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Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country	Russian Federation
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv, vi
Reference	545
Region **	Europe
Inscription history
Inscription	16th November 1990 (14th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

The Moscow Kremlin (Russian: Московский Кремль, tr. Moskovskiy Kreml; IPA: [mɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲɛmlʲ]), sometimes referred to as simply the Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River (to the south), Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square (to the east) and the Alexander Garden (to the west). It is the best known of kremlins (Russian citadels) and includes four palaces, four cathedrals and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. The complex serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

The name the Kremlin is often used as a metonym to refer to the government of the Soviet Union (1922–1991) and its highest members (such as general secretaries, premiers, presidents, ministers, and commissars), in the same way that the metonym Élysée Palace refers to the President of the French Republic, the White House refers to the Executive Office of the President of the United States and Number 10 Downing Street or Whitehall refers to the Offices of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the British Government. It is still used in reference to the government of the Russian Federation and even the Russian President's official website is Kremlin.ru. "Kremlinology" refers to the study of Soviet and Russian policies.

History[link]

Origin[link]

Plan of Moscow Kremlin, 1917.

The site has been continuously inhabited since the 2nd century BC, and originates from a Vyatich fortified structure (or "grad") on Borovitsky Hill where the Neglinnaya River flowed into the Moskva River. The Slavs occupied the south-western portion of the hill as early as the 11th century, as evidenced by a metropolitan seal from the 1090s, which was unearthed by Soviet archaeologists in the area.

Up to the 14th century, the site was known as the 'grad of Moscow'. The word "kremlin" was first recorded in 1331 and its etymology is disputed (see Max Vasmer online (Russian)). The grad was greatly extended by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1156, destroyed by the Mongols in 1237 and rebuilt in oak in 1339.^[1]

Seat of Grand Dukes[link]

The Church of St. John Climacus (1329), the Transfiguration Monastery's Katholikon (1330), and the Archangel Cathedral (1333) — all built of limestone and decorated with elaborate carving, each crowned by a single dome. Of these churches, the reconstructed Saviour Cathedral alone survived into the 20th century, only to be pulled down at the urging of Stalin in 1933.

Dmitri Donskoi replaced the oaken walls with a strong citadel of white limestone in 1366–1368 on the basic foundations of the current walls;^[2] this fortification withstood a siege by Khan Tokhtamysh. Dmitri's son Vasily I resumed construction of churches and cloisters in the Kremlin. The newly built Annunciation Cathedral was painted by Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, and Prokhor in 1405. The Chudov Monastery was founded by Dmitri's tutor, Metropolitan Alexis; while his widow, Eudoxia, established the Ascension Convent in 1397.

Residence of the Tsars[link]

"Kremlenagrad": the first detailed map of the Kremlin (1663).

The Assumption Cathedral was the site of coronation of Russian tsars.

Grand Prince Ivan III organised the reconstruction of the Kremlin, inviting a number of skilled architects from Renaissance Italy, like Petrus Antonius Solarius, who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marcus Ruffus who designed the new palace for the prince. It was during his reign that three extant cathedrals of the Kremlin, the Deposition Church, and the Palace of Facets were constructed. The highest building of the city and Muscovite Russia was the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built in 1505–08 and augmented to its present height in 1600. The Kremlin walls as they now appear were built between 1485 and 1495.^[3] Spasskie gates of the wall still bear a dedication in Latin praising Petrus Antonius Solarius for the design.

After construction of the new kremlin walls and churches was complete, the monarch decreed that no structures should be built in the immediate vicinity of the citadel. The Kremlin was separated from the walled merchant town (Kitay-gorod) by a 30-metre-wide moat, over which the Intercession Cathedral on the Moat was constructed during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The same tsar also renovated some of his grandfather's palaces, added a new palace and cathedral for his sons, and endowed the Trinity metochion inside the Kremlin. The metochion was administrated by the Trinity Monastery and boasted the graceful tower church of St. Sergius, which was described by foreigners as one of the finest in the country.

During the Time of Troubles, the Kremlin was held by the Polish forces for two years, between 21 September 1610 and 26 October 1612. The Kremlin's liberation by the volunteer army of prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin paved the way for the election of Mikhail Romanov as the new tsar. During his reign and that of his son Alexis, the eleven-domed Upper Saviour Cathedral, Armorial Gate, Terem Palace, Amusement Palace and the palace of Patriarch Nikon were built. Following the death of Alexis, the Kremlin witnessed the Moscow Uprising of 1682, from which tsar Peter barely escaped, causing him to dislike the Kremlin. Three decades later, Peter abandoned the residence of his forefathers for his new capital, Saint Petersburg.

Imperial period[link]

View from across the Moskva River in the 1820s.

A 17th-century hall in the Terem Palace, as painted in the 1840s.

A panoramic view of Moscow Kremlin in 1908

Although still used for coronation ceremonies, the Kremlin was abandoned and neglected until 1773, when Catherine the Great engaged Vasili Bazhenov to build her new residence there. Bazhenov produced a bombastic Neoclassical design on a heroic scale, which involved the demolition of several churches and palaces, as well as a portion of the Kremlin wall. After the preparations were over, construction halted due to lack of funds. Several years later, the architect Matvey Kazakov supervised the reconstruction of the dismantled sections of the wall and of some structures of the Chudov Monastery, and constructed the spacious and luxurious offices of the Senate, since adapted for use as the principal workplace of the President of Russia.

Following the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the French forces occupied the Kremlin from 2 September to 11 October. When Napoleon retreated from Moscow, he ordered the whole Kremlin to be blown up. The Kremlin Arsenal, several portions of the Kremlin Wall and several wall towers were destroyed by explosions and fires damaged the Faceted Chamber and churches. Explosions continued for three days, from 21 to 23 October. Fortunately, the rain damaged the fuses, and the damage was less severe than intended. Restoration works were held in 1816–19, supervised by Osip Bove. During the remainder of Alexander I's reign, several ancient structures were renovated in a fanciful neo-Gothic style, but many others were condemned as "disused" or "dilapidated" (including all the buildings of the Trinity metochion) and simply torn down.

On visiting Moscow for his coronation festivities, Nicholas I was not satisfied with the Grand, or Winter, Palace, which had been erected to Rastrelli's design in the 1750s. The elaborate Baroque structure was demolished, as was the nearby church of St. John the Precursor, built by Aloisio the New in 1508 in place of the first church constructed in Moscow. The architect Konstantin Thon was commissioned to replace them with the Grand Kremlin Palace, which was to rival the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in its dimensions and the opulence of its interiors. The palace was constructed in 1839–49, followed by the new building of the Kremlin Armoury in 1851.

After 1851, the Kremlin changed little until the Russian Revolution of 1917; the only new features added during this period were the Monument to Alexander II and a stone cross marking the spot where Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was assassinated by Ivan Kalyayev in 1905. These monuments were destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Soviet period and beyond[link]

The famous Spasskaya tower, with its ruby star added in 1937. The Kremlin Wall Necropolis is in the foreground.

The Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow on 12 March 1918. Vladimir Lenin selected the Kremlin Senate as his residence. Joseph Stalin also had his personal rooms in the Kremlin. He was eager to remove from his headquarters all the "relics of the tsarist regime". Golden eagles on the towers were replaced by shining Kremlin stars, while the wall near Lenin's Mausoleum was turned into the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

The Chudov Monastery and Ascension Convent, with their magnificent 16th-century cathedrals, were dismantled to make room for the military school and Palace of Congresses. The Little Nicholas Palace and the old Saviour Cathedral were pulled down as well. The residence of the Soviet government was closed to tourists until 1955. It was not until the Khrushchev Thaw that the Kremlin was reopened to foreign visitors. The Kremlin Museums were established in 1961 and the complex was among the first Soviet patrimonies inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990.

Although the current director of the Kremlin Museums, Elena Gagarina (Yuri Gagarin's daughter) advocates a full-scale restoration of the destroyed cloisters, recent developments have been confined to expensive restoration of the original interiors of the Grand Kremlin Palace, which were altered during Stalin's rule. The Patriarch of Moscow has a suite of rooms in the Kremlin, but divine service in the Kremlin cathedrals is held irregularly, because they are still administered as museums.

Buildings[link]

Five double-headed Russian coat-of-arms eagles (below) substituting the former state emblem of the Soviet Union and the “СССР” letters (above) in the facade of the Grand Kremlin Palace after the dissolution of the USSR

The existing Kremlin walls and towers were built by Italian masters over the years 1485 to 1495. The irregular triangle of the Kremlin wall encloses an area of 275,000 square metres (68 acres). Its overall length is 2235 metres (2444 yards), but the height ranges from 5 to 19 metres, depending on the terrain. The wall's thickness is between 3.5 and 6.5 metres.

Inside the Terem Palace

Originally there were eighteen Kremlin towers, but their number increased to twenty in the 17th century. All but three of the towers are square in plan. The highest tower is the Troizkaya, which was built up to its present height of 73,9 metres in 1495. Most towers were originally crowned with wooden tents; the extant brick tents with strips of colored tiles go back to the 1680s.

Cathedral Square is the heart of the Kremlin. It is surrounded by six buildings, including three cathedrals. The Cathedral of the Dormition was completed in 1479 to be the main church of Moscow and where all the Tsars were crowned. The massive limestone facade, capped with its five golden cupolas was the design of Aristotele Fioravanti. Several important metropolitans and patriarchs are buried there, including Peter and Makarii. The gilded, three-domed Cathedral of the Annunciation was completed next in 1489, only to be reconstructed to a nine-domed design a century later. On the south-east of the square is the much larger Cathedral of the Archangel Michael (1508), where almost all the Muscovite monarchs from Ivan Kalita to Alexis I of Russia are interred. (Boris Godunov was originally buried there, but was moved to the Trinity Monastery.)

Church of the Deposition of the Robe (1488).

There are two domestic churches of the Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow, the Church of the Twelve Apostles (1653–56) and the exquisite one-domed Church of the Deposition of the Virgin's Robe, built by Pskov artisans over the years 1484–88 and featuring superb icons and frescoes from 1627 and 1644.

The other notable structure is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower on the north-east corner of the square, which is said to mark the exact centre of Moscow and resemble a burning candle. Completed in 1600, it is 81 meters (266 ft) high. Until the Russian Revolution, it was the tallest structure in the city, as construction of buildings taller than that was forbidden. Its 21 bells would sound the alarm if any enemy was approaching. The upper part of the structure was destroyed by the French during the Napoleonic Invasion and has, of course, been rebuilt. The Tsar bell, the largest bell in the world, stands on a pedestal next to the tower.

Church of the Twelve Apostles (1654–56).

The oldest secular structure still standing is Ivan III's Palace of Facets (1491), which holds the imperial thrones. The next oldest is the first home of the royal family, the Terem Palace. The original Terem Palace was also commissioned by Ivan III, but most of the existing palace was built in the 17th century. The Terem Palace and the Palace of Facets are linked by the Grand Kremlin Palace. This was commissioned by Nicholas I in 1838. The largest structure in the Kremlin, it cost an exorbitant sum of eleven million rubles to build and more than one billion dollars to renovate in the 1990s. It contains dazzling reception halls, a ceremonial red staircase, private apartments of the tsars, and the lower storey of the Resurrection of Lazarus church (1393), which is the oldest extant structure in the Kremlin and the whole of Moscow.

The northern corner of the Kremlin is occupied by the Arsenal, which was originally built for Peter the Great in 1701. The southwestern section of the Kremlin holds the Armoury building. Built in 1851 to a Renaissance Revival design, it is currently a museum housing Russian state regalia and Diamond fund.

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Ivanov V. N. Московский Кремль. Moscow, 1971.
• Nenakormova I. S. Государственные музеи Московского Кремля. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1987.frt

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Moscow Kremlin

• History of the Kremlin
• Moscow Kremlin State Historical and Cultural Museum Sanctuary
• Open Kremlin

v t e Moscow Kremlin and Red Square Kremlin Wall and Towers Borovitskaya Vodovzvodnaya Blagoveshenskaya Tainitskaya Pervaya Bezymyannaya Vtoraya Bezymyannaya Petrovskaya Beklemishevskaya Konstantino-Eleninskaya Nabatnaya Tsarskaya Spasskaya Senatskaya Nikolskaya Uglovaya Arsenalnaya Srednyaya Arsenalnaya Troitskaya Kutafya Komendantskaya Oruzheynaya Administrative buildings Kremlin Senate Kremlin Presidium (Building 14) Kremlin Arsenal Amusement Palace State Kremlin Palace Grand Kremlin Palace Terem Palace The Armory Palace of Facets Tsarina Golden Palace State Historical Museum Churches Cathedral of the Assumption Cathedral of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Archangel Church of Saint Ioann Lestvichnik and Ivan the Great Bell Tower Church of the Deposition of the Virgin's Robe in Vlachernon Patriarch's Palace and the Church of the Twelve Apostles Verkhospassky Cathedral and the Terem Churches Cathedral of the Intercession (of Saint Basil the Blessed) Kazan Cathedral Squares and gardens Red Square Ivanovskaya Square Cathedral Square Taynitsky Garden Grand Kremlin Public Garden Alexander Garden Manezhnaya Square Monuments Kremlin Wall Necropolis Monument to Minin and Pozharsky Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Place of Skulls Tsar Cannon Tsar Bell Other Iberian Gate and Chapel Former Ascension Convent Chudov Monastery Armorial Gate

v t e Russian imperial palaces and residences Imperial residences Alexander Palace Anichkov Palace Catherine Palace Gatchina Palace Grand Kremlin Palace Kamenny Island Oranienbaum Pavlovsk Palace Peterhof Palace Saint Michael's Castle Winter Palace Yelagin Palace Grand ducal residences Alexis Palace Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace Constantine Palace Marble Palace Marie Palace Michael Palace New Michael Palace Nicholas Palace Tauride Palace Vladimir Palace Outside the Russian Federation Belweder Białowieża Palace Catherinethal Dulber Helsingfors Palace Elisabeth Palace Likani Palace Livadia Palace Massandra Palace Skierniewice Palace Historical Annenhof Catherinehof Kolomenskoye Palace Pella Palace Ropsha Babolovo Summer Garden Palace Summer Palace of Empress Elisabeth

v t e World Heritage Sites in Russia by federal district Central Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye Moscow Kremlin and Red Square Novodevichy Convent Trinity Sergius Lavra White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal Historic Centre of Yaroslavl Southern Western Caucasus Northwestern Curonian Spit1 Ferapontov Monastery Kizhi Pogost Virgin Komi Forests Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Surroundings Solovetsky Islands Struve Geodetic Arc2 Far Eastern Volcanoes of Kamchatka Central Sikhote-Alin Wrangel Island Siberian Golden Mountains of Altai Lake Baikal Putorana Plateau Uvs Nuur Basin3 Volga Kazan Kremlin North Caucasian Citadel, Ancient City and Fortress Buildings of Derbent 1 Shared with Lithuania 2 Shared with nine other countries 3 Shared with Mongolia

Coordinates: 55°45′6″N 37°37′4″E / 55.75167°N 37.61778°E / 55.75167; 37.61778

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

The Walls are an Irish rock band. They were formed in 1998 by two ex-members of The Stunning.

Members[link]

• Steve Wall
• Joe Wall
• Carl Harms (Guitar/Keyboards) (left February 2004)
• Rory Doyle (Drums)
• Jon O'Connell (Bass) (joined February 2004)

Biography[link]

1998–2000[link]

Brothers Steve and Joe Wall (previously of The Stunning) returned to Ireland after a two-year failed label stint in London. Their Camden housemate Carl Harms joined the band on guitar and keyboard duties. Drummer Rory Doyle joined soon afterwards. They set up their own label, Earshot Records (later changing it to Dirtbird Records) and recorded and released a string of singles. A remix of one of the album tracks, "Bone Deep", clicked with radio and became a nationwide hit. Many of the songs have featured on a number of TV series and feature films such as Bachelors Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).

2001–2004[link]

The Walls heard rumour of a second Slane Castle date for U2 (as the first concert had sold out in hours). They sent four copies of their album to the band. Bono loved it and offered The Walls a support slot. That day the band played to their biggest crowd to date – around 80,000 people. "To the Bright and Shining Sun" was their next single. That June they supported Red Hot Chili Peppers. They spent the next year gigging while building their own studio in Dublin.

In February 2004, original member Carl Harms decided to leave the band to make his own record. They recruited bassist Jon O’Connell, who had just 2 weeks to learn all the songs before a two week tour of the new EU accession states: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "To the Bright and Shining Sun" also featured on the EA Sports soundtrack for the UEFA Euro 2004 official licenced game.

2004 - 2006[link]

For the next album, the band went to Studio Black Box in France to record with producer and ex-The Frames guitarist David Odlum. Originally scheduled for a release date in September 2004, The Walls decided to hold their album until the new year. U2 were releasing How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb that autumn and according to Steve "we thought that it would be a fair and gentlemanly gesture to stand back and give them a fair crack of the whip, so to speak".^{[citation needed]}

In October 2004, they released a taster - "Drowning Pool" - a blistering, spleen-venting, blues explosion, 2min 52sec long. It took people by surprise and divided opinion - exactly what the band wanted. They supported Bob Dylan to a capacity crowd in Galway that summer and played a storming set that showed there were changes afoot in The Walls sound. They christened the album New Dawn Breaking after the final track on the record. It went straight into the Irish charts at No. 5 in its first week of release in June 2005 and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", "Passing Through", "Drowning Pool" and "Black and Blue".

2007[link]

The band kicked off 2007 with a gig in Dubai and are presently negotiating gig offers in France, Italy, the Czech Republic and China. They also supported Crowded House on their Australian comeback tour before retreating into their studio to work on album number three.

2010 - 2012[link]

In 2010, the double A-side "Carrying The Fire"/"Phantom Power" was released. Following this, in March 2011, the "Bird In A Cage" EP was released, of which the title track was revealed to also be on the bands forthcoming album "Stop The Lights", which is to be released in 2012. Following this announcement, the band's new single "Stop The Lights" was released in January 2012. The band are currently using the innovative "Fund It" in order to finish their third album. The welcome newcomer Kevin Crowley from Newcastle West playing the spoons.

Discography[link]

	"To the Bright and Shining Sun" (2002) noicon From the 2005 album " New Dawn Breaking".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Studio albums[link]

• Hi-Lo (released May 2000).
• New Dawn Breaking (released June 2005) (reached No. 5 in Irish charts)
• Stop The Lights (released 2012)

Singles and albums[link]

• "The Night I Called It A Day" (Single, released Feb 1999)
• "Broken Boy" (Single, released Sept 1999)
• "Something's Wrong" (Single, released Apr 2000)
• Hi-Lo (Album, released May 2000). A remix of one of the album tracks, Bone Deep, was popular in Ireland. Some songs featured on TV series and feature films: Bachelors Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).

• "To the Bright and Shining Sun" (Single, released 2002) reached No. 11 in the Irish charts.
• "Drowning Pool" (single, released 2004)
• New Dawn Breaking (Album, released June 2005) reached No. 5 in Irish charts and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", "Passing Through", "Drowning Pool" and "Black and Blue".

• "Carrying the Fire" / "Phantom Power" (double-A sided single, released Jun 2010)
• "Bird In A Cage EP" (4 Track EP, released Mar 2011)

Cover versions[link]

• Cover version of Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1
• Cover version of Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2
• Cover version of U2's "With or without you" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 3

Career highlights[link]

• Supported U2 at Slane Castle, 2001
• Supported Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2002
• Supported Bob Dylan, Galway, 2005
• Supported Crowded House, Australia, 2007

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official band website, contains free MP3s; gig info, photos, Walls shop, press releases etc.
• The Walls at MySpace, contains some sample MP3s.