Kremlin walls and towers. The Moscow Kremlin - the history of the origin and development of the Kremlin Walls what happened in them

The oldest center of Moscow - the Moscow Kremlin- was founded as a fortification of a small settlement located on Borovitsky Hill, when its history began.

The first mentions of Moscow were found in the annals for 1147. They also say that the wooden walls of the Kremlin were erected by order of Yuri Dolgoruky. Initially, the size of the fortress was small, the length of the wall reached 1200 meters.

Versions of origin There are several words "Kremlin".

According to one of them, this name comes from the name of the central part of the ancient cities, called "Krom". Another version suggests that this word could have come from the "kremleny", a very strong tree used to build the fortress walls. There is even an assumption that the roots of this word are Greek, that is, "flint" - a steep mountain, steepness over a ravine or coast. Judging by where the fortress was built, this version has every right to exist.

But all this does not change the essence, which lies in the fact that the Moscow Kremlin is the largest surviving fortress in Europe.

And at first it was a small fortification on an area of about nine hectares, where the inhabitants of the townships located outside the walls of the fortress could take refuge in the event of a threat of an enemy attack. Over time, the settlements grew, and the fortress grew along with them.

New Kremlin walls were erected during the reign of Ivan Kalita. They were stone inside, and outside they were wooden and plastered with clay.

It is noteworthy that even in the difficult years of the yoke in Russia, the Moscow princes rebuilt the existing and erected new fortresses. So, under Dmitry Donskoy, the Kremlin, damaged in a fire in 1365, was rebuilt. For the construction of the walls, the length of which became about two kilometers, and the Kremlin towers, white stone was used. Since then, in the annals, Moscow began to be called white-stone.

At the very beginning of the 18th century, Peter I ordered the removal of government offices outside the Kremlin. All dilapidated buildings are demolished, and the Arsenal building is laid. It was built from 1702 to 1736. From 1776 to 1788, the Senate building with a spectacular round hall covered with a dome was built in the Kremlin.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the idea of building the Grand Kremlin Palace appeared. There were many projects, but it was built according to the drawings of the architect K.A. Tones. The years of construction are 1839-1849.

A tangible damage was inflicted on the buildings of the Moscow Kremlin in 1812.

Napoleon, during his retreat from Moscow, ordered to blow up the Kremlin. Mines were laid under buildings, walls and towers. Some explosions were prevented thanks to Russian patriots, but, nevertheless, significant destruction nevertheless occurred. After the French emperor was expelled from the country, they began to restore the destroyed palaces, towers and walls, then they completed the Armory and the Grand Kremlin Palace. In those days, the Moscow Kremlin was accessible to the public. Visitors entered the territory through the open Spassky Gate, having previously bowed to the icon of the Savior.

Kremlin in Moscow after the 1917 revolution

In 1917, there were cadets on the territory of the Kremlin. As a result of the shelling, which was carried out by the revolutionary troops, the Moscow Kremlin was partially destroyed: the walls, the Small Nicholas Palace, almost all the cathedrals, the Beklemishevskaya, Nikolskaya and Spasskaya towers were damaged.

In 1918 V.I. Lenin and the entire government of Soviet Russia, since the capital was transferred to Moscow. Because of this, the bells in the Kremlin are silenced, churches are closed, Muscovites are deprived of free access to the territory.

The dissatisfaction of believers with the closure of cathedrals was quickly stopped by Yakov Sverdlov, who was not slow to declare the primacy of the interests of the revolution over all prejudices. In 1922, more than thirty kilograms of gold, about five hundred kilograms of silver, the shrine of Patriarch Hermogenes and more than a thousand different precious stones were seized from the religious buildings of the Moscow Kremlin.

During the Soviet era, the Kremlin architectural ensemble suffered more than in the entire previous history of its existence.

Of the 54 structures marked on the Kremlin plan at the very beginning of the last century, less than half remain. Monuments to Alexander II, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich were demolished. Congresses of Soviets began to be held in the large Kremlin palace, a public dining room was set up in the Faceted Chamber, and a kitchen in the Golden Chamber. The Catherine Church of the Ascension Monastery was adapted into a gymnasium; the Kremlin hospital is located in the Chudov Monastery. In the thirties, the Small Nicholas Palace and all the monasteries with buildings were demolished. Almost the entire eastern part of the Moscow Kremlin has turned into ruins. The Soviet power destroyed 17 churches.

Many years passed before the restoration of the Moscow Kremlin began.

To celebrate Moscow's 800th anniversary, the towers and walls were thoroughly restored. Palekh artists in the Annunciation Cathedral opened the murals of 1508. A large amount of restoration work has been carried out in the Archangel Cathedral (wall paintings have been restored). The Assumption Cathedral has also undergone a major restoration.

The ban on living in the Kremlin was introduced in 1955, and the ancient architectural ensemble becomes a museum, partially open to the public.

In today's multifaceted Moscow, the Kremlin remains a historical place that millions of tourists strive to visit, hoping to touch the history of the white-stone capital there, to feel and understand it.

The Moscow Kremlin to this day is the main socio-political, artistic, historical and religious-spiritual center of Russia. In addition, the Moscow Kremlin is the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

In 1990, UNESCO included the Moscow Kremlin, whose history continues, into the list of world cultural heritage.

Today's buildings were built mainly in 1485-1495 years not in 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 a round shape for conducting a circular attack, 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 inherent details Italian architecture of that time, which is not surprising, since they were built by Italian architects.
V 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 "dovetail" are irreplaceable elements of the panorama of the capital. On the site where the Kremlin stands, the 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 made of wood. 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 in place of the old dilapidated white-stone walls.

Technique for building the Kremlin and the plan of the fortress

Twenty Kremlin towers, connected by walls, form an irregular triangle with an area of 27.5 hectares in plan. The fortifications were built taking into account the most modern military technologies of the 15th century. Towers protrude beyond the line of the walls so that the warriors can not only fire, but also control the situation in the immediate vicinity of the walls. Round towers were erected at the corners (Vodovzvodnaya, Moskvoretskaya and Arsenalnaya) - this form was chosen both because of their greater strength and for conducting circular shelling. They also had the opportunity to arrange hidden wells with water. Most of the towers are square at the base, but quite different from each other, depending on their purpose. Passage 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 the symbolic meaning of protection, protection of the Kremlin from the penetration of evil, unclean forces. Therefore, icons can still be seen over the gates of some of the towers.

Most of the towers were supplemented with diversion arrows - fortifications that were carried out beyond the fortress walls or behind the moat for additional defense. This type of fortification fully met the requirements of the end of the 15th century. Only one of the strelnitsy towers has survived - Kutafya, covering Troitskaya and in our time serving as the main entrance for tourists to the Kremlin. During the construction of the fortifications, various measures were envisaged against the attack of the enemy. This, for example, is the device of secret underground passages leading out of the walls to protect the city from mines. A through tunnel was built inside the walls to quickly move the 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 is from 8 to 19 meters. The highest walls are located on the side of Red Square, where there was no natural oh water hedge. The walls were not built immediately, their construction began from the southeastern part (from the side of the Moskva River), continued to the east and west and was completed in 1516. The oldest Kremlin tower, Taynitskaya, was also erected on the south side.

The construction technique itself is also interesting. The walls were built on the foundation of the old ones, white-stone, the material was a large red brick, with which the front walls were laid, and the gaps were covered with the remnants of the collapsed walls of the time of Dmitry Donskoy. So from 1485 the walls of the Moscow Kremlin acquired a recognizable color. The towers were erected by visiting Italian architects (Fryaz, as they were then called): Pietro Antonio Solari, Marco Ruffo, Aleviz di Carcano. This explains their unusual, strange appearance for that time. The fact is that the design of the loopholes in the form of the famous "swallowtails" was a typical detail of Northern Italian architecture, typical of buildings in cities where the ruling "party" was the Ghibellines - supporters of rapprochement with the emperor (in contrast to the Guelphs, supporters of the Pope, who decorated the walls of their cities are battlements with a straight end). These barbs were not only a decoration: they fenced off the upper battlegrounds.

After another fire, the corner towers and passage towers were decorated with stone tents with weather vane in the 17th century. They served as watchtowers, and signal bells were also located there. In the second half of the 18th century. the famous Russian architect V.I. Bazhenov completed the project of the Kremlin Palace - a large-scale building in the classicist style, reminiscent of the architecture of French palaces. The project proposed to cover the hill leading to the cathedrals with turf - this place would become one of the first "gulbis" in Europe. To erect such a huge structure, it was required to demolish a third of the Kremlin walls. At one site, which is located near the Moskva River, work began to dismantle the fortifications, but soon, due to the lumpy growing costs, this project was curtailed. In the XIX 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 the Kremlin chimes

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

The first clock on the Kremlin, still white-stone towers was 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 be seen today, date back to the middle of the 19th century. They were made by watchmakers, brothers named Butenop - the founders of the company of the same name. At different times, the chimes sounded different melodies. From 1770 it was the song "Ah, my dear Augustine", from the middle of the XIX century. - “If our Lord is glorious in Zion”, after the revolution the clock began to play “Internationale”, and since 2000 you can hear the famous excerpt from Glinka’s opera “A Life for the Tsar”. Currently, the movement occupies three floors, and until 1937 this watch was wound by hand with a cast iron key.

Famous Kremlin towers and the history of their names

Let's dwell in a little more detail on the history of some of the towers. As already mentioned, the corner towers are the most important for defense and overall composition. The Vodovzvodnaya Tower was built by Anton Fryazin in 1488. In the XVII century. the tower was equipped with a water-lifting machine, which is why it got its name. Her 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. Decorativeness comes first, not functionality, the hand of an 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 it becomes obvious one of the functions of this tower - a place of imprisonment of the rebels. Its other name is Moskvoretskaya, as it is located on the banks of the Moskva River and occupies a strategically important position. It was from this side that the city was most often subjected to the raids of the Tatars. A secret well was built in this tower. In 1707, the loopholes for a new type of weapon were expanded in the tower, because at that time they feared Swedish intervention. 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 approx. 1492 Its other names come from the Sobakin boyars who lived nearby (Sobakin) and from the location next to Arsenal (Arsenalnaya). Thanks to the edges that form its volume, and the base expanding downwards, it gives the impression of special stability and strength. She also had a strategic secret: this is a well inside, as well as an underground passage to the Neglinnaya River.

The Borovitskaya Tower got its name from a pine forest that was on Borovitsky Hill in ancient times. The tower was built according to the design of Pietro Antonio Solari in 1490. Its design feature is the location of the arrow on the side. It is also angular, but in plan it is not round, but resembles a pyramid, which is formed from stacked fours (volumes, quadrangular at the base) and crowned with an octal (octagonal at the base). Although this tower was located off the main roads and was used for household needs, it has retained its significance to this day: it is the only permanent gateway to the Kremlin.

The Troitskaya and Kutafya towers were built by Aleviz Fryazin. Kutafya dates from 1516, Troitskaya - 1495. These towers are connected by a bridge, both were passable, and in the Kutafya tower there was only one gate, which was closed with heavy forged gratings. Today it is the main entrance to the architectural and museum complex of the Kremlin. 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 confinement for the rebels. It got its name in 1658 from the Trinity courtyard, which was 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.

In contact with

Kremlin Wall is a brick wall that surrounds the Moscow Kremlin.

The total length of the walls is 2235 m, the height is from 5 to 19 m, the thickness is from 3.5 to 6.5 m. In the plan, the walls form an irregular triangle.

The top of the wall, according to the Lombard tradition, is decorated with dovetail-shaped battlements, 1045 in total along the top of the wall. Most of the battlements have slit-like loopholes. The walls have wide embrasures covered with arches.

On the outside, the walls are smooth, on the inside, they are decorated with arched niches - a traditional technique designed to lighten and strengthen the structure of the building.

Building

Under Ivan III and his successor Vasily III, the construction of the Kremlin walls was headed by architects Anton Fryazin, Marko Fryazin, Pietro Antonio Solari and Aleviz Fryazin Stary.

Brick walls were placed along the line of white-stone ones, with a slight retreat outward. Starting from the Spasskaya Tower, the territory of the Kremlin was enlarged eastward.

Lilya Dal (Biryukova), CC BY-SA 3.0

Approximately 20 years after the construction of the Kremlin wall, the Kitaygorodskaya wall was added to it, embracing the entire Kitai-Gorod.

Bricks

For the construction of walls and towers, large (30x14x17 cm or 31x15x9 cm) bricks weighing up to 8 kg each were used.

The front walls were laid out of bricks, which were filled with white stone. The highest walls were erected along Red Square, where there was no natural water barrier.

Passages and caches

Initially, there was a through passage inside the wall through all the towers, covered with cylindrical vaults.

Benoist et Aubrun, Public Domain

Over time, most of the passage was covered with construction waste; the section between the Konstantino-Eleninskaya and Nabatnaya towers has been preserved.

There were also hiding places and passages under the walls, in some cases extending far beyond the line of fortifications.

Wall in the XVIII – XX centuries.

In 1702–36. for the construction of the arsenal building, part of the wall was dismantled, later restored.

In 1771-73. for the construction of the Kremlin Palace according to the project of V.I.Bazhenov, part of the southern wall between the Annunciation towers was also dismantled, which was later restored. The bombing of the Kremlin by the French (1812) caused heavy damage to the walls, especially the walls along Neglinnaya. Repair and restoration of the fortifications were carried out from 1817 to 1822.

In 1866-70. The restoration of the Kremlin walls and towers was carried out by architects N. A. Shokhin, P. A. Gerasimov, F. F. Richter, who sought to give the buildings their original appearance. However, many authentic details were then lost and replaced with inaccurate copies.

Heidas, CC BY-SA 3.0

Examination and partial restoration of the walls were carried out in 1931–36. The next restoration of the Kremlin walls and towers took place in 1946–53. In its course, the walls were cleaned and repaired, loopholes and parapets were restored. The restoration commission included prominent scientists and restorers: I. E. Grabar, V. N. Lazarev, M. V. Alpatov, P. D. Korin, D. P. Sukhov and others.

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Moscow Kremlin

Kremlin Wall Towers

Along the walls there are 20. 3 towers, standing in the corners of the triangle, have a circular cross-section, the rest are square.

The highest tower is Troitskaya, it has a height of 79.3 m. Most of the towers are from the second half of the 17th century. are designed in the same architectural style.

Necropolis

The northeastern section of the wall, facing the northern part of Red Square, serves as a columbarium for urns with the ashes of the leaders of the communist movement and the Soviet state. Many are also buried in the ground along this section of the wall.

In the post-Soviet period, the question of the need to transfer the necropolis to another place was repeatedly raised for political, religious and other reasons.

The Kremlin wall between the Annunciation and Taynitskaya towers has a vertical ledge and a reduced pitch of two teeth, as if during the construction from different sides they made a mistake in joining. This "mistake" divides the wall between the towers in an approximate ratio of 1 to 2, counting from the Annunciation.

The first mention of the word Kremlin appears in the Resurrection Chronicle in 1331, when it was still light wooden walls. In 1339, Ivan Kalita changed them to new wooden walls made of solid oak, and in 1367, Prince Dmitry Donskoy erected impregnable white-stone walls in place of the old walls.

(The walls of the Moscow Kremlin under Ivan III at the end of the 15th century. Painting by A. Vasnetsov)

In 1485, architects from Italy Mark Fryazin, Anton Fryazin, Aloiso di Carcano began the long work of erecting the walls of the Moscow Kremlin after the construction of the first tower - Tainitskaya. The work took five years, during which a wall was built on the most threatened southern side, and seven towers were erected. Then the walls began to be built from the side of the square, the current Red. Then Ivan III, by order, demolished all the buildings near the old walls of the Kremlin for the convenient construction of new ones. Then, over the next 30 years, all the other Kremlin towers were built along with the walls.

We can see these red brick walls even now. They beautifully adorn the slopes of Borovitsky Hill in red from brick chips with graceful architectural towers.

Characteristics of the Kremlin walls:

The length of the entire wall is 2235 meters;

Thickness from 3.5 to 6.5 meters;

Height from 5 to 19 meters.

The structure of the Kremlin wall:

Inside, the wall consists of cobblestone and white stone, they are filled with lime mortar.

A fighting move was made at the top of the wall, it is fenced off from the defended side by sharp two-angled teeth, in total there are 1045 teeth.

The towers blended not only with the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin, but also performed a military-defensive mission, making the fortress one of the most impregnable in Europe.

There are 18 towers in the Kremlin wall. Three of them: Vodovzvodnaya, Beklemishevskaya and Arsenalnaya went beyond the walls, thus holding back the attack while defending themselves. Six more, powerful, well equipped from a military point of view, are travel passes for defensive purposes.

In the middle of the 17th century, four towers were decorated with imperial double-headed eagles, which were replaced in the 30s of Soviet times with red stars with a ruby coating. Then the stars were placed not on four, but on five towers, adding a fifth star on Vodovzvodnaya tower.

In the historical center of the capital there is the most recognizable architectural structure in Russia - the Moscow Kremlin. The main feature of the architectural ensemble is its strengthening complex, consisting of walls in the form of a triangle with twenty towers.

The complex was built between 1485 and 1499 and is well preserved to this day. Several times it served as a model for similar fortresses that appeared in other cities of Russia - Kazan, Tula, Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod, etc. Within the walls of the Kremlin there are numerous religious and secular buildings - cathedrals, palaces and administrative buildings of different eras. The Kremlin was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990. Together with adjoining Red Square, which is on this list, the Kremlin is generally considered to be Moscow's main attraction.

Cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin

The architectural ensemble is formed by three temples, located in the center. The history of the cathedral began in 1475. It is the oldest fully preserved building among all the Kremlin buildings.

Initially, construction took place in 1326-1327 under the leadership of Ivan I. After the completion of the construction, the cathedral served as the home church of the Metropolitan of Moscow, who settled in the predecessor of the current Patriarchal Palace.

By 1472, the now collapsed cathedral was destroyed, and then a new building was built in its place. However, it collapsed in May 1474, possibly due to an earthquake or due to construction errors. A new attempt at revival was made by the Grand Duke Ivan III. It was in this cathedral that prayers were held before important campaigns, kings were crowned and elevated to the dignity of patriarchs.

Dedicated to Archangel Michael, the patron saint of Russian rulers, was built in 1505 on the site of the church of the same name in 1333. It was built by the Italian architect Aloisio Lamberti da Montignana. The architectural style combines traditional Old Russian religious architecture and elements of the Italian Renaissance.

Located at the southwest corner of the square. In 1291 a wooden church was built here, but a century later it burned down and was replaced by a stone church. The white-stone cathedral has nine onion domes on its facades and is intended for family ceremonies.

Working hours of cathedrals: 10:00 to 17:00 (closed on Thursday). A single ticket for visits will cost 500 rubles for adults and 250 rubles for children.

Palaces and squares of the Moscow Kremlin

- These are several representative secular buildings, created in different centuries and served as a home for Russian grand dukes and tsars, and in our time for presidents.
- a five-story building, decorated with richly carved decorative frames and a tiled roof.
- the building of the 17th century, has preserved the rare architectural features of civil architecture of that time. The museum exhibits jewelry, exquisite dishes, paintings, items of the royal hunt. The magnificent iconostasis of the Ascension Monastery, destroyed in 1929, has survived.
- a three-storey building made in the early neoclassical style. Initially, the palace was supposed to serve as the residence of the Senate, but nowadays it exists as the central working representation of the President of Russia.

Among the popular places in the Moscow Kremlin, the following squares should be noted:

Moscow Kremlin towers

The walls are 2235 meters long, their maximum height is 19 meters, and the thickness reaches 6.5 meters.

There are 20 defensive towers similar in architectural style. Three corner towers have a cylindrical base, the other 17 are quadrangular.

Trinity Tower is the tallest, rising 80 meters.

Lowest - Kutafya tower(13.5 meters) located outside the wall.

Four towers have access gates:

The tops of these 4 towers, which are considered especially beautiful, are decorated with the symbolic red ruby stars of the Soviet era.

The clock on the Spasskaya Tower first appeared in the 15th century, but burned down in 1656. On December 9, 1706, the capital heard the chimes for the first time, which announced a new hour. Since then, many events have happened: wars were fought, cities were renamed, capitals changed, but the famous chimes of the Moscow Kremlin remain the main chronometer of Russia.

The bell tower (81 meters high) is the tallest building in the Kremlin ensemble. It was built between 1505 and 1508 and still serves its function for three cathedrals that do not have their own bell towers - Arkhangelsk, Assumption and Annunciation.

Nearby there is a small church of St. John, where the name of the bell tower and the square came from. It existed until the beginning of the 16th century, then collapsed and since then has significantly decayed.

The Faceted Chamber is the main banquet hall of the Moscow princes; it is the oldest surviving secular building in the city. It is currently the official ceremonial hall for the President of Russia, so it is closed for excursions.

The Armory and the Diamond Fund

The chamber was built by decree of Peter I to keep weapons obtained in wars. Construction was delayed, starting in 1702 and ending only in 1736 due to financial difficulties. In 1812 the chamber was blown up in the war against Napoleon, it was reconstructed only in 1828. Now the Armory is a museum, which can be visited any day of the week from 10:00 to 18:00, with the exception of Thursday. The ticket price for adults is 700 rubles, for children it is free.

Here are not only the exhibits of the arms trade, but also the Diamond Fund. The permanent exhibition of the State Diamond Fund first opened in the Moscow Kremlin in 1967. Unique jewelry and precious stones are especially valuable here, most of them were confiscated after the October Revolution. Opening hours - from 10:00 to 17:20 on any day except Thursday. For a ticket for adults, you will have to pay 500 rubles, for a ticket for children, it costs 100 rubles.

Two diamonds on display deserve special attention, as they belong to the most famous examples of this gem in the world:

It is not only the largest medieval fortress in Russia, but also the largest active fortress in all of Europe. Of course, there were more such structures, but the Moscow Kremlin is the only one that is still in use.
The Kremlin walls were white. The walls "acquired" their red brick at the end of the 19th century. To see the White Kremlin, look for works by 18th or 19th century artists such as Pyotr Vereshchagin or Alexei Savrasov.
Red Square has nothing to do with red. The name comes from the Old Russian word for "red", which means beautiful, and has nothing to do with the color of buildings that we now know were white until the late 19th century.
The stars of the Moscow Kremlin were eagles. During the time of tsarist Russia, the four Kremlin towers were crowned with double-headed eagles, which have been the Russian coat of arms since the 15th century. In 1935, the Soviet government replaced the eagles, which were melted down and replaced with the five-pointed stars that we see today. The fifth star on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower was added later.
The Kremlin towers have names. Of the 20 Kremlin towers, only two do not have their own names.
The Kremlin is densely built up. Behind the 2235-meter Kremlin walls there are 5 squares and 18 buildings, among which the most popular are the Spasskaya Tower, Ivan the Great Bell Tower, Assumption Cathedral, Trinity Tower and Terem Palace.
The Moscow Kremlin was practically not damaged in the Second World War. During the war, the Kremlin was carefully camouflaged to look like a residential building block. The domes of the church and the famous green towers were painted gray and brown, respectively, fake doors and windows were attached to the walls of the Kremlin, and Red Square was burdened with wooden structures.
The Kremlin is in the Guinness Book of Records. In the Moscow Kremlin, you can see the world's largest bell and the world's largest cannon. In 1735, a 6.14 meter bell was made from metal casting, the Tsar Cannon weighing 39.312 tons was lost in 1586 and was never used in the war.
The stars of the Kremlin always shine. In 80 years of its existence, the lighting of the Kremlin stars has been turned off only twice. The first time was during World War II when the Kremlin was disguised to hide it from bombers. The second time they were turned off for the movie. Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov filmed the scene for the Siberian Barber.
The Kremlin clock has a deep secret. The secret of the accuracy of the Kremlin clock literally lies under our feet. The clock is connected to the control clock at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute via a cable.