The Moscow Kremlin is the sovereign crown of Russia. The Moscow Kremlin, past and present We apologize for the inconvenience

Back in 1147, Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince of Kyiv and Rostov-Suzdal, founded Moscow. The city was surrounded by wooden walls - this is how the construction of the Kremlin, the future main attraction of Moscow, began. Also, a shaft 8 meters high was built around the wall.

Unfortunately, the Moscow Kremlin, together with the city itself, did not last long - in the winter of 1237, Batu Khan plundered and burned all the wooden buildings.

But Moscow is being rebuilt, and along with it, its fortress. Ivan Kalita in 1339-1340 erected powerful defensive fortifications, and in the Kremlin itself he built white-stone cathedrals, the chambers of princes and his own mansions. Moscow becomes the main city among other Russian cities.

After 20 years, Prince Dmitry Donskoy encloses the fortress with white stone walls. From here came the famous expression - "Moscow white stone."

By the beginning of the 16th century, the Kremlin was not directly recognizable - Prince Ivan III laid the foundations of the new Kremlin - built the famous towers, erected the Assumption, Annunciation and Archangel Cathedrals. Finally, he built himself new magnificent chambers. Thanks to the efforts of Russian and Italian workers, the most formidable and powerful fortress appeared in Europe - the Moscow Kremlin. In addition, it was not made of white stone - Ivan IV the Terrible built brick walls, making the Kremlin the famous red color.

During the Time of Troubles, the history of Moscow, and with it the history of the Kremlin, could have ended. The Poles captured the city and barricaded themselves in the Kremlin. The royal treasury was devastated, buildings were burned, and churches were defiled.

But the enemy was driven out, and the Kremlin again began to be built anew. By the 17th century, it had become a place where kings and future emperors sat, and by the 18th century, European ideas were added to it. In the Kremlin, the Winter Palace, the Armory, the building of the Apartments were erected, which formed a new Palace Square. And although the capital of Russia was moved to St. Petersburg, the Moscow Kremlin still remained almost the main attraction of the country.

In 1917 thunder struck - the Great October Revolution captured Russia. The first Soviet government met in the Kremlin, and it was closed to the public. The monasteries were demolished and a new building, the Military School, was built in their place.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Kremlin disappeared from all enemy maps and radars - the main fortress of the country was hidden with the help of huge shields, the stars were turned off, and the entire building was covered with dark paint. Only after 4 years will it shine again with its lights.

In 10 years, in 1955, the Kremlin will be opened again for the visit. In another 6 years, the State Kremlin Palace will be built there. And in 1991 - the museum-reserve "Moscow Kremlin".

Today, the Kremlin, along with Red Square, are the main places for tourists to visit. In addition, the President of the Russian Federation works and lives in it.

The Kremlin is not a unique building, almost every city has its own Kremlin, because this word means “fortress, city”. Novgorod, Pskov, Kazan and many others. But it was the Moscow Kremlin that became the symbol of Russia and one of the most picturesque and colorful buildings in its history.

The Moscow Kremlin is the center of Russia and the citadel of power. For more than 5 centuries, these walls have been reliably hiding state secrets and protecting their main carriers. The Kremlin is shown on Russian and world channels several times a day. This is a medieval, unlike anything fortress, has long been a symbol of Russia.

Only now the frames are provided to us mostly the same. The Kremlin is a strictly guarded acting residence of the president of our country. There are no trifles in security, which is why all Kremlin shootings are so strictly regulated. By the way, do not forget to visit the excursion to the Kremlin.

To see another Kremlin, try to imagine its towers without tents, limit the height to only a wide, non-tapering part, and you will immediately see a completely different Moscow Kremlin - a powerful, squat, medieval, European fortress.

This was built at the end of the 15th century on the site of the old white-stone Kremlin by the Italians - Pietro Fryazin, Anton Fryazin and Alois Fryazin. All of them received the same surname, although they were not relatives. "Fryazin" means a foreigner in Old Slavonic.

They built the fortress in accordance with all the latest achievements of fortification and military science of that time. Along the battlements of the walls there is a combat platform with a width of 2 to 4.5 meters.

Each prong has a loophole that can only be reached by standing on something else. The view from here is limited. The height of each prong is 2-2.5 meters, the distance between them during the battle was covered with wooden shields. In total, there are 1145 teeth on the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.

The Moscow Kremlin is a great fortress located near the Moskva River, in the heart of Russia - in Moscow. The citadel is equipped with 20 towers, each with its own unique look and 5 travel gates. The Kremlin is like a ray of light, carried through the rich history of the formation of Russia.

These ancient walls are witnesses of all those numerous events that happened to the state, starting from the moment of its construction. The fortress begins its journey in 1331, although the word "Kremlin" was mentioned earlier.

Moscow Kremlin, infographic. Source: www.culture.rf. For a closer view, open the image in a new browser tab.

Moscow Kremlin under different rulers

Moscow Kremlin under Ivan Kalita

In 1339-1340. The Moscow prince Ivan Danilovich, nicknamed Kalita (“money bag”), built an impressive oak citadel on Borovitsky Hill, with walls from 2 to 6 m thick and not less than 7 m high. Ivan Kalita made a powerful fortress with a menacing look, but it stood less three decades and burned down during a terrible fire in the summer of 1365.

Moscow Kremlin under Dmitry Donskoy

The tasks of defending Moscow urgently required the creation of a more reliable fortress: the Moscow principality was in danger from the Golden Horde, Lithuania and the rival Russian principalities - Tver and Ryazan. The then reigning 16-year-old grandson of Ivan Kalita Dmitry (aka Dmitry Donskoy) decided to build a stone fortress - the Kremlin.

The construction of the stone fortress began in 1367, and the stone was mined nearby, in the village of Myachkovo. The construction was completed in a short time - in just one year. Dmitry Donskoy made the Kremlin a white-stone fortress, which the enemies tried to storm more than once, but they could not.

What does the word "Kremlin" mean?

One of the first mentions of the word “kremlin” is in the Resurrection Chronicle in a message about a fire in 1331. According to historians, it could have arisen from the Old Russian word “kremnik”, which meant a fortress built of oak. According to another point of view, it is based on the word "Krom" or "Krom", which means a frontier, a border.

The first victory of the Moscow Kremlin

Almost immediately after the construction of the Moscow Kremlin, Moscow was besieged by the Lithuanian prince Olgerd in 1368, and then in 1370. The Lithuanians stood at the white stone walls for three days and three nights, but the fortifications turned out to be impregnable. This instilled confidence in the young Moscow ruler and allowed him to later challenge the powerful Golden Horde Khan Mamai.

In 1380, feeling reliable rear lines behind them, the Russian army, under the leadership of Prince Dmitry, ventured into a decisive operation. Having left their native city far to the south, to the upper reaches of the Don, they met with the army of Mamai and defeated him on the Kulikovo field.

So for the first time, chrome became a stronghold not only of the Moscow principality, but of all of Russia. And Dmitry received the nickname Donskoy. For 100 years after the Battle of Kulikovo, the white-stone citadel united the Russian lands, becoming the main center of Russia.

Moscow Kremlin under Ivan 3

The current dark red appearance of the Moscow Kremlin owes its birth to Prince Ivan III Vasilyevich. Started by him in 1485-1495. grandiose construction was not a simple reconstruction of the dilapidated defensive fortifications of Dmitry Donskoy. The red brick fortress comes to replace the white stone fortress.

Outside the towers were put forward in order to fire along the walls. To quickly move the defenders, a system of secret underground passages was created. Completing the system of impregnable defense, the Kremlin was generally made an island. On both sides, it already had natural barriers - the Moscow and Neglinnaya rivers.

They also dug a moat from the third side, where Red Square is now, about 30-35 meters wide and 12 meters deep. Contemporaries called the Moscow Kremlin an outstanding military engineering structure. Moreover, the Kremlin is the only European fortress that has never been taken by storm.

The special role of the Moscow Kremlin as a new grand-ducal residence and the main fortress of the state determined the nature of its engineering and technical appearance. Built of red brick, it retained the features of the layout of the old Russian citadel, and in its outlines - the already established shape of an irregular triangle.

At the same time, the Italians made it extremely functional and very similar to many fortresses in Europe. What Muscovites came up with in the 17th century turned the Kremlin into a unique architectural monument. The Russians only built on stone tents, which turned the fortress into a light, skyward-looking structure, which has no equal in the world, and the corner towers took on the appearance that our ancestors knew that it was Russia that would send the first man into space.

Architects of the Moscow Kremlin

The curators of the construction were Italian architects. Memorial plaques installed on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin testify that it was built in the "30th summer" of the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich. With the construction of the most powerful entrance front tower, the Grand Duke celebrated the anniversary of his state activity. In particular, Spasskaya and Borovitskaya were designed by Pietro Solari.

In 1485, under the leadership of Antonio Gilardi, a powerful Tainitskaya tower was built. In 1487, another Italian architect, Marco Ruffo, began to build Beklemishevskaya, and later Sviblova (Vodovzvodnaya) appeared on the opposite side. These three structures set the direction and rhythm for all subsequent construction.

The Italian origin of the main architects of the Moscow Kremlin is not accidental. At that time, it was Italy that came to the fore in the theory and practice of fortification construction. The design features testify to the acquaintance of its creators with the engineering ideas of such prominent representatives of the Italian Renaissance as Leonardo da Vinci, Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi. In addition, it was the Italian architectural school that "gave" the Stalin skyscrapers in Moscow.

By the beginning of the 1490s, four more blind towers appeared (Annunciation, 1st and 2nd Unnamed and Petrovskaya). All of them, as a rule, repeated the line of the old fortifications. The work was carried out gradually, in such a way that there were no open areas in the fortress through which the enemy could suddenly attack.

In the 1490s, the construction was supervised by the Italian Pietro Solari (aka Pyotr Fryazin), with whom his compatriots Antonio Gilardi (aka Anton Fryazin) and Aloisio da Carcano (Aleviz Fryazin) worked. 1490-1495 The Moscow Kremlin was replenished with the following towers: Konstantin-Eleninskaya, Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Senatskaya, Corner Arsenalnaya and Nabatnaya.

Secret passages in the Moscow Kremlin

In case of danger, the defenders of the Kremlin had the opportunity to quickly move through secret underground passages. In addition, internal passages were arranged in the walls, connecting all the towers. The defenders of the Kremlin could, therefore, concentrate, if necessary, on a dangerous sector of the front or retreat in the event of a preponderance of enemy forces.

Long underground tunnels were also dug, thanks to which it was possible to observe the enemy in the event of a siege, as well as to make unexpected attacks on the enemy. Several underground tunnels went beyond the Kremlin.

Some towers had not only a protective function. For example, Tainitskaya hid a secret passage from the fortress to the Moscow River. Wells were made in Beklemishevskaya, Vodovzvodnaya and Arsenalnaya, with the help of which it was possible to deliver water if the city was under siege. The well in Arsenalnaya has survived to this day.

Within two years, the Kolymazhnaya (Komendantskaya) and Granenaya (Middle Arsenalnaya) fortresses rose in a slender line, and in 1495 the construction of Troitskaya began. The construction was led by Aleviz Fryazin.

Chronology of events

All towers of the Moscow Kremlin

ARCHITECTURE OF MOSCOW IN THE XIVXVII CENTURIES Rus in the 14th century The western lands were occupied by Lithuania. Monasteries played a huge role in that period, becoming not only defensive, but also economic centers. Around the monasteries and new cities there was a unification of the lands and a number of centers began to fight for primacy. The sharpest struggle in n. 14th century unfolded between Moscow and Tver. In 1273, Nevsky's son Daniel became the first independent prince of Moscow. Under him, Kolomna and Pereyaslavl were annexed to Moscow.

Moscow is first mentioned in the chronicle of 1147. The ancient Kremlin of Yuri Dolgoruky occupied less than half of the current Kremlin. Under Ivan Kalita (13041340), the old wooden walls of the Kremlin were replaced with oak… A. Vasnetsov. Moscow Kremlin under Ivan Kalita.

... and his grandson Dmitry Donskoy (13501389) erected a white-stone Kremlin on the site of a wooden one. Moscow Kremlin under Dmitry Donskoy. A. Vasnetsov.

By the end of the XV century, Russia was freed from the yoke of the Golden Horde. The Moscow principality united many Russian lands. Moscow became its capital. Ivan III (14401505) needed a new residence. It became the Moscow Kremlin. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra near Moscow.

THE MOSCOW KREMLIN "As the whole earth gazes at the sun with a billion eyes. So the thoughts of the best people crowd around the Kremlin." At the invitation of Ivan III, craftsmen from Pskov, Tver, and Rostov came to Moscow, but the Italians, the Fryazins, supervised the work. Construction began in 1485. White walls were overlaid with red brick, Battlements and a roof were added to the walls, The Kremlin became 18 towers with several floors, corner towers - round (3), travel (there are 6) with archers (only one remained - Kutafya). The Kremlin was surrounded by a moat (35 m wide, 12 deep) already in the next century lost its defensive significance

Kremlin buildings

The Moscow Kremlin has 20 towers and they are all different, no two are the same. Each tower has its own name and its own history.

Assumption Cathedral The cathedral was under construction for almost five years (14751479). Its construction was led by the Italian architect and engineer Aristotle Fioravanti. As a model during the construction, the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir was taken. Russian princes and tsars were crowned in this cathedral.

Cathedral of the Annunciation The cathedral was built by unknown Pskov masters in 1484-1489. on the site of the cathedral of the same name in the second half of the 14th century. The cathedral received its final completion in 1560-1570. under Ivan the Terrible. The temple served as the home church of the Grand Dukes.

The Cathedral of the Archangel It was built (15051508) by the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin Novy, a native of Venice. The rulers of the Muscovite state, tsars and their sons were buried in the cathedral. There are 55 headstones in the cathedral.

Belfry of Ivan the Great and Church of the Ascension It was built in 1505-1508. It is located on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin. At the base of the bell tower is a church. After the superstructure to a height of 81 m in 1600, it was the tallest building in Moscow until the beginning of the 18th century. In total, there are 34 bells in the bell tower. In the old days, royal decrees were read at the bell tower - loudly, "in all Ivanovo", as they said then.

The Faceted Chamber was built by Italian architects Mark Fryazin and Pier Antonio Solari in 1487-1491.

Customer: Vel. book. Ivan III Material: brick, white stone cladding Function: front hall of the prince's palace Description: a one-pillar chamber, square in plan, covered with four cross vaults. t t a a, k k v v a d r r a a t n a i v v p l l a n n e, n p e r r e k k krr y y t a y a t h e f t y r r r m i y k k The chamber was part of the ensemble of the Grand Duke's palace, connected with it by open passages. Feature of the risalit (edges of masonry) on the facade

Intercession Cathedral or St. Basil's Cathedral (15551561) Architect: Barma Postnik Customer: Ivan the Terrible Material: brick, white stone, glazed ceramics Semantics: votive church in honor of the capture of Kazan Type: ensemble of a hipped-roof (and eight pillar-shaped churches; the central volume is a hipped-roof church.

NEW TRENDS IN RUSSIAN ART OF THE XVI CENTURY In this century, especially in its second half: 1) iconographic canons are collapsing; 2) the love for decorative elaboration of details in architecture reaches its apogee; 3) there is a convergence of religious and civil construction, which is acquiring an unprecedented scope; 4) there is a process of "secularization" of art, that is, liberation from church influence. In the 16th century, Moscow acquired a leading role not only in the whole of Russian culture (in architecture, icon painting, and arts and crafts). Moscow retains its leading position until the beginning of the 18th century, when the capital is transferred to St. Petersburg. In the workshops of the Moscow Kremlin in the XVII-VII centuries. the best craftsmen, invited from all over Russia and from abroad, worked.

On a high hill at the confluence of the Neglinnaya and the Moscow River, the city center has long been located. However, the appearance of the fortress wall did not correspond to the power of the state. By the end of the 15th century, the walls made of white stone (limestone) were dilapidated, moreover, the appearance of artillery required a fundamentally new system - fortification. New fortifications began to be built by invited Italians ( Mark Fryazin...). The new Kremlin wall has a length of more than 2 km, 18 towers, and forms an irregular triangle in plan. At the corners of the walls, 3 round towers were set up in them, caches were arranged - wells, 6 quadrangular travel towers with gates were erected in places where important roads approached, towers - archers with rising bars were attached to them in front, bridges across the moat descended from the gates of the archers on chains. The rest of the towers were deaf, that is, not travel. The towers were topped with wooden tents with watchtowers, some towers housed bells or alarms, along the perimeter the wall was decorated with battlements, the height of which reached 2.5 m, the height of the walls was about 19 m, and the thickness was 6.5 m, there were underground passages. The tower was built of red brick, and the base of the walls remained white stone. In terms of beauty and impregnability, the Kremlin was among the best fortresses of its era.

In the 17th century, the monumental style was replaced by a picturesque decorative style, the forms of buildings became more complicated, the walls were covered with multi-color ornaments, carvings, and brick patterns. After the liberation of Moscow from the Polish invaders in 1612, the Kremlin was restored. Above the Frolovskaya Tower (now the Spasskaya Tower - the main entrance to the Kremlin) rose a stone tent covered with tiles. The Spasskaya Tower has a lower quadrangle (square in plan), which completes a belt of arches with a white stone pattern, in the arches there are statues (doodles) above the arcuate belt - turrets, pyramids, statues of outlandish animals. At the corners of the quarter
gilded weather vanes, on the lower quadrangle there is another two-tiered smaller clock on it - chimes (English watchmaker Christopher Galovey). The second quarter turns into an octagon, which ends with a stone gazebo with keeled arches (currant pattern). In the pavilions there are bells - chimes. The architecture of this tower combines the features of Western European Gothic and the Russian Middle Ages. The tower was renamed in 1658, thanks to the inscription above the gate, the image of Christ.

Temples of the Moscow Kremlin

Assumption Cathedral 1472. The main temple of the Kremlin, because tsars were crowned on the throne in it. The cathedral was supposed to exceed in size all the existing churches of Russia. 2 years after the start of work, the northern wall collapsed. The construction was continued by Alberti Fioravanti, a master from Bologna, (a region of Italy), nicknamed Aristotle in Russia. The master connected the blocks of white stone (limestone) with iron braces. After 4 years, the construction was completed.

Characteristics of the cathedral: smooth walls are dissected by wide shoulder blades (flat ledges), columns and arches made up the belt on the facade, narrow slit-like windows, entrances are decorated with picturesque portals, 5 altar apses, walls are crowned with zakomaras (to emphasize the national character), five domes. The cathedral was built in the likeness of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir.

Cathedral of the Annunciation (Golden-domed). It is also called the house church of the prince. Artistic techniques of various architectural schools - Vladimir, Pskov-, Novgorod - are applied here.

Characteristics of the temple: high basement (lower floor), the cathedral has the shape of a cube, 3 apses, keel-shaped zakomaras, 9 domes, the roof repeats the outlines of gilded zakomaras.

Cathedral of the Archangel. Family burial vault of the family of the Grand Dukes. Master - Aleviz New (Italian). He completed the temple in the traditions of Russian architecture in an Italian way.

Characteristics of the cathedral: a six-pillar temple crowned with 5 domes, the facade is divided by a cornice into 2 horizontal parts, and Russian shoulder blades are replaced by pilasters ending in capitals, zakomaras are separated by another cornice, and shells are placed inside them.

The Faceted Chamber is the throne room. The word chamber comes from the Italian palazzo, and the name comes from the decoration of the facade with a faceted stone.

In plan it is a square with one column in the center, on which 4 vaults rest. In ancient times it had a hipped roof.

Ivanovskaya bell tower. The bell tower was named after the church of St. John located at its base. The bell tower is a pillar of two octahedrons placed one on top of the other and crowning them. Each tier ends with arched openings through which the bells are visible. The bell tower unites the entire architectural ensemble of the Kremlin.

At the turn of the 16th - 17th centuries, another tier was built on, and the total height of the bell tower was 81 m. Later, a quadrangular belfry was added to the bell tower, with a powerful dome for heavy bells and a Filaret extension with a tent and pyramids.

Hip architecture 16th century

The reign of Basil 3. A monument associated with the birth of the heir John 4 (Ivan the Terrible) became the temple Ascension in Kolomenskoye. The symbolism of the temple speaks of two events: 1 - heavenly, the ascension of the son of God to the Father; 2 - earthly, the birth of the heir to the Moscow throne. The powerful foundation of the temple grows out of the intricacies of galleries. The multifaceted lancet base ends with triple pointed kokoshniks. And above them rises a tent. The edges of the tent are intertwined with garlands that look like strings of pearls. Its top is covered with a small cupola with a gilded cross.

St. Basil's Cathedral. (Pokrovsky). 1555 - 1561 Named after the famous Moscow holy fool, who was buried in 1552 near the walls of the Trinity Church, which originally stood on this site. The idea of ​​building a temple was born in memory of the capture of Kazan in 1552. According to one version, the temple was built by masters Barma and Postnik. The difference of this temple is its versatility. ( aisle- this is an extension to the church, where worship can take place). The composition of the temple: around the central, highest, pillar, on the cardinal points, there are 4 large temples, and 4 small ones diagonally. The tower-like volumes start from the ground itself and are perceived as independent volumes, at the same time they form a complex pyramidal composition, which is distinguished by artistic unity and dynamism. Most researchers see in this temple the embodiment of the symbolic image of Jerusalem. The interiors are like dark labyrinths, and the main attention of the viewer is riveted to its external monumental appearance. In addition to the complexity of the silhouette, the volumes are decorated machicolations(hinged loopholes, attributes of fortress architecture). The facades are decorated panels(frame, recess), lucarnes(window openings) and multi-tiered kokoshniks. The original color scheme was more restrained. In the 17th century, the cathedral was decorated: individual architectural details were painted, a complex pattern and multicolor appeared, the walls of the cathedral (inside and outside) were painted with ornaments. The architecture of the cathedral acquired the image of a marvelous garden, a fantasy of paradise.

This design of temples with a high silhouette, but a small interior space was very suitable for the construction of memorial temples. In the 17th century architecture became more ornate. From the main floor, the tent turns into a decorative detail.

merchant architecture

The 17th century began with a terrible famine, cholera, then robberies and robberies, turmoil began: the invasion of the Poles and Swedes, the death of Boris Godunov, the murder of False Dmitry and the emergence of new impostors. Therefore, until the 20s of the 17th century, there were no constructions. The builders have lost their art.

In the 30s of the 17th century, architects took a new path. Moscow became an example of new architecture. Trinity Church in Nikitki, placed in the courtyard of the merchant Nikitnikov.

The church is small in size, elegant: against the red background of brick walls, white-stone details stand out (platbands, columns, rows of kokoshniks, etc.). Compared to ancient temples, the church is striking in its liveliness, diversity, it creates the feeling that it grows and develops like a tree. The church is not symmetrical, which creates a sense of dynamics. They went there to pray not to the God they feared, but to the one who helped a person in his earthly affairs. The architecture is joyful, does not exalt a person, but does not frighten.

Patriarch Nikon saw in the patterned inappropriate deviation from the original samples. Nikon forbade the construction of hipped temples. All buildings of this time were distinguished by severity and severity, reaching asceticism. However, the tsar was dissatisfied with the claims of the patriarch to the supreme power of the state. The gap between them led to the exile and deposition of the patriarch. Patterned architecture continued its march across the country.