Kremlin towers. Secrets and secrets. What are the names of all the towers of the Kremlin Round tower of the Kremlin
The most famous tower of the Kremlin, which all the inhabitants of our country will definitely recognize. After all, it is on it that the famous chimes are located, which strike twelve times and announce the onset of the new year. The tower clock chimes the Russian anthem and Mikhail Glinka's "Glory" several times a day, and the main bell strikes every hour.
sq. Krasnaya, d. 3Corner Arsenalnaya (Sobakina) Tower
The pot-bellied Corner Arsenal tower is the most powerful in the entire Kremlin wall. She played a big role in the defense of the fortress, and under Peter I, her loopholes were expanded, and guns were installed in them. The tower was an important strategic object also because a spring of spring water beat in its depths, which would come in handy if the fortress was besieged.
sq. Krasnaya, d. 3Middle Arsenalnaya (faceted) tower
For sharp shapes and straight lines, the tower is called Granyon. At its foot is the famous grotto - the Italian Grotto or simply "Ruins". It was built in the first half of the 19th century as a symbol of the revival of Moscow after the devastating fire of 1812.
st. ZhitnitskayaTrinity Tower
The central travel tower of the Moscow Kremlin, which in the Middle Ages was used as a royal and patriarchal exit. Together with the Kutafya Tower and the Trinity Gates, it forms a single defense link. However, today it is used for the entrance of tourists.
sq. Krasnaya, d. 3Kutafya tower
The appearance of the tower led the researchers to the idea that the word "kutafya" means "clumsy". But most likely the word comes from "kut" - "corner". Today, the tower houses a left-luggage office, and the ticket office and the entrance to the Kremlin are located in the glass pavilion on the second floor.
st. Vozdvizhenka, 1/13Commandant (Kolymazhnaya) tower
In ancient times, the Commandant's Tower was called Kolymazhnaya after the name of the Kolymazhny yard, located in the Kremlin. But already in the 19th century, the name changed due to the dwelling of the commandant of Moscow located in the Poteshny Palace.
st. PalaceArmory (Stable) tower
Many towers and structures of the Moscow Kremlin were rebuilt and modified over time. But the Armory Tower continues to delight the eye with its slender architecture. Its appearance, with the exception of some additions that took place in 1676-1686, has not changed much for more than five centuries.
st. BorovitskayaBorovitskaya (Predtechenskaya) Tower
For several centuries, the tower was called the Predtechenskaya - after the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist standing next to it. But the royal decree is not a hindrance to the people - the name did not take root, and a year later the tower again became Borovitskaya. Either because of the dense forest that once rustled near the Kremlin, or in honor of the city of Borovsk, whose inhabitants built the Kremlin.
st. BorovitskayaVodovzvodnaya (Sviblova) tower
The first water supply system in Moscow appeared in this tower: a special machine was installed in it, which supplied water under pressure from the Moscow River. Today it is crowned by the smallest of the Kremlin stars. And every citizen of Russia can see the Vodovzvodnaya Tower on the inside cover of their passport.
emb. KremlinAnnunciation tower
The tower is associated with a legend about the miraculous appearance on one of its walls of the icon of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. They say that is why the tower began to be called Blagoveshchenskaya. Other researchers say that the name is related to the name of the church.
emb. KremlinTaynitskaya tower
It was from this tower that the entire Moscow fortress once began. But only the name remained from the former building: the tower was repeatedly rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt.
emb. KremlinFirst Nameless Tower
Another tower that was destroyed and rebuilt several times. For the first time, the construction of the Kremlin Palace made adjustments to its appearance, and the second time - the Patriotic War of 1812. Today, the tower reaches a height of 34 meters, and completes its pyramidal tent.
emb. KremlinSecond Nameless Tower
Adjustments were also made to the design of this tower due to the construction of the Kremlin Palace. Before the start of its construction, the tower was completely dismantled, and when Catherine II ordered the construction to be stopped, they were assembled back. Today it is one of the smallest towers of the Moscow Kremlin.
emb. KremlinPetrovskaya (Ugreshskaya) tower
Like many Kremlin towers, the Petrovskaya (or Ugreshskaya) tower got its name from the church of Metropolitan Peter and the monastery courtyard of the same name. The tower was destroyed during the Polish intervention in the 17th century, restored after the Troubles, then dismantled for the construction of the Kremlin Palace and rebuilt again. And only in the 19th century, under the leadership of the architect Beauvais, the building was returned to its historical appearance.
emb. KremlinMoskvoretskaya (Beklimishevskaya) tower
The Beklemishevskaya Tower is named after the boyar Beklemishev, whose courtyard was located not far from the Kremlin. Its second name is Moskvoretskaya, after the name of the nearby bridge. By the way, this is one of the few towers that have survived to this day almost unchanged and have not been rebuilt.
emb. KremlinThe Annunciation Tower is named after the miraculous icon that was kept in it. Later, a church was built for the icon, but the name remained.
The Vodovzvodnaya Tower is a corner tower and was named so because there was once a machine here that pumped water from the river and delivered it through lead pipes to the royal palace of the Kremlin.
In the 17th century, the car was dismantled and transported to St. Petersburg for the installation of fountains. The height of the tower is 61.45 m.
Armory and Commandant towers
Once the Armory Tower stood on the banks of the Neglinka, but then the river was “chained” into a pipe underground. The building owes its name to the nearby Armory, where weapons and jewelry workshops were once located. Now it houses a museum, which presents unique military and jewelry exhibits of antiquity. The height of the structure is 32.65 m.
The commandant's tower was erected in 1495, but it received its modern name only in the 19th century, when the commandant of the fortress moved to a nearby
Troitskaya, Kutafya and Petrovskaya towers
How many towers the Kremlin has, almost all of them were rebuilt by Italian masters in the 15th century. So the Trinity was built by Aloisio da Caresano in 1495-1499. This is the tallest building in the Kremlin. Its height is 80 m together with the spire and the star crowning it. The building got its name from the nearby Trinity Church.
Interesting to know: at one time this building had different names, for example Rizopolozhenskaya, Karetnaya or Znamenskaya, until it received its current name in 1658. Once there was a prison in its two-story base. Until 1935, its spire was crowned with a royal eagle, which was replaced with a ruby star for the next anniversary of the revolution.
The Spasskaya Tower was built on the site of the former main gates of the Kremlin. An icon of the Savior was installed over the passage, and the entrance itself was revered by the people as saints, it was necessary to enter it on foot with an uncovered head. Nowadays, the famous chimes are installed on it.
Other Kremlin towers
The First and Second Nameless Towers were of exceptional strategic importance, for example, one of them had a powder magazine.
Indeed, it was equipped with a bell and observation deck on which the archers were on duty. In the 18th century, a riot began in the city at the ringing of a bell, and when it was suppressed, they deprived the “culprit” of the language. So the silent bell hung until it was sent to the museum.
The Tsar’s tower can hardly be called a tower, since it is just a tent superstructure, where Ivan the Terrible liked to come to look at the city.
The Konstantin-Eleninskaya Tower was also named after the church of the same name. It was built in 1490 and is famous for the fact that it was through it that Russian soldiers went to war, for example, Dmitry Donskoy with the army.
That's how many towers adorn the Moscow Kremlin today.
As promised, with today's entry, I am starting a cycle of stories about the sights of our capital in my blog. Without claiming to be absolute truth (nevertheless, I am not a professional guide, not a historian and not a local historian), I will tell you about interesting places Moscow, about the historical events connected with them. I hope that this cycle will be as interesting and popular as the dental one. Well, when it gets a little warmer outside, I would like to invite you on excursions to these very places.
This and the next few posts will be devoted to the Moscow Kremlin - the real pearl of the Russian capital. I understand that even a 500-page book will not suffice even for brief overviews of the Kremlin, but I will try to embrace the immensity - albeit in small portions.
So, the first photo tour will tell you about the Towers of the Moscow Kremlin. For even without getting into its territory, you can inspect them in the most thorough way.
Introduction
The Kremlin was not always the way we see it now. Over the centuries, it has repeatedly changed, its outlines, meaning and purpose have changed. Previously, it was an impregnable fortress, stopping the enemy with only its appearance, and its entire purpose was dictated by one goal - to withstand a siege.
Today, the Moscow Kremlin has already lost its defensive function and has become, rather, a symbol of power and decoration of our capital. Its walls seem to have become the boundary between the authorities and the people, showing how far they are from each other.
Ivan III, enclosing the Kremlin Hill with a wall, attached even more importance to it - he ignored the order of the Golden Horde, which forbids building stone walls around cities and, thereby, laid the foundation for the independence of the Russian state. And these walls, together with the towers, more than once saved this very independence.
Since the Kremlin towers were built exclusively for defensive purposes, they looked something like this:
High spiers and tents were built on them later, when the Kremlin walls and towers lost their military purpose and became just a decoration of Moscow.
In addition, the towers, like all the buildings of the Kremlin, were repeatedly reconstructed and rebuilt.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, Napoleon set out to blow up the Kremlin, surrounding it with explosives from all sides. He even sent a mocking letter to Emperor Alexander I: "Your Kremlin is no more!" But at that moment, when the French soldiers had already set fire to the fuse, suddenly, in the middle of a clear day, a heavy downpour came, which put out the fire. As a result, only a small part of the charges went off, several towers were destroyed and the fortress walls were damaged. But the Kremlin itself resisted.
After this, how can one not say that Russia is protected by God?
We will start our tour from Red Square, from its main attraction. Then we will go down to the Moscow River, go around the Alexander Garden and return to Red Square. This is a route that takes less than one hour at a fast pace.
1. Spasskaya Tower.
The most recognizable and, perhaps, the most important of all the towers. It houses the entrance gate through which tsars and metropolitans entered the Kremlin during solemn events and holidays. Through them they went through the procession. And now all of Russia checks the time on them.
Previously, they were called Frolovsky, after the church of St. Frol and Laurus, located behind them. The special status of the Frolovsky Gates is also evidenced by their location - opposite the Execution Ground.
By decree of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich (grandfather of Peter I), a pyramidal clock tower was built on the site of the gate. True, the clock was located one tier below.
Later, it was forbidden to pass through the Frolovsky Gate with a covered head, as well as to accompany animals or pass on wagons. It should be noted that the royal decree simply legitimized the tradition, because these gates were already revered among the people, so no one in a hat dared to pass through them.
In the 17th century, an image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, brought from Vyatka, was installed above the gate, and an inscription in Latin was made under it (now there is no icon, but you can see the place where it was - a white rectangle). And the gates, and with them the tower, began to be called Spassky.
The current clock on the Tower (chimes) was installed in the 19th century and occupies three floors. Prior to the installation of the clock on the Moscow State University building, it was the largest analogue clock in Russia.
2. Tsar's tower.
The smallest and one of the youngest towers of the Kremlin. From it, the tsar appeared during ceremonial events on Red Square.
Some researchers believe that royal decrees and orders were also announced from the Tsarskaya Tower. However, I personally am skeptical about this, because it is far and inconvenient to shout from there, and for decrees and the royal will there was a Execution Ground.
Later, this tower housed the fire service bells. This is indirectly evidenced by the X-shaped beams in the vault, apparently intended for hanging bells.
3. Alarm tower. 
As the name implies, it was intended for Nabat - a signal bell announcing a fire and some disturbing and important events in the life of the city. For the fact that the alarm bell in the 18th century called the people to the "plague riot", it was removed and exiled to Siberia. Now this repressed bell is in the Armory.
4. Constantino-Eleninskaya Tower.
Previously, this place was the Konstantinovsky Gate (named after the Church of the Blessed King Constantine, which was nearby). Through these gates, which were then the main ones in the Kremlin, Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy went to war with Mamai, through them he returned with a victory after the Battle of Kulikovo.
Under Mikhail Fedorovich, the gates were walled up (you can see the remains of gate structures on the outer wall), and under Peter I, the Church of St. Konstantin and Helena was built behind them, which gave the name to the tower - Konstantin-Eleninskaya.
5. Beklemishevskaya tower.
The tower got its name by the name of the boyar Beklemishev, whose courtyard was located in this part of the Kremlin. In the tower, as in all the corner ones, there is a well that provided the besieged with water.
In modern guidebooks, this tower is sometimes called Moskvoretskaya.
6.Petrovskaya tower.
Guess who it was named after?
Little is known about this tower. In the 18th century, Catherine II decided to reshape the Kremlin and build a huge palace in it. For this, part of the wall and several towers, including this one, had to be demolished. The palace was never built (a common thing), and the demolished towers were restored according to old drawings.
7. The second nameless tower.
This tower also fell under demolition due to the construction project started by Catherine II, but was later restored. She never came up with a name.
8. The first nameless tower.
And this tower inherited from Catherine... A true manifestation of the Russian mentality: first we demolish, therefore we think, then we restore what was demolished.
9. Taynitskaya tower.
This tower is known primarily for the fact that through it there was a secret exit to the Moskva River, which was used both to replenish supplies of provisions and water, and for partisan attacks. Some historians have an opinion that the underground passage led from the Tainitskaya tower all the way to the other side of the river, but there is no documentary or any other evidence of this theory.
In the tower itself, in its upper tier, at one time there was a cathedral of the Chernigov miracle workers, and now their relics have been transferred to the Archangel Cathedral.
Previously, there was a gate of the same name, closed up under Mikhail Fedorovich. However, you can see the remains of these same gates on the wall.
10. Annunciation tower
It is named so because of the Annunciation Cathedral, which was once nearby, and was later moved to Cathedral Square.
It should be noted that many buildings of the Kremlin "moved" across its territory, were demolished, rebuilt and rebuilt, so the name of some towers may not be entirely clear.
11. Vodovzvodnaya tower.
In this tower, as well as in all the corner ones, there was a well that supplied water to the besieged Kremlin. Later, pumps (water-lifting machines) and reservoirs with water were installed here, which entered the Grand Kremlin Palace - this is how the first water supply system in Moscow appeared. Hence the name of the tower - Vodovzvodnaya.
In 1812, Napoleon blew up the tower, but it was soon restored with a complete identity.
After the revolution, when the two-headed eagles were removed from the gate towers and replaced with five-pointed stars, a luminous star was also installed on Vodovzvodnaya.
12. Borovitskaya Tower.
Today, the Borovitskaya Tower is the only entrance to the Kremlin territory, moreover, it is carefully guarded. They didn't let me get close to her.
It owes its name to the dense forest that once covered this part of the Kremlin hill.
Previously, it was called Predtechevskaya, after the church of John the Baptist, which was later demolished and transferred to the tent of the Borovitskaya tower. There were gates leading to the economic part of the royal court - in other words, everything that, for ideological reasons, could not be transported through the Spassky gate was imported from here. As, however, and now ...
Many historians believe that it was from this place that the Kremlin began, Moscow began, and, in fact, the whole of Russia. Here in ancient times there was a settlement of Kuchkov, which belonged to a nobleman Stepan Kuchko, who was forced to cede the Kremlin Hill to Yuri Dolgoruky. It was also here that the first Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Bor was erected in Moscow, which became the beginning of Russian Orthodoxy.
So, the Borovitsky Gates and the adjacent territory are the source, a special place, a small piece of land, which later grew to one sixth of the land.
13. Gun tower.
It got its name because of the Armory adjacent to it. And before the construction of the main treasury of the Kremlin, stables were located here, so the tower was called Konyushennaya.
14. Commandant's tower.
Also called so relatively recently - because of the adjoining Commandant's Office of the Kremlin. And earlier workshops, forges and craftsmen's houses were located here, so the tower was called Kolymazhnaya (from the word "kolyma" - to work) or Deaf. The origin of the last name is still unknown to me. Maybe someone will tell?
15. Trinity tower.
Naturally, it was also not always called Trinity.
Previously, in this part of the Kremlin there was a royal chicken coop, and the gates themselves were called Kuryatnye. Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich decided to ennoble this place and ordered to build a tower with chimes on the site of the Chicken Gate. There was not enough money for the chimes, but the tower, as you can see, was built. It received its name from the image of the Holy Trinity, which hung from its inner side. And outside hung the image of the Sign (where the clock is now hanging - the rectangle from the icon remained).
One of the six gates of the Kremlin is also located here, and they are active (two gates are walled up, one is used as an entrance, two are almost always closed). Most of the visitors get to the Kremlin through them.
16. Middle Arsenal Tower.
It owes its name to the Arsenal building built behind it. Previously, when there was no Arsenal on this site, it was even a corner tower, and then, with the expansion of the territory of the Kremlin and the construction of the Coal Tower, it took its place in the wall.
17. Corner Arsenal Tower
Its former name is Coal (from the word "corner") or Sobakina (apparently, in honor of Marfa Sobakina). If you look closely, you will see that this is not an ordinary tower - unlike the square and round towers, it is sixteen-sided.
This is the most powerful tower of the Moscow Kremlin, its task was to control the crossing over the Neglinnaya. The tower also housed a well in case of a siege and had a secret exit to the river.
18. Nikolskaya tower.
The tower owes its name to the image of St. Nicholas, installed on it immediately after its construction (the icon was located where the white rectangle is now. The street of the same name began from it - one of the most important in Moscow. It is also the gate to the Kremlin, now locked.
An interesting story happened to the Nikolskaya Tower.
In 1812, Napoleon managed to blow up the Nikolskaya Tower, and the destruction was colossal - less than one third of it remained. It is surprising that the image of St. Nicholas not only did not fall, but even the glass covering the icon did not crack.
Later, the tower was restored in the image of Spasskaya and old drawings.
19. Senate tower.
It owes its name to the Senate located behind it. There is nothing special about this tower. Unless they almost called her Movzoleina ...
20. Kutafya tower.
Historians are still arguing about the origin of the name of this tower - either from the word "skufya" or from the word "tafya". Considering that both of these words denote hats, the difference is not fundamental - the tower really looks like a hat.
To date, this is the only surviving defensive structure designed to protect the bridges leading to the Kremlin (well, there is only one bridge left - Troitsky). And before, such turrets stood at every bridge leading to the gate, except perhaps for the Tainitsky ones.
There is also a story about this tower during the Patriotic War of 1812.
When the French entered Moscow, their vanguard, led by Murat, hastened to occupy the Kremlin. On the way to the Kutafya Tower they were met with fierce fire. Murat was very surprised, because there was a ceasefire agreement between the warring parties. It turned out that they sat in the Kutafya tower locals, townspeople who are ready at the cost of their own lives to protect a place sacred to every Russian person. It was possible to expel them from there only after the advance detachment received reinforcements.
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you everything I know about the towers and the Moscow Kremlin in general. It would take an entire blog, if not an entire resource. However, I still hope that this little information will be useful to you, and next time, walking near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, you will feel the spirit of history, those events that these walls witnessed.
After all, every building, every brick and every cobblestone on the pavement is our history. Our Russia is with you.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely, Stanislav Vasiliev.
Ps. As always, I welcome questions if something was not clear.
Towers and walls of the Kremlin
The second half of the 15th century is the time of the formation of the Russian national state. Ivan III united the Russian lands. By this time, the white-stone Kremlin had partially collapsed and no longer corresponded to the international position and wealth of the Moscow state.
For the first time, the white stone was replaced with red. They baked it in ovens like bread. And he weighed eight kilograms. A half-pound stone was taken with two hands.
Ivan III commissioned the construction in the Kremlin Vasily Dmitrievich Ermolin. Italian architects also built a lot in the Kremlin, but according to primordially Russian motives. The Kremlin was conceived by Ivan III not only as a reliable fortress, but also had to become the main place of Muscovite Russia. The architects were inspired by these ideas. And the walls, churches, towers rose ...
Everything in the Kremlin was then provided for protection from enemies. The plan is polygonal in order to see the enemy from different sides, the distance between the loopholes does not exceed the range of a projectile weapon. The towers interrupt the progress on the wall. And they themselves are either round or polygonal, so that it would be more difficult to destroy them with battering rams.
First, fortifications were built: thick brick walls and watchtowers, and this was in the spring of 1485. The length of the entire building is 2235 meters. The walls were very thick, in some places their thickness reached 3.5 meters. The height of the walls was also different, reaching in some places up to 14 meters. This was probably due to the fact that Moscow "stands on seven hills." At the top, the walls were made in the form of a forked "dovetail", resembling the letter "M", they were equipped with loopholes. This gave the thick walls originality and decorative effect. On top of the battlements was a plank gable roof, covering the defenders of the Kremlin from rain and snow.
There were 20 towers, in ancient times they did not look the same as they do now, elegant and tall. The tents appeared two centuries later. Under Ivan III, they were built as formidable impregnable bastions. All of them are completely different from each other.
For four centuries, the Kremlin remained the only fortress in Moscow that protected Muscovites during the days of invasions. But in the 6th century, the overgrown and rapidly growing Moscow could no longer get by with these walls alone. The walls of Kitay-gorod joined the walls of the Kremlin, and these walls merged into one fortification of unprecedented power and size. The new walls and towers took up the architectural motif set by the Kremlin. Now the length of the walls has reached 15 km, and there are 50 towers!
Spasskaya (Frolovskaya) Tower
The main tower of the Kremlin is Frolovskaya, named after the neighboring church of Flora and Lavra. During the repair of the tower in 1464-1466, the architect V.D. Yermolin installed on it white-stone relief images of the patrons of the Moscow princes - St. George the Victorious and Dmitry Solunsky. The tower was built in 1491 by the architect Pietro Antonio Solari. The Frolovsky gates were the main entrance to the Kremlin: in the 16th-17th centuries, tsars traveled through them, on holidays the patriarch went out with a procession of the cross, foreign ambassadors who arrived in Moscow were met at the gates. In 1624 - 1625, the architects Bazhen Ogurtsov and the Englishman Christopher Galovey crowned the tower with a complex superstructure and a high stone tent. So this tower was the first to get its characteristic pointed silhouette. Clocks were built into the superstructure - the predecessors of the Kremlin chimes. In 1658, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the Frolovskaya Tower was renamed Spasskaya (in honor of the icons of the Savior of Smolensk and the Savior Not Made by Hands), which were placed on the outside and inside of the Kremlin. The Spassky Gates were especially revered by the people and were considered "holy": men, entering the Kremlin through them, bared their heads, and the riders dismounted and led their horses on a leash.
Taynitskaya tower
According to the time of birth, this is the tower number 1. Over the long history, this guard of the Kremlin had many different names - Potainitskaya, Water Gates, Cheshkovy, Sheshkovy, Chushkovy Gates. In the 15th century, the court of Cheshka, the boyar Danil of Galitsky, stood nearby, hence the last three names, and Vodyanyye and Taynitsky - because there was an ancient well-hiding place here. It was also possible to enter the Kremlin through the Tainitskaya Tower. The Tainitskaya tower was large, it had not only a passage, but a clock and a bell. The watchmaker lived right on it, having built two wooden huts at the top. As the inventory of 1647 tells: "And on the tower there is a wooden closet, and in the closet there is a clock. Two wooden huts are placed on the same tower. And the watchmaker said that he put those huts on his own money and put them up without hitting his brow, without a decree." That is, he built huts without receiving official permission. The watchmaker's life was hard, the roof of the huts collapsed. Apparently, in the middle of the 17th century, the dilapidated tower was demolished and rebuilt. The tower stands, having risen in five tiers with a tent at 38.4 meters.
Nikolskaya tower
The Nikolskaya Tower resembles a Gothic cathedral. A slender red-white spire with lancet slit-like openings rises up from a rectangular, squat base. From red brick and white stone, Russian craftsmen built something like a bell tower with narrow window slits. On its sides there are four small turrets of the same type. This Gothic spire adorned the tower relatively recently, after 1812, when the Kremlin was being restored after a fire. It was then that the Nikolskaya Tower was built on with a high top. In the old days, disputes were resolved at the Nikolskaya Tower, which often arose on the trading floor. Disputants came here and kissed the cross, calling as witnesses the image of Nikolai Ugodnik hanging on the gate - "the intercessor and comforter of all those who mourn", who, as they believed, punishes perjurers. But this has happened as well. Once, during a religious procession in front of hundreds of people, a fearless rebel, captured and tried, threw a stick at this image. "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti" reported that "the blasphemer and iconoclast of the Shuya district Vasily Zmiev, the peasant Ivashka Krasny, was burned on the square." And on the Nikolskaya tower "watchers" were on duty, and in the past there were watches on it, last time mentioned in 1612. Then, after the expulsion of the Polish interventionists, "the whole army and all the Orthodox peoples in the city of the Kremlin entered through this gate in a lot of joy."
Trinity Tower
The most massive tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Its bulk is best felt when you look at it from the foot in the Alexander Garden. A brick colossus rises up from the ground like a mountain. Asymmetrical windows cut through the thickness of the walls, there are six of them in the upper tier. And although the tower is decorated at the top with white stone columns, figurines, arches like the Spasskaya Tower, it still has not lost its medieval severity. The height from the foot to the star is 80 meters. One meter below the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, nine meters above the Spasskaya Tower. When you enter this gigantic tower, you find yourself in a multi-storey building. He is inhabited. Musicians come here to serve with trumpets, clarinets, saxophones. The tower is full of sounds, like the orchestra pit of a theatre. Until now, well-known musicians and composers come to the Trinity Tower to listen to new works, to give them a start in life. In the same tower is the control panel of the Moscow stars. A shield similar to those found in power plants. Five switches, like five ruby stars. A constant voltage of 80 volts is maintained. They burn day and night, in any weather.
Corner Arsenalnaya (Sobakina) Tower
Before the Arsenal appeared here, this tower was called Sobakina, because here was the courtyard of the boyar Danila Sobaka. When the Kremlin exploded in 1812, half of the Arsenal flew into the air, and this tower only cracked. This is the strongest tower of the Kremlin. A feature of the architecture of the tower is its faces, there are eighteen of them, they merge into one powerful rounded pillar. It protected not only the walls of the Kremlin (located just at the corner of two walls), but also a source of water, so the tower was built doubly impregnable. At the end of the last century, researchers tried to find out what kind of water it was. For days they pumped it out with pumps and did not drain it - which means that the underground key is inexhaustible. Through a stone gutter, water from the spring flows into the Neglinka, which flows in a pipe underground. This spring is called one of the "miracles of the ancient Kremlin", and in order to see it, we open the iron door to the tower. We take a step forward - and the summer heat is replaced by darkness, eternal coolness and the breath of living water. She makes herself felt as soon as we cross the threshold. However, there is no moisture on the walls. And this made it possible in the last century to place a large archive inside the tower. The papers did not suffer from such a neighborhood. Before going down deeper, we stop at the window - loopholes. Standing near it, you see the incredible thickness of the masonry - four meters. The staircase that Peter Antonio Solario laid out in the thickness of the stone leads to the source. She goes down steeply. Its width is such that it allows you to pass one at a time without bending. After counting about forty steps, we carefully descend. The beam of the lantern highlights from the darkness underfoot a brick pipe growing out of the ground. Large bricks, excellent masonry, five meters in diameter. Above the head is a vault, as if we were in an underground temple. There is a round opening in the center of the vault. And on the side there is a narrow slot designed for overhead light. At the bottom of the pipe, bluish water, quiet and calm, sleeps in this underground vault guarded by a tower. How old is this spring? It is not known, perhaps he is the same age as Moscow itself. The water is delicious, cool and clear, purified by nature itself. There is another secret in the Corner Arsenal Tower. If you go along the same stairs that lead to the key, then turn to the side - we will find ourselves in a narrow side passage. Another turn - again a corridor in the thickness of a brick. In the beam of a lantern, a vaulted hall protrudes from the darkness. No windows, not even a narrow gap, reminiscent of the existence of light. Even a strong sound does not reach here. It's a dungeon to hide something in. When this dungeon was dug up, they hoped to find the library of Ivan the Terrible here. But it did not turn out, although there are still many possible secrets in the thickness of the walls and towers of the Kremlin.
Beklemishevskaya (Moskvoretskaya) Tower
This tower stands near the Moscow River. S.P. Bartenev writes about it like this: "The most elegant in proportions. With its beauty in the overall impression of the Kremlin, in the symphony of its architectural forms, the Beklemishev Tower gives a charming consonance." It was not immediately so harmonious, at first its height was 10 meters lower. Then it was built up. Maschikuli - openings for shelling the enemy from top to bottom - appeared much higher than the former ones, laid with bricks. Admiring the beauty of the tower, Bartenev was also amazed that for hundreds of years it had not undergone major repairs! The tower got its name from the courtyard of the boyar Vasily Beklemishev, located near it. The tower stands under a cliff in a strong wind, so it even leaned a little. The second name, of course, received from the proximity of the tower to the Moscow River.
Annunciation tower
This is a big tower, there was a passage here, a "port washing gate". Through them they went to the river to wash clothes. The name of the tower comes from the nearby Church of the Annunciation, and the tower itself at one time was its chapel and bell tower. There were seven bells on it. All this appeared at a later time, when the Kremlin lost its role as a city fortress. In the 16th century, under Ivan the Terrible, there was a prison in the tower, where, according to legend, a miracle happened: the Mother of God appeared to one of the prisoners with the good news, advising him to file a petition to the tsar. After that, pilgrims began to come here, the Church of the Annunciation appeared.
Borovitskaya tower
Another star tower. By royal decree, it was given the name Predtechenskaya, but this name did not take root, they could not erase the old name from the consciousness of Muscovites at the location near Borovitsky Hill. It is not known why, but the builder of the Borovitskaya Tower built it unlike all the other corner and walk-through towers. This Kremlin archer is laid out according to the plan of a stepped pyramid. Above its lower rectangular main mass rise one another less than three more of the same form of volume. S.P. Bartenev called it the most original tower of the Kremlin. You enter the Borovitskaya tower and find yourself in a spacious house: eight floors with deep spacious cellars. On the lower floors there are whitewashed chambers flooded with light. We go to one, then we go up to another. Even on a gloomy day, it is light in it, because it is two-light, the rays enter through two tiers of windows. The Borovitsky Gate is the ancient door of the Kremlin, it served as a convenient exit to the river, where they went for water. Also, these gates were used when it was necessary to secretly pass to the Kremlin.
Vodovzvodnaya tower
This tower went down in history by building the first water pipeline in Moscow. This is a corner tower, so it is much higher, smarter, larger than the other towers. Suffice it to say that its height to the star is 57.7 meters, that is, almost twice as high. "Vodovzvodnaya Tower is an integral, completely finished work, its proportions are excellent, architectural processing is rich and at the same time moderate," - this is how S.P. Bartenev characterizes this Kremlin peak. In appearance, it is very reminiscent of the architectural buildings of Italy. The tower stands almost at the very river, in the place where the Neglinka, which goes around the Kremlin, flows into the Moscow River, now hidden in a pipe, underground. The tower got its name from the fact that in 1663 it served as a water station. A water-driven machine appeared in it, the mechanisms of which pumped water from the well up, where there was a pond lined with lead. From here, water flowed by gravity through lead pipes to the Kremlin Palace. This overseas car cost several barrels of gold. The first Kremlin water supply system served until the fire in 1737.
Commandant (Kolymazhnaya) tower
The tower got its name because the commandant lived in the building next to it. This tower is taller than the Armory. Its foundation is located at the level of the Neglinnaya River, so it suffered the most from water. I had to strengthen it, so that the wall here lost its straightness, it thickens towards the base.
Armory Tower (Konyushenny)
This low tower stands on a high coastal hill. It has four tiers. Previously, it was called the Konyushenny - after the stables that stood here. This tower was also a travel tower. It began to be called the Armory from being near the Armory.
Petrovskaya (Ugreshskaya) tower
Unlike others, it has an octagonal top that crowns this four-story building. This is a tower-warrior, tower-watchman. On its second tier was the church of Metropolitan Peter, which belonged to the courtyard of the Ugresh monastery standing next to it. Therefore, the tower was also called Ugreshskaya, and even Nameless.
Senate Tower
Behind this tower is the building of the former Senate, hence the name. The somewhat elongated shape of the tent gives the Senate Tower an air of severe inaccessibility.
Kutafya tower
The name of the Kutafya Tower comes from the word kutafya, which means clumsy, unsightly. But the word kut has a different meaning - a corner, hence - a nook (V. Dal). The tower stood somewhat away from the Kremlin, which is why it was called Kutafya. And then she did not seem clumsy, unsightly. Once it looked like everyone else, and it was very similar to Troitskaya. But later they did not build a tent over it, the only one, moreover, even the vault that appeared later was dismantled, so that it stands uncovered by anything. This tower is a bridgehead - a bridge is thrown to it from the river.