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RUSSIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
THROUGH THE CENTURIES

 
 

The Reconstruction of the Kremlin

 
 

Considerably influenced by his western-educated wife Sophia, Ivan III decided to bring his country out of the "Shades of dusk," as Karamzin put it and move it closer to European culture. Moscow opened its doors, and many Italians and Greeks, masters of various professions came to Russia with Sophia. Special attention was paid to The embellishment of the Kremlin, and construction begun on a series of magnificent churches and palaces and, of course, he new Kremlin walls, making it one of he most fortified cities in the world. With time the Kremlin turned into a superb architectural ensemble, destined to become the center not only of a large city but also of a vast empire. Ivan obviously wanted to make Moscow a beautiful capital, and probably harbored thoughts that it might one day become" new Constantinople, " and match the importance of his new, powerful state.

 
 

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