Who built the white Kremlin. The Kremlin will be repainted white

Everyone has already heard that the Kremlin was white. Many articles have already been written about this, but people still manage to argue. But when did they start whitewashing it, and when did they stop? On this issue, statements in all articles diverge, as do the thoughts in people’s heads. Some write that whitewashing began in the 18th century, others that at the beginning of the 17th, and still others are trying to provide evidence that the Kremlin walls were not whitewashed at all. The phrase is widely circulated that the Kremlin was white until 1947, and then suddenly Stalin ordered it to be repainted red. Was it so? Let's finally dot the i's, fortunately there are enough sources, both picturesque and photographic.

We understand the colors of the Kremlin: red, white, when and why ->

So, the current Kremlin was built by the Italians at the end of the 15th century, and, of course, they did not whitewash it. The fortress retained the natural color of red brick; there are several similar ones in Italy, the closest analogue being the Sforza Castle in Milan. Yes, and whitewashing fortifications in those days was dangerous: when a cannonball hits the wall, the brick is damaged, the whitewash crumbles, and it is clearly visible vulnerable spot, where you should aim again to quickly destroy the wall.

So, one of the first images of the Kremlin, where its color is clearly visible, is the icon of Simon Ushakov “Praise” Vladimir icon Mother of God. Tree of the Russian State. It was written in 1668, and the Kremlin is red.

The whitewashing of the Kremlin was first mentioned in written sources in 1680.
The historian Bartenev, in the book “The Moscow Kremlin in the Old Time and Now” writes: “In a memorandum submitted on July 7, 1680 to the Tsar, it is said that the Kremlin fortifications “were not whitewashed”, and the Spassky Gate “were painted in ink and white in brick". The note asked: should the Kremlin walls be whitewashed, left as is, or painted “in brick” like the Spassky Gate? The Tsar ordered the Kremlin to be whitewashed with lime..."
So, at least since the 1680s, our main fortress has been whitewashed.

1766 Painting by P. Balabin based on an engraving by M. Makhaev. The Kremlin here is clearly white.

1797, Gerard Delabarte.

1819, artist Maxim Vorobyov.

In 1826 he came to Moscow French writer and playwright François Anselot, he described the white Kremlin in his memoirs: “With this we will leave the Kremlin, my dear Xavier; but, looking back at this ancient citadel again, we will regret that, while correcting the destruction caused by the explosion, the builders removed from the walls the centuries-old patina that gave them so much grandeur. The white paint that hides the cracks gives the Kremlin an appearance of youth that belies its shape and obliterates its past.”

1830s, artist Rauch.

1842, daguerreotype of Lerebourg, the first documentary image of the Kremlin.

1850, Joseph Andreas Weiss.

1852, one of the very first photographs of Moscow, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is under construction, and the walls of the Kremlin are whitewashed.

1856, preparations for the coronation of Alexander II. For this event, the whitewash was renewed in some places, and the structures on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower were given a frame for illumination.

The same year, 1856, view in the opposite direction, the one closest to us is the Taynitskaya tower with the archery facing the embankment.

Photo from 1860.

Photo from 1866.

1866-67.

1879, artist Pyotr Vereshchagin.

1880, painting English school painting. The Kremlin is still white. Based on all the previous images, we conclude that the Kremlin wall along the river was whitewashed in the 18th century, and remained white until the 1880s.

1880s, Konstantin-Eleninskaya tower of the Kremlin from the inside. The whitewash is gradually crumbling, revealing the red brick walls.

1884, wall along the Alexander Garden. The whitewash was very crumbling, only the teeth were renewed.

1897, artist Nesterov. The walls are already closer to red than to white.

1909, peeling walls with remains of whitewash.

The same year, 1909, the whitewash on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower is still holding up well. Most likely it was whitewashed in last time later than the rest of the walls. From several previous photographs it is clear that the walls and most of the towers were last whitewashed in the 1880s.

1911 Grotto in the Alexander Garden and the Middle Arsenal Tower.

S. Vinogradov. Moscow Kremlin 1910s.

1911, artist Yuon. In reality, the walls were, of course, a dirtier shade, the whitewash stains more obvious than in the picture, but the overall color scheme was already red.

1914, Konstantin Korovin.

The colorful and shabby Kremlin in a photograph from the 1920s.

Kremlin. Chromolithograph from the collection of the US Library of Congress, 1890.

And the whitewash on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower was still in place, mid-1930s.

But then the war began, and in June 1941, the commandant of the Kremlin, Major General Nikolai Spiridonov, proposed repainting all the walls and towers of the Kremlin - for camouflage. A fantastic project for that time was developed by the group of academician Boris Iofan: walls of houses and black holes in windows were painted on white walls, artificial streets were built on Red Square, and the empty Mausoleum (Lenin’s body was evacuated from Moscow on July 3, 1941) was covered with a plywood cap , depicting a house. And the Kremlin naturally disappeared - the disguise confused all the cards for the fascist pilots.

“Disguised” Red Square: instead of the Mausoleum, a cozy house appeared. 1941-1942.

"Disguised" Kremlin: houses and windows are painted on the walls. 1942

During the restoration of the Kremlin walls and towers in 1947 - for the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Moscow. Then the idea arose in Stalin’s head to repaint the Kremlin red: A red flag on the red Kremlin on Red Square - so that everything would sound in unison and ideologically correct.

Kremlin workers carry out this instruction of Comrade Stalin to this day.

Late 1940s, the Kremlin after restoration for the 800th anniversary of Moscow. Here the tower is clearly red, with white details.

And two more color photographs from the 1950s. Somewhere they touched up the paint, somewhere they left peeling walls. There was no total repainting in red.

1950s These two photos are taken from here: http://humus.livejournal.com/4115131.html

Spasskaya Tower

But on the other hand, everything turned out to be not so simple. Some towers stand out from the general chronology of whitewashing.

1778, Red Square in a painting by Friedrich Hilferding. The Spasskaya Tower is red with white details, but the walls of the Kremlin are whitewashed.

1801, watercolor by Fyodor Alekseev. Even with all the diversity of the picturesque range, it is clear that the Spasskaya Tower was still whitewashed at the end of the 18th century.

And after the fire of 1812, the color red was returned again. This is a painting by English masters, 1823. The walls are invariably white.

1855, artist Shukhvostov. If you look closely, you can see that the colors of the wall and the tower are different, the tower is darker and redder.

View from Zamoskvorechye to the Kremlin, painting unknown artist, mid-19th century. Here the Spasskaya Tower is whitewashed again, most likely for the celebrations of the coronation of Alexander II in 1856.

Photograph from the early 1860s. The tower is white.

Another photograph from the early to mid 1860s. The whitewash of the tower is crumbling in some places.

Late 1860s. And then suddenly the tower was painted red again.

1870s. The tower is red.

1880s. The red paint is peeling off, and here and there you can see newly painted areas and patches. After 1856, the Spasskaya Tower was never whitewashed again.

Nikolskaya Tower

1780s, Friedrich Hilferding. The Nikolskaya Tower is still without a Gothic top, decorated with early classical decor, red, with white details. In 1806-07, the tower was built on, in 1812 it was undermined by the French, almost half destroyed, and restored at the end of the 1810s.

1823, fresh Nikolskaya Tower after restoration, red.

1883, white tower. Perhaps they whitewashed it together with Spasskaya for the coronation of Alexander II. And they updated the whitewash for the coronation Alexandra III in 1883.

1912 The White Tower remained until the revolution.

1925 The tower is already red with white details. It became red as a result of restoration in 1918, after revolutionary damage.

Red Square, Parade of athletes, 1932. Pay attention to the Kremlin walls, freshly whitewashed for the holiday

Trinity Tower

1860s. The tower is white.

In the watercolor of the English school of painting from 1880, the tower is gray, the color given by spoiled whitewash.

And in 1883 the tower was already red. Painted or cleaned of whitewash, most likely for the coronation of Alexander III.

Let's summarize. According to documentary sources, the Kremlin was first whitewashed in 1680; in the 18th and 19th centuries it was white, with the exception of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Trinity towers in certain periods. The walls were last whitewashed in the early 1880s; at the beginning of the 20th century, the whitewash was updated only on the Nikolskaya Tower, and possibly also on Vodovzvodnaya. Since then, the whitewash gradually crumbled and was washed away, and by 1947 the Kremlin naturally took on the ideologically correct red color; in some places it was tinted during restoration.

Kremlin walls today

photo: Ilya Varlamov

Today, in some places the Kremlin retains the natural color of red brick, perhaps with light tinting. These are bricks from the 19th century, the result of another restoration.

Wall from the river side. Here you can clearly see that the bricks are painted red. Photo from Ilya Varlamov's blog

All old photos, unless otherwise noted, are taken from https://pastvu.com/

Alexander Ivanov worked on the publication.

State Duma deputy from the LDPR Mikhail Degtyarev (known primarily as a candidate for the post of mayor of Moscow in the 2013 elections) sent an appeal to the secretary of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation with a request to bring up for public discussion the issue of returning the Moscow Kremlin to its original white color.

Degtyarev believes that the discussion process this issue should end with the preparation of draft laws on the historical complex of the Moscow Kremlin or the formation of an initiative group to hold an all-Russian referendum.

“In 2017, it will be 650 years since the construction of the stone walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin began,” the politician notes in his letter. “The revival of the white appearance of the Kremlin will become one of the symbols of the beginning of the restoration of a single Eurasian space, just as earlier the construction of the White Stone Kremlin in Moscow marked the beginning of the unification of fragmented principalities and the expansion of Rus' to the South and East.”

“For many centuries, the White Sovereign served Russia, the people and God in the White Kremlin. Until now, people call Moscow White Stone. Despite the fact that during subsequent reconstructions of the Moscow Kremlin burnt brick was used, to give the Moscow Kremlin its original snow-white appearance, the surfaces of its walls and towers were whitewashed annually until the end of the 19th century,” recalled Mikhail Degtyarev.

“The image of the white stone Kremlin, as in ancient times, will symbolize the priority of morality and ethics in Everyday life our citizens and rulers as opposed to moral decline in the countries of Western civilization,” Mikhail Degtyarev substantiates the idea.

Only after 1947, the ancient brick walls of the Moscow Kremlin, on the contrary, began to be tinted with red paint, which was more consistent with the color style of the then political system. At the same time, the parliamentarian proposes to carry out the repainting gradually, without additional budget expenditures, because even today the Kremlin is regularly painted with red paint.

For over 200 years, the walls of the Moscow Kremlin were wooden. Indirect data on other wooden fortresses, for example, the Tver one, indicate that the Moscow one was probably coated with clay and whitewashed.

In 1367 Dmitry Donskoy ordered the construction of walls and towers of stone. The only stone available was limestone. Thus, in a record time for that time, in just two years, the White Stone Kremlin arose.

Already in the next century, in 1485-1495, by order of Ivan III and under the leadership Italian master Pietro Antonio Solari erected new red brick walls and towers of the Kremlin. The master took the castle of the Sforza Dukes in Milan as a model.

Then, for either 200 or 300 years, the Kremlin remained red, gradually turning into dirty brown. But, firstly, it is ugly, and secondly, the brick needs protection. IN Time of Troubles there was no time for this, but as the state strengthened, the problem had to be solved. It is not known exactly when the walls and towers of the Kremlin were whitewashed for the first time. Usually only the century is called - the 18th century, when it was whitewashed according to the fashion of that time, along with all the other Russian Kremlins - in Kazan, Zaraysk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov the Great, etc.

However, according to some information, the Kremlin was whitewashed during the reign of Princess Sophia, i.e. V late XVII century. According to other sources, the first (or first after long break) there was whitewashing under Alexander I, started in 1800, i.e. at the turn of the 19th century, when all the walls and towers except Spasskaya were whitewashed.

From LJ blogger mgsupgs: “The White Kremlin appeared before Napoleon’s army in 1812, and a few years later, already washed from the soot of warmed Moscow, it again blinded travelers with its snow-white walls and tents. Famous French playwright Jacques-François Anselot, who visited Moscow in 1826, described the Kremlin in his memoirs “Six mois en Russie”: “With this we will leave the Kremlin, my dear Xavier; but, looking back at this ancient citadel again, we will regret that, while correcting the destruction caused by the explosion, the builders removed from the walls the centuries-old patina that gave them so much grandeur. The white paint that hides the cracks gives the Kremlin an appearance of youth that belies its shape and obliterates its past.”

The Kremlin met the beginning of the 20th century as a real ancient fortress, covered, in the words of the writer Pavel Ettinger, with a “noble urban patina”: it was sometimes whitewashed important events, and the rest of the time he stood as expected - with smudges and shabby. The Bolsheviks, who made the Kremlin a symbol and citadel of the entire state power, White color the fortress walls and towers did not bother me at all.” Blogger mgsupgs also provides a photograph from the 1932 parade, which clearly shows the Kremlin walls, freshly whitewashed for the holiday.

Then the war began, and the commandant of the Kremlin, Major General Nikolai Spiridonov, proposed repainting the walls and towers of the Kremlin for camouflage. A fantastic project for that time was developed by the group of academician Boris Iofan: walls of houses and black holes in windows were painted on white walls, artificial streets were built on Red Square, and the empty Mausoleum (Lenin’s body was evacuated from Moscow on July 3, 1941) was covered with a plywood cap depicting a house. And the Kremlin naturally disappeared - the disguise confused all the cards for the fascist pilots.

And only during the restoration of the Kremlin walls and towers in 1947 - for the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Moscow, Stalin had the idea to repaint the Kremlin red: a red flag on a red Kremlin on Red Square - so that everything would sound in unison and ideologically true. This instruction of Comrade Stalin is carried out to this day.

In the illustration: Pyotr Vereshchagin, “View of the Moscow Kremlin. 1879"

In the second half of the 15th century, when Moscow became political and cultural center Russian lands, the Kremlin was rebuilt with the participation of Italian architects. Its center was Cathedral Square with the Assumption Cathedral built by the architect Aristotle Fioravanti (1475-79) - the tomb of Russian metropolitans and patriarchs, the place of weddings and coronations of great princes, then tsars and emperors. Pskov craftsmen erected the Church of the Deposition of the Robe (1484-88) and the Annunciation Cathedral (1484-89) - house church Moscow sovereigns. In 1505-08, the Archangel Cathedral was built - the tomb of Russian princes and tsars (before Ivan V Alekseevich). The stone sovereign palace (on the site of the modern Grand Kremlin Palace) with the Faceted Chamber (1487-91) completed the design of the western side Cathedral Square. The Ivan the Great bell tower became the center of the Kremlin ensemble. In 1485-95, around the Kremlin, taking into account the traditions of Russian defensive architecture and the achievements of Western European fortification, the existing walls and towers were built from red brick with internal backfilling made of cobblestones and white stone on lime mortar. The Kremlin became one of the most powerful fortresses in Europe.

INSCRIPTION ABOVE THE GATES OF THE SPASSKAYA TOWER

“In the summer of July 6999 (1491), by the grace of God, this archer was made by order of John Vasilyevich, the sovereign and autocrat of all Rus' and the Grand Duke of Volodymyr and Moscow and Novgorod and Pskov and Tver and Ugra and Vyatka and Perm and Bulgaria and others in the 30th year of the state it was made by Peter Anthony Solario from the city of Mediolan (Milan - ed.).”

ARCHITECTS OF THE NEW ENSEMBLE OF THE MOSCOW KREMLIN

To realize the plan of Ivan III - to turn the Kremlin into a symbol of the Russian state, a demonstration of its greatness and power - architecture was one of the most important means. And the prince turns the Kremlin into a monumental ensemble. Almost all the buildings of the Kremlin - towers, walls, buildings on the central Kremlin square - not only stand in the same places and bear the same names where they began to be built and as Ivan Kalita called them in the 30s of the 14th century, but they even look the same as they looked during the reign of Ivan III...

The prince, on the advice of “Greek Sophia,” invited architects from Italy. The first to arrive from Bologna in 1474 was Aristotle Fioravanti with his son Andrei.

The Italian architect was 58 years old at that time, and he had already gone down in Italian history as the author of palaces, fortresses and fortifications for many Italian dukes and even for the Hungarian king, as the man who moved a huge bell tower from place to place. In Bologna, Fioravanti was about to begin construction of the Palazzo del Podesta, the model of which had so delighted his compatriots. But he went far to the east to enter the history of another people - the Russians.

Aristotle was settled in the Kremlin, given enormous powers, and work began to boil. Ivan III himself understood that the white stone walls were an unreliable defender; they would not withstand cannon fire. The Kremlin should be built in brick. And the Italian first built a brick factory on the Yauza River. The bricks produced at this factory according to Fioravanti’s own recipe were unusually strong. They were narrower and longer than usual, and therefore they began to be called “Aristotelian”.

Having created the general layout of the Kremlin fortress and its center - Cathedral Square, the Italian headed the construction of the Assumption Cathedral - the main cathedral of Moscow Rus'. The temple was supposed to carry a huge “preaching” meaning; it was to announce to the world the birth of a new state, and therefore it was necessary to embody in it a truly national character culture. Aristotle began to become acquainted with examples of Russian architecture in Vladimir, in northern Rus', and when, after four years of work, the five-domed cathedral was ready, it captured the imagination of his contemporaries. He looked “like one stone,” and with this feeling of monolith he inspired the idea of ​​the monolithic nature of the entire people. It cannot be considered accidental that a year after the completion of the cathedral, Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Golden Horde.

In those same years, Pskov craftsmen, still unknown to us, were rebuilding the Annunciation Cathedral - the house church of the royal court. In the basement of this cathedral, a new Treasury Courtyard was built - the Treasury Depository, the deep white stone cellars of which lasted for three centuries. The Treasury was built by another Italian - Marco Ruffo, whose name we associate with another remarkable Kremlin building - the Chamber of Facets - the ceremonial throne room of the future Russian tsars. For the 15th century, the Chamber of Facets represents unique creation: hall with an area of ​​500 square meters, the vaults of which rest on only one central pillar.

Marco Ruffo just started this chamber. He completed the work together with the architect Pietro Antonio Solari, who arrived from Italy - one of the legendary builders of the Milan Cathedral. It is Solari who owns the main thing engineering solution The Faceted Chamber, later named so for the tetrahedral stones with which it is lined. Both architects simultaneously built the stone sovereign's palace.

One can only regret that Solari lived in Moscow so little - in 1493, three years after his arrival, he suddenly died. But even in three years he did too much and, most importantly, brought to life the plan of Ivan III: to turn the Moscow Kremlin into the most impregnable fortress in Europe. The new fortress walls, 2235 meters long, ranged in height from 5 to 19 meters. Inside the walls, the thickness of which reached from 3.5 to 6.5 meters, closed galleries were arranged for the secret movement of soldiers. To prevent enemy undermining, the Kremlin made many secret passages and "rumours".

Its towers became the centers of the Kremlin's defense. The first was erected in the very middle of the wall, facing the Moscow River. It was built under the direction of the Italian master Anton Fryazin in 1485. Since there was a secret spring under the tower, they called it Tainitskaya.

After this, a new tower is erected almost every year: Beklemishevskaya (Marco Ruffo), Vodovzvodnaya (Anton Fryazin), Borovitskaya, Konstantino-Eleninskaya (Pietro Antonio Solari). And finally, in 1491, two towers were erected on Red Square - Nikolskaya and Frolovskaya, - the latter would later become known to the whole world as Spasskaya (as it was named in 1658 by a royal decree in the image of the Savior of Smolensk, written above the gates of the tower in memory of the liberation by Russian troops city ​​of Smolensk). The Spasskaya Tower became the main, main entrance to the Kremlin...

In 1494, Aleviz Fryazin (Milanets) came to Moscow. For ten years he built the stone chambers that became part of the Terem Palace of the Kremlin. He erected both the Kremlin walls and towers along the Neglinnaya River. He also owned the main hydraulic structures of Moscow in those years: the dams on Neglinnaya and ditches along the walls of the Kremlin.

In 1504, shortly before his death, Ivan III invited another “Fryazin” to Moscow, who received the name Aleviz Fryazin the New (Venetian). He came from Bakhchisarai, where he was building a palace for the khan. Vasily III already saw the creations of the new architect. It was under him that the Venetian built eleven churches (which have not survived to this day) and the cathedral, which now serves as the decoration of the Moscow Kremlin - Arkhangelsk, designed in the best traditions of ancient Russian architecture. One feels that its creator was greatly influenced by the original Russian culture.

At the same time, in 1505-1508, the famous Ivan the Great bell tower was built. Its architect Bon-Fryazin, having erected this pillar, which later reached 81 meters, accurately calculated that this architectural vertical would dominate the entire ensemble, giving it a unique color.

The construction of the Moscow Kremlin was an outstanding event for its time. Even if we consider the beginning of the construction of the ensemble to be 1475 - the year of the foundation of the last, fourth version of the Assumption Cathedral, and the end of construction - the construction of the last Kremlin fortifications in 1516, we have to admit that all this splendor and power was created in thirty (!) years.

The Moscow Kremlin, which we can admire today, was built by Italians from red brick in 1485–1495 by order of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich. It was not plastered or painted, so the original color of the walls and towers was red.

Fortresses with similar architecture can be found in Europe, for example in Verona and Milan. The most characteristic element, the battlements on the wall in the form of a swallowtail or the letter M, was considered a symbol of imperial power. The pope's opponents, the Ghibellines, had it in their fortresses. The Guelphs, who recognized papal authority above secular ones, built castles with rectangular battlements, so in those days it was possible to distinguish the owner’s belonging to one or another clan.

In medieval Italy, the question of which power is more important - secular or spiritual - was very relevant. In the literal sense, many copies were broken. Since the Milanese architects carried out the order of a representative of secular power, they considered that the imperial sign would be closer to the Russian ruler.

Moscow white stone

It is quite possible that the phrase “White stone Moscow” appeared back in the 14th century under Dmitry Donskoy, when the most important sections of the wall and tower of the originally wooden fortress were replaced with stone ones. White stone fortifications twice saved the city from enemy invasion. In the 15th century, these walls were dismantled or used as foundations during the construction of the brick fortifications that we see today.

In the 18th century, following the fashion trends of the time, the color of the walls and towers was changed, and the brick was whitewashed. This happened not only in Moscow, almost all fortresses in Russian cities painted white. Napoleon in 1812 saw the Kremlin white. After the fires it was repaired and painted white again.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Moscow Kremlin remained formally white, that is, it was whitewashed for various events, but most At that time, its walls looked shabby, covered with a “noble urban patina.” Even after the events of 1917, he remained white; this did not bother the Bolsheviks at all.

When did the Kremlin turn red?

In June 1941, it was decided to disguise the Kremlin as residential areas. Windows of houses were painted on the walls, the mausoleum was covered with a plywood cap in the form of an ordinary city building. By the way, everything was done efficiently - German air raids did not cause any damage.
For the 800th anniversary of Moscow, in 1947, the Kremlin was restored, and the walls and towers, by order of Joseph Stalin, were painted red, which harmonized well with the spirit of that era. Since then, the color of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin has been maintained red, periodically tinted to make it look elegant.

The Moscow Kremlin is located on Borovitsky Hill. Its southern part faces Moscow, the eastern part borders Red Square, and Alexander Park is closely adjacent to the northwestern part. Currently, it is the residence of the president and an important political center of the entire country. It is generally accepted that the construction of the modern architectural and historical complex began in 1482 and was completed in 1495. The exact year of foundation of the very first fortress by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky is unknown, but already in 1156 wooden fortifications surrounded by a moat were built on the territory of the Kremlin. To find out who built the Moscow Kremlin, you need to turn to history.

On the territory of the Kremlin back in the 2nd millennium BC. e. people were already living. Not far from the Archangel Cathedral, a settlement of Finno-Ugric peoples was discovered, which dates back to the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Archaeologists have found flint arrowheads, stone axes and shards left over from pottery. The buildings were protected by two ravines, which significantly increased the defense at that distant time.

In the 10th century, the Slavs began to populate the lands located between the Moscow and Oka river basins. It is believed that the Vyatichi built two fortified centers on Borovitsky Hill. They were protected by a ring of palisades and fortified by a ditch and a high rampart dug around it. Two ravines were attached to these structures, the depth of which was increased to 9 m, and the width to 3.8 m. The rapid development of the settlement was facilitated by busy trade routes between East and West, running along the Moscow River, and two large land roads. One of them led to Novgorod, and the other connected Kyiv, Smolensk and the northeastern lands.

Moscow was first mentioned in chronicles in 1147. And in 1156, by order of Yuri Dolgoruky, military fortifications, residential and utility buildings were already erected on the site of the modern Kremlin. The area they occupied was supposedly 3 hectares. In 1264, the Kremlin became the residence of Moscow appanage princes.

In the 14th century, five monasteries were built on the territory of the Kremlin. The oldest of them is considered to be the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on the forest, which was erected in 1330, in the year of the celebration of the millennium of Constantinople. However, it was destroyed in 1933. The Chudov Monastery was founded by Metropolitan Alexy in 1365. The name was given in honor of the Church of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael in Khoneh. In 1929, all the buildings that were part of the monastery complex were demolished.

Stconstruction of the white stone Kremlin

In the second half of the 14th century, during the reign of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy, the Kremlin’s wooden walls began to be replaced with stone ones, the thickness of which exceeded two or even three meters. The most important sectors and areas where the main attacking forces of the enemy could be directed are built from local white stone. To more powerfully repel enemy attacks, the walls began to be reinforced with towers. The new walls were located at a distance of 60 m from the previous ones, built of oak, so the area of ​​the entire Kremlin becomes almost equal to the modern one. Over the years, stone buildings began to require repairs. Under the leadership of V.D. Ermolin, a Moscow merchant, the head of construction work of the Russian state, in 1462 the Kremlin walls were repaired from the Sviblova Strelnitsa to the Borovitsky Gate.

Under the Moscow Prince Ivan III, the long-awaited unification of all Russian lands and principalities into one state took place. By this time, a significant restructuring of the Moscow Kremlin was required. The construction of the new Assumption Cathedral in 1471 was entrusted to Russian architects Krivtsov and Myshkin. But the building collapsed during an earthquake.

Then Ivan III invited the architect from Italy Ridolfo Aristotle Fioravanti in 1475. In four years he built a building, the model for which was the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir. Fioravanti was also a good engineer and, remaining in Russia, participated in several military campaigns as chief of artillery. Later, craftsmen from Pskov built the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, and then the new Annunciation Cathedral.

The newly invited Italian architects held great job and built several religious buildings in full accordance with the basic principles of Russian architecture. Since 1485, they built the Kremlin walls from baked bricks, which weighed 8 kg (half a pound). It was also called two-handed, since it was impossible to lift it with one hand.

The walls of the Kremlin are very high and sometimes reach the height of a six-story building. They have a passage, the width of which is about two meters. It is not interrupted anywhere, which allows you to walk around the entire Kremlin along the perimeter. The outside of the building is covered with 1,045 Merlon battlements, typical of Italian fortresses. They are also called "dovetail". The height of the battlements reaches 2.5 m, and the thickness reaches 70 cm. The construction of one battlement required 600 bricks, and loopholes were built in almost every one of them. There are a total of 20 towers along the walls. Of these, the highest is Troitskaya, its height is 79.3 m.

During the reign of Peter I, the Moscow Kremlin ceased to be a royal residence, since the emperor, along with his court, moved to the newly built Saint Petersburg(until 1720 - St. Petersburg). In 1701, a severe fire occurred in the Kremlin, as a result of which many wooden buildings were destroyed. In 1704, Peter I issued a decree that prohibited the construction of any wooden structures inside the Kremlin. In 1702, construction began on the two-story Arsenal building, which continued until 1736. The building was built under Elizaveta Petrovna Winter Palace, designed by the Italian architect V.V. Rastrelli.

In 1812, the Moscow Kremlin was occupied by the French army. During the retreat, it was mined and blown up on Napoleon's personal orders. Not all the charges exploded, but the damage was very significant. Several towers, the Arsenal, and extensions to the Ivan the Great Bell Tower were destroyed, and the Senate building was damaged. Restoration work was entrusted to the architect F.K. Sokolov.

In 1917, during the October armed uprising in the Kremlin, walls, towers and a number of buildings were partially destroyed. Later, under the leadership of architect N.V. Markovnikov, restoration work and repairs of damaged objects were carried out.

The Moscow Kremlin throughout its entire history long history It was rebuilt and restored more than once. Prominent architects and craftsmen from both Italy and Italy took an active part in the construction of churches and public buildings. It is almost impossible to say exactly who built the Moscow Kremlin. But we must always remember that this complex defended the capital of our state for many centuries and is now the center political life Russian Federation.