Inside the Kremlin

World Adventurer (December 5, 2003 Chautauqua)

 

   In Russia, a "kremlin" is a Russian town's fortified stronghold, and Moscow's was built in the 1150's with a low, wooden wall. It now features high red brick walls 2.25 km long, with Red Square on the eastern side.

 

A map of the Kremlin

 

   The Kremlin's power grew with that of Moscow's princes, and became the headquarters of Russia's churches in the 1320's.

   The "White Stone Kremlin" - which had limestone walls - was built in the 1360's with almost the same boundaries of today. This lasted until 1475-1516, when an era of rebuilding was undertaken by Ivan the Great. Master builders from Pskov and Italy supervised the building of new walls and towers, many of which still stand.

   Even after Peter the Great shifted the capital to St. Petersburg, tsars were still crowned here. Catherine the Great contemplated building a new, classical Kremlin in the 1770's, but she ran out of money.

   Napoleon's troops were making preparations to blow it up, blow it up good, blow it up real good, heh heh heh; but were foiled by rain and the timely arrival of Russian soldiers.

   Hitler had planned to raze the entire city of Moscow from the face of the earth, but it was his fate (and that of his vile regime) to be consigned to oblivion.

   I contemplated my "assault" on the site from one of the most visible monuments to Russia's new capitalism, McDonald's. It sits in a trendy "mall" just across from the western wall, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Mogila neizvestnogo soldata).  The remains contained inside are that of a soldier who died in December 1941 at Kilometre 41 of Leningradskoe shosse - the nearest the Nazis came to Moscow.

 

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

   Stretching south from the tomb is the Alexandrovsky Garden, a pleasant little park, with a variety of fountains featuring characters from Grimm's Fairy Tales.

 

 

   The main visitor's entrance is the Kutafya Tower on the Manezhnaya ulitsa. It stands somewhat apart from the main walls, at the end of a long ramp over the park. It is the last survivor of a series outer bridge towers that once stood on this side of the Kremlin. There is a left-luggage office below where you must leave any large bags before entry.   Tickets are good for entry, and you must pay for the sights inside you want to see separately.

 

Trinity Gate Tower

 

   Walking up the ramp, I passed beneath the Trinity Gate Tower (Troitskaya bashnya), heading towards the Sobornaya ploshchad in the centre, where the main sights are located.

   The lane to the right (south) immediately inside the Trinity Gate Tower, runs between the 17th century Poteshney Palace (Poteshny dvorets) where Stalin lived, and a great glass monolith of a building, the 20th century Palace of Congresses.

 

Poteshney Palace

 

   Looking north, I could see the 18th century Arsenal, which is ringed with 800 captured Napoleonic cannon. East of the Arsenal is the 18th century Senate (Senat), where the offices of the President are located, and the 1930's Supreme Soviet (Verkhovny Soviet).

 

The Arsenal, with Napoleonic cannon (on carriages),

and tubes (lined up between the carriages)

 

The Senate (left) and the Supreme Soviet (right)

 

    All of these buildings are off limits to visitors, and there are plenty of guards to whistle down any trespassers.

   Grouped in the centre of the Kremlin are its chief glories, the cathedrals.

The Assumption Cathedral

   The Assumption Cathedral has five golden helmet domes and four semicircular gables facing the square. This was the focal church of pre-revolutionary Russia and burial place of most of the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church from the 1320's to 1700. In 1812, French troops used it as a stable and looted 295 kg of gold and five tonnes of silver, but much of it was recovered.

Entrance to the Assumption Cathedral

 

   Beside the western door of the Assumption Cathedral sits the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, which was built between 1484-6 as a private chapel.

   Just to the south is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (Kolokolnya Ivana Velikogo), the Kremlin's tallest structure. It is visible from 30 km away, and before the 20th century, it was forbidden to build any higher in Moscow.

Ivan the Great Bell Tower

 

   In front of this cathedral are the Tsar Bell and the Tsar Cannon. The former is the world's largest bell, a 202 tonne monster that never rang. It was cast in the 1730's for the Empress Anna Ivanovna. As it was cooling off in a foundry casting pit, water being poured to cool the fires nearby came into contact with the bell, causing an 11 tonne chunk to fall off.

Tsar Bell

 

   The cannon was cast in 1586 for Fyodor I, whose portrait is on the barrel. The bore is 89 cm!

Tsar Cannon

 

   The Archangel Cathedral is on the square's south-eastern corner. It was formerly the coronation, wedding and burial church of the tsars. The tombs of all of Muscovy's rulers from the 1320's to the 1690's are here (except one: Boris Godunov).

   Ivan the Terrible lies here, but his tomb is out of sight behind a wall of icons, as are the tombs of two of his sons: Ivan (whom he killed), and Fyodor (who succeeded him). From Peter the Great onward, emperors and empresses were buried in St. Petersburg.

   The Annunciation Cathedral (Blagoveshchensky sobor) at the southwestern corner of the square has what are described as the "greatest icons by the greatest icon painter, Theophanes the Greek."

   Icons are depictions of saints and other characters from the Bible. Some of them are indeed quite beautiful, but the multitude that are on display in these and other churches can lessen a person's appreciation for what he is seeing.

   The one other sight to see in the Kremlin is the Armoury (Oruzheynaya palata), which houses a vast array of the treasures accumulated by the tsars.  There are nine rooms: rooms 1 to 5 are upstairs, 6 to 9 downstairs.

   Room 3 has the renowned Easter eggs of precious metals and jewels by the St. Petersburg jewelers Faberge.

   Room 6 contains thrones and royal regalia, including the 800 diamond throne of Tsar Alexey, the jewel-studded, sable-trimmed gold Cap of Monomakh, and the coronation dresses of 18th century empresses.

   Room 9 holds many coaches, including the sleigh that Empress Elizabeth rode from St. Petersburg to Moscow for her coronation. It was pulled by 23 horses at a time - about 800 in all for the whole trip.

The Great Kremlin Palace

   Between the Armoury and the Annunciation Cathedral stretches the 700-room Great Kremlin Palace (Bolshoy Kremlyovsky dvorets), built in the period from 1838 to 1849 as an imperial residence. It's now the official residence of the Russian president and is used for official state visits and receptions. It's not open to the public.

   Once I was finished seeing all these sights, my day in Moscow was just about done. I had planned to cap it off with a visit to the Moosehead Canadian Bar, but it had been closed and reopened as a milk bar! I had to settle for a steak at the American Bar and Grill. I made my way back to my hotel, and packed for the next (and next to last) destination on my round the world jaunt: Poland.