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For
many centuries the Kremlin has been the vibrant heart of Moscow, the
holy of holies in the Russian State.
Its architectural ensemble
within the redbrick walls compromising cathedrals and palaces
is the result of efforts of many generations. It is a unique
cultural monument, a treasure house of invaluable works of fine and
applied decorative arts represented in the Armoury
museum and Diamond Fund.
The
Kremlin is the very beginning of Moscow.
Originally it was a fortress, a regular city with wooden
houses, churches, monasteries, and royal and princely palaces
protected by the high wooden walls with formidable towers built in
the 12th century by the order of Prince Yury Dolgoruky, the founder
of Moscow. Over the centuries the wooden wall of the Kremlin were
replaced with the white stone and then red bricks.
In
the 14th century the Kremlin became the seat of the Grand Prince of
Moscow and ever since it was perceived as a separate, principle part
of the city. Later on it was the residence of the Russian Tsars and
Emperors and after the Revolution of 1917, the Socialist Government
moved into the Kremlin.
Now it is the official residence of the
President of the Russian Federation and a unique museum complex.
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The view of the Kremlin as seen from the Moskva River: one of 20 redbrick towers of the Kremlin, the elegant yellow-green
building of the Grand Kremlin Palace and the shiny domes of the
Cathedrals with the dominating Bell Tower of Ivan the Great.
The ancient
"contemporaries": rebrick Kremlin Wall and the
Cathedrals built at the end of the 15th, beginning of the 16th
centuries
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