The history of the Moscow Kremlin dates back to the middle of the eleventh century, when the first fortifications were built on Borovitsky Hill, vaguely resembling fortification barriers. The first chronicle mention of these structures dates back to 1147. And in 1238, the Tatar-Mongol invasion razed fragile structures to the ground. Later, from 1264 on the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the specific princes of Moscow settled down. The Kremlin was rebuilt to protect the princely residences. The towers of the Moscow Kremlin were built from selected oak, but wooden buildings were short-lived, often burned and destroyed from floods.
Starting from 1367, by order of Prince Dmitry Donskoy, the Kremlin began to be rebuilt in white shell stone. In the annals of that time, Moscow is called "white-stone". However, the stone turned out to be a fragile material, could not withstand flooding, the foundations “floated” and collapsed. In the end, in the middle of the 15th century, a group of Italian architects led by Antonio Solari set about building a new Moscow Kremlin, as a military engineering structure, a fortress of unprecedented power, an impregnable citadel. materialred baked brick was chosen, and the towers of the Moscow Kremlin began to turn from white to red-brown.
Construction continued until 1495. Twenty towers were built - four travel and sixteen fortifications. The towers were connected by twenty battlements with loopholes. Along the entire length of the wall there was a “combat passage”, along which the soldiers could move freely from tower to tower. Today's Moscow Kremlin is no different from the one built six hundred years ago. The same towers and the same walls. Only it no longer serves as a fortress to repel enemy attacks, but is a grandiose monument of artistic and historical value.
The Moscow Kremlin was built in the shape of an irregular triangle, one of the sides of which, the east, faces Red Square. All the towers of the Moscow Kremlin are united into one. The main tower - Spasskaya - is adjacent to the Pokrovsky Cathedral. At the opposite end of Red Square, opposite the Historical Museum, is the Nikolskaya Passage Tower. Along the Alexander Garden stretches the northwestern side of the Kremlin. And the corner Vodovzvodnaya Tower gives rise to the Moskvoretskaya southern line, ending at the Beklemishevskaya round tower. In the middle of the Alexander Line is the second largest Troitskaya Tower, which is connected to the Kutafya Tower by a separate branch from the general outline of the Kremlin. Some towers of the Moscow Kremlin had secret underground passages.
In the interior are the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, located on the cathedralarea. There are only three of them. Cathedral of the Dormition, where Russian tsars were once crowned and where the ordinations of the highest Russian clergy were held. Tsar Nicholas II was the last to be crowned in the Assumption Cathedral in 1886. The cathedral was built in 1479 by the architect Fioravanti Aristotle. The Assumption Cathedral was robbed and tried to destroy by Napoleon's soldiers in 1812. A century later, the cathedral was damaged during the revolutionary uprising of 1917.
Also on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin is the Cathedral of the Annunciation, built in 1489 by Pskov architects. The cathedral was conceived as a grand-ducal church and for a long time was a temple for Moscow princes. It is famous for the ancient table iconostasis, the icons of which were painted by Andrei Rublev and Feofan the Greek. The Annunciation Cathedral was also significantly damaged when the Kremlin was shelled by artillery in 1917.
In the same place on the cathedral square, the Archangel Cathedral, built in 1509 on the site of the former Archangel Cathedral built in 1333, attracts attention with its magnificent architecture. In the past, the cathedral was the tomb of the Moscow rulers; it has a necropolis. There are fifty-four burials in the cathedral. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Ivan Kalita, Ivan the Terrible and Mikhail Fedorovich. In 1929, the remains of princesses and queens from the Ascension Monastery were transferred to the cathedral. All the cathedrals of the Kremlin are currently operating and even carry a museum and exposition load when visiting them by delegations.
In the Moscow Kremlin there is the Armory - a large and very significant museum with an extensive collection of rare exhibits of the 17th-20th centuries. Numerous exhibition halls acquaint visitors with the life and personal life of Russian tsars. Carriages for ceremonial departures and simple carriages, horse harness with silver notches, horse harness, royal tableware, silverware, sets, thousands and thousands of items of that time. The Armory also houses a collection of works by the famous court jeweler Carl Faberge. Faberge Easter eggs are presented in a separate exposition.
