iron key.

Famous Kremlin towers and the history of their names

Let's take a closer look at the history of some of the towers. As already mentioned, the most important for defense and for the composition in general are the corner towers. The Vodovzvodnaya Tower was built by Anton Fryazin in 1488. In the 17th century the tower was equipped with a water-lifting machine, which is why it got its name. Its other name - Sviblova Tower - comes from the boyar family of the Sviblovs, who had a courtyard on the territory of the Kremlin. In 1812 it was blown up by the French, after which it was restored by O.I. Beauvais. Thanks to him, its appearance is emphatically classic: rustication (horizontal lines) in the lower part, columns, decorative design of dormer windows. Decoration comes first, not functionality; the hand of the architect of the early 19th century is felt.

The Beklemishevskaya Tower, built by Marco Ruffo in 1487, was named so because of the boyar I. Beklemishev who lived during the reign of Tsar Vasily III, who fell out of favor and was executed. From the name, one of the functions of this tower becomes obvious - a place of imprisonment for rebels. Its other name is Moskvoretskaya, since it is located on the banks of the Moscow River and occupies a strategically important position. It was from this side that the city was most often subjected to Tatar raids. A secret well was built in this tower. In 1707, the loopholes in the tower were expanded for a new type of weapon, since Swedish intervention was feared at that time. This fact indicates that the tower did not lose its defensive significance until the 18th century.

The corner round tower, located on the north side of the Kremlin buildings, was erected by Pietro Antonio Solari c. 1492. Its other names come from the Sobakin boyars who lived nearby (Sobakina) and from its location next to the Arsenal (Arsenalnaya). Thanks to the edges that form its volume and the base that expands downward, it gives the impression of particular stability and strength. It also had a strategic secret: there was a well inside, as well as an underground passage to the Neglinnaya River.

The Borovitskaya Tower got its name from the pine forest that was located on Borovitsky Hill in ancient times. The tower was built according to the design of Pietro Antonio Solari in 1490. design feature is the location of the archer on the side. It is also angular, but in plan it is not round, but resembles a pyramid, which is formed from quadrangles stacked on top of each other (volumes quadrangular at the base) and crowned with an octagon (volume octagonal at the base). Although this tower was located outside the main roads and was used for household needs, it has retained its significance to this day: it is the only permanently operating passage gate to the Kremlin territory.

The Trinity and Kutafya towers were built by Aleviz Fryazin. Kutafya dates back to 1516, Trinity - 1495. These towers are connected by a bridge, both were travel, and the Kutafya tower had only one gate, which was closed with heavy forged bars. Today this is the main entrance to the Kremlin architectural and museum complex. The Trinity Tower is the largest, its height reaches 76.35 meters. Its structure is complex: it consists of six floors, two of which are underground, and in the 17th and 18th centuries. it was a place of detention for rebels. It received its name in 1658 from the Trinity Metochion, located nearby.

The Taynitskaya Tower is so called because not only a secret well was built inside it, but also a secret passage to the Moscow River. This tower was built first, in 1485 - it was from this side that the Tatars usually attacked.

The Moscow Kremlin is the main attraction of the Russian capital, having great historical, architectural and socio-political value.

The Kremlin is located in the very center of the city on the high Borovitsky Hill near the Moscow River. On one side is Red Square, on the other - Alexander Garden.

About how to get to the Moscow Kremlin, which Kremlin attractions to see first, how to buy entry tickets Read about opening hours, excursions and much more in this article.

History of the Moscow Kremlin

First on the territory modern Kremlin Finno-Ugric tribes settled in the Bronze Age. In the 10th century, Borovitsky Hill, located at the intersection of important trade routes, was occupied by the Vyatichi, and in 1156, by the will of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, a typical Russian fortress was built here with defensive fortifications - earthen ramparts with palisades, surrounded by a deep ditch.

Until the mid-14th century, the Moscow Kremlin was made of wood. Under Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy, its walls and towers were replaced with white stone ones, which served until the end of the 15th century.

Under the leadership of Italian craftsmen, in 1485-1516, new powerful fortifications were erected from baked bricks - towers and battlements with a thickness of three to six and a half meters, which we can admire today.

Architectural ensemble

The architectural ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin consists of the golden-domed Annunciation, Archangel and Assumption Cathedrals, the Patriarchal Chambers, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, the Faceted Chamber, and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. In the 17th century, the Terem Palace was built, around the same time the Kremlin towers acquired their modern appearance. In the 18th century, the Arsenal, the Senate, the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Armory appeared.

Unfortunately, not preserved ancient cathedral Savior on Bor, built in 1330 and destroyed in 1933, Chudov Monastery, founded in 1365 and demolished in 1929, Ascension Monastery, Small Nicholas Palace and many other buildings. In total, during the years of Soviet power, out of 54 Kremlin buildings, only 26 remained “alive”.

However, in 1990 the Kremlin was included in the list world heritage UNESCO.

Photo - tour of the territory

The entrance to the territory is through the Kutafya tower, crowned with a beautiful openwork “crown”.

Before entering the Kremlin, you must buy tickets in the dark glass pavilion, which is located nearby in the Alexander Garden, go through a metal detector and have your personal belongings searched. Large bags, suitcases and backpacks will have to be checked into a storage room.

The Kutafya Tower, previously surrounded by a river and a ditch, protected the approaches to the Trinity Tower.

Having crossed the Trinity Bridge, we will look at the multi-tiered Trinity Tower from the other side. Its height is 80 meters, this is the most high tower Kremlin.

On the right in the photo is the Arsenal, built by order of Peter the Great. It was assumed that the building would be used as a military warehouse and trophy storage. Nowadays, the administrative services of the Kremlin Commandant's Office and the barracks of the Presidential Regiment are stationed here.

On the left is the State Kremlin Palace (formerly the Palace of Congresses), built in 1961. The main event is held here Christmas tree countries, concerts and ballet performances take place.

Historical guns are located near the walls of the Arsenal - collections of ancient Russian and foreign cannons, military trophies of the Patriotic War of 1812.

Now let's go to Senate Square.

The Senate building, designed by architect M.F. Kazakova, has the shape of a triangle. During the Soviet years, V.I.’s office and apartment were located here. Lenin, work rooms of I.V. Stalin, L.I. Brezhnev, M.S. Gorbachev. Nowadays, the Senate is the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

View from approximately the same point in the other direction - to Trinity Square and the Kremlin cathedrals.

The Tsar Cannon, which is a must-see, stands near Trinity Square and the Patriarchal Chambers with the Church of the Twelve Apostles.

The powerful weapon was made in 1586. This is the largest cannon in the world, an outstanding example of Russian weapons art. Its caliber is 890 mm, weight is 40 tons.

At the foot of the bell tower there is another giant - the Tsar Bell, cast in the 18th century. Its weight is 202 tons, diameter is 6.6 meters. The Tsar Bell was cast right there, on the territory of Ivanovskaya Square. A piece of the bell broke off during a big fire in the Kremlin.

On the southern side, Ivanovskaya Square is adjacent to the Big Kremlin Square and Tainitsky Garden.

Unfortunately, you cannot walk around the entire garden - this is a sensitive facility. But you can still see some interesting things: for example, an aviary for peregrine falcons, goshawks and an eagle owl, which are kept specifically to chase crows and pigeons. Or here - Helipad for the President and Prime Minister, equipped not so long ago.

View from the park to the ensemble of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. The most tall building Moscow's Kremlin bell tower came into existence under Boris Godunov, who ordered it to be built in 1600 to a height of 81 m. You can climb up to summer time by purchasing a separate ticket.

From April to October, on Saturdays at 12-00, the cavalry and foot parade of the Presidential Regiment takes place on Cathedral Square. Viewing the ceremony is included in the price of a single ticket to visit the Kremlin and the cathedral-museums of Cathedral Square.

The Assumption Cathedral, built according to the design of the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti, was the main temple of Russia for four centuries - Ivan the Terrible and other tsars were crowned here, and emperors were crowned. Many patriarchs and metropolitans are buried in the Assumption Cathedral.

In the photo - the Archangel Cathedral, erected in 1505-1508 in honor of the Archangel Michael by the Venetian Aleviz Novy.

Entrance to the Archangel Cathedral. In the temple-royal tomb there are 54 burials of saints, princes, kings and their wives, including the holy Tsarevich Dmitry of Uglich, Moscow princes Vasily the Dark, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan Kalita, Tsars Ivan the Terrible and Alexei Mikhailovich.

The Annunciation Cathedral is one of the oldest on the Kremlin territory, built by Pskov craftsmen in 1484-1489. The small-sized temple was used as a home church for Russian sovereigns.

In the basement of the Annunciation Cathedral there is an interesting exhibition “Treasures and Antiquities of the Moscow Kremlin”.

The Faceted Chamber, one of the oldest civil buildings in Moscow, in tsarist times served as the main ceremonial reception hall, a place for meetings of the Boyar Duma, and meetings of the Zemsky Sobor. Now this is the executive hall of the residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

The chamber is called faceted because it is lined with blocks having 4 sides.

In the corner of Cathedral Square are the Verkhospassky Cathedral - part of the ancient Terem Palace, the eastern facade of the Golden Tsarina Chamber and the Church of the Deposition of the Robe - the home church of Moscow metropolitans and patriarchs.

From Cathedral Square we move to the Grand Kremlin Palace, built in the 19th century. The ensemble of the palace includes about 700 rooms, including Georgievsky, Vladimir, Andreevsky, Alexander and Catherine Halls, the Golden Tsarina Chamber, the Malachite Foyer, the Study and Bedroom of the Emperors, nine churches and the Terem Palace.

Since the Grand Kremlin Palace is the ceremonial residence of the President of the Russian Federation, you can only get there as part of a group from an organization upon a preliminary application submitted a month in advance.

Next to the BKD is the Armory Chamber, a museum with untold riches: ancient gold and silver jewelry and other items, weapons, armor, state regalia, and a collection of carriages. Here you can see Monomakh's hat, scepters, orbs, thrones, coronation dresses and ceremonial royal clothes.

The same building houses the Diamond Fund - the national treasury of Russia, a repository of precious stones and nuggets, ceremonial jewelry Russian tsars and emperors. This is where the Great Imperial Crown, made on the occasion of the coronation of Catherine II, is located. The crown is adorned with 5,000 diamonds, 75 large pearls and a very large rare dark red spinel gemstone.

View from the Armory to the Vodovzvodnaya, Borovitskaya towers and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

The amusing palace - the chambers of boyar Miloslavsky is better visible from the Alexander Garden; it is located near the Kremlin wall between the Trinity and Commandant towers. In 1672, fun events were held here - performances for the amusement of the kings, which gave the name to the palace. Under Peter the Great, the Police Department was located in the Poteshny Palace, and today the services of the Commandant’s Office were located.

How to get to the Kremlin

On public transport: the nearest metro stations are the Lenin Library, Aleksandrovsky Garden, Borovitskaya and Arbatskaya of the blue Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line. The Kremlin is also easily accessible on foot from many central stations: Okhotny Ryad, Revolution Square, Teatralnaya and others.

Opening hours

The territory of the Kremlin and cathedral-museums of Cathedral Square:

from May 16 to September 30 - daily, except Thursdays, from 9-30 to 18-00 (ticket offices are open from 9-00 to 16-30)
from October 1 to May 15 - daily, except Thursdays, from 10-00 to 17-00 (ticket offices are open from 9-30 to 16-00)

The Armory is open for sessions from 10-00 to 18-00 every day except Thursday. Sessions start: 10-00, 12-00, 14-30, 16-30

Diamond fund - daily, except Thursdays, from 10-00 to 17-20 for sessions. Break - from 13-00 to 14-00. Session duration is 40 minutes. Ticket sales for morning sessions begin at 9:00 a.m., and for evening sessions at 1:00 p.m. Morning sessions: 10-00, 10-20, 10-40, 11-00, 11-20, 12-00, 12-20. Evening sessions: 14-00, 15-00, 15-20, 16-00, 16-20, 16-40, 17-00, 17-20.

The Diamond Fund does not work on holidays. More information about the operating hours can be found on the official website: gokhran.ru/ru/diamond-fund/contacts.phtml

It is rare, but it happens that access to the Kremlin is closed in connection with ceremonial events, meetings of heads of foreign states, receptions on the occasion public holidays and other events.

Ticket prices

Single ticket (territory, cathedrals, exhibitions)— visit to the territory of the Kremlin, cathedral-museums of Cathedral Square, exhibition halls of the Patriarchal Chambers, the exhibition “Treasures and Antiquities of the Moscow Kremlin” in the basement of the Annunciation Cathedral, an exhibition of wooden sculpture in the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, exhibitions in the annex of the Archangel Cathedral:

adults - 500 rubles
Russian students and pensioners - 250 rubles, without the possibility of visiting museums (only the territory) - free
children under 16 years of age, members of large families, disabled people of groups 1 and 2 and other preferential categories of citizens - free
for persons under 18 years of age, the second Tuesday of every month is free
in Days cultural heritage single ticket is free for everyone

Single tickets are sold online on the official website of the Moscow Kreml.ru (except for free and discounted ones) and at the box office in the Alexander Garden on the day of the visit.

— visits are carried out by separate ticket, the price includes an audio guide:

adults - 700 rubles
Russian students and pensioners - 350 rubles
children under 16 years of age, members of large families, disabled people of groups 1 and 2 and other preferential categories of citizens - free

Entrance tickets to the Armory Chamber are sold on the day of the visit if tickets are available at the box office in the Alexander Garden and via the Internet on the official website of the Moscow Kremlin kreml.ru (except for free and discounted tickets).

Attention! Purchasing tickets online for a specific session does not guarantee that you will receive additional free or discounted tickets for the same session on the day of your museum visit. Free and discount tickets are issued only if they are available at the box office, on a first-come, first-served basis. The museum's capacity does not allow for an unlimited number of tickets to be allocated for each session.

Diamond fund— you can buy tickets at the box office No. 4 and No. 5 in the Alexander Garden on the day of your visit to a specific session. The ticket price includes a tour.

adults - 500 rubles
schoolchildren, students, pensioners, members of large families - 100 rubles
disabled children, non-working disabled people of groups 1 and 2 and other preferential categories of citizens - free

The number of tickets for each session is limited.

If you want to visit only the Armory Chamber and/or the Diamond Fund, entry is possible through the Borovitskaya Tower.

The queue at the box office and at the entrance is least in the cold season on weekdays, most of all in the warm season on good weather on weekends, especially on Saturday in the morning - because of the opportunity to watch the changing of the guard ceremony on Cathedral Square.

Excursions

The Kremlin excursion center offers sightseeing and thematic excursions on the territory of the Kremlin, the Armory Chamber, cathedral-museums and museum exhibitions for organized groups and individual visitors as part of a team group.

Prices for excursions around the Moscow Kremlin, the procedure for registration and payment for excursions, see the official website: kreml.ru

Free mobile guide to the Kremlin territory - izi.travel/ru/7cce-moskva-kreml/ru

Photography

Amateur photo and video shooting in cathedral museums, the Armory and Diamond Fund prohibited.

Dolgoruky's Kremlin was tiny: it fit between the modern Tainitskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers. It was surrounded by a wooden wall 1,200 meters long.

At first this fortress was called a city, and the lands around it were called a suburb. When it appeared, the fortress was renamed Old city. And only after construction in 1331 the fortress was called the Kremlin, which meant “fortress in the center of the city.”

The word "comes from the Old Russian "krom" or "kremnos" (solid) - this was the name of the central part of ancient cities. Kremlin fortress walls and towers were usually placed at the highest places.

The word “Kremlin” could also come from the so-called “kremlin” (strong) wood from which city walls were built. And in 1873, researcher A.M. Kubarev suggested that this toponym could come from the Greek language, where “kremnos” means “steepness, steep mountain over a bank or ravine." The Moscow Kremlin really stands on a mountain on a steep river bank, and the words “kremn” and “kremnos” may have entered Russian speech with the Greek clergy who arrived in Moscow in the late 1320s along with Metropolitan Theognostus.

Guide to Architectural Styles

The Moscow Kremlin stands on Borovitsky Hill, at the confluence of the Moscow River and. Behind the walls of the fortress with an area of 9 hectares, residents of the surrounding villages could hide from danger.

Over time, the plantings grew. The fortress grew with them. In the 14th century, under Ivan Kalita, new walls of the Moscow Kremlin were built: wooden outside, coated with clay, stone inside. Since 1240, Rus' was under the Tatar-Mongol yoke, and the Moscow princes managed to build new fortresses in the center of the captured country!

The Kremlin under Dmitry Donskoy (after the fire of 1365) was built from white stone. Then the walls were almost 2 kilometers long - 200 meters shorter than today.

Fires and an earthquake in 1446 damaged the fortress, and under Ivan III at the end of the 15th century the Moscow Kremlin was rebuilt. For this purpose, Italian architects - specialists in fortification - Aristotle Fiorovanti, Pietro Antonio Solari, Marco Ruffo were invited. They built not just a fortress, but a holy city. The legendary Constantinople was laid out in three corners on all sides, seven miles apart, so the Italian craftsmen placed 7 red-brick towers (together with the corner ones) on each side of the Moscow Kremlin and tried to maintain the same distance from the center - . In this form and within these boundaries, the Moscow Kremlin has survived to this day.

The Kremlin walls turned out so good that no one has ever taken possession of them.

How to read facades: a cheat sheet on architectural elements

Two water lines and the slopes of Borovitsky Hill already gave the fortress a strategic advantage, and in the 16th century the Kremlin turned into an island: a canal was dug along the northeastern wall that connected the Neglinnaya and Moscow rivers. The southern wall of the fortress was built first, since it faced the river and was of great strategic importance - merchant ships arriving along the Moscow River moored here. Therefore, Ivan III ordered the removal of all buildings south of the Kremlin walls - since that time nothing has been built here except earthen ramparts and bastions.

In plan, the Kremlin walls form an irregular triangle with an area of about 28 hectares. On the outside they are made of red brick, but inside they are built from the white stone of the old walls of the Kremlin of Dmitry Donskoy, and for greater strength they are filled with lime. They were built from half-pound bricks (weighing 8 kg). In proportions it resembled a large loaf of black bread. It was also called two-handed, because it could only be lifted with two hands. At the same time, brick was an innovation in Rus' at that time: they used to build from white stone and plinth (something in between brick and tile).

The height of the Kremlin walls ranges from 5 to 19 meters (depending on the topography), and in some places reaches the height of a six-story building. Along the perimeter of the walls there is a continuous passage 2 meters wide, but from the outside it is hidden by 1,045 merlon battlements. These M-shaped battlements are a typical feature of Italian fortification architecture (they were used to mark fortresses by supporters of imperial power in Italy). In everyday life they are called “swallowtail”. From below, the teeth seem small, but their height reaches 2.5 meters and their thickness is 65-70 centimeters. Each battlement is made of 600 half-pound bricks, and almost all the battlements have loopholes. During the battle, the archers covered the gaps between the battlements with wooden shields and fired through the cracks. Every prong is a sagittarius, people said.

The walls of the Moscow Kremlin were surrounded by rumors of underground wars. They defended the fortress from undermining. There was also a system of secret underground passages under the walls. In 1894, archaeologist N.S. Shcherbatov discovered them under almost all the towers. But his photographs disappeared in the 1920s.

Dungeons and secret passages of Moscow

There are 20 towers in the Moscow Kremlin. They played a key role in monitoring the approaches to the fortress and in defense. Many of the towers were drive-through, with gates. But now three are open for travel to the Kremlin: Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya.

Corner towers have a round or polyhedral shape and contain By secret passages and wells to supply the fortress with water, and the remaining towers are quadrangular. This is understandable: the corner towers were supposed to “look” into everything external sides, and the rest - forward, since they were covered from the sides by their neighbors. Also, the passage towers were additionally protected by diversion towers. Of these, only Kutafya has survived.

In general, in the Middle Ages, the towers of the Moscow Kremlin looked different - they did not have hipped tops, but there were wooden watchtowers. Then the fortress had a more severe and impregnable character. Now the walls and towers have lost their defensive significance. The gable roof also did not survive: it burned down in the 18th century.

By the 16th century, the Kremlin in Moscow acquired the appearance of a formidable and impregnable fortress. Foreigners called it a “castle” on Borovitsky Hill.

The Kremlin has been at the center of political and historical events many times. Russian tsars were crowned here and foreign ambassadors were received here. The Polish interventionists and the boyars who opened the gates for them took refuge here. The Kremlin tried to blow up Napoleon fleeing from Moscow. The Kremlin was going to be rebuilt according to Bazhenov’s grandiose project...

What can be compared with this Kremlin, which, surrounded by battlements, flaunting the golden domes of cathedrals, reclines on high mountain, How crown of sovereignty on the forehead of the formidable ruler?.. He is the altar of Russia, on it many sacrifices worthy of the fatherland should be and are already being performed... No, it is impossible to describe neither the Kremlin, nor its battlements, nor its dark passages, nor its magnificent palaces... You have to see, see... you have to feel everything that they say to the heart and imagination!..

During Soviet times, the Moscow Kremlin housed the government. Access to the territory was closed, and the dissatisfied ones were “calmed down” by the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Ya. Sverdlov.

Undoubtedly, the bourgeoisie and the philistines will raise a howl - the Bolsheviks, they say, are desecrating holy places, but this should least of all bother us. The interests of the proletarian revolution are higher than prejudices.

During the reign of Soviet power architectural ensemble The Moscow Kremlin suffered more than in its entire history. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 54 structures inside the Kremlin walls. Less than half have survived. For example, in 1918, on the personal instructions of V.I. Lenin's monument to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was demolished (he was killed in February 1905), and at the same time the monument to Alexander II was destroyed (a monument to Lenin was later erected on its pedestal). And in 1922, more than 300 pounds of silver and 2 pounds of gold, more than 1,000 precious stones, and even the shrine of Patriarch Hermogenes were taken from the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin.

Congresses of the Soviets were held, a kitchen was set up in the Golden Chamber, and a dining room was set up in Granovita. The Small Nicholas Palace turned into a club for workers of Soviet institutions, a gym was opened in the Catherine Church of the Ascension Monastery, and a Kremlin hospital was opened in the Chudov Monastery. In the 1930s, the monasteries and the Small Nicholas Palace were demolished, and all East End The Kremlin has been turned into ruins.

The Kremlin: a mini-guide to the territory

During the Great Patriotic War, the Kremlin was one of the main targets of aerial bombardment of Moscow. But thanks to camouflage, the fortress “disappeared.”

The red brick walls were repainted, and to imitate separate buildings, windows and doors were drawn on them. The battlements on top of the walls and the stars of the Kremlin towers were covered with plywood roofs, and the green roofs were painted to look rusty.

Camouflage made it difficult to German pilots search for the Kremlin, but did not save us from bombing. In Soviet times, they said that not a single bomb fell on the Kremlin. In fact, 15 high-explosive and 150 small incendiary bombs fell. And a bomb weighing a ton hit, and part of the building collapsed. British Prime Minister Churchill, who later arrived in the Kremlin, even stopped and took off his hat as he passed by the gap.

In 1955, the Moscow Kremlin was partially opened to the public - it turned into an open-air museum. At the same time, residence in the Kremlin was prohibited (the last residents left in 1961).

In 1990, the Kremlin ensemble was included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage sites. At the same time, the Kremlin became a government residence, but retained its museum functions. Therefore, there are uniformed employees on the territory who quickly guide lost tourists “on the right path.” But every year more and more corners of the Kremlin become open for walks.

The Kremlin is also often filmed for film. And in the film “The Third Meshchanskaya” you can even see the Moscow Kremlin before the demolition of the Chudov and Ascension monasteries.

Mini-guide to the Kremlin walls and towers

They say that......The Kremlin walls were built by Ivan the Terrible (Ivan III was also called “The Terrible”). He called 20,000 village men and ordered:
- So that everything will be ready in a month!
They paid little - 15 kopecks a day. Therefore, many died of hunger. Many were beaten to death. New workers were brought in to take their place. And a month later the Kremlin walls were completed. That's why they say that the Kremlin is standing on its bones.
...in the lower tiers of the bell tower the shadow of Ivan IV often wanders. Even the memories of Nicholas II have been preserved, how on the eve of the coronation the spirit of Ivan the Terrible appeared to him and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
And when False Dmitry was killed in the Moscow Kremlin, Muscovites sometimes began to see the outlines of the Pretender’s figure flashing in the twilight between the battlements of the walls. He was also seen on the August night of 1991 - before the coup attempt.
And one evening, the watchman on duty in the building next to the Patriarchal Chambers (there was housing there under Stalin) raised the alarm. One of the apartments on the second floor was occupied by the People's Commissar of the NKVD Yezhov, and the duty officer's post was located in the hallway of the former Yezhov apartments. Around midnight, the watchman heard footsteps on the stairs, then the jingling of a key in the lock, and the creak of a door opening and closing. He realized that someone had left the building and tried to apprehend the intruder. The duty officer jumped out onto the porch and saw, a few meters from the house, a small figure in a long overcoat and cap, well known from old photographs. But the ghost of the security officer melted into thin air. We saw Yezhov several more times.
The spirit of Stalin did not appear in the Moscow Kremlin, but the ghost of Lenin is a frequent guest. The spirit of the leader made his first visit during his lifetime - on October 18, 1923. According to eyewitnesses, the terminally ill Lenin unexpectedly arrived from Gorki to the Kremlin. Alone, without security, he went to his office and walked around the Kremlin, where he was greeted by a detachment of cadets from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The head of security was at first taken aback, and then rushed to call Gorki to find out why Vladimir Ilyich was unaccompanied. Then he learned that Lenin had not gone anywhere. After this incident, real devilry began in the leader’s Kremlin apartment: the sounds of moving furniture, the crackling of a telephone, the creaking of floorboards and even voices were heard. This continued until Ilyich’s apartment with all his belongings was transported to Gorki. But until now, security and Kremlin employees sometimes see on frosty January evenings

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 State Historical Museum, the second - 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. High location The Kremlin made it possible to spot enemies from a greater distance, and the rivers served as a natural barrier on 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. Kalita in ancient Rus' called 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 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 to the Russian style. 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 official version due to lack of funding, unofficially 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.

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