Tsarskaya Tower - the smallest tower of the Moscow Kremlin

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

The first oak fortress on Borovitsky Hill on the banks of the Moskva River appeared during the time of Ivan Kalita. The Grand Duke constantly fought with the recalcitrant princes of Tver, transferred the throne of the Metropolitan from Vladimir to Moscow and built a fortified citadel. The walls of the protective structure were built by experienced Moscow carpenters from oaks of wide width. Then they called it the Kremlin.

The origin of the name is unclear. There is an assumption that the “Kremlin” was called the timber. This word is associated with a flint stone, as well as with the Greek word "crimnos", which means height above the sea. It came from the Byzantine Greeks who often came to Moscow.

Stone Kremlin

It was built of white stone by the grandson of the Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy. Since then, Moscow has become known as Belokamennaya. For the Horde ambassadors, it was open, since Dmitry Ivanovich for the time being paid off the Tatars. But for the insidious neighbors, the stone Kremlin became an impregnable fortress. It was built very quickly. In just a year. It became larger in area than the wooden one, which burned out significantly after numerous fires and almost equaled the modern territory. Through the three eastern towers (Spasskaya,or, as it was often called then, Frolovskaya, already existed) regiments were marching to Nepryadva.

Inside, almost all buildings, including the prince's chambers, were wooden. These powerful walls, designed to affirm the greatness of the Moscow principality, have not survived to this day.

Italian work

Under Ivan III, that grandiose building was erected - the Moscow Kremlin, which we have been admiring for five hundred years. We will not talk about temples, but will focus on the Kremlin walls and towers. First, the old walls and towers were dismantled, and then new ones were built from burnt red bricks. Their construction took about ten years. The height of the walls ranged from five to nineteen meters, and the width - from three and a half to six and a half meters. To this day they are surrounded by teeth, otherwise merlons. They have beautiful rounded forked ends, which are called dovetails. All of them are counted - there are one thousand forty-five. Initially, nineteen towers were built. Of these, three round ones stood at the corners of the triangle, which is the Kremlin. The main entrance gate passed under the Spasskaya (Frolovskaya) tower. Here the horseman had to dismount, and every guest had to take off his hat. There were four gates in total.

Old legend

Next to the Spasskaya Tower, which looks at the Red Square, the Terrible Tsar has chosen a place for himself in a small wooden tower. Secretly, he loved, as the legendary story tells, to look at the activities of Muscovites and at events of national importance. From there he could also seefrontal place.

The Royal Tower of the Moscow Kremlin

The entire Kremlin was built between 1482 and 1495. And the Tsarskaya Tower doesn't look like a tower at all.

This is an elegant teremok, which was erected in 1680 in the place where, according to legend, Ivan IV sat. That is why it was called so - the Tsarskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. It has nothing to do with the rest of the towers, massive and required for protection. Among them, it stands out for its "toy" and very decorative look. The Tsarskaya Tower has the first, lower tier, designed to be able to walk along the wall. The second - air - begins with four stone columns. They have the shape of a vase and are decorated with two white belts. They are supported by a green hipped roof of eight sides, which is completed by a gilded working weather vane. The Tsarskaya Tower is very elegant. Above the columns are small round pyramids with weathervanes. The second tier is a platform to which they climbed to ring the bell in case of fire. Yes, the Tsarskaya tower once had the Spassky bell. It is built on the eastern wall between the Spasskaya and Nabatnaya towers. Many are interested in: "The Tsar's Tower - with a clock?" As you can see in the photo below, no. The clock on the Tsarskaya Tower has never been installed. There are none even now. They appeared in 1585 on three other gate towers of the Kremlin. It's just that Tsarskaya is located in close proximity to the nearby Spasskaya.

It is on it that the famous chimes are located, whichmade in the middle of the 19th century. The design of the belfry led to the appearance of a peculiar melody, which is emitted by the clock every fifteen minutes. The total height of the Tsar's Tower does not even reach 17 meters. Compare with Vodovzvodnaya - with its height exceeding sixty meters.

Viewing the Kremlin

Visitors must purchase a ticket to a temporary exhibition or to any museum complex. This gives the right to enter the territory of the Kremlin through the Borovitsky or Trinity gates. For students and pensioners, admission upon presentation of a document is free. If you want to visit the cathedrals, you should buy an additional ticket. To visit the Belfry (height - 81 m), to look at the surrounding area from a height of twenty-five meters, you also need a ticket and … some strength. The ascent takes place on 137 steps. Eternally busy Muscovites should visit the Kremlin and its museums more often, otherwise it turns out that guests of the capital know it a little better.