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The Spaskaya (Savior) gate tower is
undoubtedly the most impressive and has the richest history of all the five. An
inscription over the entry portals tells us that it was built by Solari in
1491, at which time it was known as the Frolovskaya tower, the name it received
from the nearby church of Saints Frol and Lavr. Ivan III ordered this church
and about ten more, as well as several other buildings demolished to open the
approaches to the new gate and clear space for a new square - the present Red
Square. The name of the tower was changed in 1658 when an icon of the Savior
was put just above the gate, facing the Red square. A tsar's ukaz ordered that
nobody should pass through the gates unless he went bareheaded. Men caught with
hats on their heads were ordered to bow fifty times in front of the icon, each
time touching the ground with their hand; in some rare cases they were flogged
as well. The people regarded the gate and the icon as a sacred place, as any
Christian would regard his church, and nobody would intentionally keep his head
covered, while inside. For centuries the Spaskaya Gate was used for most
important religious and state ceremonies and processions. A large part of he
history of the Moscow state and of Russia passed through this gate. (Here is a
photo of the tower and
another.) We also have
more photos and diagrams at
kremlin
Galloway, assisted by the Russian builder Bazhen Ogurtsov, replaced the wooden,
tent-shaped roof of the Savior gate with a high brick steeple. Instead of the
old hour bell Hallway put in it his new clock. The entire tower now almost
doubled in height and was richly decorated with two rows of arches, pyramids,
statues, gargoyles etc., all done in white stone. The statues stood naked in
the niches which now are empty. Legend says that the priggishly modest tsar
Mikhail Fedorovich ordered that they be properly dressed, and a special cloth
was brought from England for this purpose, All the dresses perished in the fire
of 1654 and many statues were seriously damaged. sporadic fires in Moscow often
reached the Savior's gate, and each time the tower and the clock had to be
repaired. The present clock was installed in 1851- 1852 by the Butenop
brothers. The fighting during the revolution again damaged the tower. The clock
was repaired by Kremlin locksmith N. V. Behrens, and an artist and later
academician, N.M. Cheremnikh, set its chimes to play the International. The
tower is 220 feet high, without its ruby star. (Here is another
view.)
The present tsar's tower was built in 1680. Set on the top of the wall not far
from the Savior's tower, it looks much like a canopy or one of those small
chapels, along the main roads and around monasteries, that existed before the
revolution. Four thick melon-shaped pillars carry the octagonal, tent-shaped
roof. Kokoshniks, pendants, white stone embossments, small pyramids at each
corner, and girdles decorate this cute little tower. Though detailed
information is not available, there must have existed another tsar's tower
before this one. The legend ways that Ivan the Terrible often went there to
watch ceremonies and other amusements that took place on the out-of -door stage
(lobnoe Mesto), sometimes erroneously called the Scaffold, or on the Red
square. He was particularly amused by watching the fisticuffs that took place
in front of the tower
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