When was the Terem Palace built? The Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin is a miracle of Russian architecture of the 17th century. Photo and description

(Russian Terem Palace; English Terem Palace)

Opening hours: The Terem Palace is closed to the public. It is part of the Grand Kremlin Palace and is the Residence of the President of the Russian Federation. Excursions to the Terem Palace are usually carried out as part of excursions to the Grand Kremlin Palace, which requires special permission from the commandant's office of the Kremlin.

The Terem Palace is one of the most picturesque buildings in the Moscow Kremlin; it seems to have stepped out of the pages of Russian fairy tales. The style of this five-story building, richly decorated with white stone carvings, is a colorful mixture of elements of Italian, Russian and Oriental architecture. In the tiered construction of the volume of the new building, with open ambush sites, platforms, porches and stairs, the traditional features of Russian wooden architecture affected. In the lower part of the palace, built in 1487, the sovereign's master's chamber was originally located. The two upper tiers of the tower, which make up the fourth and fifth floors, were erected in 1635-1636 by Russian architects Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov, Trifon Sharutin and Larion Ushakov.

They erected a large building, designed for an important place in the architectural panorama of the Kremlin. The Terem Palace had a gilded roof with golden ribs. At that time, the practice of building a large multi-storey building in the form of a single block was not known. Therefore, the floors, as it were, were placed on top of each other, separated by cornices - belts, and differed in size decreasing upwards: this, apparently, showed the influence of wooden architecture, the most common in the country. The plan of the palace, as well as the nature of its chambers, resembles the usual forms of wooden buildings: the chambers, although intended for the personal use of the king, are small in size, and, as it were, are attached to each other, like log cabins.

The unusual picturesqueness and elegance of the new palace is created not only due to the complex space-planning solution of the building, but also due to the richest decorative design of its facades. Carved and majolica cornices, profiled pilasters between the windows, complex white-stone frames of openings with hanging weights and triangular pediments, covered with carved ornaments, tiles and carvings, gilded roofing - all this is in harmony with the polychrome coloring of the walls and white-stone details, restored during the restoration of Terems in 1966 -1969. A feature of the outer decoration of the Terem Palace is the rich cornices of the two upper floors, made of colored tiles, which also adorn the widths of the parapets of the ambush. In general, the palace gives the impression of a precious piece of jewelry.

The Terem Palace, built of brick, has window casings and door portals made of white stone, covered with ornamental carvings with patterns of herbs, animals and birds, painted in bright colors. Window frames, window sills and portals are also decorated with carvings. Colored glass of the 19th-20th centuries is inserted into the windows. In the old days, there were multi-colored mica in the windows. From multi-colored glasses, tiled stoves and painted walls, it smells of distant, fabulous antiquity.

Probably, it was from the Terem Palace that the use of rich decorative ornamental forms on the facades of buildings began. Particular attention was paid to the entrance portals: they have intricately carved archivolts on the inside of the opening.

From the middle of the 17th century, the palace became the permanent residence of the Russian tsars. Each floor had its own purpose and lifestyle. The internal layout of the palace is extremely simple: all rooms are almost the same size, with three windows facing south each, follow one another. In the sequential arrangement of rooms, there is still no principle of enfilade, characteristic of the palace architecture of the subsequent time, since the doorways of adjacent rooms are not located on the same axis.

Each room of the Terem Palace played a specific role. The ground floor was used for domestic purposes. They contained rooms for domestic purposes, as well as rooms where there were supplies of water and candles, and preparations of vegetables and pickles.

The queen's workshops were located on the ground floor. The manufacture of all types of clothing, linen and other types of household items for the royal family was concentrated here. Here court embroiderers decorated clothes with silk, gold embroidery and pearls.

On the second floor was the king's private bath. Water was supplied here by means of a pump from a water tower. A spiral staircase led from the bath to the royal bedroom. The rooms located on this floor were often rebuilt and their purpose changed accordingly. In the 19th century, an archive settled here, in which the most important state papers were stored.

On the third floor there were rooms that included, in fact, the chambers of the royal family, while living in the Terem Palace, the rest of the time the family lived in a wooden palace, which, according to contemporaries, was considered more beneficial to health.

The fourth floor, or mezzanine, was sometimes called the golden-top, because the roof was covered with gold and silver sheets, and painted in different colors. In the spacious, well-lit room of the golden top, attention is drawn to the wall painting, made in the middle of the last century in the so-called "Russian" style. The Entrance Hall, the Living Room, the Altar Room, the Bedchamber and the Chapel amaze the imagination with the fabulous colors of their decoration.

The carved white stone staircase of the palace, elegantly decorated with sculptures of lions with shields, leads to the Golden (Red) Porch. The carved white stone portal of the Porch is the main entrance to the front rooms of the palace. Its pillars are intercepted by belts, decorative weights hang in the spans of the arches.

One of the aisles of the Golden Porch is adorned with the famous Golden Grid, a rare and perfect work of Russian blacksmiths. Gilded fantastic birds are placed in its strongly twisted spirals. A golden lattice separates the platform from the stairs. It was believed that it was made from copper money withdrawn from circulation after the copper riot. But modern research has shown that the lattice was forged from iron.

The first room on the fourth floor is called the Front or Passage Hall, has low closed vaults with lancet windows, carved wooden window sills and tiled stoves. Earlier, in this room, in the morning, the boyars gathered, waiting for the tsar to come out.

The entrance hall is followed by the Living Room (Dumnaya Room), where the "sitting of the king with the boyars" took place, and, in rare cases, as a sign of special favor, foreign ambassadors were received here.

Perhaps the most beautiful front room is the Throne Room, or the Royal Study. This room served as a small throne room, in the "red" corner of the room, until now, there is a royal chair covered with velvet.

In the 17th century, the Throne Room was the most beautiful and most inaccessible room of the entire palace. Only in the mornings, closest to the king, the boyars entered it to "beat with their foreheads." All the furniture in the room is in the style of the 17th century. Benches and chairs are upholstered in Venetian velvet. Once the cupboards and cabinets were filled with gold and silver utensils, which are now stored in the Armory.

The middle window of the room, decorated from the facade with a carved white stone casing, was called the Petition. A box was lowered from it, where everyone could give the tsar a petition letter. In the common people, this box was called the Long one, since the petitions lay here for a long time, unreadable by anyone. This is where the saying came from: "Don't procrastinate."

The Bedchamber follows the Altar Room. It contains a carved wooden canopy bed made in the style of the 17th century. This room, like all the previous ones, belonged only to the male half of the royal family. The chambers of the queens and princesses were in a different place, and have not survived to this day.

From the Bedchamber, a side door leads to a small room - the Chapel, where the king usually prayed in the evening and in the morning. Here, gilded icon cases with crosses and icons of the 16th-17th centuries hang on the wall.

The north wing housed utility rooms and a narrow corridor. According to legend, the bride of the most beautiful girls took place here, among which the king had to choose his bride. He had to go through the corridor three times and hand over the towel to the happy chosen one.

On the fifth floor were the chambers of the prince, with the so-called "Lookout Tower". Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich, the future Emperor Peter the Great, was brought up here, who was born right there, in the palace, on the night of May 30, 1672.

The Terem Palace is a unique architectural monument that has survived to this day. The unique original Russian style of decoration, an amazing combination of colors, luxury and lightness at the same time make this palace a unique work of art.

Address: Russia, Moscow, Moscow Kremlin
Start of construction: 1635
Completion of construction: 1636
Coordinates: 55°45"02.3"N 37°36"55.8"E

Short story

Russia is a huge country, and in every corner of it there will always be things that are interesting to the eye of an inquisitive traveler. But a special place for adherents of historical excursions is occupied by the capital of the Russian Federation - Moscow.

One of the most beautiful sights of the Russian capital rightfully belongs to the Terem Palace, which is part of the complex of buildings known as the Moscow Kremlin. The Terem Palace was built in the first half of the 17th century (completed in 1636) 4 authoritative master architects at that time: Ogurtsov, Konstantinov, Sharutin and Ushakov.

However, during the construction of the Terem Palace, the surviving parts of the old buildings were also used - in particular, the royal chambers created for Ivan the 3rd, and the Master's chambers of the 16th century. The open area surrounding the tower along the perimeter was formed due to the indentation in their superstructure on the base of the walls of the previous building.

Architectural features of the Terem Palace

The method of its construction gives the Terem Palace a special charm - a tiered stepped composition with open stairs and bizarre porches. Interestingly, many of the architectural solutions that were used to create the Terem Palace were later often used to build other buildings in the history of Russian architecture. For example, the well-known Upper Golden Porch with paired arches and, as it were, crowned with a tent, became the prototype of the original Russian interior.

There is also something to see outside the Terem Palace! The facade of the Terems deserves the closest attention - what are the white-stone architraves with skillful carvings and hanging weights, or the cornices, in the design of which the most beautiful multi-colored tiles were used. Images are clearly visible on the tiles, including floral ornaments and elements of heraldry (various animals and birds).

The decorative carving decorating the entrance portals is also well done. For greater beauty, Russian architects introduced decorative pilasters into the piers between the windows - however, they serve only for decoration and are not load-bearing structural elements of the Terem Palace.

Golden (Red) porch

Four chambers of the royal chambers

The second floor of the Terem Palace is occupied by the royal chambers. There are four in total. These are relatively small chambers, the notable architectural elements of which are closed vaults with formwork.

Each chamber has its own name:

• Canopy
• Living room (Dumnaya) room
• patronal
• bedchamber

The ancient art of making wooden interiors still makes itself felt here - for example, this is how wooden choir stalls were created.

Canopy

During the construction of the choirs, a technique was used that is often used in Russian wooden architecture - according to the method of connecting separate stands. A bizarre floral ornament adorns the vaults and walls of the chambers. Once upon a time, the architect Ushakov worked on the creation of the ornament, the current images were created relatively recently, in the 19th century, according to the drawings proposed by T.A. Kiselev and F.G. Solntsev.

Churches and icons of the Terem Palace

The architectural ensemble of the Terem Palace also included other buildings, making it rightfully one of the most important historical monuments of Russian architecture of the 17th century. For example, in the western part of the Terem Palace there is the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God “on Senya”. The temple was rebuilt several times. Among the notable features is the almost completely preserved white-stone four-pillar church.

Living room (Dumnaya) room

The construction of this church was carried out at the end of the XIV century by order of Princess Evdokia, the widow of the notorious Prince Dmitry Donskoy. This church is one of the most ancient buildings that are part of the Moscow Kremlin and are well preserved to this day.

On the territory of the Terem Palace there are a number of churches: the Church of Catherine (built by J. Thaler in 1627), the Church of the Resurrection of the Word built over it and the so-called Crucifixion Church. The roof with majolica and painted crosses, under which 3 churches are combined - the Crucifixion, the Savior and the Resurrection of the Word, were made by the monastic elder Hippolytus, a famous carver of that time. By the way, the ancient wooden crucifix, installed in the chapel of the Crucifixion Church, is also the work of Hippolytus.

throne room

The house church on the male part of the Terem Palace was built in 1636, when the construction of the entire complex was almost completed. The church was lit in honor of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” (it is believed that the image of the Savior appeared by itself, without human intervention), and a little later the church began to be called in a new way - the Verkhospassky Cathedral. The same 4 architects who built the entire complex of the Terem Palace worked on the temple. The murals that can be seen in the cathedral were created 30 years later, starting in 1660. Sometimes the cathedral is called "The Savior Behind the Golden Bars" and here's why. The fact is that they decided to separate the Verkhospassky Cathedral and the Terem Palace with a lattice - not gold, of course, but made of iron. However, the gilding that covers the grille is applied so carefully and carefully that many people think that it is really made of gold! The Church of the Crucifixion in the Terem Palace has a very beautiful and monumental iconostasis.

bedchamber

His icons are made on silk fabric using the appliqué technique. The author of the icons is the famous master of the Armory Chamber Vasily Poznansky. The Verkhospassky Cathedral also has an iconostasis made in the 18th century in baroque forms. However, in the lower row of the iconostasis of the Verkhospassky Cathedral there are even more ancient icons, the work of masters of the 17th century: these are the Centurion Longinus, Theodore Stratilat and the Savior Not Made by Hands with 20 hallmarks on the theme of the life of the saints. The iconostasis of the Church of the Resurrection of the Glorious is made of wood and decorated with gilded carvings. And the clock that decorates the temple is a gift from the Swedish King Charles 9.

Photo: Kremlin's Terem Palace and Verkhospassky Cathedral