TheMoscow Kremlin(Russian:Московский Кремль,romanized:Moskovskiy Kreml',IPA:[mɐˈskofskʲɪjˈkrʲemlʲ]), or simply theKremlin,is a fortified complex inMoscow,Russia.[1]Located in the centre of the country's capital city, it is the best known of thekremlins(Russiancitadels) and includes five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosingKremlin Wallalong with theKremlin towers.Within the complex is theGrand Kremlin Palace,which served as the royal residence of theEmperor of Russia.It is now the official residence of thePresident of the Russian Federation.The Kremlin overlooks theMoskva Riverto the south,Saint Basil's CathedralandRed Squareto the east, andAlexander Gardento the west.
| Moscow Kremlin Московский Кремль | |
|---|---|
 View of the Kremlin from across theMoskva River,2012 | |
| Location | Moscow,Russia |
| Coordinates | 55°45′6″N37°37′4″E/ 55.75167°N 37.61778°E |
| Area | 27.7 ha (0.277 km2) |
| Built | 1482–1495 |
| Official name | Kremlin andRed Square,Moscow |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, ii, iv, vi |
| Designated | 1990(14thsession) |
| Reference no. | 545 |
| Region | Eastern Europe |
  Location in Central Moscow  Location in Russia  Location in Europe | |
The namekremlinmeans "fortress inside a city" in Russian,[2]and is often also used metonymically in international politics to refer to theGovernment of the Russian Federation.Likewise, during theCold War,it referred to theGovernment of the Soviet Union,which operated out of the city in the erstwhileRussian SFSR.The term "Kremlinology"is related to themetonymand refers to the study of Soviet and Russian politics.
Largely open to the public, the Kremlin offers supervised tours;[3]the accompanyingMoscow Kremlin Museumsreportedly attracted 1,024,610 visitors in 2023.[4]
History
editOrigin
edit
The site had been continuously inhabited byFinnic peoples(especially theMeryans) since the 2nd centuryBCE.TheSlavsoccupied the south-western portion ofBorovitsky Hillas early as the 11th century, as evidenced by a metropolitan seal from the 1090s which was unearthed by Soviet archaeologists in the area. TheVyatichibuilt afortified structure(or "grad" ) on the hill where theNeglinnaya Riverflowed into theMoskva River.
Up to the 14th century, the site was known as the "grad of Moscow". The word "Kremlin" was first recorded in 1331[5](though etymologistMax Vasmermentions an earlier appearance in 1320[6]). The grad was greatly extended by PrinceYuri Dolgorukiyin 1156, destroyed by theMongolsin 1237 and rebuilt in oak byIvan I Kalitain 1339.[7]
Seat of the grand dukes
editDmitri Donskoireplaced the oakpalisadewith a strong citadel of white limestone in 1366–1368 on the basic foundations of the current walls;[7]this fortification withstood a siege by KhanTokhtamysh.Dmitri's sonVasily Iresumed construction of churches and cloisters in the Kremlin. The newly builtCathedral of the Annunciationwas painted byTheophanes the Greek,Andrei Rublev,andProkhorin 1406. TheChudov Monasterywas founded by Dmitri's tutor,Metropolitan Alexis;while his widow,Eudoxia,established theAscension Conventin 1397.
Residence of the tsars
edit
Grand Prince Ivan IIIorganised the reconstruction of the Kremlin, inviting a number of skilled architects fromRenaissance Italy,includingPetrus Antonius Solarius,who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, andMarcus Ruffuswho designed the new palace for the prince. It was during his reign that three extant cathedrals of the Kremlin, the Deposition Church, andthe Palace of Facetswere constructed. The highest building of the city andMuscovite Russiawas theIvan the Great Bell Tower,built in 1505–1508 and augmented to its present height in 1600. The Kremlin walls as they now appear were built between 1485 and 1495.[7]Spasskiegates of the wall still bear a dedication in Latin praising Petrus Antonius Solarius for the design.
After construction of the new kremlin walls and churches was complete, the monarch decreed that no structures should be built in the immediate vicinity of the citadel. The Kremlin was separated from the walled merchant town (Kitay-gorod) by a 30-meter-wide moat, over whichSaint Basil's Cathedralwas constructed during the reign ofIvan the Terrible.The same tsar also renovated some of his grandfather's palaces, added a new palace and cathedral for his sons, and endowed the Trinitymetochioninside the Kremlin. The metochion was administrated by theTrinity Monasteryand contained the gracefultower churchofSt. Sergius,which was described by foreigners as one of the finest in the country.
During theTime of Troubles,the Kremlin was held by thePolishforces for two years, between 21 September 1610 and 26 October 1612. The Kremlin's liberation by the volunteer army of princeDmitry PozharskyandKuzma MininfromNizhny Novgorodpaved the way for the election ofMikhail Romanovas the new tsar. During his reign and that ofhis son Alexisand grandsonFeodor,the eleven-domed Upper Saviour Cathedral,Armorial Gate,Terem Palace,Amusement Palaceand the palace ofPatriarch Nikonwere built. Following the death of Alexis's son, Feodor, and theMoscow Uprising of 1682,Tsar Peterescaped with much difficulty from the Kremlin and as a result developed a dislike for it. Three decades later in 1703, Peter abandoned the residence of his forefathers for his new capital,Saint Petersburg.
| External images | |
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 Graphic reconstruction of the Moscow fortress at the beginning of the 18th century | |
| Graphic reconstruction of the Moscow fortress at the beginning of the 19th century |
The Golden Hall, a throne room with murals painted probably after 1547, was destroyed to make place for the Kremlin Palace, commissioned byElizabeth of Russiaand designed by architectFrancesco Bartolomeo Rastrelliin 1752.[8]
Imperial period
edit
Although still used for coronation ceremonies, the Kremlin was abandoned and neglected until 1773, whenCatherine the GreatengagedVasili Bazhenovto build her new residence there. Bazhenov produced a bombasticNeoclassicaldesign on a heroic scale, which involved the demolition of several churches and palaces, as well as a portion of the Kremlin wall. After the preparations were over, construction was delayed due to lack of funds. Several years later the architectMatvey Kazakovsupervised the reconstruction of the dismantled sections of the wall and of some structures of theChudov Monasteryand built the spacious and luxuriousOffices of the Senate,since adapted for use as the principal workplace of the President of Russia.
During the Imperial period, from the early 18th and until the late 19th century, the Kremlin walls were traditionally painted white, in accordance with fashion.[9]
French forces occupied the Kremlin from 2 September to 11 October 1812, following theFrench invasion of Russia.WhenNapoleonretreated from Moscow, he ordered the whole Kremlin to be blown up. TheKremlin Arsenal,several portions of the Kremlin Wall and several wall towers were destroyed by explosions and theFaceted Chamberand other churches were damaged by fire. Explosions continued for three days, from 21 to 23 October 1812. However, rain damaged thefuses,and the damage was less severe than intended. Restoration works were undertaken in 1816–1819, supervised byOsip Bove.During the remainder of the reign ofAlexander I,several ancient structures were renovated in a fanciful neo-Gothic style, but many others, including all the buildings of the Trinity metochion, were condemned as "disused" or "dilapidated" and were torn down.
On visiting Moscow for his coronation festivities, TsarNicholas Iwas not satisfied with the Grand Palace (alias Winter Palace), which had been erected in the 1750s to the design ofFrancesco Rastrelli.The elaborateBaroquestructure was demolished, as was the nearby church of St. John the Precursor, built byAloisio the Newin 1508 in place of the first church constructed in Moscow. The architectKonstantin Thonwas commissioned to replace them with theGrand Kremlin Palace,which was to rival theWinter Palacein St. Petersburg in its dimensions and in the opulence of its interiors. The palace was constructed in 1839–1849, followed by the re-building of theKremlin Armouryin 1851.
After 1851 the Kremlin changed little until theRussian Revolution of 1917.The only new features added during this period were theMonument to Alexander IIand a stone cross marking the spot where in 1905Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russiawas assassinated byIvan Kalyayev.These monuments were destroyed by theBolsheviksin 1918.
Soviet period
editTheSovietgovernment moved fromPetrograd(present-day Saint Petersburg) to Moscow on 12 March 1918.Vladimir Leninselected theKremlin Senateas his residence.Joseph Stalinalso had his personal rooms in the Kremlin. He was eager to remove all the "relics of the tsarist regime" from his headquarters. Golden eagles on the towers were replaced by shiningKremlin stars,while the wall nearLenin's Mausoleumwas turned into theKremlin Wall Necropolis.
TheChudov MonasteryandAscension Convent,with their 16th-centurycathedrals,were demolished to make room for the military school. The Little Nicholas Palace and the old Saviour Cathedral were pulled down as well.
During theSecond World War,in order to confuse the German pilots, the towers were repainted with different colors and covered with wooden tents. Every roof was painted rusty brown so as to make them indistinguishable from typical roofs in the city. The grounds, paved with cobblestone, were covered up with sand. Tents painted to look like roofs were stretched over the gardens, and the facades of the buildings were also painted.[10]
The residence of the Soviet government was closed to tourists until 1955. It was not until theKhrushchev Thawthat the Kremlin was reopened to foreign visitors. The Kremlin Museums were established in 1961, and the complex was among the first Soviet patrimonies inscribed on theWorld Heritage Listin 1990.
Although the current director of the Kremlin Museums,Elena Gagarina(Yuri Gagarin's daughter), advocates a full-scale restoration of the destroyed cloisters, recent developments have been confined to expensive restoration of the original interiors of the Grand Kremlin Palace, which were altered during Stalin's rule.
Overall, during the Soviet rule (1917–1991), 28 out of 54 historic buildings in the Kremlin were destroyed (among them 17 out of 31 churches and cathedrals), most of them centuries-old.[11]
State Kremlin Palace
edit
TheState Kremlin Palace(alias Kremlin Palace of Congresses), was commissioned byNikita Khrushchevas a modern arena for Communist Party meetings and was built within the Kremlin walls 1959–1961. Externally the palace is faced with white marble and the windows are tinted and reflective. The construction replaced several heritage buildings, including the old neo-classical building of the State Armoury, and some of the rear parts of theGrand Kremlin Palace.The Palace was constructed and integrated into the larger complex of theGreat Kremlin Palacewith walkways linking it to thePatriarchal Chambersand theTerem Palace.
Buildings
edit
The existingKremlin wallsandtowerswere built by Italian masters from 1485 to 1495. The irregular triangle of the Kremlin wall encloses an area of 275,000 square metres (2,960,000 sq ft). Its overall length is 2,235 metres (2,444 yards), but the height ranges from 5 to 19 metres (16 to 62 ft), depending on the terrain. The wall's thickness is between 3.5 and 6.5 metres (11 and 21 ft).
Originally there were eighteenKremlin towers,but their number increased to twenty in the 17th century. All but three of the towers are square in plan. The highest tower is theTroitskaya,which was built to its present height of 80 metres (260 ft) in 1495. Most towers were originally crowned with wooden tents. The extant brick tents with strips of colored tiles date to the 1680s.
Cathedral Squareis the heart of the Kremlin. It is surrounded by six buildings, including threecathedrals.TheCathedral of the Dormitionwas completed in 1479 to be the main church of Moscow and where all theTsarswere crowned. The massivelimestonefaçade, capped with its five goldencupolas,was the design ofAristotele Fioravanti.Several important metropolitans and patriarchs are buried there, including Peter andMakarii.The gilded, three-domedCathedral of the Annunciationwas completed next in 1489, only to be reconstructed to a nine-domed design a century later. On the south-east of the square is the much largerCathedral of the Archangel Michael(1508), where almost all the Muscovite monarchs fromIvan KalitatoIvan V of Russiaare interred. AlsoBoris Godunovwas originally buried there but was moved to theTrinity Monastery.
There are two domestic churches of the Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow, theChurch of the Twelve Apostles(1653–1656) and the exquisite one-domedChurch of the Deposition of the Virgin's Robe,built byPskovartisans from 1484 to 1488 and featuring superb icons and frescoes from 1627 and 1644.
The other notable structure is theIvan the Great Bell Toweron the north-east corner of the square, which is said to mark the exact center of Moscow and resemble a burning candle. Completed in 1600, it is 81 metres (266 feet) high. Until the Russian Revolution, it was the tallest structure in the city, as construction of buildings taller than that was forbidden. Its 21 bells would sound the alarm if any enemy was approaching. The upper part of the structure was destroyed by the French during the Napoleonic Invasion in 1812 and has been rebuilt. TheTsar bell,the largest bell in the world, stands on a pedestal next to the tower.
The oldest secular structure still standing isIvan III'sPalace of Facets(1491), which holds the imperial thrones. The next oldest is the first home of the royal family, theTerem Palace.The original Terem Palace was also commissioned by Ivan III, but most of the existing palace was built in the 17th century. The Terem Palace and the Palace of Facets are linked by theGrand Kremlin Palace.This was commissioned byNicholas Iin 1838. The largest structure in the Kremlin, it cost 11 millionrublesto build and more than one billion dollars to renovate in the 1990s. It contains dazzling reception halls, a ceremonial red staircase, private apartments of the tsars, and the lower story of the Resurrection of Lazarus church (1393), which is the oldest extant structure in the Kremlin and the whole of Moscow.
The northern corner of the Kremlin is occupied bythe Arsenal,which was built forPeter the Greatin 1701. The southwestern section of the Kremlin holds theArmoury building.Built in 1851 to aRenaissance Revivaldesign, it is currently a museum housing Russian stateRegaliaandDiamond Fund.
The haloalkaliphilic methylotrophic bacteriumMethylophaga muralis(first calledMethylophaga murata) was first isolated from deteriorating marble in the Kremlin.[12]
Helipad
edit
To stop disruptions to traffic caused by motorcades, Russian PresidentVladimir Putinauthorized the construction of a helipad in the Kremlin. The helipad was completed in May 2013. The Russian President will now commute back and forth to the Kremlin using aMil Mi-8helicopter. Careful consideration was taken in choosing the location of the helipad. The location chosen is said to be of no threat to the architecture of the Kremlin helipad.[13]
Stations of the Moscow Metro
editThe nearestMoscow Metrostations to the Kremlin are:Okhotny RyadandBiblioteka Imeni Lenina(Sokolnicheskaya Line),Teatralnaya(Zamoskvoretskaya Line),Ploshchad Revolyutsii(Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line),Arbatskaya(Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line),Alexandrovsky Sad(Filyovskaya Line), andBorovitskaya(Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line).
See also
edit- Saint Basil's Cathedral,sometimes mistaken for the Kremlin, also located onRed Square.
References
editCitations
edit- ^Paul, Michael C. (January 2004). "The Military Revolution in Russia 1550–1682". The Journal of Military History. 68 (1): 31.doi:10.1353/jmh.2003.0401.S2CID 159954818.
- ^"Кремль"[Kremlin].VasmerEtymological dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on 4 December 2022.Retrieved2 June2014.
- ^"Moscow Kremlin Museums: VISIT US".kreml.ru.Archivedfrom the original on 24 October 2022.Retrieved14 October2020.
- ^"The Moscow Kremlin Museums welcomed more than 1 million guests in 2023".www.kreml.ru.Retrieved14 May2024.
- ^Agrawal, Premendra (4 February 2012).Silent Assassins. Jan 11, 1966.Agrawal Overseas. p. 184.ISBN9789350878453.Retrieved13 August2015.
- ^Фасмера, Макс."Этимологический Словарь Фасмера"[Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary] (in Russian). p. 321.Archivedfrom the original on 27 October 2017.Retrieved12 October2012.
- ^abcPaul, Michael C. (January 2004). "The Military Revolution in Russia 1550–1682".The Journal of Military History.68(1): 31.doi:10.1353/jmh.2003.0401.S2CID159954818.
- ^Rowland, Daniel B. (2020).God, Tsar, and people: the political culture of early modern Russia.Ithaca: Cornell University Press.ISBN978-1-5017-5211-7.OCLC1145926960.
- ^Semenko, Xenia (25 November 2013)."Почему кремлевские стены красили в белый цвет"[Why the Kremlin walls painted white].Rossiyskaya Gazeta(in Russian).Archivedfrom the original on 18 May 2017.Retrieved18 May2017.
- ^MANAEV, GEORGY (9 May 2019)."How the Russians made the Kremlin 'disappear' during".Russia Beyond.Archivedfrom the original on 16 January 2022.Retrieved16 January2022.
- ^"Константин Михайлов: Уничтоженный Кремль".Archivedfrom the original on 21 August 2023.Retrieved8 February2023.
- ^Doronina NV; Li TsD; Ivanova EG; Trotsenko IuA. (2005). "Methylophaga murata sp. nov.: a haloalkaliphilic aerobic methylotroph from deteriorating marble".Mikrobiologiia.74(4): 511–9.PMID16211855.
- ^Rosenberg, Steve (27 May 2013)."Vladimir Putin gets Kremlin helipad to ease congestion"(Embedded video).BBC News.Archivedfrom the original on 13 March 2017.Retrieved18 May2017.
Bibliography
edit- Ivanov, Vladimir N. (1971).Московский Кремль[Moscow's Kremlin] (in Russian). Moscow.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Merridale, Catherine(2013).Red Fortress: History and Illusion in the Kremlin.New York: Henry Holt. pp.505.ISBN9780805086805.
- Nenakormova, Irina S. (1987).Государственные музеи Московского Кремля[Art treasures from the Museums of the Moscow Kremlin] (in Russian). Moscow: Iskusstvo.
External links
edit
- tour-planet.com – Sights of the Moscow Kremlin
- Kremlin.ru – Map of the Kremlin
- Travel2moscow.com – Official Moscow Guide(archived)
- History of the Kremlin(archived)
- Moscow Kremlin State Historical and Cultural Museum Sanctuary
- Open Kremlin
- Rare access inside the Kremlin,video news report fromBBC News Online,17 January 2013
- Cynthia Marsh."Kremlin".Words of the World.Brady Haran(University of Nottingham).
