|
| View of the Kremlin from Manege Square |
The Moscow Kremlin (kremlin means fortress or citadel in Russian) is a fortified citadel in the heart of Moscow that nowadays serves as the seat of the Russian President. It is one of the most famous historical sites in the world and a must-see for all visitors to Moscow. The massive fortress walls of the Kremlin are red in color, which has led some to falsely presume that this is why the famous Red Square is called as it is. The Moscow Kremlin consists of four palaces, four cathedrals, the fortress walls and towers. The famous Saint Basil's Cathedral is located right next to the Kremlin, sometimes leading to confusion between the two, although the cathedral is not a part of the Kremlin complex.
History of the Kremlin goes back to the 11th century when Slavic tribes occupied the location, although it is unsure when the first Kremlin was built. The first mention of the word Kremlin dates from 1331. Originally it was built in wood, destroyed by Mongols in the 13th century and rebuilt in oak in the next century. In 1300 the metropolitan bishop of Rus, Metropolitan Peter, moved his see from Kiev to Moscow, and the city needed new churches so in the 1320s and 1330s the first stone structures were added to the wooden fortress. The limestone built fortress replaced the oak palisade in the 1368 during the reign of the Dmitri Donskoi. The fortress proved to be impregnable for the Mongols under Tokhtamysh Khan who besieged it during 14th century. It was in the 15th century that the Kremlin as we know it today came into existence: the Grand Prince Ivan III (1440 - 1505) brought Italian architects to supervise and lead the reconstruction of the citadel and lavishly design its interior. The red walls of the Kremlin that still stand today were built at that time, in the years between 1485 and 1495. The fortress walls are 2,235 meters long and between 5 and 19 meters high, depending on the terrain. The thickness of the walls varies between 3.5 and 6.5 meters. Back then Kremlin was separated from the rest of the Moscow by the wide moat (30 meters!). Other tsars continued to expand palaces and churches within the fortress.
Kremlin remained the central Russian fortress until Peter the Great moved the country's capital to the newly built Saint Petersburg. The legend says that Peter was forced to flee Kremlin in panick during the Moscow Uprising of 1682 and because of that experience disliked Kremlin ever since. During the Imperial period of the Russia, Kremlin was more or less neglected as all important government seats were in Saint Petersburg. It carried only the symbolical importance as the place where coronations were held. Notable exception was the major reconstruction undertaken by Vasily Bazhenov for the Empress Catherine the Great in 1773 which in the end was not completed because of the lack of funds. After Napoleon captured Moscow, French held Kremlin for about a month, before starting their retreat. Napoleon ordered a complete destruction of the fortress and some of it's parts were blown up, but heavy rains put out the fires and preserved it from total annihilation. Repairs and additions of two new towers (increasing the total number of towers to twenty) took place in 19th century. After Soviets came to power they once again moved the capital of the country back to Moscow, making Kremlin their residence. Lenin's office is still preserved as a museum exhibit. Stalin also had his quarters in Kremlin. After Lenin died, his mausoleum was added under the Kremlin wall on the Red Square turning it in to the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. All the symbols of the pre-revolutionary Russia were removed, including the golden eagles which were replaced by big red stars made from ruby glass in the thirties. Many of the beautiful old cathedrals were also demolished to make room for the military school and Palace of Congresses.
|
| Cathedral of the Dormition is one of three cathedrals standing on the Cathedral Square |
The center of the Kremlin is the Cathedral Square (Sobornaya Square) which is surrounded by three cathedrals: The Cathedral of the Dormition was built in 1475-1479 to a design by Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti. It was the main church of Muscovite Russia where all Russian tsars were crowned, and several metropolitan bishops and patriarchs lay buried here. Ten years later, in 1489, another cathedral was added to the Kremlin, the Cathedral of the Annunciation. The cathedral was reconstructed in the 16th during which four single-domed chapels and two false domes were added to it giving it its current nine-domed appearance. The beautiful whitestone structure of the cathedral is decorated in fretwork which shows influences of Italian Renaissance, while the interior of the cathedral is painted in murals and features multi-tiered iconostasis with icons dating from the 14 - 17th century, including those of the famous medieval icon painter Andrei Rublev. The last cathedral that was added to the Cathedral Square is the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael: it was built between 1505 and 1508 to a design of Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin Noviy and is decorated with frescoes dating from the 16th and 17th centuries and icons dating from the 17th - 19th century. The interior also features magnificent church chandeliers from the 17th century.
Three other buildings stand facing the Cathedral Square: the Palace of the Facets, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe and the Church of the Twelve Apostles. The Palace of the Facets is the oldest secular structure in the Kremlin. It used to form a part of the larger royal palace which was built in late 15th century during the reign of Ivan the Great; all that is left today of the former royal palace is this palace which contains the lavishly decorated hall that was the throne room and banquet hall of the tsars during the 16th and 17th centuries. The hall is now used for receptions. The Church of the Deposition of the Robe was built in late 15th century, probably by the same architects who constructed the nearby Annunciation Cathedral. The interior of this single-domed church is decorated with a four-tiered iconostasis dating from the 17th century that tells the story of Virgin Mary's life. The icons were painted by the royal icon-painter Nasary Istomin Savin, and other masters of icon painting. The Church of the Deposition occasionally holds the exhibition of Russian woodcarvings dating from the 15th to 19th century. The final structure gracing the Cathedral Square is the five-domed Church of the Twelve Apostles built in the 17th century. The interior is decorated in icons dating from the 17th century, many of which previously decorated other cathedrals in Kremlin. Notable icons which are on display include the image of Theodore the Stratilates painted by Simon Ushakov, icon of Crucifixion with Apostles' Passions painted by Fyodor Rozhnov and many others.
|
| Grand Kremlin Palace |
The Grand Kremlin Palace (also called the Great Kremlin Palace, Russian Bolshoy Kremlyovsky dvorets) was built in mid-19th century by a group of architects under supervision of Konstantin Thon, the official architect during the reign of Nicholas I and the leading architect of Russian Revival style. It was built on the site of the former Baroque palace and the Church of St John the Baptist which were demolished to make room for the palace which was to be the main residence of the Moscow tsars. The majestic building that was built in order to emphasize the magnificence of Russian autocracy is 125 m long and 47 m high and spreads across an area of 25,000 sq m. It has over 700 rooms altogether, including five lavishly decorated ceremonial halls (named Georgievsky, Vladimirsky, Aleksandrovsky, Andreyevsky, and Ekaterinsky), the main hall with a staircase, living quarters of the royal family and service quarters which were located on the ground floor. The Grand Kremlin Palace is nowadays the official residence of the Russian president, and is mostly used for diplomatic receptions and various official ceremonies: the Vladimirsky Hall is the main hall where international treaties are signed. The Grand Kremlin Palace incorporates some other buildings as well, including several churches, the Palace of Facets and the Terem Palace, often considered to be the most beautiful of Kremlin palaces. Terem Palace (or Teremnoy Palace), which was the main residence of the Moscow tsars in the 17th century, resides on the spot where the first royal palace was constructed at the turn of the 16th century. The splendidly decorated palace is today closed to the public, unfortunately, so you can't see its colorful interiors decorated in the Russian Revival style, but you can glimpse its roofs and eleven golden domes behind the Church of the Deposition of the Robe.
|
| Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Assumption Belfry |
Ivan the Great Bell Tower is the tallest bell tower in the Moscow Kremlin, rising to 81 meters. It stands on the location where Moscow's first stone bell tower was built in 1329. The current bell tower was erected in early 16th century (for the the cathedrals that stood on the Cathedral Square, and which didn't have their own belfries), and raised to its current height of 81 meters in 1600. It has 24 bells, among them the Great Assumption Bell dating from the 19th century, the biggest of all Kremlin bells. Ivan the Great Bell Tower allegedly stands at the precise geographic center of Moscow. Right next to the bell tower is the stunning Tsar Bell, the largest bell in the world, dating from mid-18th century. It weighs 216 tons, it's 6.14 meters high and measures 6.6 meters in diameter. There were two bells before the current one which were named Tsar Bell: the second one, dating from 1654, was destroyed in a fire in 1701 and its remains were used as material in casting the new bell. The bell is not whole - a large piece of it cracked off while it was in the casting pit, and today the bell is displayed with the crack visible. Next to the bell is the Tsar Cannon (Tsar Pushka), a huge cannon that weighs some 38 tons. The cannon dates from 1586 and has never been fired; it was made to represent a symbol of Russian military engineering and strength.
Next to the Grand Kremlin Palace is the Kremlin Armoury, one of the oldest museums in Moscow. The Armoury originates in the royal arsenal that was established in the 15th century and which brought together the finest of Moscow's artists and gunsmiths to work in its workshops and produce weapons and exquisite pieces of jewelery. In the 17th century, iconography and pictorial studios were also added to the arsenal. The current building that houses the Armoury was built in 1844-1851 to a design of the famous architect Konstantin Thon, the leading architect of Russian Revival style. Today the Armoury is home to the Russian Diamond Fund and houses an extensive collection of unique items of Russian, European and Eastern applied arts, featuring artifacts that date from as early as the 5th century. Among the most interesting items in the museum are Russian Imperial regalia, including the Imperial Crown of Russia, the Monomakh's Cap, which was the crown of all Muscovite rulers to Peter the Great, the ivory throne of Ivan the Terrible and various others items. On display at the Armoury are also the necklaces from Ryazan, dating from the 12th century, golden and silver tableware, embroidery decorated with gold and pears and numerous Fabergé eggs, the jeweled eggs made by Peter Carl Fabergé (and his assistants) for Russian tsars.
The massive fortress walls of the Kremlin complex, which is situated next to the Red Square, are red in color, which has led some to falsely presume that this is why the famous Red Square is called as it is. The name of the Red Square in fact derives from Krasnaya ploshchad which in Russian means "beautiful square" - but the word krasnaya is also used to refer to the color red.
Red Square – this Moscow's square is the heart of whole of Russia and the center of its capital city. It's importance is visible in the aerial photos of the square which show Red Square in the heart of the spider web of Moscow's main prospekts and avenues. Arguably, one of the most famous town squares in the whole world, it binds and connects some of other main attractions in Moscow: the monumental Kremlin, Lenin's mausoleum, Saint Basil's Cathedral, the zero kilometer, the GUM (Glavnyi Univerzalnyi Magazin) shopping mall, the Kitai-Gorod merchant quarter, State Historical Museum, Iberian Gate and Chapel, and Kazan Cathedral. The origin of it's name is connected with old Russian expression for "beautiful" - krasnaya, which was later also used to designated the color red. Some urban legends inappropriately linked the name of Red Square with ideological symbolism of communism or the red bricks of the Kremlin walls and Saint Basil's Cathedral. Ironically, the cobbled grounds of the square are black and gray, not red.
History of the Red Square is as rich and important as that of the Moscow itself. It was created by edict of Ivan III who demolished wooden buildings which were located in the present location, thus creating the space for the future square. At first the Red Square served as the main marketplace of Moscow, but later was used as important place for the coronation of some of the Russian tsars. Subsequently other official ceremonies were conducted on the Red Square, making it symbolically the center of the Russian politics. That symbolism became so strong that some other Russian cities also introduced Red Square as the name of their principal squares, likeYelets, Suzdal and Pereslavl-Zalessky.
When Moscow became capital of the Soviet Union, Red Square became one of the most important sites in the whole USSR. Communists demolished some of the surrounding buildings to make room for elaborate military parades. Some of those parades became legendary, especially one from the beginning of the Great Patriotic War against Hitler, when troops left after the parade straight for the battlefield, located just several kilometers away. Other was the gigantic victory parade in 1945 after the fall of the Berlin, when hundreds of thousands of captured German soldiers paraded trough the square along with victorious Russian tanks. During the cold war, Red Square often featured parades that included even intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles mounted on trucks. After the fall of the Soviet Union, parades were put to an end (with notable exception of recent years of Vladimir Putin's rule) and some of the older demolished buildings were restored back in their place. In the nineties, Red Square saw concerts of some of the biggest international music stars like Pink Floyd, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul McCartney, Shakira and others.
In the 1987, on May 28, a German pilot known as Mathias Rust managed to land his small aircraft next to Saint Basil's Cathedral, causing a great international affair and blowing a severe strike to the Soviet leadership and their air control service. The fact Rust was able to land in the heart of Moscow during the cold war that was still on, was a byproduct of strange array of coincidences and a great amount of luck. He served 432 days as a prisoner in Lefortovo jail, sentenced for breaching Soviet border, disregard of aviation laws and hooliganism, before being released on the parole. His venture became legendary.
Lenin Mausoleum (Mavzoléy Lénina), Lenin's final resting place, is located on the Moscow's Red Square along the Kremlin's wall, just opposite to one of the entrances to the GUM Depaertment Store. The mausoleum was designed in a way to bear resemblance to some other similar structures of the world, such as the Tomb of the Cyrus the Great. Lenin's body was embalmed after he died in 1924 to be preserved for the future generations, and has been on display at the Red Square ever since (except on few occasions during wartime when it was removed to prevent damage to it). The mausoleum was initially constructed out of wood, but the wooden tomb was demolished in 1930 and the still standing granite construction was put in it's place, to help improve preservation conditions. The tomb is open every day of the week except Mondays and Fridays, from 10am to 1pm, and there is usually a long line to see it (taking photos or recording video is not allowed).
|
| St Basil's Cathedral on the Red Square and the Kremlin walls with the Spasskaya Tower |
The world famous onion-shaped domes of the Saint Basil's Cathedral (it's full name being Cathedral of Saint Basil the Blessed or The Cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God) are perhaps the best-known site of Moscow city - some sort of it's visual signature. It is located on the Red Square right next to Kremlin, which is probably the reason why visitors often confuse it with the Kremlin fortress. Saint Basil's Cathedral is a multi-tented church that was built in the same fashion like other similar contemporary churches of it's time (Saint John the Baptist Church in Dyakovo and Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye ). It was built between 1555 and 1561 during the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible to celebrate the victory over the Kazan Khanate and the fall of the city of Kazan (the Russian army captured the city after one month of siege, using artillery and sappers, killing around 100000 people in the process). The original concept of the Church was to build several separated chapels, but addition of the central tower unified them in a single building.
Chapels were supposed to celebrate those saints who had their feast days during the time tsar won a battle. Some historians suggested that elements of the Cathedral were inspired by the architecture of the city of Kazan and it's Qolsharif mosque or those of the city of Samarkand, but that was not confirmed. In front of the Cathedral there is a statue of Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin who raised the army of volounteers and defeated invading Polish army during the Time of Troubles (1598 - 1613). Unlike western cathedrals, Saint Basil's Cathedral offers much more private and intimate interior for the worshipers, because it lacks big nave and one great single space. Each chapel is decorated with mosaics, wall paints and holy icons. There is an small admission fee for the tourists with additional payments for taking pictures and filming, although nobody controls the later two activities.
The pedestrian Arbat Street is one of Moscow's most famous and popular streets. Situated in the Arbat District, the street extends between two prominent "ring roads" - the Boulevard Ring and the Garden Ring - running west from Arbat Square (part of the Boulevard Ring) towards Smolenskaya Square (part of the Garden Ring). Throughout the centuries the Arbat has been the most preferred living area among the Moscow artists and authors, and today is much loved by tourists as it abounds in numerous shops, restaurants, cafés and even street entertainment which is provided by street performers. In the numerous restaurants on the Arbat the visitors can sample all kinds of food, from French pastry to genuine Lebanese kebabs; while the cafés offer everything from regular, ordinary coffee to expensive and tasty wines. You can even have a milkshake in a restaurant furnished in the style of a 1950s American Diner.
Despite all the modern additions to it, Arbat Street has managed to retain its historical and artistic charm, which is also one of the reasons it is so popular among visitors and locals alike. The Arbat, and the surrounding streets, is an area that has been popular among the Moscow artists, authors and aristocracy since the 18th century. Of the famous Russians who lived here, the most well known is the notable Romantic poet Alexander Pushkin. A statue depicting him with his wife Natalia Goncharova stands in front of the house where they lived after they married, at No 53. The same house now holds the Pushkin Memorial Apartment, one of two Moscow museums dedicated to this famous poet (the other is the Pushkin State Museum, located at Prechistenka Street 12/2 in Khamovniki District). At the beginning of the street, the magnificent Art Nouveau house at No 2 is the home of the famous Prague Restaurant that was opened here in the 1870s. The famous former patrons of the restaurant include the short-story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov and painter Ilya Repin. Further along is the Nikolopeskovsky Lane, where famous Russian composer Alexander Scriabin lived at the beginning of the 20th century. At the junction of Arbat Street and Krivoarbatsky Lane stands a mansion dating from the 18th century, the oldest building in this area. The Melnikov House, the house and studio of the famous Russian avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov and a splendid example of Moscow's constructivist architecture, is also located in the Krivoarbatsky Lane. Behind this lane is the Sivtsev-Vrazhek Lane, where one finds the former residence of Pushkin's eldest daughter, Maria Gartung, on whom the famous 19th century novelist Leo Tolstoy modeled his famous character Anna Karenina. On the other side of the Arbat is the Spasopeskovsky Lane, named after a 17th century church that still stands here. Located in this street is the Neoclassical Spaso House, originally built as the mansion of the millionare Nikolay Vtorov. Today the mansion is the official residence of US Ambassador.
At the end of Arbat Street stands one of prime examples of monumental Stalinist architecture - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The building which houses the Ministry is one of Stalin's "Seven Sisters", a group of seven monumental skyscrapers build in the Baroque and Gothic styles that include also the Moscow State University, Hotel Ukraina, Hotel Leningradskaya, Kotyelnicheskaya Embankment Building, Kurdinskaya Square Building and the Red Gates Administrative Building. The the imposing building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stands 172 meters tall and was allegedly inspired by a neo-gothic New York hospital. Its exterior features projecting pilasters and pylons, while its impressive interior is decorated with metal and stone.
