Moscow Travel Guide

Tour One: The Kremlin

An ancient seat of Russian power, an awe-inspiring symbol, and an internationally-renowned landmark, the Kremlin is the spiritual heart of the Russian polity: a giant, walled complex combining sacred monuments of both church and state. Russian rulers have sat here since medieval times, excluding the temporary interruption when St Petersburg was made capital. There is a story that when one film crew was at work shooting a period film in the Kremlin grounds, Yeltsin himself came out of his office in order tо instruct them tо keep the noise down. The grounds themselves are thick with history, home to a scattering of churches and cathedrals that would suffice elsewhere for a whole city.

Entry can be gained via the Kutafia Tower (Kutaf'ia Bashnia) which lies at the end of a ramp jutting from the Kremlin's west wall. Security is understandably high at this point. Walk up the ramp and you'll get tо the Trinity Gate (Troitskaia Bashnia), built in 1495 and placed right on top of a 16th century prison. То the right, beyond the Trinity Tower is the Poteshnyi Palace (Poteshnyi Dvorets) in which Stalin had private apartments and where his wife shot herself. Next, on the right is the Kremlin Palace of Congresses (State Kremlin Palace), a former venue for Communist Party bashes and now a huge 6000-seater concert hall which is, and always was, completely out of tune with its surroundings.

On the left side lies territory strictly out of bounds tо tourists. From west tо east the buildings are the Arsenal, the Senate and the building of the Supreme Soviet (Verkhovnyi Sovet). The first of these is fronted by an array of Napoleonic cannons while the second is very notable for being the official residence of the Russian president himself.

On the right you'll see the Patriarch's Palace (Patriarshii Dvorets), a 17th century building constructed for the head of the Orthodox church.

You can walk through the arches of the Palace, at which point you will find yourself entering the Kremlin's core. From here you can either swing to the left for a quick peak of the Tsar Cannon (Tsar-pushka), an impressive but unworkable 40-ton piece of heavy armoury, or you could proceed onto the main square itself and investigate what's going on there. Surrounding the square, there are various churches and cathedrals.

Tour Two: The Rest Of Red Square

The Cathedral of the Assumption (Uspenskii Sobor) lies just beyond the Patriarch's Palace at the north end of the square and is justifiably considered one of its key monuments. A golden-topped, five-domed structure built in the 15th century, it was returned to Orthodox Church ownership in 1989.

Next to this (on the right) lurks the snappily-named Church of the Deposition of the Robe, a late 15th century effort built in wholly Russian style. Inside, you'll find, among other things, a permanent display of wood-carvings. To the south of that lies the Hall of Facets, where Tsars would entertain guests in the Throne Room. This is closed to the public.

On the other side of the square the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower (Kolokolnia Ivana Velikogo). It stands higher than any other of the Kremlin's buildings, while behind it, noticeably at ground-level, sits the rather forlorn Tsar Bell (Tsar-kolokol) which never made it to the bell-tower after it lost a chunk during the forging process.

The south side of the square is bordered by two cathedrals, the first of these being the Archangel Cathedral, initially erected in the 14th century as a place of burial for the tsars but then extensively re-shaped at the beginning of the 16th. The second is the Annunciation Cathedral (Blagoveshchenskii Sobor) which was formerly a private church for the Tsars.

From here you can head west, past the Great Kremlin Palace (Bol'shoi Kremlevskii Dvorets), which is normally closed to everyone except visiting statesmen. Keep going toward the Armoury, an impressively rich ensemble of state treasures dating well back into the dim and distant history of the Muscovite regimes.

From here you can exit via the nearby Borovitskii Gate.2008-08-02T07:29:22.000 245