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In 1156, Prince Yuri Dolgorukii erected wooden walls surrounded by a moat around what was then Moscow and was to become the Kremlin or 'fortified place' for the spiritual and temporal leaders of a larger Moscow. In 1339 – 40, Ivan Kalita built oak ramparts, which later that century were replaced by Dmitry Donskoi with white limestone walls. In the late 15th century, the current red-brick walls designed by Italian architects took their place.

The territory of the Kremlin forms an irregular triangle. The walls ate more than 2 km long, 5–19 meters high and 3.5–6.5 meters thick. The seven towers on each side of the triangle are all different and all but two are named. The best known of the twenty-one towers is the Saviour's Tower(Spasskaya), the parade entrance to the Kremlin, with the traffic light at its side always red unless a fleet of cars escorting some high official is entering or leaving. It is 71 meters high, facing the Red Square, and was built by Solario in 1491. It rises in ten tiers and in the third is the mechanism of the great dock, installed in 1625 and restored in 1918 – 19. The diameter of the clock's dial is 6.12 meters and it strikes the famous Kremlin chimes which are transmitted by Moscow Radio. The Tower of Secrets(Tainitskaya Bashnya) is the oldest.

Formerly the tsarist emblem, a two-headed eagle, surmounted five of the towers – the Saviour's, Nicholas, Trinity, Borovitsky and Water-raising Towers. In 1937 the eagles were replaced by red, five-pointed stars each weighing over a ton, mounted on a ballbearing mechanisms so that they move in the wind. At night they are illuminated.

From the mid-fifties the Kremlin has been open to the public.

The Kremlin was the centre of Russia's church as well as its state, and if there seem lots of churches and cathedrals there today, many were destroyed in the 20's and 30V The most beautiful architectural ensemble is to be found in the three magnificent cathedrals around Cathedral Square:the Cathedral of the Archangel(the burial place of all the Princes of Muscovy and Tsars, before Peter the Great moved the capital to St Petersburg); the five-domed Assumption Cathedral(the main church of the Tsars, their coronation church and the burial place of Russia's religious leaders); and the nine-domed Annunciation Cathedral(which includes the Tsars' private chapel, in which they were married and which is decorated with icons by Andrei Rublev and Theophanus the Greek). These three cathedrals were built between 1475 and 1509.

The nearby Faceted Palace(Granitovaya Palata) was built in 1487 – 91. Its Throne Room was used on major ceremonial occasions, including the accreditation of ambassadors. Adjoining it is the Terem Palace, with its low vaulted ceilings, which was the private apartment of the Russian Tsars.

On the other side of Cathedral Square is the 80 meter high Bell Towerof Ivan the Great built to celebrate the victory over Kazan and as a watch lower. It is visible for 30 kilometers with the cracked TsarBell and the massive Tsar Cannon at its foot. The Bell Tower is made up of three-tier octagonal sections, decreasing in size, with twenty-one bells suspended in the bays of each section. Each bell is richly ornamented-and inscribed. The largest, the Bell of the Assumption, weighs 64 Ions. But the Tsar Bell, cast on site in 1733 – 35, weighs 200 tons. It was cracked by the great fire of the Kremlin in 1737 before it was raised into place and an 11-ton piece broke off. In 1837 it was placed in its present position. The Tsar Cannon, was cast in 1586, weighing 40 tons and has a bore of almost one metre. The cannon balls at its tool are purely ornamental as it was constructed to fire grapeshot but has never been fired.

In the western corner of the Kremlin, near the Borovitsky Gate is the Armoury(Oruzhcinaya Palata), built as a museum in 1851. It houses a great eclectic collection, including the most precious regalia of the Tsars, ancient weapons and armour, robes of the Tsars, Tsarinas and the higher clergy, porcelain, gold and silver utensils, jewellery, carriages, etc, etc. Though the highlight for many visitors is the collection or Easter Eggs created by Faberge for the Tsarist family.

The Grand KremlinPalace was built as the tsars residence in 183S – 1849, with a facade 125 metres wide, facing the river. It became the seat of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, b is now connected by covered bridge with. the Palace of Congresses completed for the 22nd CPSU Congress in 1961, with its grand hall seating 6,000 and used in the 70s and 80's on most evenings second stage for the Bolshoi Theatre due to its excellent acoustics and the perfect view for the entire audience. Opposite it is the former Arsenal built by order of Peter the Great. It is ornamented with a carved white stone frieze and along its high, thick walls are guns captured from Napoleon's army in 1812. Along from the Arsenal is the former Senate, built in 1776 – 88. The entrance to the Kremlin nearest the Palace of Congresses is the 80-metres high Troitsky(Trinity) Tower. Exiting from it we can walk back through the Alexander Gardens past the memorial to the Unknown Soldier to Revolution Square.

2. Answer the questions:

1. What does the word “Kremlin” mean?

2. When was the first Moscow Kremlin erected?

3. What was the first Kremlin built of?

4. When were the current red-brick walls designed?

5. What colour were the walls of the first stone Kremlin built by Dmitry Donskoy?

6. What is the length of the walls how high/thick are the walls?

7. How many lowers does the Kremlin wall count?

8. What is the most famous tower? When was it built? How high is it? Are all the Kremlin Towers named?

9. When was the famous clock installed? What’s it like?

10. When were the 5-pointed stars fixed on the Towers? What symbol did they replace?

11. Since what time has the Kremlin been open to public?

12. What are the three magnificent cathedrals that make a unique architectural ensemble around Cathedral Square? When were they built? Which was the main church for the Russian Tsars? Which is decorated with Andrei Rublev’s icons?

13. What was the Throne Room of the Faceted Palace used for?

14. What’s the height of the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great? What was it built for? How many bells are there on the tower? What is the largest bell? Where is the Tsar Bell situated? Why?

15. When was the Tsar Cannon cast? How massive is it?

16. Where is the Armory situated? When was it built? Was it built as a museum or as an arsenal? What kind of collections does it house?

17. Describe: the Grand Kremlin Palace? The Palace of Congresses.

18. What was built by order of Peter the Great? How was the Arsenal ornamented and decorated?

Speak on: 1. The history of the Kremlin. 2. The Kremlin Towers. 3. The Armoury. 4. The Cathedral Square.

Other Kremlins

Kremlins of different age. size, beauty and historical fate have been preserved in several towns of the Moscow region. Some of them have been transformed into museums, some have been forgotten and are turning into ruins. According to an encyclopedia, Kremlin is a central part of an ancient Russian town that includes a complex of defense constructions, churches and palaces and is surrounded by a fortified wall with turrets. Most kremlins stood picturesquely on a high river or take bank.

Zaraysk, a unique battle kremlin. Its first restoration was conducted in 1650 – 1651, the latest one in the 1970s. Nevertheless, it is the only 16th century kremlin in the Moscow region that was completely preserved. Expositions of art, sculpture, graphics and folk applied art are currently displayed there. You can see works of Russian artists of the 18th–20th centuries, including the famous Repin and Bakst. A site where Stone Age humans lived is located near the kremlin.

Kolomna. Situated on the high bank of the Moskva River, this kremlin was one of the biggest and most technically superb in its time as it used to be an outpost of Moscow. With the total square of 24 hectares it can be compared only to the Moscow Kremlin (28 hectares). Although Kolomna kremlin is 30 years younger than its famous brother, it's much more advanced in terms of defense purposes, i.e. artillery fortifications.

Dmitrov. The local kremlin is situated in the very center of the town. The ancient building is surrounded with earth mounds almost one kilometer long and up to 23 meters high. The remainders of a fortification ditch have been also preserved. Dmitrov, situated on the Yahroma River, was a town of high strategic importance as it stood in the crossroads of big trade routes. The kremlin museum was founded in 1918 and currently presents exhibits related to religious and military history.

9. Read and translate the text.

10. Find the kremlins described in the text on the Moscow map.

11. Speak on: – the origin of the word “kremlin”, – the role of the kremlins in the history of Russia, – the architecture of the kremlins.