"Moscow is the heart of Russia, the Kremlin is the heart of Moscow" is the saying. Well, indeed, Moscow began with the Kremlin, Russia - with Moscow, more precisely, with the unification of lands around the small Moscow appanage, which, dying, gave to his two-year-old son Daniel, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich in 1263.
Fortress on Borovitsky Hill
Even the Vyatichi set up a village (detinets) for themselves on a high hill, surrounded on three sides by rivers, and subsequently surrounded it with earthen ramparts and additionally dug ravines. This was the first primitive defensive structure. Under Ivan Danilovich Kalita, the Kremlin was built from immense oak logs. Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy built the Kremlin from white stone, from quarries that were relatively close to Moscow. And only Ivan III, who threw off the Tatar yoke, built the Kremlin that we now know.
Construction of the Kremlin
The second wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow was a Byzantine princess who grew up in Italy. She knew what great masters the Italian builders and architects were, and therefore, in order to strengthen the power of Moscow, in order to show everyone its greatness, the construction of the new Kremlin began by the Italians, whom the people called"friezes". By 1515, both the brick walls and twenty towers of the Kremlin had grown, among which was the Troitskaya tower.
Towers
Almost every tower is unique and has its own name. You can find interesting facts about almost everyone. The Konstantin-Eleninskaya Tower is located at the place where Prince Dmitry Ivanovich left for the Kulikovo field. The Tsar's Tower is not even a tower, but rather an elegant tower. From it, as legends say, Ivan IV watched what was happening on Red Square. The gates of the Spasskaya Tower were considered holy, since the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands hung over them. It was impossible to ride a horse through them, it was necessary to dismount and be sure to take off your hat from your head. There is a legend about Napoleon. When he entered captured Moscow through the Spassky Gates, the wind blew, and a cocked hat flew off his head. There is, finally, the Troitskaya tower, which will be discussed in a separate story. Kutafya tower adjoins it.
They are connected by a bridge, renovated in 1901. The Commandant's and Armory towers have remained almost unchanged in their medieval form. They both have a hipped top and are decorated with a weather vane. But let's move on to the heroine of the story - this is the Trinity Tower.
Tall Beauty
Many generations of people have been pleased for almost half a thousand years by the eighty-meter (with a star), the highest tower of the Kremlin - Troitskaya, built in 1495 by the Milanese architect Aloysius, whom Muscovites called Aleviz Novy or Aleviz Fryazin. In fact, its height is uneven. From the side of the Kremlin its heightwithout a star - a little more than 65 m, and with a star - almost 70 m, and if you look from the Alexander Garden, the height of the Trinity Tower is a little more than 76 m.
The tower is six-story, it has cellars that once served as a prison. It is located in the northwestern wall, under which the Neglinka River once flowed, serving as an additional defensive fortification. Now it is taken into pipes and covered with earth. The Alexander Garden is located on it, but the river still flows into the Moscow River near the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge. They say that there is such warm water that unpretentious aquarium fish guppies are found in it all year round.
The Trinity Tower is connected by a bridge, which was located over the river, with the Kutafya Tower. The gates of the Trinity Tower are the second most important after the Spassky. Once there was a road through them to the palaces of the patriarch, queens and princesses. Now it is the main gate for the entrance of visitors to the Kremlin. Opposite - the metro station "Aleksandrovsky Sad" and Manege. And inside the Kremlin, the sightseer immediately sees the Kremlin Palace, built in 1961. The tower has changed its name five times. And only since 1658 this tower - Trinity. Above its gate was an icon. But after the 17th year it was lost. Now there is a clock in this place. But from the side of the Kremlin, an empty place of the icon case has been preserved.
At the top of the tower
The State Emblem of Russia, a gilded copper double-headed eagle, crowned the tower until 1935. These eagles were changed about once every hundred years. But on the Trinity Tower it was the oldest, no replacement has been made since 1870. Its dismantlingproduced right at the top of the tower. The eagle was replaced by a gilded semiprecious star. But in 1937, the tarnished Kremlin stars were exchanged for ruby glass stars. The star on the Trinity Tower is a complex technical structure that weighs about a ton.
Inside frame made of polyhedral pyramids and milky glass inner glazing that makes the light soft. Outside - ruby gold glass six millimeters thick. On the Trinity Tower, the star has eight faces. It is mounted on bearings and gently rotates when the wind moves. Inside there are lamps arranged in such a way that when one of the filaments burns out, the star continues to shine. In addition to lamps, there are fans to cool the glass from overheating. The star is illuminated around the clock. In any weather and at any time of the year, it is clearly visible for 10 km. During the war, almost all the stars were damaged and completely restored by 1946. Each star on the tower is cleaned with special compounds once every five years. The cleaning process itself takes about a week. The star is being cleansed both outside and inside.
The second solemnity of the Trinity Tower, through which tourists pass to the Kremlin, is still as elegant and attractive as in the first years of construction.
