The Kremlin then and now. Interesting facts about the Kremlin. Interesting facts about the Moscow Kremlin

02.01.2018

The Moscow Kremlin is perhaps the most famous landmark of Russia, and St. Basil's Cathedral, standing next to it on Red Square, is the most recognizable symbol of the country. Foreign tourists come here without fail and city residents come here with pleasure. The Moscow Kremlin is famous not only for its colorful architecture and historical value, but also for its mysterious legends, curious facts and interesting rumors.

The walls of the Kremlin are built in the shape of a triangle. According to legend, at this place, on the way from Kiev to Vladimir, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky had a vision - a motley three-headed beast, and the Greek philosopher accompanying him explained that this meant the appearance of a triangular-shaped fortress city, where people from different tribes would flock.
The first walls of the Kremlin were built in the 13th century from logs and covered an area with a perimeter of about 850 meters and an area of 3 hectares, inside which the entire Moscow of that time was located.
White stone walls appeared under Dmitry Donskoy in the 14th century, since wooden ones were unstable before fires, and a century later they were replaced with red brick ones.
The Kremlin towers were built primarily for defense, so some were equipped with drawbridges or even traps: an iron grate would lower and close the exit as soon as the enemy walked through the gate into the tower.
St. Basil's Cathedral is sometimes considered part of the Moscow Kremlin, but it is located outside the walls - opposite the Spasskaya Tower and is not a single 10-domed temple, but 9 separate single-domed churches surrounding the tall central one. Each has its own name, and they are connected to each other by transitions.
Of the 20 towers of the Kremlin, all have their own name, except for two, respectively, the 1st and 2nd Nameless.
Initially, the towers were named after the boyars or fortress builders, as well as nearby churches.
The Spasskaya Tower was called Frolovskaya - in honor of the temple on Myasnitskaya Street, where its gates faced.
The legend about Napoleon's stay in Moscow is connected with the Spasskaya Tower. At first he tried to drive through the gate on horseback and wearing a cocked hat, but his headdress was blown away by the wind: the entrance was considered holy because of the icon of the Savior Almighty (Smolensky) located above the arch; it was forbidden to drive or pass with a covered head. And when trying to set fire to the tower, the wick was flooded with a gushing rain. And the entire military campaign, as we know, ended ingloriously.
The icon hanging on the Spasskaya Tower was considered lost since the 30s of the 20th century, but in 2010 it was found, and in its place, above the gate, where it should have been. The image was skillfully hidden behind a metal mesh and plaster to save it from destruction. The icon was discovered using probing.
The Taynitskaya Tower got its name because of the secret well with water. The entrance to the fortress through it was equipped very cunningly: having broken through the gate from the side of the river, the enemy only ended up in an extension-shooting, and the real passage was located on the side.
In 1613, the first pressure water supply system in Russia was built in the Kremlin - in the Vodovzvodnaya Tower. With the help of a lifting mechanism (the wheels were rotated by horses), water rose through pipes into a stone tank, and from it it was distributed throughout the fortress.
Until 1831, between the Annunciation and Vodovzvodnaya towers there was a Portomoynye Gate: a small passage through which laundresses made their way to the river. The remains of the opening can be seen on the inside of the wall.
The Kutafya Tower is the only entrance to the Kremlin open to visitors. The Trinity Bridge leads from inside the fortress. Now the Alexander Garden lies beneath it, and once upon a time the Neglinka River flowed.

The Moscow Kremlin keeps many more secrets and even slowly reveals them to our contemporaries. For example, in 2007, during excavations, 5 thousand various historical relics were discovered, including medieval birch bark letters. And these are probably not the last finds that can tell us about ancient Moscow.

For a long time in Rus', the kremlin was the name given to the walled part of any city (and the part outside the city wall was called a posad). Quite a few (more than 20) stone kremlins in different Russian cities have survived to this day. But usually, when we say “Kremlin,” we mean, of course, the Moscow Kremlin. You will learn about various interesting facts related to the Moscow Kremlin in this post.

Moscow appears in chronicles in the 12th century. According to some sources, this area belonged to the boyar Kuchka, and Moscow itself was then called Kuchkovo. However, when Prince Yuri Dolgoruky passed through these places, heading from Kiev to Vladimir, the boyar did not show him due respect, for which he paid. “Greatly proud,” Kuchka “did not honor the Grand Duke with due honor, as the Grand Duke owes, but also insulting him besides.” In response, Yuri Dolgoruky, “not tolerating his blasphemy, ordered that boyar to be seized and put to death.” In 1145, Yuri Dolgoruky ordered the construction of the first wooden fortress in Moscow on the site of the future Kremlin, and 2 years later he invited Prince Svyatoslav of Novgorod-Seversky to Moscow.

Yuri Dolgoruky is considered the founder of Moscow

In 1263, Moscow got its first prince of its own - the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniil, who was only 2 years old at that time. However, having matured, Daniil did a lot to strengthen Moscow, expanded the borders of his principality, rebuilt the Kremlin, and founded the first monasteries in Moscow. The work of strengthening Moscow and strengthening its influence was continued by the sons of Daniel, his second son Ivan, nicknamed Kalita, especially distinguished himself. Under Kalita, the Kremlin acquired modern dimensions and outlines, although it still remained wooden. And under Ivan Kalita’s grandson Dmitry Donskoy, Moscow became so strong that it was able to challenge the Horde. Dmitry Donskoy (after another fire in Moscow in 1365) first decided to build a stone Kremlin. The walls were built of limestone, which is why Moscow began to be called “white stone”.

Unfortunately, soft limestone turned out to be a short-lived material, and the walls became dilapidated after a while. In 1475, Ivan III began a large-scale reconstruction of the Kremlin. Architects from Italy were invited, and new walls were built from red brick. In the Kremlin itself, a new Assumption Cathedral was built (one of the oldest buildings in Moscow that has survived to this day), and after it other buildings - the Archangel Cathedral, the Sovereign Palace with the Faceted Chamber, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, etc. The construction and arrangement of the Kremlin lasted several decades and was completed at the beginning of the 16th century. The new Kremlin was built according to all the rules of fortification art, and was surrounded by a moat filled with water. The walls had battlements and loopholes and about two dozen towers. It is this Kremlin, with minor changes, that has survived to this day.

This picture shows how the Moscow Kremlin changed, when, from what materials and how many times it was rebuilt (click to enlarge)

Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin

Ivan the Great belltower

Battlements on the Kremlin walls

Here are some more interesting facts about the Kremlin:

The Moscow Kremlin is the largest medieval fortress in the world, its area is more than 27 hectares.
The walls of the Moscow Kremlin have 20 towers, 1045 battlements, the length of the walls is about 2.5 kilometers, the height is from 5 to 19 meters.
All Kremlin towers have their own names, except two. These two towers are called the first unnamed and the second unnamed.
The highest tower of the Kremlin is Troitskaya, its height is about 80 m, and the most famous is Spasskaya, where the chimes are installed.
In 1941 Moscow was constantly subjected to German bombing. However, the Kremlin was camouflaged in such a way that it was very difficult for German pilots to find it. During the war, only 15 bombs fell on the Kremlin territory.
The newest building in the Kremlin is the State Kremlin Palace, built in 1961.
The Moscow Kremlin has had to withstand sieges and assaults more than once. Tatars and Lithuanians repeatedly found themselves under the walls of the Kremlin. In 1612, the Russian militia besieged the Kremlin, in which Polish invaders had settled. And in 1917, battles in and around the Kremlin broke out between the whites and the reds.
In 1947, Churchill called on the United States to drop an atomic bomb on the Kremlin, arguing that this was the only way to stop the spread of communism.

When it comes to the Moscow Kremlin, a complex of majestic buildings immediately appears before your eyes, reflecting not only history, but also many unusual and interesting facts. Regarding unusual facts, it is worth noting that even native Muscovites may not know them, and as a result, it is worth getting to know them, developing culturally and learning a lot.

What interesting facts can the Moscow Kremlin tell?

Thus, each of the Kremlin towers has its own history and purpose, a special architectural image. The most popular is, undoubtedly, the Spasskaya Tower - it is known for its clock, which was erected in 25 of the 17th century, according to the project of H. Galovey and subsequently changed and improved many times.

Indeed there is the largest of all the bells in the world. It was created in the years 33–35 of the 18th century, according to the decree of Anna Ioannovna, and erected in the Kremlin as a reminder of foundry craftsmanship.

Having mentioned the Tsar Bell, it is worth noting attention and Tsar - cannon, which is the largest artillery piece on the planet. Its caliber is 890 millimeters, but this creation weighs 40 tons, but with such indicators it was never fired and became a permanent decoration of the museum composition on the territory of the ancient Kremlin.

What many today call the Kremlin, our ancestors called Detinets. So in Veliky Novgorod, until today, the city fortress is better known among local residents as the Detinets, and not the Kremlin.

The word Kremlin itself means a city - a fortress. But at the same time, it is inappropriate to simply call the fortress the Kremlin, which has exclusively defensive functions. Inside such a Kremlin-fortress there must be a settlement of citizens. At the same time, outside the walls of the Kremlin, townspeople could also settle in the so-called posads, which were also fenced with a protective wall, but of slightly smaller height and thickness.

The entire territory of the Kremlin in Moscow is the most ancient part of the capital. So the first settlements in this part date back to 2000 BC. If you compare, people settled on the territory of Borovitsky Hill during the same period of time when the pyramids were erected in the Valley of the Kings.

Many citizens and guests of the capital may be surprised - why is Moscow often called white stone, when the walls of the Kremlin themselves are built of red brick? As historians note, this is rather a fill that precedes the modern citadel. Under D. Donskoy, part of the citadel, its walls and towers, were replaced with stone ones, and since they used white stone for this, the name “white stone” came accordingly. As a result, the beauty was incredible, but essentially meaningless - only the towers and some parts of the walls were built of stone, and the remaining parts of the fortifications, which were not replaced, were made of wood and it was possible to destroy them, breaking through the defenses without any particular problems for the enemy. In addition, the stone itself, as a building material, was too soft, and gradually the structure sank under its own weight.

The Kremlin in the capital received its modern appearance in the 15th century - it was Italian contractors who, over the course of 10 years, reconstructed the distortions and sagging parts of the white stone walls and erected stronger ones from baked red brick. That is why the modern Kremlin is more of a European defensive complex. At the same time, general statistics of the very image of the Kremlin, which acts as a national symbol of the capital, shows that it is very similar to the Sforzesco Castle, located in Italy, Milan.

It is worth noting that in the 18th century the walls of the Kremlin again became white, and the capital itself again regained its name - white stone. The thing is that the fortress walls were simply whitewashed - that was the fashion then, but the original color of the wall was returned in 1947, when restoration work was carried out to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the capital. As historical documents note, the initiator of this was Joseph Stalin - he considered it a kind of symbolic sign that when the square was Red, the red flag would fly over it, signifying the victory over Nazi Germany.

Have you ever thought about the fact that walking as a guard, on guard duty, in the open air, along the Kremlin walls is very, very inconvenient? In those days when the Kremlin was considered a defensive complex, there were plank roofs on top of the walls, thereby forming covered galleys, and inside which the military carried out their patrol. The roofs themselves were removed from the walls only in the 18th century.

During the reign of the tsars, anyone could enter the territory of the Kremlin, without obstacles, and in addition, at the palace office one could get a ticket absolutely free and visit the palace. A modern analogue of excursions. For the purpose of sightseeing.

It may seem surprising to some, but despite the fact that the Kremlin is a regime facility, until the mid-20th century, Muscovites lived on its territory. It was only in 1955 that a ban on such residence was put into effect and the last resident was discharged only in 1962.

Historical documents confirm that in ancient times all the Kremlin towers were united by passages running deep within the walls themselves. In addition, underground passages inside the Kremlin itself have been historically confirmed, although not yet found. So, according to one of the local legends, the construction of the Kremlin began with extensive earthworks, and as a result, underground passages were built, or rather, an entire city underground, with its passages and galleries, passages and rooms in which a large army could hide and townspeople during an enemy siege. And subsequently, it was above them that the earth was poured, creating a mound and a fortress on it. All the diagrams and reliable documentary data about this fact could be found in the library of Ivan the Terrible, but it has not yet been found.

ABOUT MOSCOW

Moscow is the most important city in our country. Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation, a city of federal significance, the administrative center of the Central Federal District and the center of the Moscow Region, which it is not part of. The largest city in Russia and its subject by population - 12,330,126 people. (2016), the most populous of the cities located entirely in Europe, is among the top ten cities in the world by population. Center of the Moscow urban agglomeration.

The historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Tsardom, the Russian Empire (in 1728-1730), Soviet Russia and the USSR. Popular names: “Mother See”, “Third Rome”. Hero city. In Moscow there are federal government bodies of the Russian Federation (with the exception of the Constitutional Court), embassies of foreign states, and the headquarters of most of the largest Russian commercial organizations and public associations. It is located on the Moscow River in the center of the East European Plain, between the Oka and Volga rivers.

Moscow is an important tourist center of Russia. The Moscow Kremlin, Red Square, Novodevichy Convent and the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is the most important transport hub. The city is served by 5 airports, 9 railway stations, 3 river ports (there is a river connection with the seas of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans). The metro has been operating in Moscow since 1935.

Moscow is located in the center of the European part of Russia, between the Oka and Volga rivers, at the junction of the Smolensk-Moscow Upland (in the west), the Moskvoretsko-Oka Plain (in the east) and the Meshcherskaya Lowland (in the southeast). The territory of the city after changing city boundaries in 2012 is 2550 km².

The average height above sea level is 156 m. The highest point is on the Teplostanskaya Upland and is 255 m, the lowest point is near the Besedinsky Bridges, where the Moscow River leaves the city (the height of this point above sea level is 114.2 m).

The climate of Moscow is temperate continental, with clearly defined seasonality.

Moscow has large forests and parks; within the city there is part of the Losiny Ostrov Natural Park, many public gardens and recreational areas. Despite the enormous degree of development in Moscow, the area of green areas of the city is 34.3 thousand hectares or about 1/3 of the total territory of the city. In Moscow forests there are not only squirrels, hedgehogs and hares, but also larger wild animals such as wild boar and elk, sika deer, fox, mink and ermine, wild ducks and herons, rare pheasants and gray partridges, black kites and many other animals.

The name of the city comes from the name of the river. Hypotheses about the Slavic and Finno-Ugric origin of the river’s name have become widespread among experts. In the Finno-Ugric version, the original meaning of the word was “water, river, wet,” from the Mari language - “bear, female, mother, she-bear.” In the Slavic version - “liquid, muddy, damp, slushy.”

In the center of Moscow and at the same time, its oldest part, the Moscow Kremlin fortress is located - the main socio-political, historical and artistic complex of the city, the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. The Kremlin is the largest fortress in Europe, preserved and operating to this day.

The age of Moscow is not known exactly. The first settlements on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin date back to the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). A Finno-Ugric settlement dating back to the early Iron Age (second half of the 1st millennium BC) was found near the modern Archangel Cathedral. The settlement occupied the center of the upper floodplain terrace of Borovitsky Hill (the area of modern Cathedral Square) and may have had fortifications. With the beginning of the Slavic colonization of the Oka and Moscow River basins in the 10th century, the top of Borovitsky Hill was inhabited by the Vyatichi.

50 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MOSCOW

According to most researchers and historians, Moscow got its name from the river that flows nearby. There are two versions of the origin of the name “Moscow”. Supporters of the first version believe that the word “Moscow” is of Finnish origin, since once upon a time there were ancient settlements of Finnish tribes on the banks of the river. According to this version, “mosk” is translated as bear, and “va” as water. Supporters of the second version believe that this name was given by the ancient Slavs, and in Old Slavic “Moskva” means “wet”, “dampness”.

If you add up all the streets of the city, their length will be about 4,350 kilometers. A pedestrian walking at a speed of 5 km per hour without stopping would take more than a month to cover this distance.

The Moscow Kremlin is the largest fortress in Europe, preserved and operating to this day.

The Kremlin chimes are the oldest large tower clock in Russia. Their diameter is 9 meters, the length of the minute hand is 4 meters, and its weight is 50 kilograms. The hour hand is shorter than the minute hand by half a meter and lighter by 11 kilograms.

The oldest temple in Moscow is the Assumption Cathedral, which was built in 1475-1479. The Assumption Cathedral by Aristotle Fioravanti is the oldest surviving building in Moscow. Today it is already 535 years old. There are 837 Orthodox churches and chapels in Moscow.

Previously, representatives of various classes, professions and nationalities lived separately in Moscow. Many streets in the central part of the city were named after who their inhabitants were and what they did. Cooks actually lived on Povarskaya, and butchers lived on Myasnitskaya. In the area of Bolshaya Ordynka and Malaya Ordynka, immigrants from the Golden Horde, that is, Tatars, settled. In the area of Malaya Gruzinskaya there was a Gruzinskaya Sloboda, and Khokhlovsky Lane and Maroseyka Street began to be called that because Ukrainians (from Little Russia) settled here.

The Lenin Library (now: Russian State Library) is one of the most extensive in the world, second only to the US Library of Congress. There are 40 million books in it.

The oldest park in Moscow is the Alexander Garden. It was built in the 18th century.

Moscow is of great importance as a scientific and cultural center. The Russian Academy of Sciences, located here, includes 90 departments and 78 research centers. In addition to the Russian Academy of Sciences, there are other scientific academies in Moscow. The collections of Moscow museums - the Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum - compete with the most famous collections in the world. There are 109 cinemas, 31 cinema and concert halls, 142 exhibition centers, 78 museums and 72 theaters in Moscow.
Ancient oak trees grow in Kolomenskoye - they are more than seven centuries old.

One of the poetic places in Moscow, Chistye Prudy, was originally called, far from poetically, the Filthy Swamps. Waste was regularly dumped there. In the 17th century, the pond became part of the princely estate, was cleaned out and changed its name. For almost fifteen years now, the Annushka tram has been running in Moscow, around Chistye Prudy. There is a cafe there.

The last Russian ruler who was a native Muscovite is still Alexander II. All the rest, including Soviet leaders and Russian presidents, were not born in Moscow.

In Moscow there is a river called Los, and the largest of the streams flowing into it is called Losenok.

The millionth resident of Moscow was born in 1897.

In the novel by Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina threw herself under a train at the Obiralovka station near Moscow. During Soviet times, this village became a city and was renamed Zheleznodorozhny.

The most unusual benches in Moscow are located in the Art Museum garden, next to the Central House of Artists. Here you can sit on a palette bench, a grain bench or a centipede bench.

The famous monument to Pushkin on Tverskaya used to be on the opposite side of the street. But it has only stood in its current location for fifty years.

The names of streets and squares in Moscow were given for a reason. For example, the Kremlin gates were named Borovitsky because a real pine forest grew nearby, around the fortress wall. On the site of a river bank overgrown with moss, Mokhovaya Street arose, and a small swamp - Bolotnaya Street.

Several dozen rivers flow through the city and its surroundings. Large rivers are tributaries of the Moscow River - these are the Yauza, Neglinnaya, Skhodnya, Kotlovka, Khodynka, Setun. In modern conditions, many of them were enclosed in collectors. In total, 362 rivers and 550 streams flow into the Moscow River.

Moscow is surrounded on all sides by forest. And on the territory of the city itself there are several parks, including Timiryazevsky, Izmailovsky, the Botanical Garden with a unique collection of plants, and Neskuchny Garden. In the east of the city there is the Losiny Ostrov Natural Park.

There is a legend that the famous Templar treasures are located in Moscow. The treasures were secretly taken from Paris during the defeat of the order. Traces of the presence of the Templars have also been preserved in Moscow. They can be seen on the walls of the St. Daniel Monastery. The first tier of the gate church is decorated with stucco rosettes in the shape of the Templar coat of arms - a six-petalled rose in a white square frame, the corners of which are cut off by four rings.

On June 29, 1904, a strong tornado came to Moscow. Having destroyed several villages along the way, breaking centuries-old trees in Sokolniki and destroying houses in Lefortovo, walking along the Moscow River, the tornado raised the water and exposed the bottom.

One of the most mysterious places in Moscow is Tsaritsyno. Once upon a time, the place where the royal estate was built was called “Black Mud” because it was “unclean.” Since ancient times, it was as if an evil fate was hanging over it, as if it was surviving its owners.

The two most famous diamonds in the world are kept in Moscow in the Diamond Fund. One of them is called “Shah”, its weight is 88 carats. There are inscriptions on the stone telling about its previous owners. In 1829, it was presented to Nicholas I by the Shah of Tehran as a sign of reconciliation after the defeat of the Russian embassy and the murder of the diplomat and poet A. S. Griboyedov. The Orlov diamond is the largest in the Diamond Fund’s collection. Supposedly it was found in India and was the eye of a Buddha statue. Subsequently, it was purchased by Count Orlov as a gift to Catherine II.

Glass windows appeared in the houses of boyars in the 16th century, and before that time, Moscow residents had fish bladder or mica instead of glass.

The most expensive street in Moscow is Tretyakovsky Proezd. The most expensive boutiques are located here.

The first water supply system appeared in Moscow in 1804. And the sewerage system was built in 1898. The Moscow telegraph began operating in 1872, and the first telephones began ringing for Muscovites in 1882. An elevator in Moscow was first built in 1901.

There are supposedly 12 famous ghosts living in Moscow, not counting hundreds of little-known ones. Among them are the Black Monk, Beria's limousine, Behemoth the Cat and others.

Until the 20th century, according to established tradition, the walls of the Kremlin were whitewashed, so Moscow was “white stone”. And the spiers of the towers were not crowned with stars, as they are now, but with the coat of arms of the Russian Empire. After the revolution, Lenin repeatedly called for their removal, but this was done only in the 1930s.

Some names of the capital's streets have a much more original origin. For example, Plyushchikha Street began to be called that way in the 18th century because a tavern of the same name stood here.

Over its long history, Moscow has burned countless times. Since houses were previously built mostly of wood, the fire spread very quickly, and the fire engulfed the entire city in a short time. The Kremlin also often burned. The situation was aggravated by the fact that until the end of the 18th century there was no centralized water supply in Moscow. In 1737, during one of the severe fires, the newly cast Tsar Bell broke apart.

In the very center of Moscow flows a river that many generations of Muscovites have never seen in person. This is the Neglinka River. It was once a fairly deep river, but at the beginning of the 19th century it was enclosed in a pipe, and now it flows underground in a sewer. Neglinnaya Street completely follows the river bed. Moscow diggers and simply adventurers periodically descend into the sewer to follow the path of the famous reporter Vladimir Gilyarovsky, who also visited these dungeons more than 100 years ago.

In fact, they wanted to build a metro in Moscow even under the Tsar. The first such ideas were expressed in 1875; in 1902, a similar project was considered by the city duma. And in 1914 they even planned to begin construction, but this was prevented by the outbreak of the First World War. As a result, the metro appeared only in 1935.

Over the years of the Moscow Metro's existence, many stations have been renamed more than once. Some of them initially had rather strange names. For example, “Sukharevskaya” was the “Kolkhoznaya” station, and “Alekseevskaya” was the “Mir” station.

During the Great Patriotic War, the metro was used as a bomb shelter. During German air raids, train traffic stopped, and women, children and old people hurried to the station. Not only were Muscovites themselves hiding in the metro, but government institutions were also located. In addition, 217 children were born here during the bombing.

Since its opening, the metro has been closed only once - on October 16, 1941. Then the Germans came very close to Moscow, and the metro was planned to be destroyed that day. However, by the end of the day the destruction order was canceled.

The stations of the Sokolnicheskaya line from Park Kultury to Sokolniki are decorated with stone from the Serpukhov Kremlin, dismantled in 1934.

At several dozen metro stations (which are lined with marble) you can find many extinct prehistoric animals, such as nautiluses, ammonites, sea urchins, corals, various mollusks and others. The largest number of fossils is at the stations of the Sokolnicheskaya, Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya and Zamoskvoretskaya lines

At Sportivnaya station there is a Metro Museum, the exhibits of which are scaled-down models of Moscow Metro stations and trains.

In the transition between the Rimskaya and Ploshchad Ilyich stations there is a real fountain.

On many lines the tunnel goes up before the station, and down after the station. This was done to reduce wear on trains when braking before the station and accelerating after.

There are 76 bronze sculptures installed at the Revolution Square station! All figures are unique and do not resemble each other. In addition, you can notice that in the sculpture group “Border Guard with a Dog” the dog’s nose is polished to a shine... this is due to the fact that among Moscow university students there is a belief that a student who rubs a dog’s nose will definitely pass the exam.

Okhotny Ryad station was renamed several times. Since its construction and opening (1935), it has had its own name. In 1955, the name of the station was changed to “Station named after Koganovich” until 1957. But in 1957 the station again began to bear its original name, but not for long, since in 1961 the station was given the name “Karl Marx station” until 1990. Well, since 1990 we can again see this station under the name “Okhotny Ryad”.

If you go from the outskirts to the center or move clockwise, then passengers will be accompanied by a man’s voice, but if you go from the center to residential areas or move counterclockwise, then a woman will announce the stops. The solution to this puzzle is as simple as the world: this was done so that the blind and visually impaired would not get confused in the countless labyrinths of the Moscow metro

There is a secret metro line in Moscow. It is believed that it was built to provide communications between the Kremlin and other institutions with bunkers for shelter in case of danger. However, there is no reliable evidence of this.

Today, Moscow is a record-breaking city and a leader in many ratings. It is one of the world's largest capitals and the most populous city in Europe. The Moscow Kremlin is the largest museum in the world, and the Ostankino TV Tower is the tallest TV tower in Europe.

Interestingly, Moscow is home to the most billionaires in the world. According to Forbes, 84 residents of the capital are so rich. Their combined wealth is $367 billion. New York, home to only 62 billionaires, ranks second in this ranking.

There is a legend that the Baskaks, the tax collectors of the Golden Horde, took tribute from girls who were taken out into the fields on the banks of the Moscow River to choose the most beautiful ones to be sent to the Horde. That’s why the field in front of the river was named Maiden’s, and the monastery built on this place was called Novodevichy.

"Triumph Palace" skyscraper in Moscow (Chapaevsky lane, building 3), whose height reaches 264.5 m, is the tallest residential building in Europe. The Triumph Palace Hotel, occupying the last 3 residential floors, is the tallest hotel in Moscow and Europe.

Moscow is home to the largest zoo in Russia. It houses more than 550 species of animals from all over the world.

10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE MOSCOW METRO

At the moment, the total length of all 12 metro lines is about 325-330 km, and consists of almost 200 stations. By 2020, this figure is planned to increase by more than 70 stations, thereby increasing the length by another 160 kilometers. Let's see what happens in 2020.

Most of the stations, of course, are located underground (that’s why it’s an underground), but 9 stations are still located on the surface of the earth (right on the street) and 5 stations are generally located above the ground (i.e. on bridges, etc.). Kuntsevskaya metro station is the only station that has only one track. Trains come and go from there.

The gaps between stations can be of completely different lengths. For example, the longest section is considered to be from metro Krylatskoye to metro Strogino (6.5 km), and the shortest section is from Mezhdunarodnaya station to Delovoy Tsentr station (only 0.5 km).

The very first line was Sokolnicheskaya (red line); accordingly, it was also founded in 1935. But the most recent metro line, Butovskaya, was founded only 12 years ago, i.e. in 2003. The first Moscow metro train departed from Sokolniki station on the opening day, i.e. May 15, 1935.

The very first transition between stations was made in 1938. It was a transition from the Lenin Library station to the Aleksandrovsky Sad station.

The first turnstiles appeared in the Moscow metro in 1952. And the pioneer station was the Red Gate station. Before this, controllers manually checked all tickets.

Subway cars are manufactured in the town of Mytishchi near Moscow and they enter the metro through the Sokol station (Not to be confused with Sokolniki!).

Myakinino station is the only station that is located outside of Moscow, namely in the Krasnogorsk district. True, within a few years (by 2020) it is planned to complete and open another station in the Moscow region, namely in Mytishchi - “Chelobitevo”, which will be the next one after the Medvedkovo station.

The deepest station in the metro is considered to be the Victory Park station, the depth of which is about 90 meters. This station also has the longest escalator (about 140 meters).

At the Kurskaya metro station you can see an interesting inscription - “Kurskaya of the Big Ring”. In 1950, when this station was built, they also made this inscription, since at that time it was planned to build a small ring, but this project was never started. But, by the way, in the middle of the station there is a closed passage that should lead to the Small Ring station.

HISTORY OF MOSCOW

The first settlements on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin date back to the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). A Finno-Ugric settlement dating back to the early Iron Age (second half of the 1st millennium BC) was found near the modern Archangel Cathedral. The settlement occupied the center of the upper floodplain terrace of Borovitsky Hill (the area of modern Cathedral Square) and may have had fortifications. With the beginning of the Slavic colonization of the Oka and Moscow River basins in the 10th century, the top of Borovitsky Hill was inhabited by the Vyatichi. The Vyatichi village consisted of two fortified centers - the first, larger in area, was located on the site of modern Cathedral Square, the second occupied the tip of the cape.

Presumably, both centers were protected by a ring fortification consisting of a ditch, rampart and palisade. The Vyatichi included in the defensive structures two ravines connected by a ravine, which performed the same function back in pre-Slavic times; The ravines were converted into a ditch up to 9 meters deep and about 3.8 meters wide. Presumably, a certain political and administrative center was located on the cape of the settlement. Both parts probably had their own cult centers - the upper one in the area of Cathedral Square, the lower one “under Bor”, on the site of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist that stood here. These two centers were surrounded by a suburb stretching along the Neglinnaya and Moscow rivers.

The first chronicle mention of Moscow dates back to 1147. The chronicle reference is the Ipatiev Chronicle for Friday, April 4, 1147, when the Rostov-Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky received his friends and allies, led by the Novgorod-Seversk prince Svyatoslav Olgovich, in a town called Moskov. In 1156, the first fortifications were built on the territory of the modern Kremlin. For those times it was a typical average Russian fortress. The shaft was reinforced with oak beams. In 1238, during the Mongol invasion, the Kremlin was destroyed, but was soon restored. Since 1264 it was the residence of Moscow appanage princes. In 1339, oak walls and towers were built.

In the 14th century, Moscow continued to rise as a new all-Russian center. Starting with Yuri Danilovich, the Moscow princes bore the title Grand Duke of Vladimir, who was considered supreme within North-Eastern Rus' and Novgorod. In 1325, the residence of the metropolitans was moved to Moscow, and in 1589 the Moscow Patriarchate was established.

At the end of the 15th century, under Prince Ivan III Vasilyevich, Moscow became the capital of the largest Russian state, and at the beginning of the 16th century, under Prince Vasily III Ivanovich, it became the capital of a unified Russian state. The new status contributed to the growth of the city and the emergence of the economic and cultural center of the country. Industry and crafts developed: the production of weapons, textiles, leather, pottery, jewelry, and construction. The Cannon and Printing Yards appeared. Moscow architecture reached great heights. The borders of Moscow expanded significantly - by the end of the 16th century it included the territories of the White City and Zemlyanoy City. A system of defensive structures was created. A radical restructuring of the Moscow Kremlin began. For these purposes, Ivan III invited the architect Aristotle Fioravanti from Italy.

In 1605, the troops of the self-proclaimed Tsar False Dmitry I entered Moscow. The power of the impostor in the city fell in 1606, during a popular uprising he was killed by the residents of Moscow. From 1608 to 1610, during the reign of the newly elected Tsar Vasily Shuisky, Moscow was under siege by the troops of the second impostor False Dmitry II, who settled in a camp in Tushino. During this period, communication between Moscow and the rest of the state is difficult. The siege was lifted by the approach to Moscow from Novgorod in March 1610 by the troops of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky with Swedish mercenaries.

In 1610, after the defeat of the troops of Vasily Shuisky in the Battle of Klushinsky, Moscow was occupied by the Polish troops of Stanislav Zholkiewsky. Attempts in 1611 to liberate the city from the Poles by the First Zemstvo Militia under the leadership of Prokopiy Lyapunov, Ivan Zarutsky and Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy were unsuccessful. In 1612, the troops of the Second Zemstvo Militia, led by the townsman Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, having defeated Polish troops on November 4 at the Battle of Devichye Pole, liberated Moscow from the Poles, forcing their garrison to capitulate in the Kremlin and leave Moscow at the end of 1612.

In Moscow in 1613, Mikhail Fedorovich was anointed king, marking the beginning of more than 300 years of rule of the Romanov dynasty.

In the 17th century, Zemlyanoy City finally entered the boundaries of Moscow, and the Moscow Kremlin was completed and acquired its modern appearance. Yamskaya Sloboda, Meshchanskaya, and German Sloboda appeared. The royal residence of Kolomenskoye acquired great importance.

The middle and second half of the 17th century was marked in Moscow by a number of social and political riots: the salt, copper, Streltsy riots of 1682 and 1698.

In 1712, the capital of Russia was transferred to St. Petersburg. In 1728, under Peter II, the imperial court was moved to Moscow, which was located here until 1732, when Anna Ioannovna returned it back to St. Petersburg. Moscow retained the status of the “first throne” capital and was the place of coronation of emperors. This title is used to emphasize the historical seniority of Moscow as the city in which the throne of the Russian Tsar first appeared. In the dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron, Moscow is called “the first capital of Russia.” The explanatory dictionary of S. I. Ozhegov and N. Yu. Shvedova interprets the word “first throne” as a designation of the oldest capital. The term is now widely used in all spheres of public life as a synonym and unofficial name for Moscow.

In 1755, Mikhail Lomonosov and Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, by order of Empress Elizabeth, founded Moscow University.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, Moscow was captured by Napoleon's troops and was badly damaged by fire. According to various estimates, as a result of the Moscow fire, up to 80% of the buildings burned down. The process of rebuilding Moscow lasted more than thirty years, and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built. By the end of the 19th century, a tram appeared in Moscow.

In 1851, a railway connection between Moscow and St. Petersburg was opened.

In 1896, during events dedicated to the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, a major stampede occurred on Khodynskoye Field with a significant number of victims, called the “Khodynskoye tragedy.”

In December 1905, revolutionary unrest and street barricade battles took place in Moscow.

In mid-August 1917, the All-Russian State Conference, convened by the Provisional Government, was held in Moscow.

On October 25, 1917, simultaneously with the beginning of the Storming of the Winter Palace in Petrograd, the Moscow armed uprising of the Bolsheviks began, which, unlike the uprising in Petrograd, was stubbornly resisted in Moscow. Opponents of the uprising, among whom the cadets of the Moscow military schools predominated, united into a committee of public safety and occupied the Kremlin to counteract the attackers. The confrontation ended in bloody battles between cadets and Red Guards, which lasted in the city from October 25 to November 2, 1917 and led to damage to the historical center of Moscow and the Kremlin by artillery fire.

In 1918, the Bolshevik government moved to Moscow from Petrograd and Moscow became the capital of the RSFSR.

At the beginning of the second half of 1919, anti-Bolshevik organizations in Moscow, led by the National Center, attempted to organize an uprising in the city with the aim of overthrowing Soviet power, which failed.

With the victory of the Bolsheviks in 1920 in the Civil War, a new, Soviet era in the development of the city began. During Soviet times, Moscow again became the center of the state, and the international political significance of the city increased. Moscow was being built up at a rapid pace; former suburbs were annexed to the city. At the same time, the historic buildings of the city center were selectively destroyed; A number of churches and monasteries were destroyed, including the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Passion Monastery. In 1922, Moscow became the capital of the USSR. The city began to rapidly develop its transport infrastructure. Thus, in 1924, bus service opened in Moscow, in 1933 the first trolleybus route was launched, and in 1935 the first metro line opened for passengers. After the commissioning of the Moscow Canal and raising the water level in the Moscow River, part of the urban area near the Moscow River was flooded. In particular, sections of the former Dorogomilovsky cemetery and the adjacent Jewish cemetery went under water.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee “On the formation on the territory of the RSFSR of administrative-territorial associations of regional and regional significance” dated January 14, 1929, the Central Industrial Region with its center in the city of Moscow was formed on October 1, 1929.

In 1931, two large cities of the RSFSR - Moscow (June 16) and Leningrad (December 3) - were separated into separate administrative units - cities of republican subordination of the RSFSR.

During the years of industrialization in Moscow, a network of higher and secondary technical educational institutions was developing rapidly.

In the thirties, a whole network of technical research and design institutes was created in Moscow. The vast majority of them were part of the system of the USSR Academy of Sciences. At this time, mass media were also developing in the city, many newspapers were published, and regular television broadcasting had been organized since 1939. During the Great Patriotic War, the State Defense Committee and the General Headquarters of the Red Army were located in the city, and a people's militia was formed (over 160 thousand people).

In the winter of 1941/1942, the famous Battle of Moscow took place, in which Soviet troops won their first major victory over the Wehrmacht since the outbreak of World War II. In October 1941, German troops approached Moscow; many industrial enterprises were evacuated, and the evacuation of government offices to Kuibyshev began. On October 20, 1941, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow. But, despite this, on November 7, a military parade took place on Red Square, from which troops were sent straight to the front. In December 1941, the advance of the German Army Group Center near Moscow was stopped; As a result of the successful counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow, German troops were driven back from the capital. On June 24, 1945, the Victory Parade took place on Red Square.

In 1952-1957, the construction of high-rise buildings was carried out, which later became known as “Stalin's skyscrapers” and became one of the symbols of Moscow in the Soviet era.

In 1960, a new border of Moscow was formed along the Moscow Ring Road, beyond which the city began to go only in 1984.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the city center again underwent major redevelopment. For the sake of expanding existing streets, building new highways and standard multi-story panel buildings, some architectural monuments of Moscow were demolished.

In 1957 and 1985, the VI and XII World Festivals of Youth and Students were held in Moscow, respectively. In 1980, Moscow hosted the XXII Summer Olympic Games.

On August 19-22, 1991, the August putsch, organized by the State Emergency Committee, took place in the city. By 1993, the constitutional and state crisis that arose as a result of the confrontation between the president and parliament reached its culmination. On October 3-4, 1993, there was an attempt to seize the Ostankino television center and the shooting of the Supreme Council building (the White House). Then significant changes occurred in the city. In 1995, new official symbols of the capital were approved - the coat of arms, flag and anthem of the city. The restoration of churches began, the construction of a full-scale copy of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior blown up by the Bolsheviks.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the city first faced the threat of international terrorism. Several terrorist attacks occurred in Moscow.

In recent years, Moscow has hosted many international cultural and sporting events.

The beginning of the 2000s was marked by a major architectural transformation. The city is being seriously rebuilt - multi-storey office buildings, modern transport infrastructure, luxury housing are being built, a new business center has emerged - the Moscow City district. At the same time, it is noted that this “construction boom” leads to the destruction of the historical appearance of the city, the destruction of architectural monuments and the existing urban environment. A serious problem is the underdeveloped transport infrastructure, leading to

traffic jams and overloaded public transport. Measures to create dedicated lanes for public transport, construction of new highway overpasses and interchanges, strengthening traffic control (cameras for automatic video recording of violations, operation of tow trucks), organization of parking space, according to the mayor of Moscow, S. S. Sobyanin, led to an acceleration of traffic on 12% in 2016, compared to 5 years ago.

MOSCOW KREMLIN

The Moscow Kremlin is a fortress in the center of Moscow and its oldest part, the main socio-political, historical and artistic complex of the city, the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. The Kremlin is the largest fortress in Europe, preserved and operating to this day.

Located on the high left bank of the Moscow River - Borovitsky Hill, at the confluence of the Neglinnaya River. In plan, the Kremlin is an irregular triangle with an area of 27.5 hectares (ha). The southern wall faces the Moscow River, the northwestern wall faces the Alexander Garden, and the eastern wall faces Red Square.

With the beginning of the Slavic colonization of the Oka and Moscow River basins in the 10th century, the top of Borovitsky Hill was inhabited by the Vyatichi. The Vyatichi village consisted of two fortified centers - the first, larger in area, was located on the site of modern Cathedral Square, the second occupied the tip of the cape. Presumably, both centers were protected by a ring fortification consisting of a ditch, rampart and palisade. The Vyatichi included in the defensive structures two ravines connected by a ravine, which performed the same function back in pre-Slavic times; The ravines were converted into a ditch up to 9 meters deep and about 3.8 meters wide.

Presumably, a certain political and administrative center was located on the cape of the settlement. Both parts probably had their own cult centers - the upper one in the area of Cathedral Square, the lower one “under Bor”, on the site of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist that stood here. These two centers were surrounded by a suburb stretching along the Neglinnaya and Moscow rivers.

The first chronicle mention of Moscow dates back to 1147. In 1156, the first fortifications were built on the territory of the modern Kremlin. For those times it was a typical average Russian fortress. The shaft was reinforced with oak beams. In 1238, during the Mongol invasion, the Kremlin was destroyed, but was soon restored. Since 1264 it was the residence of Moscow appanage princes. In 1339, oak walls and towers were built.

The Kremlin housed the oldest Moscow church - the Cathedral of the Savior on Bor, or the Cathedral of the Transfiguration "that is on Bor", built in 1330, for the millennium of Constantinople - “New Rome”. The temple was destroyed in 1933. Moscow princes and princesses were buried here, until the role of the tomb passed to the Archangel Cathedral for men and the Ascension Monastery (also destroyed) for women.

Another ancient building was the Chudov Monastery, founded by Metropolitan Alexy in 1365, located in the eastern part of the Kremlin territory, adjacent to the Ascension Monastery. It received its name from the Church of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael in Khoneh, which later became the tomb of Metropolitan Alexy. In 1483, the Alexievskaya Church was built on the territory of the monastery. By order of the Chudov Archimandrite Gennady, the relics of Metropolitan Alexy were transferred to it. In 1501-1503, the ancient Church of the Archangel Michael was replaced by a temple built by Italian craftsmen. At the beginning of the 20th century, a tomb was built in the basement of the Alexievskaya Church, where the remains of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who died in the Kremlin in 1905 at the hands of terrorists, were buried. The crypt of the Grand Duke was located under the floor, exactly under the shrine of St. Alexis. In 1929, all the buildings of the Chudov Monastery were demolished.

In 1366-1368, under Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy, the wooden walls of the Kremlin were replaced by walls and towers made of local white stone. From this period, the name “White Stone Moscow” is often found in chronicles. Soon after the construction of the white stone walls, they twice - in 1368 and 1370 - withstood the siege of the troops of Prince Olgerd; in 1382, Khan Tokhtamysh fraudulently entered the Kremlin and destroyed it, but the fortress was quickly restored.

In the second half of the 15th century, under Ivan III the Great, a radical restructuring of the Moscow Kremlin began. The new Assumption Cathedral was the first to be built, because the old one, built by Ivan Kalita, was already very dilapidated by that time. Ivan III invited the architect Aristotle Fioravanti from Italy.

Simultaneously with the construction of the Grand Duke's Palace and the renovation of the Kremlin churches, the construction of new Kremlin walls and towers was underway. The shape of the towers and the completion of the walls in the form of battlements are reminiscent of the Scaliger Castle in Verona and the Sforzesco Castle in Milan. In 1508, a moat was dug along the walls, water into which came from Neglinnaya. The Kremlin finally turned into an impregnable fortress, surrounded by water on all sides, isolated from the city that had grown by that time. During the restoration of the walls and towers in 1946-1950 and in 1974-1978, white stone blocks used as backfilling were discovered inside their brickwork, in the lower parts and foundations. It is possible that these are the remains of the white stone walls of the Kremlin from the time of Dmitry Donskoy.

In 1610-1612, the Kremlin was occupied by the Polish-Lithuanian garrison of A. Gonsevsky.

With the beginning of the reign of Peter I, the significance of the Moscow Kremlin changed noticeably - the tsar moved first to Preobrazhenskoye and then to St. Petersburg, and the fortress lost its status as a permanent royal residence.

But the coronations of all Emperors and Empresses rightfully and fairly took place in Moscow. The idea of the inviolability of autocratic power in the Russian Empire was carried out through strict adherence to the ceremonial, in which the main political symbols of the state were realized. Peter 1, by decree of May 16, 1721, ordered that the coronation day be considered a holiday, on a par with royal birthdays and namesake days. A throne was erected in the Assumption Cathedral, and the imperial regalia were on a special table. Coronations in the Russian Empire were an important event for both the nobility and the common people. During the coronation days, duties were abolished and amnesties were declared. The coronation celebrations united the people of the entire country and the state into one, reinforced the spirit of unity and developed a sense of patriotism.

Under Elizaveta Petrovna in the 1743-1750s, when the Kremlin buildings became dilapidated, the task was first of all to repair them, and if this was impossible, the old buildings were allowed to be demolished and restored “in the same form as before.”

In 1768, for the construction of a new Kremlin Palace according to the design of V.I. Bazhenov, a special state organization was created - the Kremlin Building Expedition. However, in 1775, the construction of the palace was canceled; the huge costs of reconstruction and Catherine II’s dislike for Moscow contributed to this decision.

In 1775, the Projected Plan was approved - a plan for the reconstruction of Moscow, for the implementation of which the Stone Order was created, headed by P. N. Kozhin. At the end of 1776, Kozhin compiled a separate report on

reconstruction of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1763, by decree of Empress Catherine II, the Senate was divided into departments and two of them - in charge of the rights of the nobles and the judicial one - were transferred from the capital to Moscow. With the construction of the Senate, the last private properties disappeared from the Kremlin territory.

In the first years of the 19th century, the Kremlin began to be perceived by contemporaries as a symbol of the historical and military glory of Russia.

In 1812, Moscow and the Kremlin were captured by Napoleon's army. The French army entered the Kremlin on September 2, 1812, and Napoleon himself on September 3. Retreating, Napoleon ordered the Kremlin buildings to be mined and blown up. Although most of the charges did not explode, the damage was significant. It took more than 20 years to eliminate the consequences of the explosion in the Kremlin: the last work was completed by 1836.

By the early 1830s, restoration work began on the ancient monuments of the Kremlin. One of the first to be restored in 1836-1849 was the Terem Palace. In 1836, the architect O. Montferrand raised and installed on a special pedestal the Tsar Bell, which fell in the fire of 1737 and lay in a hole all this time.

In 1839, Nicholas I entrusted the construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace to the architect K. A. Ton, according to whose design the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was being built at the same time. Construction of the building took about ten years and was completed by 1849. Access to the territory of the Moscow Kremlin was free for everyone. It was customary to enter through the Spassky Gate, bowing to the icon of the Savior. The emperor and his family rarely visited his Moscow residence, therefore, having taken a free ticket at the palace office, the visitor had the right to walk through all the Kremlin palaces.

During the armed uprising in October-November 1917, the Kremlin, on whose territory there were detachments of cadets, was seriously damaged by artillery shelling carried out by the revolutionary troops. The walls, the Spasskaya Tower and the Spassky Clock, the Nikolskaya Tower, the Beklemishevskaya Tower, and almost all the churches on the territory of the Kremlin were severely damaged; the Small Nicholas Palace received great damage.

With the advent of Soviet power, the capital was moved to Moscow, and the Kremlin again became a political center. In March 1918, the Soviet government headed by V.I. Lenin moved to the Kremlin. Palaces and cavalry corps became its residence and place of residence for Soviet leaders. Soon, free access to the Kremlin territory for ordinary Muscovites is prohibited. Temples are closed, and the Kremlin bells fall silent for a long time.

The Petrograd Collegium for the Protection of Antique Monuments and Art Treasures sent a desperate appeal to the government with a call to leave the Kremlin, since “... the occupation of the Kremlin by the government creates a monstrous threat to the integrity of the greatest monuments in terms of their global and exceptional significance.” This appeal (published in 1997 by T. A. Tutova, an employee of the Kremlin museums) was not even considered.

During the years of Soviet power, the architectural ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin suffered significantly. The author of a study on the destruction of Kremlin monuments during this period, Konstantin Mikhailov, in the book “Destroyed Kremlin” writes that “in the 20th century, the architectural ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin was destroyed by more than half.” On the plans of the Kremlin at the beginning of the 20th century, one can distinguish 54 structures that stood inside the Kremlin walls. More than half of them - 28 buildings - no longer exist. In 1922, during the campaign to “seizure church valuables” from the Kremlin cathedrals, more than 300 pounds of silver, more than 2 pounds of gold, thousands of precious stones, and even the shrine of Patriarch Hermogenes were confiscated from the Assumption Cathedral

In total, during the years of Soviet power, 17 churches with 25 altars were destroyed.

In the 1920-1930s. The premises on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin were also used as residential premises: the leaders of the Soviet state, the Communist Party, and employees of the Kremlin commandant’s office lived in them on a completely official basis. In 1920, 2,100 people were registered in the Kremlin; by 1935, their number had dropped to 374 people; as of 1939, 31 people were permanently living in the Kremlin, including Stalin, Voroshilov, Molotov, Kaganovich, Mikoyan, Kalinin, Zhdanov , Andreev, Voznesensky, relatives of Lenin, Dzerzhinsky, Ordzhonikidze and others. The Kremlin was used as a place of permanent residence until the end of the 1950s. The last person to move from the Kremlin was K. E. Voroshilov, who lived there with his family until 1962.

In 1935, the double-headed eagles that crowned the main passage towers of the Kremlin: Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya, were replaced with stars made of gilded copper, covered with Ural gems. In 1937, gem stars were replaced with ruby glass stars. The ruby star was first installed on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Kremlin was camouflaged in order to avoid its destruction. Streets and facades of other buildings were depicted on the walls, green roofs were repainted, ruby stars were extinguished and covered. The mausoleum was hidden under a two-story fake building. The Germans could not carry out targeted bombing of the Kremlin, since the Kremlin had visually disappeared. During the war, the territory of the Kremlin and the Red Army

area, 18 high-explosive bombs weighing from 50 to 500 kg and about one and a half hundred incendiary bombs were dropped, which did not cause catastrophic destruction.

Since 1955, the Kremlin has been partially open to the public, becoming an open-air museum. From the same year, a ban on living on the territory of the Kremlin was introduced (the last residents left in 1962). The last major Kremlin structure during the years of Soviet power was the Palace of Congresses, built in 1958-1961.

During restoration work in the late 1960s and early 1970s, clay tiles on the Kremlin towers were replaced in many places with metal sheets painted to resemble tiles. In addition, in connection with the construction of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial, part of the surface layer of the wall between the Corner and Middle Arsenal towers was cut down to a depth of 1 m and then laid out again to create a surface monotonous in color and texture, designed to serve as the background for the memorial.

In 1990, the Kremlin was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In 1991, the Kremlin became the residence of the President of Russia. In the 1990s, extensive restoration work was carried out on the territory of the Kremlin, as a result of which the Red Porch of the Faceted Chamber was restored, the Alexander and St. Andrew's Halls of the Grand Kremlin Palace were restored, and the Senate building was restored. In 1996-2000, restoration of the Kremlin walls and towers was carried out. In July 2014, President Vladimir Putin proposed demolishing the 14th administrative building on Ivanovskaya Square of the Moscow Kremlin and restoring the Chudov and Ascension monasteries that stood in its place.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE MOSCOW KREMLIN

The existing walls and towers were built in 1485-1516. The total length of the walls is 2235 m, height from 5 to 19 m, thickness - from 3.5 to 6.5 m. In plan, the walls form an irregular triangle. The top of the wall is decorated with battlements in the shape of a swallowtail; there are 1045 battlements along the top of the wall. The battlements have the same appearance as the distinctive battlements of the Italian Ghibelline castles. Most of the teeth have slit-like loopholes. The walls have wide embrasures covered with arches. On the outside the walls are smooth, on the inside they are decorated with arched niches - a traditional technique designed to lighten and strengthen the structure of the structure. We are accustomed to the fact that the walls of the Kremlin are red, but from the early 1680s to the early 1880s, its walls, according to historical descriptions and picturesque images, were painted white. In 1941, in order to disguise it as residential buildings, windows were painted on the walls of the Kremlin.

There are 20 towers along the walls. 3 towers standing in the corners of the triangle have a circular cross-section, the rest are square. The tallest tower is Trinity, it has a height of 79.3 m.

Most of the towers are made in a single architectural style, given to them in the second half of the 17th century. The Nikolskaya Tower, which at the beginning of the 19th century was rebuilt in a pseudo-Gothic style, stands out from the general ensemble.

In 1485-1516, the construction of the Kremlin walls was led by Italian architects Anton Fryazin, Marco Fryazin, Pietro Antonio Solari and Aleviz Fryazin the Old. The brick walls were placed along the line of the white stone ones, with a slight retreat outward. Starting from the Spasskaya Tower, the Kremlin territory was expanded eastward. The Taynitskaya Tower was the first to be founded on the southern side in 1485, and five years later the entire southern part of the fortress was built. For the construction of walls and towers, large (30x14x17 cm or 31x15x9 cm) bricks weighing up to 8 kg each were used. The front walls were made of brick and filled with white stone. The highest walls were erected along Red Square, where there was no natural water barrier.

The walls had access to the Spasskaya, Nabatnaya, Konstantino-Eleninskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya, Blagoveshchenskaya and Petrovskaya towers. Initially, there was a through passage inside the wall through all the towers, covered with cylindrical vaults. Most of the passage was eventually covered with construction debris; the area between the Konstantino-Eleninskaya and Nabatnaya towers was preserved. There were also hiding places and passages under the walls, in some cases extending far beyond the line of fortifications.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Neglinnaya was moved further away from the walls. To install new cannons, loopholes were cut out on the towers. At the same time, the originally existing plank roofs of the walls burned down. In 1702-1736, for the construction of the Arsenal, part of the wall was dismantled and later restored. In 1771-1773, for the construction of the Kremlin Palace according to the design of V.I. Bazhenov, part of the southern wall between the Beklemishevskaya and Annunciation towers was also dismantled, which was later restored. In 1802-1805, a major overhaul of the towers was carried out, during which almost all of the outlet arches were dismantled. The War of 1812 caused heavy damage to the walls, especially the Nikolskaya Tower, towers and walls along Neglinnaya. Repairs and restoration of the fortifications were carried out from 1817 to 1822. During the renovation work, pseudo-Gothic decorative details were added to the external appearance of the Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers.

In 1866-1870, the walls and towers of the Kremlin were restored by architects N.A. Shokhin, P.A. Gerasimov, F.F. Richter, who sought to give the buildings their original appearance. During the restoration process, pseudo-Gothic decorative details disappeared from the Borovitskaya Tower, but many elements of the original details of the walls and towers of the Kremlin were lost and replaced with inaccurate copies. Damage to the towers and walls was caused during alterations in the second half of the 19th century during the adaptation of their premises for economic needs.

The Nikolskaya and Beklemishevskaya towers, damaged during the revolution, were repaired in 1918. A survey and partial restoration of the walls was carried out in 1931-1936. In 1935-1937, ruby five-pointed stars were installed on five towers. The next restoration of the walls and towers of the Kremlin was carried out in 1946-1953, during which the walls were cleaned and repaired, loopholes and parapets were restored, details on a number of towers were revealed, the tops of the Spasskaya, Trinity and Nikolskaya towers were upholstered in sheet copper. The restoration commission included prominent scientists and restorers: I. E. Grabar, V. N. Lazarev, M. V. Alpatov, P. D. Korin, D. P. Sukhov and others.

The Uphill consulting group assessed the Moscow Kremlin. The value of the Kremlin as a real estate object (taking into account socio-cultural value) as of November 2012 amounted to 50 billion US dollars.

Conquer Moscow with VELIY HOTELS GROUP!

Interesting facts about the Moscow Kremlin will tell the secrets and history of this building. The Kremlin is the oldest part of Moscow and the main building of history, culture, and politics. At the moment, the Moscow Kremlin is the official residence of the Russian president. What is interesting and remarkable about this building?

Previously, the place where the Kremlin is now built was called Borovitsky Hill. Archaeologists have found settlements of people living at that time. The finds date back to the 2nd century BC. All this indicates that the location of the Moscow Kremlin was previously the center of people’s lives. During paganism, Borovitsky Hill was the Witch Mountain. Gods were worshiped there and various rituals were performed.
This building contains more secrets than many people think. In addition to the main building, which everyone can see, there is also a dungeon. Experienced archaeologists are conducting research into the secret passages of the Kremlin. Interestingly, the underground labyrinths of the Kremlin and the Garden Ring are interconnected. Archaeologists have discovered an entire underground capital. From the Kremlin underground, you can get to the Sparrow Hills.
In the 17th century, hanging gardens were located on the territory of the Kremlin. There were two large gardens and several smaller ones. They grew fruits, nuts, and there was a real pond. Water was supplied to the gardens from a water tower.
Now everyone sees the Kremlin in red. Initially, when it was first built, it was also red. However, in the 17th century it was made white. One playwright described the Kremlin in these words: “The white paint, hiding the cracks, gives the Kremlin an appearance of youth that erases its past.” During the World War, a proposal was made to repaint the Kremlin to disguise it. Walls of houses and window holes were painted on it. Well, they returned it to red after the end of the war.
Today the Moscow Kremlin occupies a leading position among the fortresses of Russia. It is considered the largest, not only in Russia, but also in Europe.
The Kremlin chimes always show the exact time. The answer to this question lies underground. The cable from the chimes is connected to the control clock at the Moscow Institute of Astronomy.
Initially, the Kremlin was decorated with two-headed eagles. But in 1935 they were changed to ruby stars.
One star weighs a ton. They are able to withstand strong winds and hurricanes. When there are windy days in Moscow, the stars rotate, changing their position, turning sideways to the wind.
The Alhill group assessed the Kremlin, its price was 50 billion dollars.
In the days of the tsars, anyone could visit the Kremlin territory. Tickets were also issued to visit the Kremlin palaces.
Now the Kremlin is the center of Moscow, a sensitive facility. Interestingly, until the middle of the last century, Muscovites lived in it. In 1955, a law was passed banning residence in the Kremlin. The last inhabitants of the Kremlin left it in 1962.
The Museum of Applied Arts was opened in 1955, everyone could visit it. Another grandiose building on the territory of the Kremlin is the Palace of Congresses. But they don’t take it seriously; they say that compared to other buildings, it’s like “little glass.”
Like all ancient buildings, the Kremlin is full of secrets. Basically, all the secrets and riddles are related to the dungeon. There is no exact map of the dungeon, it is lost. Until now, archaeologists have not been able to study many corridors. In the dungeon, there was a library of Ivan the Terrible. However, many books and documents were never found. There is an opinion that it simply burned down, or is hidden in one of the unexplored corridors.
When Napoleon Bonaparte attacked Russia, the Kremlin suffered enormous damage. The French invaders were looking for valuables, they plundered churches and burial sites. And when Napoleon retreated, he partially blew up the walls and towers. The Kremlin was restored only in the 18th century. The October Revolution also brought destruction. The Kremlin was bombed.
The Kremlin has 20 completely different towers. Each of them has its own story and name. They are built in the same style, the Nikolskaya Tower stands out from them. It is made in the Gothic style.

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