Kremlin
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Moscow Museum Guide
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[edit] Description
The Kremlin is the essential part of Russian history: every considerable historical event is reflected in this monumental fortress, every age has left here its unique scent. It’s a certain key to the history and culture of Russia, and that’s why it attracts so many visitors. This symbol of Russian State is the official residence of the President. It is a preserved area, protected and guarded by the State and included in the UNESCO List of Cultural and Natural Heritage of the World.
[edit] Kremlin History
The Kremlin traces its history since 1156 (first mentioned in chronicle), when prince Yury Dolgoruky built wooden walls of future fortress on Borovitsky hill. There’s a few historical evidence how he got to that place, poorly known before. There’s a legend that before 1156 here lived boyar Kuchka, who invited Dolgoruky to visit him. The high standing guest enjoyed the place very much, murdered Kuchka and became the host himself.
Moscow didn’t play any important role in the country till 1328, when Ivan Kalita, son of Moscow Prince Dmitry, became the Grand Prince of Russian State. He broadened the fortress and built a new oak wall around it. That time citadel has got its modern name, Kremlin ("kremnik" means "forest" in old Russian), and became the residence of Metropolitan and Grand Prince. But the wooden walls, although invulnerable, suffered from fire, and in 1367 fortifications of white stone were built around The Kremlin by Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (later named Donskoy). Since then Moscow is called "a white stone city".
In the end of XV century Italian craftsmen built the new walls and towers of red brick, and, according to the evidences of foreign travelers, the Kremlin looked like a medieval castle. But, unlike almost all European castles, the Kremlin was not closed for common people. Aimed at protection of all the city-dwellers, it was also a cultural center of the city. Even when Peter I moved the capital to St.- Petersburg, the Kremlin kept its significance: Russian emperors were still crowned in the Assumption Cathedral, and the whole Moscow gathered here for the great church festivals.
In 1918 Moscow became the capital again. The Kremlin was occupied by the Bolshevik government, and it became impossible to enter it without special pass. Only in 1955 the gates of the citadel were reopened to public, and the government residence became an open-air museum of history and architecture.</p>
[edit] Kremlin's Ensemble
Entering the Kremlin through the Kutafya tower, you pass the bridge and get right to the Troitskaya (Trinity) Square through the Troitskaya tower. On your left you see the building of Arsenal, a storehouse for weapons, with the cannons in front (an administrative building now, closed to public). Right opposite it stands the State Kremlin Palace. Moving forward, you pass by the Senate Square (on the left, between the Arsenal and triangular building of the Senate; also unavailable for tourists) and get to the Ivanovskaya Square, the biggest one in the fortress. The Tsar Cannon will be the first to attract your attention here. It stands in front of the Patriarch’s Palace and the Church of the Twelve Apostles. Moving farther along the Uspenskaya (Assumption) belfry you come to the Tsar Bell, placed on the corner of the square in front of the Ivan the Great’s Bell Tower. On the opposite side of the square there are Senate and Presidium (or administrative building №14, the residence of the President), both closed to public.
There are two passages to the next square, Sobornaya (Cathedral): one is near the Tsar Cannon, and another is between the Ivan the Great’s Bell Tower and the Archangel Cathedral. Sobornaya Square is surrounded by churches and cathedrals. The first building you pass entering the square is the five-domed Assumption Cathedral, the oldest and the most magnificent of all the Kremlin churches. The entrance to it is right in front of the neighbor Church of the Deposition of the Robe. On the other side of the square there are the Archangel Cathedral and the nine-domed Annunciation Cathedral. The Faceted Palace with the Red Staircase, the oldest civil erection in Moscow (and the only civil building on the square), stands right opposite the Ivan the Great’s Bell Tower. Now its hall is used for the official ceremonies, so the entrance there is prohibited.
You come out from the Sobornaya Square through the passage between Archangel and Annunciation Cathedrals. Going down along the Borovitskaya Street, you pass by the Great Kremlin Palace and the Dvortsovaya Square (both administrative areas) and come to the building of the State Armory.
[edit] Photos
