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Moscow was not built in a day

In the old days the Kremlin was called the city, protectedfortress wall and towers with equipped loopholes. This name comes from the word "Kremlevnik" - a coniferous forest with strong, large trees, suitable for construction. Of these trees and erected the first wooden kremlin. There was a wooden Kremlin in Moscow, but in 1365 it burnt to the ground, and henceforth it was decided to build protective structures only of stone. Two years later, on the site of the ashes, a white-stone kremlin rose, making Moscow look like a white stone. However, he too could not stand the test of time and war. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the third Kremlin, made of red brick, grew on the same spot between the Moscow River and the Neglinnaya River.

The Kremlin towers - how many of them and what they are

Conceived and embodied in stone as a fortress,The Moscow Kremlin was thoroughly protected by high towers, from which it was possible to conduct defensive fire. In total, the Kremlin has 20 towers, built at different times, but in the same style.

All the towers are made in the architectural style of Italian classicism, except for the Nikolskaya Tower. It was rebuilt in the XIX century in the Gothic style.

Initially, all the towers were of military importance anda stern appearance, and beautiful superstructures and tents were made when the enemies ceased to disturb the Russian capital. In the corners of the huge triangle of the fortress are large round towers - Beklemishevskaya, Vodovzvodnaya and Angular Arsenal. The power of these towers was to withstand the onslaught of the enemy, and the round form allowed to fire round. Beklemishevskaya Tower was the first to take a hit during the invasion, as it was at the junction of the Moscow River with a moat. At the base of the tower an auditory cache was arranged to prevent possible undermining. In the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, the first in Russia water-supply device was installed to supply water from the Moscow River to the Kremlin. The Arsenal Tower was one of seven towers built by the architect Pietro Antonio Solari, and the most powerful of the ensemble of the ancient Kremlin. The rest of the Kremlin towers are square. Towers with travel gates were located where important roads approached the city. These towers - Spassky, Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya, Tainitskaya, Konstantin-Yeleninskaya, were protected from the outside by archers. The remaining towers were adapted for defense. The towers are fairly evenly distributed around the perimeter of the powerful walls, although they are quite different in height. The largest Trinity Tower is 80 meters high. Nearby, on the other side of the Trinity Bridge, stands the lowest tower of Kutafia - only 13.5 meters.

Taynitskaya was built by the first of the towers of the modern Kremlin in 1484. Its name was due to the cache-well, hidden in the base of the tower for the garrison in case of a siege.

The second in height, but the first in value was andremains Spassky Tower. It also belongs to the authorship of Pietro Solari, who opened the eastern line of the fortifications of the Kremlin by building this tower. Its gates were the main entrance to the capital of the Russian state - they were supposed to pass through them by foot and with their heads uncovered. The tower was adorned with a clock for a long time, but the main clock of our country, the Kremlin chimes, was installed in 1852. Their mechanism takes three of the ten floors of the Spassky Tower. Kremlin stars of ruby ​​glass adorn the five highest towers - Borovitskaya, Troitskaya, Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Vodovzvodnaya. Previously, on these towers, except Vodovzvodnaya, imperial double-headed eagles were flaunting, but in 1930 the Bolsheviks who came to power decided to remove the legacy of the old regime. It was with such scarlet five-pointed stars that the Kremlin towers became famous all over the world.