The Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

In the center of the Kremlin, among the temples of Cathedral Square, there is the most ancient in Moscow (not counting the cellar of the Treasury Yard) a stone building of civil purpose - the Faceted Chamber. Until the 15th century, Muscovy was built mainly of wood, but in 1462, Grand Duke Ivan III proclaimed himself "the sovereign of all Russia" and began to build new palace buildings - from stone. The first such building was the Faceted Chamber in the Kremlin. Chambers in those days were called premises intended for feasts and receptions.

Military architect Marco Ruffo was invited to Moscow. The architect was engaged in the replacement of wooden palace buildings with stone ones. In Russia, Ruffo was quickly dubbed Mark Fryazin from the words “fryag, fryaz” - “foreigner”. The creative fate of the architect turned out to be tragic. Most of the buildings he built have not been preserved, almost all the projects started by Mark were subsequently transferred to other architects. The Faceted Chamber was no exception.

Fryazin began construction in 1487, thought over the entire spatial and architectural composition, worked on the masterpiece for three years, but for unknown reasons was suspended from work. He completed the construction of the chamber in 1491one Italian is Pietro Antonio Solari, whose name the Muscovites also soon changed to Pyotr Fryazin.

Solari arrived in Moscow later than his compatriot, but enjoyed the love of the tsar and, according to some reports, was officially considered the chief architect of the city. The Faceted Chamber owes its name to the Italian. In the decoration of the eastern façade, the architect applied a technique characteristic of Italian architecture of that time - “diamond rust”. In the masonry, large stones with a front part hewn in the form of tetrahedral pyramids were used. The "faceted" stones are separated by flat paths, creating a mysterious play of light and shadow.

The building was erected on the very spot where the mansion of Ivan Kalita and the palace of Dmitry Donskoy once stood. It has two floors, not connected to each other. Today, the throne room can be accessed from the chambers of the Grand Kremlin Palace; in the time of Ivan III, front stairs and the so-called Red Porch led to the chambers. In the 30s of the last century, the porch was destroyed, but in the 90s of the XX century, modern stone carvers carefully restored it according to archival documents.

The Faceted Chamber changed its appearance several times, but its purpose as the main representative hall remained the same. Russian monarchs were crowned kings here, diplomats from Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Persia and Turkey were received, distinguished generals were awarded with silver.

All the most important events in the life of the country: the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, the Poltava victory of the troops of Peter I, the engagement of the daughter of Boris Godunov- were celebrated with magnificent 5-6 hour dinners in the Faceted Chamber. The Boyar Duma and Zemsky Sobors also met here, making historic decisions.

The throne room has long been the largest hall in Russia and has always been distinguished by luxury. The dilapidated original frescoes were restored in the 17th century, then whitewashed and covered with velvet. Today, the room looks like a multi-colored mirror box: the walls are covered with paintings by the Palekh masters Belousovs (19th century), on the floor there is a shiny parquet made of 16 types of valuable wood - the result of a large-scale restoration project that ended in 2012.

The architectural monument is part of the residence of the President of the Russian Federation. It is used only on extremely important occasions for ceremonial meetings and state receptions. In 2012, the Kremlin's Faceted Chamber opened its doors to tourists for the first time in its 500-year history.