The Moscow Kremlin and the Armoury Chamber

The Moscow Kremlin is the oldest part of Moscow, the main nerve of its life. Russian tzars resided here and Russian emperors had been crowned. The principal cathedrals of the Russian Orthodox Church are situated here. The State Institutions are functioning in the Kremlin, and the national treasures are hidden behind its walls. It is still the national and political center of Russia, the residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Kremlin was well-guarded  citadel from the beginning. Towers and walls that one can see in the present were erected by Italian masters Antonio Fryazin and Pietro Solari. Under the Sovereign of the Whole Russia Ioann the Third Moscow transformed into the capital of the great  land, and the new ideology was established: Moscow is the Third Rome, and the Fourth would not be ever. Because Russia became to consider itself as a heiress of the Byzantine Empire after its fall. So a great construction started in the Kremlin.  The stony walls and towels, the Assumption, Archangel, Annunciation Cathedrals, the Sovereign Palace with Granovitaya Palata (the Faceted Chamber) were erected from 1475 till 1510. And the whole ensemble was crowned with Ivan the Great’s Bell Tower, representing a crystal cord and a ladder to heaven, that joined this place to the heart of God. Construction of the  most important building was entrusted to Italian architect Aristotel Fiorovanti asked to build the main cathedral after the shape of the Assumption Cathedral situated in Vladimir, the former capital of Russia. And an original building was erected: a church-palace. The Assumption Cathedral was adorned by works of the best masters of that time.

Aleviz Novyi, the builder of the Archangel Cathedral from Italy, decorated it a la Veneziano, using floral ornament, arks, shell shapes. That decor had been imitated in construction of the other churches during the next two centuries.

You can see Ivan the Great's Bell Tower that is 82 meters high had 33 bells. Tsar-Bell, the greatest one in Russia, stay at its foot. It was made in 1735 and then partly broken after a great fire. One more masterpiece of the ancient Russian foundry is Tzar-Cannon made in 1586, that defended transportation across the Moskva River in the past. Nearly one can see the Patriarch Chambers that was built during Romanov's reign in the 17th century. That century was the one of the Teremnoy and Pateshnyi Palaces’ construction.