RUSSIA: Exploring Moscow Kremlin Museums and Attractions

The Moscow Kremlin is one of the biggest architectural and urban development ensembles in the world. It stands in the center of the city, on the Borovitsky Hill situated on the Moskva River left bank. It resembles an irregular triangle. Walls’ height, narrow embrasures, places for staying during the fight and distances between the towers—all these tell us that the Kremlin is the fortress in the first place. But once you enter the Kremlin the feeling changes.

The territory of 27,5 hectare houses wide squares and beautiful gardens, majestic palaces and plenty of churches. The whole city in the city, which had been forming for many centuries, today preserves monuments of Russian architecture of the 14th–20th centuries. The cathedrals, churches, administrative buildings form the ensemble of Cathedral, Ivanovskaya, Senatskaya, Dvortsovaya and Troitskaya Squares, as well as Spasskaya, Borovitskaya, and Dvortsovaya Streets in the Kremlin. The ancient and the new squares form an architectural ensemble, but each component has its own history and unique architectural appearance.

**The Moscow Kremlin and Red Square** – are the cultural heritage sites of the UNESCO
Ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square, being a masterpiece of world architecture, is a symbol of Russia. Its forming continued for more than 500 years and was influenced by the history of Russian architecture as well as by its link with European cultural tradition. Monuments of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are the best samples of national architectural school. For many centuries the Moscow Kremlin served as great princes’, and then tsars’ residence, and today it is a residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

In this post, I’ll show the numbered attractions below and explain their significance in city’s historical fabric that led them to be inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage List. Buildings outside the Kremlin walls are discussed on a separate post.

I. State Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve of Moscow Kremlin

The Moscow Kremlin is not only a museum, it is also a unique architectural ensemble, inducted in the UNESCO World Heritage list. It is a museum complex reflecting the history of country and also a site of enormous importance. Profound construction work was been conducted in the Kremlin during the rule of Ivan III The Great (1440 1505) who was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1462 to 1505. Great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan III began calling himself “Sovereign of All Rus” after having successfully annexed successful annexation of a number of ancient Russian cities. All buildings in the Kremlin, including the churches, were designed and constructed by Italian masters under the guidance of Pietro Antonio Solari. They chose fired body bricks as their main construction material. Many of these buildings still remain today.

**Moscow Kremlin Museums** (Russian: Музеи Московского Кремля (MMK), Государственный историко-культурный музей-заповедник «Московский Кремль») is a major state-run museum in Moscow Kremlin. Its roots lie in the Kremlin Armoury museum founded in 1806, the current form of the museum started in 1991.
Moscow Kremlin Museums have the following parts:
Kremlin Armoury (Оружейная палата)
Diamond Fund (Алмазный фонд)
Dormition Cathedral (Успенский Собор)
Cathedral of the Archangel (Архангельский собор)
Cathedral of the Annunciation (Благовещенский собор)
Residence of Patriarchs and Church of the Twelve Apostles (Патриарший дворец и церковь Двенадцати апостолов)
Church of the Deposition of the Robe (Церковь Ризоположения)
Ivan the Great Bell Tower (Колокольня Ивана Великого)

Ticket price to enter the **Architectural Complex of the Cathedral Square** is **RUB800**.

**Cathedral Square** or **Sobornaya Square** (Russian: Соборная площадь, romanized: *Sobornaya ploshchad*) is the central square of the Moscow Kremlin where all of its streets used to converge in the 15th century.
The square owes its name to the three cathedrals facing it – Cathedral of the Dormition, Cathedral of the Archangel, and Cathedral of the Annunciation. Apart from these, the Palace of Facets, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe and the Church of the Twelve Apostles are placed there. The tallest structure on the square (and formerly in all of Russia) is Ivan the Great Bell Tower, which also separates Sobornaya Square from Ivanovskaya Square.
Cathedral Square is famous as the site of solemn coronation and funeral processions of all the Russian tsars, patriarchs, and Grand Dukes of Moscow. Even today, the square is used in the inauguration ceremony of the President of Russia.

II. The Uspensky (Assumption Dormition) Cathedral

First of all, it is one of the oldest buildings in Moscow. It was built in 1475-1479. For hundreds of years, it was the main Orthodox cathedral of the whole country. Here, Russian monarchs were crowned and the highest Russian Orthodox clergy was exalted.

III. The Rizopolozheniya Church (Church of the Deposition of the Robe)

It was built by masters from Pskov in 1484-1485 and was a private chapel of Russian Orthodox metropolitans and patriarchs.

IV. The Blagoveshtchensky (Annunciation) Cathedral

It was built in 1489 and was a private chapel of Russian Tsars.

V. The Archangelsky (Archangel) Cathedral

It was built in 1505-1508 at the site of an old church founded by Ivan Kalita in 1333. This cathedral incorporates the royal necropolis with reliquaries of the rulers of the Moscow state as well as their closest relatives.

VI. Ivan the Great Bell Tower

In 1505-1508, the bell tower of Ivan the Great was erected, and it looked somewhat different at that time – not as tall as today. One more tier was added to it only one hundred years later, during the rule of Boris Godunov. The old belfry and the Filaret Tower were blown up during the War of 1812, but restored in 1814-1815. These are the only buildings that we can see today, although other significant structures existed here as well.

The **Tsar Bell** **Царь–колокол** was cast in 1733-1735 on the order of Empress Anna Ioannovna by hereditary Muscovy casters and bell founders Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail. Up till now, the Tsar Bell is considered to be the biggest one in the world. It weighs about 202 ton, it is 6.14 meter high and its diameter is 6.6 meters.
The history of making the bell is full of many difficulties, failures, and disasters. The bell was formed and cast in a special moulding pit at Ivanovskaya Square to the east of the ‘Ivan the Great’ Bell Tower.
Woodcarvers from St. Petersburg—Vasily Kobelev, Pyotr Galkin, Pyotr Kokhtev, Pyotr Serebryakov and the moulding master Pyotr Luokovnikov were commissioned to make the relief ornamentation. The name of the sculptor was discovered not long ago—it was Feodor Medvedev who got educated in Italy. Preparatory works took almost two years. At the end of 1734, the masters began the heating of metal in specially built furnaces, but soon the leakage was found out. At the same time, the fire destroyed wooden lifting constructions above the bell. The work was recommenced, but when Ivan Motorin died in August 1735, his son was entrusted with the work.
The Tsar Bell was finally cast in November 1735. However, it still remained in the moulding pit. In May 1737, a terrible fire known as Troitsky broke out and spread to the Kremlin buildings. During the fire extinguishing, cold water fell on the bell itself. Temperature difference caused its crack, and a huge piece of 11.5 ton broke off.
The repeated attempts to lift up the bell were a failure. In 1836, the work was commissioned to French architect from St. Peterburg Auguste Montferrant, who designed the lifting construction and an octal sandstone pedestal for the Tsar Bell. The first lifting was a failure; then the device was improved and the Tsar Bell was pulled out from the moulding pit at last. It remains there up till now as an example of the art of casting.
The Tsar Bell is decorated with bas-relief portraits of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich and Empress Anna Ioannovna; it is adorned both with floral ornament in the baroque style and images of saints, angels and inscriptions telling the story of the bell.

The **Tsar Cannon** **Царь-пушка** is a unique item in the Kremlin’s artillery collection.
It was created in 1586 in Moscow’s Cannon Court by eminent Russian cannon-caster Andrei Chokhov on the order of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich, the sovereign ruler of All Great Russia. The Tsar Cannon is located at the west side of Ivanovskaya Square, between the ‘Ivan the Great’ Bell Tower and the Twelve Apostles’ Church.
Judging by the Tsar Cannon’s calibre of 890 mm, it was given its name as the world’s biggest cannon. The gun’s tube’s weight is about 40 ton, its length is 5,34 m. The cannon’s surface is adorned with the cast figured friezes, vegetation ornament, memorial inscriptions and an equestrian image of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich. In 1835, the Tsar Cannon was fixed on the carriage specially cast for it at the Berdt’s factory in St. Petersburg. Four hollow decorative cannonballs were made at the same time.
The Tsar Cannon has never shot. By force of historical circumstances, it was never used in a war.

VII. The Palace of the Facets

It was built in 1487-1491 and a monument of civic architecture of the time. It contains what used to be the main banquet reception hall of the Muscovite Tsars.

VIII. Patriarch’s Chambers with the Church of the Twelve Apostles

Of the later structures, this remained until today. They were built by Russian masters for Patriarch Nikon in 1653-1655, on the site of some older structures. Two more important structures were added to the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin by towards the end of the first half of the 19th century:

IX. The Grand Kremlin Palace and the

X. The Armory Chamber

The author was K. A. Thon, the famous architect who also built the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Armory Chamber is considered to be the first museum in Moscow, and its history as a museum starts with the Decree issued on March 10 of 1806 by Emperor Alexander I and was titled “About Rules of Management and Preservation of Antiquities in Order and Integrity in the Workshop and the Armory Chamber”.