Touring Moscow, part 3: Red Square & Kremlin

[mendeleyev]

When the cathedral is open, it's possible to tour the interior of St. Basil's. The interior of the chapels, though surprisingly small, are found to be richly decorated. The windows offer unique views of the cathedral itself as well as of Red Square. The stone floors exhibit the wear-marks of 500 years' worth of steps taken by the religiously devoted. The interconnected chapels, with their doors, nooks, artworks, and niches make the interior of St. Basil's seem like something out of a fantasy.

St. Basil's Cathedral should be open every day except for Tuesday, from 11am to 5:30pm. The cathedral may not be open if restoration work is being undertaken. Nonetheless, if Red Square is open (occasionally, it will be closed), it's still possible to view St. Basil's from the exterior and take photos of this symbol of Russia.





It always sad to leave St Basil's, as you will someday understand, one falls in love with the beauty, the personality, and the history folded into these sacred walls. One can be so thankful for Stalin's yelling "put it back, put it back" upon seeing the map of what Red Square would look like without this magnificant work of art.

In the most recent renovations, carried out carefully as a scientific operation, the cultural stratum was lowered by 70 cm to reveal the foundation of the 17th century and layers of the 13th century. At the time of the 1917 Revolution, St Basil's was the tallest building in Moscow. During the latest renovations a coin minted in 1611 was found.

A common question when speaking about St Basil's is whether Ivan really blinded the eyes of the two architects, Barma and Postnik?

Well, Ivan was a pretty terrible guy. According to historical chronicles, St. Basil's Cathedral was designed by the architects Postnik and Barma and of course the legend goes that Ivan the Terrible admired the beauty of the cathedral so much that he ordered the architects blinded so they could never build such a masterpiece yet another time.

However a lot of things going back that far in history can "get a little fuzzy." The old adage that hindsight is always 20/20 certainly doesn't apply to this story!  

Moreover, many historians think that the cathedral was designed by a single person, Ivan Barma, who had a nickname Postnik. Postnic means "abstinent" and there is another problem--historical documents also reveal that an architect named Postnik built several other such monuments after St. Basil was completed.

Perhaps we'll never know the real answer, so for now we'll assign it to legend until proven otherwise.





Both photos in this post are from the rear (south). In this bottom one we are standing on the bridge over the Moscow river. That white sign which reads "стоп" is a s-t-o-p sign.


Finally, Basil "the fool for Christ" worked and spoke tirelessly on behalf of the homeless and the poor. It is fitting that at various times during Russia's history, including during the Great Patriotic War, that homeless people have found shelter from the winds and snows under one of the Cathedral's porches or awnings or outer entry halls. Today that is no longer so, but in a way one must think that Basil, who spent his life defending such, would be very proud to have them as company, even if only for a night or two.

May his blessed memory be eternal. Amen.

[mendeleyev]

We're already covered the Lenin tomb on prior pages so now we'll briefly discuss the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. The Red Square Necropolis came into existence in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolshevik victims of the October Revolution were buried in mass graves on Red Square. The necropolis is centered on both sides of Lenin's Mausoleum, initially built in wood in 1924 and rebuilt in granite in 1929–1930.

After the last mass burial made in 1921, funerals on the Red Square were reserved as the last honor for the notable politicians, military leaders, cosmonauts and scientists. In 1925–1927 burials in the ground were replaced with burials of cremated ash in the Kremlin wall itself; however burials in the ground resumed with Mikhail Kalinin's funeral in 1946.





Above: The Lenin Mausoleum on the right.

The Kremlin Wall Necropolis was designated a protected landmark in 1974 and the practice of burying on the Red Square was ended with the funeral of Konstantin Chernenko in 1985.

The tombs of Suslov, Stalin, Kalinin, Dzerzhinsky, Brezhnev are in front of the Kremlin wall. The tomb of Yury Andropov, which stands between Kalinin's and Dzerzhinsky's, is obstructed by trees. The Mausoleum is immediately to the right. Note the contrast between a mature spruce tree on the left to a line of young trees





The largest single burial occurred in 1919. On September 25, a gang of anarchists led by former socialist revolutonary terrorist Donat Cherepanov, set off an explosion in a Communist Party school building in Leontyevsky Lane when Moscow party chief Vladimir Zagorsky was speaking to students. Twelve people, including Zagorsky, were killed and buried in a mass grave on the Red Square.

The last mass burial in the ground of Red Square were victims of a railway crash of 24 July  1921. The aerowagon, an experimental high-speed railcar fitted with an aero engine and propeller traction, was not yet tested properly. On the day of the crash it successfully delivered a group of Soviet and foreign communists led by Fyodor Sergeyev to the Tula collieries; on the return route to Moscow the aerowagon derailed at high speed, killing everyone on board, including its inventor, Valerian Abakovsky.





Those concrete structures are the reviewing stands for parades on Red Square. There is a line of spruce trees separating the reviewing stands from the burial sites. The Kremlin wall and the stands erected in 1940s were traditionally separated with a line of blue spruce (Picea pungens), a tree not native to Russia. In August–September 2007 most of the trees were cut down because of disease. The Federal Protective Service salvaged some 28 old but sound trees for replanting inside the Kremlin. New trees were selected from the nurseries of Altai Mountains, Russian Far East and "some foreign countries".


Trivia question: Who was the only American to be buried in the Red Square necropolis?
Hint: Think of the 1980's movie "Reds."

Bonus question: What was his occupation?

[mendeleyev]

Understanding that some of you wish to do some New Year shopping in GUM, we assure you that we'll get there quickly. In fact, it's our next destination and coming soon!

Happy holidays from Moscow!

[WestCoast]

We're already covered the Lenin tomb on prior pages so now we'll briefly discuss the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. The Red Square Necropolis came into existence in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolshevik victims of the October Revolution were buried in mass graves on Red Square. The necropolis is centered on both sides of Lenin's Mausoleum, initially built in wood in 1924 and rebuilt in granite in 1929–1930.

After the last mass burial made in 1921, funerals on the Red Square were reserved as the last honor for the notable politicians, military leaders, cosmonauts and scientists. In 1925–1927 burials in the ground were replaced with burials of cremated ash in the Kremlin wall itself; however burials in the ground resumed with Mikhail Kalinin's funeral in 1946.


(Attachment Link)


Above: The Lenin Mausoleum on the right.

The Kremlin Wall Necropolis was designated a protected landmark in 1974 and the practice of burying on the Red Square was ended with the funeral of Konstantin Chernenko in 1985.

Tombs of Suslov, Stalin, Kalinin, Dzerzhinsky, Brezhnev in front of the Kremlin wall. Tomb of Yury Andropov, which stands between Kalinin's and Dzerzhinsky's, is obstructed by trees. The Mausoleum is immediately to the right. Note the contrast between a mature spruce tree on the left to a line of young trees


(Attachment Link)


The largest single burial occurred in 1919. On September 25, a gang of anarchists led by former socialist revolutonary terrorist Donat Cherepanov, set off an explosion in a Communist Party school building in Leontyevsky Lane when Moscow party chief Vladimir Zagorsky was speaking to students. Twelve people, including Zagorsky, were killed and buried in a mass grave on the Red Square.

The last mass burial in the ground of Red Square were victims of a railway crash of 24 July  1921. The aerowagon, an experimental high-speed railcar fitted with an aero engine and propeller traction, was not yet tested properly. On the day of the crash it successfully delivered a group of Soviet and foreign communists led by Fyodor Sergeyev to the Tula collieries; on the return route to Moscow the aerowagon derailed at high speed, killing everyone on board, including its inventor, Valerian Abakovsky.


(Attachment Link)


Those concrete structures are the reviewing stands for parades on Red Square. There is a line of spruce trees separating the reviewing stands from the burial sites. The Kremlin wall and the stands erected in 1940s were traditionally separated with a line of blue spruce (Picea pungens), a tree not native to Russia. In August–September 2007 most of the trees were cut down because of disease. The Federal Protective Service salvaged some 28 old but sound trees for replanting inside the Kremlin. New trees were selected from the nurseries of Altai Mountains, Russian Far East and "some foreign countries".


Trivia question: Who was the only American to be buried in the Red Square necropolis?
Hint: Think of the 1980's movie "Reds."

Bonus question: What was his occupation?

Mendy, I hope this isn't suppose to be a real tough question.  John (Jack) Reed an American born journalist is buried in the Necropolis.   Didn't really like "Reds", the silent film October: Ten Days That Shook The World is better and reportedly more realistic.

Edit: Just checked and October: Ten Days That Shook The World is on Youtube in 10 minutes segments.

[mendeleyev]

Hooray! Today an honoured Canadian member is being awarded the Order of the USSRUA Red Star!  

Obviously given the movie and his book, John Reed was a journalist who was very much in agreement with the Communist revolution and had free access to the inner circles of the party when Lenin was alive.


To you, Comrade WestCoast!

[mendeleyev]

Time to do some New Year shopping. We'll step across Red Square to tour the world famous GUM. GUM (ГУМ) is pronounced as 'goom' and the Russian name is Главный Универсальный Магазин. That means it's the "main shopping store."

Lets understand the name. Главный means main and is the same form of the word used for home page on a Russian website. The name comes Soviet times when most major cities had a main department store that was open to the communist party elite but closed to average citizens.

The main store of those "main" stores was this one and is the most famous place to shop in Moscow. Facing Red Square, GUM is the start of the ancient Kitai-gorod (China town) of Moscow. It is a large large, ultra modern, and expensive shopping mall.

We've seen the outside from Red Square, so we'll step inside at this entrance.





There are multi levels and several halls so we'll enjoy the views.

[mendeleyev]

Many of the stores feature high-fashion brand names familiar in the west; locals refer to these as the "exhibitions of prices", the joke being that no one could afford to actually buy any of the items on display. Currently there are more than 200 stores.


















By the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the building contained some 1,200 stores. After the Revolution, the GUM was nationalised and continued to work as a department store until Joseph Stalin turned it into office space in 1928 for the committee in charge of his first Five Year Plan. After the suicide of Stalin's wife Nadezhda in 1932, the GUM was used to display her body.

[mendeleyev]

[mendeleyev]

My first GUM experience was one of amazement after seeing the Soviet shops available to ordinary citizens. Then a few years later when living in Moscow the then future Mrs Mendeleyeva and I were out for an afternoon and went there for some ice cream. We ended up however eating at Rostik's Chicken. I immediately knew that somehow there was a connection to Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and sure enough, KFC and Baskin Robbins stepped in to save Rostik's financially in the 1990's and with some menu dish changes to accommodate Russian taste buds, the chicken was the very same.







Well, after several hours of shopping we've decided to end the day with a great view from a bar/cafe at one of the hotels across from Manezhnaya Plaza. As you can see above, we are now very familiar with several sights.

Lower right-there is the 2nd Arsenal tower, at the corner of Alexandr Gardens and Revolution Square. It is a common entry to Red Square.

Lower middle-there you see the State Historical Museum, that large red building. In the front of the museum is General Zhukov on his concrete horse. To the left is the Resurrection Gate entry, considered the main entry to Red Square.

Lower left-the corner of the City Hall (not really) and the Lenin Museum. The Kazan Cathedral is behind the Lenin building but we can't see it from here.

Left middle-that large complex with the rounded glass lighted tops is GUM, where we just spent several hours.

Upper mid left-along the Moscow river in the distance we can see the distinctive outlines of the Hotel Ukraina, one of Stalin's "seven sisters."

Middle-Saint Basil's stands stead over the centuries as a beacon and light for faith and hope. Just as it has been almost destroyed and then "redeemed" each time at the last moment, in the same way God reaches out to redeem all mankind and speaks to us thru the centuries of time with a constant and steady reminder of the beauty of man's creative abilities.

Middle right-you see two towers in the middle. In between those are the concrete reviewing stands for Red Square parades and behind those is the Necropolis where some famous public figures are buried. Lenin's Tomb can be seen jutting out into Red Square from the Necropolis area.

Middle right Towers-the far tower nearest Saint Basil's is called the "Saviour Tower" with it's gate into the Kremlin territory. Like the other middle tower closer to us, it has a red star on top, an addition by the Soviets. This tower is considered the most famous and it has the big clock inside. When the President of Russia makes his traditional New Year speech, this tower and the clock in it are the focal point of ringing in the New Year, much as Times Square is to the USA.

Middle-we can't see it from this angle but the space in the middle of all that is the rectangle known as "Red Square" which you now know means "beautiful square."

Below and just out of view of our vantage point is the Manezhnaya Plaza with it's beautiful fountains, underground shopping center and the lighted domes on the plaza.

This completes part One of our RUA Moscow tour.

We'll pick up the next phase of our Moscow tour by discovering the Kremlin wall and it's 20 towers (tower by tower) and by invitation, we'll go inside the Kremlin!

[mendeleyev]

This page reserved for a photo of Mendeleyev, standing in GUM while patiently waiting for the beautiful and talented Mrs Mendeleyeva and the Mendeleyeva daughters who, not in the least concerned with my plight (from boredom), were busy entertaining themselves among the shelves and aisles of each GUM store. I have the photo on one of the laptops--now to find which one...

[mendeleyev]

The tower walls of the Moscow Kremlin





The RUA tour of Moscow continues! One of the most symbolic constructions in Russia's history can be traced back to the 12th century when Moscow was founded. The original outpost was surrounded by the first walls in 1156, which was most likely a simple wooden fence with guard towers. Destroyed in 1238 by the Mongol-Tartar invasion, the Moscow Kremlin was rebuilt in 1339-1340 which included a bigger fortress on the site of the original outpost. This time the walls were constructed of massive oak walls which were believed at the time to be an impenetrable defence from raids, however such was proven to be useless against the fire which burned Moscow in 1365.

Dmitry Donskoy in 1367 began a rebuilding of the fortress. All winter long from the Mukachyovo village 30 virsts (country miles) from Moscow, limestone was hauled back on sledges, allowing the construction of the first stone walls to begin the following spring. Within a few years the city was adorned with beautiful white-stone walls. Whilst it was successfully invaded by the Tatars again in 1382, the massive fortification suffered no damage.

Dmitry Donskoy's walls stood for over a century, and it was during this period that Muscovy rose as the dominant power in Northeastern Rus. By the end of the 15 century, however, it was clear that the old constructions had long passed their time and Czar Ivan the Great's visions. Between 1485 and 1495 a whole brigade of Italian architects took part in the erection of a new defense perimeter and although over the years new walls have been erected by building on top of the older walls, some white stone can still be seen at the base in some places.

During the reign of Czar Alexei Romanov, the towers were built up with decorative spires and the walls were restored. Today the Kremlin's walls of red brick with notches at the top provide the colour for the gray rectangle that is commonly called Red Square.





Visitors who take the time to walk the walls are often surprised to learn that the walls aren't uniform nor were they constructed all at the same time. With an outer perimeter of 2235 metres, the Kremlin is a loose triangle, deviating from the geometric ideal on the southern side where instead of a straight line, it repeats the contours on the original hill on which the Kremlin rests. The height at some places ranges from no more than 5 metres quadrupling to 19 metres elsewhere. The thickness of the walls also varies from 3.5 to 6.5 metres.

The top of the walls, along their entire length, have outwardly-invisible battle platforms which also range from 2 to 4.5 metres in width (in proportion to the thickness). A total of 1045 double-horned notched "teeth" crown the top of the walls, with a height ranging from 2 to 2.5 metres and thickness from 65 to 75 centimetres.

The Kremlin walls themselves have also served as a prison as some of the interior corridors inside the walls have rooms with no exterior illumination where particularly dangerous criminals were jailed.

[mendeleyev]

Earlier in the tour we discovered that there are 20 surviving towers. These towers have each earned a place in Russian history and serve to highlight the walls. Most were built at different times.





Kremlin wall trivia:
- Tainitskaya is the oldest, and dates to 1485. It is called the "secret" tower as we'll soon learn.

- The baby (youngest) is Tsarskaya was erected in 1680.

- The Troitskaya (Trinity) tower is the tallest at 80 meters high.

- Three of the towers, located in the corners of the castle have unique circular profiles. From the ground level it is only possible to enter six of the towers, the rest only from the walls.

- Four gate towers exist, all crowned with ruby stars, they are Spasskaya, Borovitskaya, Troitskaya and Nikolskaya. Although up to the 1930s it was also possible to enter the Kremlin via the gates of Tainitskaya tower, however these were covered up yet leaving their portal clearly visible. The ruby stars were added during the Soviet period.

- Kutafya Tower is a bridge over the now underground Neglinnaya River which used to serve as a moat before diverted underground by huge pipes and pumped to the Muscow River. It is the only bridgehead watchtower to have survived to this day.

- Kutafya Tower is also the Kremlin's smallest at a height of just 13.5 meters.

- Total distance around the Kremlin is 2.25km.





The southern part of the wall faces the Moskva River. The eastern part faces Red Square. The western part, formerly facing the Neglinnaya River, is now part of the Alexander Garden, the bridge which formally crossed the river still stands and is done in the same style as the Kremlin wall.

The main gates in the Spasskaya tower are normally (with the exception of official and religious ceremonies) closed to the public. The gates under the Nikolskaya tower are often used for service duties only. Visitors to the Kremlin normally enter the premises via the gates under the Troitksaya tower. Except for those who wish to visit the Armoury chamber and the Treasury fond, which are accessible via the gates of the Borovitskaya tower.

We'll go inside the Kremlin territory soon, but for now we're going to do something that hasn't been possible since before 1917! Before the revolution it was also possible to book an excursion, lasting over two hours, to walk along the perimeter of the Kremlin walls, beginning at the Borovitskaya tower.

By special invitation we're going to do that now.

[mendeleyev]

At the time of the Russian revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks' were the minority among the revolutionary factions. But Vladimir Lenin was a shrewd planner and soom emerged as the dominate force in revolutionary politics.

Lenin was bold and brutal. Just as brutal and ruthless as Stalin, but he died before gaining the same kind of reputation. So when the Bolshevik's fled, yes fled, Petergrad in early 1918 where could they go for safety?

There was a perfect place from which to hide from enemies while issuing cold orders to liquidate the opposition revolutionary parties. Behind the Kremlin walls in Moscow. The irregular triangle of the Kremlin wall encloses an area of 275,000 square meters (68 acres). Its overall length is 2235 meters (2444 yards), but the height ranges from 5 to 19 metres, depending on the terrain. The wall's thickness is between 3.5 and 6.5 meters.

After the death of Alexis Romanov, young Peter had witnessed the Moscow Uprising of 1682, and barely escaped alive. This emotional trauma made him dislike the Kremlin. Three decades later, Peter abandoned the residence of his forefathers for his new capital, Saint Petersburg, named not for himself but in honour of his patron saint, the Apostle Peter.

Not since that time had the government been in Moscow. Upon arrival Lenin selected the Kremlin Senate as his residence; his room is still preserved as a museum. Stalin also had his personal rooms in the Kremlin and couldn't wait to remove from his headquarters all the "relics of the tsarist regime". Changes included taking down the 2 headed golden eagles to be replaced by shining Red stars.

Behind the walls of the Kremlin proved to be a safer place for Lenin and company during the Russian civil war which followed.

[Stubben]

Awesome Mendy! Makes me want to visit Moscow again!

I now realize that I've actually been to GUM, had a quick meal there with the lovely Belle.

[mendeleyev]

Stubben, glad you're enjoying the RUA tour of Moscow! Belle is a great guide I've heard. 

[mendeleyev]

Lets start our walk of the 20 Towers along the Kremlin walls!

Where to start? Each of the towers is important, of great interest, and deserving for us to visit. One might normally begin with the famous "Saviour" tower which is sometimes considered to be the "main" tower. However as we've just emerged from GUM and are directly across from the Lenin Mausoleum, we'll begin with the wall tower behind the tomb.


The Senate Tower
This tower went 300 years without a name. Only when the Senate building was constructed behind it did the tower finally receive a name in the late 1700s.





This tower is known as the Senatskaya Tower. The Senatskaya Tower (Сенатская башня) was built in 1491 by an architect Pietro Antonio Solari and was purely defensive in nature: it guarded the Kremlin on the Red Square side. For a long time it remained nameless. It was only in 1787, after architect Matvei Kazakov constructed the Senate on the Kremlin’s territory, that it was given its present name.

That yellow building behind is the Senate building which we'll visit later once inside the Kremlin. As you can see, the dome of the Senate can be seen from Red Square. Inside the central part of the tower there are three tiers of vaulted chambers. In 1860, the flat tower was topped with a stone tent roof crowned, in turn, with a gilt weather vane. Its height is 14.3 m.





This gateless, quadrangular defensive tower was built between the Spasskaya (then Frolovskaya) and Nikolskaya towers in 1491, by architect Pietro Antonio Solari. As with most of the other Kremlin towers, a tent roof was added in the late 17th century. Inside the tower are three levels of vaulted chambers.





The tower's principal function was defensive, and for a long time it remained nameless. It became known as the Senate Tower only in 1790, after the construction of the Kremlin's Senate building. The dome of the Senate is visible from Red Square. A memorial plaque by sculptor S. Konenkov was mounted on the tower in 1918 above the site of a mass grave of Bolsheviks who were killed during the October Revolution. Now in the museum, the dedication reads "To Those Who fell in the Struggle for Peace and the Brotherhood of Nations".

[BelleZeBoob]

At the time of the Russian revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks' were the minority among the revolutionary factions. But Vladimir Lenin was a shrewd planner and soom emerged as the dominate force in revolutionary politics.

Lenin was bold and brutal. Just as brutal and ruthless as Stalin, but he died before gaining the same kind of reputation.   

Lenin is a curious phenomenon in Russian history who probably deserves more attention.

Unlike Stalin, he was born a kind of middle class Russian nobility and received a very good education for that time, both domestic and formal. Like his brothers and sisters, he got taste in a number of politic related issues that were popular among young educated people. His elder brother Alexander became a political criminal with his plans to kill the Emperor and therefore to bring freedom to Russian nation. After Alexander was executed, young Vladimir made up a different plan, 'We will go the other way' is his famous line.

Sometimes I think what Russia would be like if Lenin still lived during Hilter's invasion. But as Mendy wrote earlier, Lenin did not make it up to Stalin's reputation, and remained a star and celebrity for every Russian schoolkid till the Perestroika's time.

Thanks for complimenting my modest guiding ability guys 

[mendeleyev]

Belle, thanks for contributing and we hear that your knowledge, love of Russian history, and ability to help others understand what they see, make you a GREAT tour guide!

[mendeleyev]

Before we turn left and go south toward the Kremlin's most recognizable tower, we'll briefly comment on the Senate building which is behind the Senate Tower.

Built in the 1700s by Catherine II, it was gutted for remodeling by the Soviets who destroyed the world heritage interior, trashing a 300 year old classic interior design much to the lament of observers around the world.

Today it remains a beautiful building and over time many of the original interior features have been replicated. But the destruction of the interior by ideological illiterates remains a shameful aspect, of many shameful moments, in Soviet mismanagement.

Today it is the official home of the Russian Federation Presidential administration. The flag on the dome traditionally indicates that the Russian President is at work in his office under the dome.





We'll visit the Senate building in greater detail later when we tour the Kremlin interior.

[WestCoast]

Mendy just watching a program on the History Channel called Cities of the Underworld, tonight's episode is about Moscow.  They were doing a tour of the underground metro and why it was built so deep and solid, protection from German bombing, however they also mentioned "the metro 2". 

"The metro 2" according to the host is the name the citizenry of Moscow have given to a secret and very private government run metro beneath the public metro.  According to the host this private metro is still in regular use by the Russian government and being expanded to areas around Moscow.  The host said the secret started to emerge in the mid- 1990's after citizens who had worked on the private metro started to privately tell friends. 

Any chance "the metro 2" is true?  Is it really an "open secret"?  Any information or photos in circulation?  Perhaps Belle or one of the other Muscovites might know more?   

[BelleZeBoob]

I have heard of 'metro 2' probably from the same source as you Westy, but never found any real proof of its existence, besides the normal metro.

[Manny]

Wiki has a page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Metro_2 and there is a site in Russian here: http://www.metro.ru/metro2/

A translated version of the second link is here.

[mendeleyev]

Thanks Manny for posting those links. Yes, it exists and even the Moscow Metro has some limited info about it. It was designed for times of war to move the government quickly out of harms way.

These towers around the Kremlin wall that we just beginning to tour, has several that once had similar purposes with underground tunnels.

[mendeleyev]

A Word about the Kremlin Towers:

T he Russian aphorism that “the Kremlin has many towers” is a comment not just about architecture but on the rivalries that pervade the regime that sits within it – maintaining an outward veneer of autocratic rigidity but roiling nonetheless with bureaucratic turf battles.

Since the end of the Soviet period the tallest tower, in this aphorism, has belonged to the so-called siloviki, the former officers – security men, soldiers and spies – who have flooded into state structures on the coat tails of Vladimir Putin, former KGB officer, two-term president and now prime minister. The administration of Dmitry Medvedev as President has slowly removed many of those "siloviki" from positions of power.

So, if you hear Russians using the term for "Kremlin towers" in a discussion involving politics, it may not be about those red brick towers along the Kremlin wall that is being discussed.

[mendeleyev]

The Saviour Tower/Spasskaya Tower (Спасская башня)





Right now some of you are experiencing little lights going on and you're making connections, aren't you! Yes, the Russian word "spa see ba" (thank you) means "May God save you." And the most photographed and best known tower of the Moscow Kremlin walls is the "Spass-kah-ya" (Saviour) tower.

The tower that today is called had a different name until the year 1658 when the icon of the Divine Saviour was placed inside the tower. On the order of the Tsar the tower's name was changed to the "Saviour tower" the name it still has today.





The gate of the Spasskaya Tower has been the official entrance to the Kremlin for centuries with a through-passage on the eastern wall of the Moscow Kremlin, which overlooks the Red Square. Across from St Basil's Cathedral, the tower was built in 1491 by an Italian architect Pietro Antonio Solari. Initially, it was named the Frolovskaya Tower after the Church of Frol and Lavr in the Kremlin (no longer there). In later years the icon was moved for safekeeping but the tower still claims that name.

Historians say that the clock on the Spasskaya Tower appeared between 1491 and 1585. It is usually referred to as the Kremlin clock (Кремлёвские куранты). Considered by many to be the most beautiful of the 20 towers, it is also famous for its chimes which are featured for example, to countdown the New Year each year on Red Square.

The first clock upon the Spasskaya Tower appeared in the 17th century, after the addition of a multi-tiered turret to the top of the tower. Designed by the Englishman Christopher Galloway, the clock boasted gold numerals in Old Slavonic and Arabic upon a blue background decorated with silver stars, but it eventually broke and was replaced in 1707 with Dutch chimes. In 1707, a Dutch musical carillion chime was sent to Moscow on the order of Tsar Peter the Great. The present-day Kremlin chimes were made in 1851-1852 by the Butenop brothers.  

During the October Revolution in 1917, a stray shell hit the clock, seriously damaging its mechanism. A year later it was repaired by order of Lenin, who decreed that it should be equipped with new chimes capable of playing the Communist Internationale. This unique clock has four dials, each 6.12 in diameter. The numerals are 0.72 metres in height, and the hour hand is 2.97 metres long, while the minute hand measures 3.28 metres. Their accuracy is ensured by a 32 kilogram pendulum. The ringing mechanism is equipped with 10 quarter-hour bells and one bell to chime the hour. The clock was originally wound by hand, but since 1937 it has wound itself automatically twice daily.





The Russians have always regarded the Spasskaya Tower with great reverence. According to old legends, the tower was possessed with miraculous powers and was reputed to protect the Kremlin from enemy invasion. People passing through the gates would always observe the custom of crossing themselves and doffing their hats to show their respect, and horses passing under the gates of the tower were said to shy. In fact, legend has it that Napoleon himself could not prevent his horse from taking fright as he rode through the gates, having failed to show his respect, and the French Emperor's hat was said to have fallen from his head.

In 1935, the Soviets installed a red star on top of the Spasskaya Tower. The illuminated ruby-red star replaced the double-headed Russian eagle in 1937, raising the tower's height to 71 metres.





During the 16th and 17th centuries the tower was used by the Tsar and the Patriarch for ceremonial processions and for greeting foreign dignitaries, and even today world leaders on state visits are escorted through its gates on their way to an audience with the Russian President.





Today, just as 100 years ago, you can hear its ceremonial chimes, the sound of which rings out far beyond the surroundings of the Kremlin and Red Square below.





Above: view of the Saviour tower from inside the Kremlin territory.

While traditionally the Saviour Tower Gate has been considered as the "main" gate, it is used for ceremonial purposes only and not as the main entrance for tourists.