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To proceed with his ambitious plans of
rebuilding and embellishing his capital, Ivan needed more foreign architects,
artists and craftsmen of all sorts. Several missions were sent to Italy to
recruit them. Good salaries and the experience that Fioraventi already had
encouraged many to come. Among them was Pietro Antonio Solari, a native of
Milan, who became one of the chief architects of the new Kremlin. Between 1485
and 1485 he erected the present Kremlin walls, a triangle that surrounds almost
seventy acres of land. For photos of the Moscow Kremlin please go to
Moscow. Solari was
followed by Antonio Friazin, ( Italians were called Friazin), Marco Ruffo,
Alevis' Novi and several others. They were helped by hundreds of Russian
builders, craftsmen and artists, in the rapid growth and cultural development
of Moscow. Large masses of the people were in favor of the strong Moscow
central government as the only force capable of defending the country from
foreign invaders. There were also many who say a great future for their country
and their people in the artistic and cultural activity that started in the last
quarter of the 15th century and lasted through most of the 16th century. This
was what we would today call in a way, a "cultural revolution," aimed
to catch up with the rest of Europe as much as possible. Though most of the
architects were Italians, contributions made by the Russians were equally
important. We can even say that Russians only decorated what the Italians had
erected, and many reconstructions and embellishments have since made the
Kremlin one of the world's most picturesque architectural ensembles, which
continues to astonish visitors with its beauty. Without the Russian sense of
colors and ornamentation, and especially of the picturesque, the Kremlin would
have remained an impressive fortress, similar to so many that existed or still
exist in Europe, and which usually leave the visitor more grievous than
delighted. Instead, the Kremlin became an extraordinary mosaic of Russian
architecture and decorative art. The new edifices built by Italians were mixed
with Russian wooden constructions. Particularly numerous were wooden churches
with their gilded cupolas. During the reign of Fedor Ivanovich there were over
thirty of them, and when Mikhail Fedorovich became tsar the number reached
almost fifty. During the reign of Mikhail and Alexei Romanov there were in the
Kremlin not only the stone palaces belonging to the Romanov, but those of
well-known princes and boyars such as Trubetskoy, Odoevsky, Golitsin,
Miloslavsky, Morozov, Sheremetiev, Cherkasky, Streshniev and others, though
most palaces were still wooden. It was Peter the Great who cleaned the Kremlin
of most of its wooden palaces and private houses. The majestic look of the
Kremlin ensemble brought about imitations in many Russian cities. Some of them
met military challenges but they all considerably enriched the rather
monotonous landscape of this country with its predominant feature of rolling
valleys. For generations of Russians the Moscow Kremlin remained a sacred
place. Today many consider it the heart of their country. Russian tsars lived
there, and Lenin and Stalin too. Tsars were crowned and invested there, as are
the present rulers. It was here in the Kremlin, that, in the 16th century, Ivan
the Terrible saluted Russian victories with cannon fire, a tradition that was
renewed in August 1943 by Stalin. For centuries the Kremlin was the see of the
Metropolitan of all Russia. Even today visiting foreign heads of state consider
it a special privilege if they are permitted to spend a night or so within its
walls. A Russian proverb says: "Above Moscow there is nothing but the
Kremlin, and above the Kremlin nothing but the sky."
The walls that Solari and Marco Ruffo built around the Moscow Kremlin are 7332
feet long; their height ranges from 16 to 62 feet, depending on the
configuration of the ground. There are over a thousand scalinger battlements on
the outer rim of the walls, paired with lime-stone on the top. The battlements
are from six to eight feet high and from 25 to 27 inches wide. At the corners
of the walls strong circular towers control all approaches to the Kremlin, and
in the old days the Kremlin was surrounded on all sides by the two rivers,
Moskva and Neglinnaya, and the deep moat along the foot of which was the
borders the Red square. High fortified gate-towers serve as entrances to the
Kremlin. The gates had strong oak frames studded with iron rivets. In front of
the were barbicans with chain drawbridges that spanned the rivers and the moat;
their outer entrances were protected by portcullises. It was a highly
dependable fortification. Most of the present Kremlin towers look differently
now than they did when they were built. During the 17th and later they received
their big steeples with conical tops on which imperial double-headed eagles
spread their wings. After the revolution the eagles were taken down and
replaced with ruby stars. One of the first towers to be built was the
Tainitskaya (Secret) gate, located on the southern side and facing the Moskva
river. It received its name from the secret well designed to supply water in
case of a siege. If was demolished in 1770 to make room for a palace which was
designed by Vasili Bazhenov but never built. Further up the river, at the
south-west corner of the Kremlin, is the Vodozvodnaya (Water) tower, also known
as Sviblova after the boyar who lived in the nearby village of Timofeyevskoe
and who took an active part in the construction of the first stone wall around
the Kremlin in 1367. When in 1633 a pumping device was installed in the tower,
which brought water to the Kremlin palaces, kitchens and even gardens from the
river Moskva, the tower became known also as the Water tower. The pumping
device was installed by Christopher Halloway, an English clock maker, after
some Moscow merchants, who traveled through western Europe, told the tsar about
a strange machine that brought water up to the palaces and mansions they had
visited. Until then the water for the Kremlin had been carried in barrels.
Hallway came to Moscow in 1621 and was employed by the tsar. His yearly salary
was 60 Rubles plus some money and food allowance. In 1812 the tower was blown
up by the French troops, and in 1817-1819 it was rebuilt by O.I. Bove,
predominantly in the classical style. The Water tower is one of the five towers
that have a ruby star on the top; the others are the Borovitskaya, Nikolskaya,
Troitskaya and Spaskaya.
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