Russian Travel

Xiong Zongrong

The Kremlin is located on a hill on the north bank of the Moscow River. It is at the core of the four ringed cities of Moscow and is the heart of the city of Moscow.

The Kremlin was originally the official residence of the Grand Duke of Moscow and the palace of the Russian Tsar. It is the crystallization of Russian architectural art. Its construction took many centuries. It is a complex of charming palaces, ornate churches, multi-story towers and treasuries housing countless treasures.

The central part of ancient Russian cities surrounded by city walls and towers was called the "Kremlin", which means the inner city. "Kremlin" is generally built on high hills along the river. The ancestors of the Russians, the Slavic Vyadic people, laid the foundation for the Kremlin in a coniferous forest on the Polowitz Mountains on the north bank of the Moscow River.

In the first half of the 14th century, when Grand Duke Ivan Kalita was in power, Moscow became the center of the unification of the Russian state. Grand Prince Ivan Kalita moved the Russian Metropolitan's residence to Moscow and built some of the first stone churches in the Kremlin. In order to resist the invasion of nomads, Ivan Kalita spent two years building an oak wall for the Kremlin. At that time, the Kremlin's area was less than one-tenth of its current size.

In 1367, Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy expanded the scope of the Kremlin and ordered the oak walls to be replaced with strong and beautiful white stone walls, and tall towers were built on the walls. Since then, Moscow has been known as the "City of White Stone".

After a hundred years of vicissitudes, the White Stone City Wall was gradually destroyed. In 1485, the Kremlin began construction of new, stronger walls. The city wall was built with large, heavy red bricks, each weighing 8.5 kilograms. Because the city wall is entirely made of red bricks, it is called the "Red Wall". The city wall winds and rises according to the height of the terrain, with a maximum height of 19 meters and a thickness of 4 to 6 meters. There is a 2-4 meter wide passage on the city wall for soldiers to patrol. There are 1,045 arrow stacks 2.5 meters high and 0.8 meters thick on both sides of the passage. There are gun holes on the arrow stacks, and there are holes for heavy artillery on the city walls. The total length of the city wall is 2235 meters, with towers on top one after another, each with its own special purpose. The red wall was designed by Italian engineers and architects and built by Russian craftsmen.

Since then, the walls and towers of the Kremlin have survived many centuries and remain mostly intact, except for repairs and alterations in some places. The Kremlin we see now covers an area of ??25.5 hectares, which is much smaller than the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The architectural plan of the Kremlin is an isosceles triangle. The acute angle of the triangle faces north, and the base is close to the bank of the Moskva River in the south. There are 7 towers on each side of the triangle. The shapes of these towers vary, some are tall, some are short, some are round, some are oval, some are square, and some are hexagonal. Most of these towers were built within the city walls, some were built on top of the city walls, and one was built outside the city walls. On the top of the pointed tower, an agate stone five-pointed star is installed. The five-pointed star is mounted on a bearing and can rotate with the wind. It sparkles every night.

The most representative one is the tower on the east side of the Red Wall, next to Red Square. The tower is built within the Red Wall and corresponds to the tall tower of St. Basil's Cathedral at the southern end of Red Square. The main part of the tower is square, which shrinks into a circle at the top. There are small white spiers built at each corner of the upper part of the tower. The round green spire in the middle stands tall and majestic. There is a huge ancient clock on the upper part of the tower, which tells people the time on time. This tower, together with the Red Wall and the Kremlin, has become a symbol of Moscow and a symbol of Moscow. Every tourist who comes to Moscow takes photos with this clock tower as the background.

"The eight-character yamen opens to the south", this is the fixed pattern of ancient Chinese imperial palaces and government offices, and even the White House in the United States is no exception. But the Kremlin is just the opposite. Its palace door opens to the northwest of the red wall!

To enter the Kremlin, you must first pass through the Alexander Garden. Alexander Garden was opened along the western wall of the Kremlin between 1820 and 1823.

Alexander Garden is a royal garden. It is not large in area, but it has luxuriant flowers and trees, and many tourists. There is a flat tomb under the tall red wall. Several bouquets of flowers are placed in front of the tomb, and armed guards stand on both sides. The tomb burns with an everlasting fire. This is the "Monument to the Unknown Soldier" established in 1967. The remains of unknown soldiers who were moved here from the martyrs' tomb in Klyukovo village are buried in the monument. In the village of Klyukovo, the defenders of Moscow fought bloody battles and defended Moscow with their lives. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier burns an eternal flame to commemorate the 20 million martyrs who died in the Great Patriotic War against fascism.

We queued up to enter from a white tower called Kutafiya that juts out from the red wall, passed a bridge about 50 meters long to the red wall, and then entered from a tall spire of the Three Saints The archway under the tower leads into the Kremlin. This is the broad Kremlin Square, paved with blue ashlar and lined with green trees. The white building on the right is the piano room, and the yellow two-story building on the left is the armory. In the past, this was a warehouse where the Russian army stored weapons, ammunition and trophies. In the outer corridor of the armory are eight ancient cannons, which were trophies captured from Napoleon's invading army in the Russo-French War of 1812.

Going further, there are two huge displays on the right side of the Palace Square. One is the Bell King, which was supervised by Queen Anna in 1735. The Bell King is 6 meters high, 5.8 meters in diameter and weighs 200 tons. There is a long and wide crack on the Bell King, which is the trace left by a fire. The other piece is the King of Cannons, made in 1586, weighing 40 tons and having a caliber of 0.62 meters. The king of artillery is placed on a two-wheeled ancient chariot, with three cannonballs stacked in front. It is said that the cannon king was cast to defend the Kremlin, but it was never used.

In the center of the square on the left side, there is a large building, which is the famous Kremlin Palace. Construction of the Kremlin Palace began in 1838 and took 11 years to complete. The front of the palace faces the Moskva River, and it successfully connects the various Kremlin buildings of different shapes and ages into a whole. The architect decorated the windows of the palace with various white stone pediments and arched window frames, with the sagging part in the center of the window frame like an inverted weight. The roof of the palace is decorated with sculptural patterns around it, and there is a square attic in the center. The top is the dome, and the 70-year-old flag of the former Soviet Union is flying on the flagpole above the dome. It is now replaced by the tricolor flag of Russia.

The front of the hall is 125 meters wide and 44 meters high. There are 700 rooms in the palace and a 20,000-square-meter ceremony hall. The main hall has three floors from the front, but it is actually only two floors because the ceremony hall has double-layer windows. This was the place where the tsar lived, handled government affairs, received guests, held ceremonies, and held meetings in the past. After the October Revolution, this was the office building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it became the presidential palace of Russia, and President Putin worked in this building. But when he got in and out of the car, he did not go through the front door, but through the special "back door."

The main and oldest square in the Kremlin is Church Square, which is a witness to national historical events. In the past, the Tsar usually received foreign envoys here. Every time the Tsar is crowned or on a religious festival, a grand celebration parade is always held here.

Surrounding the church square are some Russian architectural monuments such as the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the Assumption Cathedral, the Annunciation Cathedral, the Archangel Cathedral and the Polygonal Palace. A common feature of these buildings is that the main building is generally white, with many large and small towers of different heights on the upper part. The upper part of the tower is usually a garlic-style gilded spire, with a metal cross on the top.

The Ivan the Great Bell Tower is the musical center of the Kremlin complex. In ancient times, it was used for guarding and alarming. Now, there are 21 large bells in the bell tower, the largest one weighing 70 tons. The Annunciation Cathedral was the home church of the Grand Dukes and Tsars of Moscow. Here, the Grand Dukes and later Tsars attended some daily religious activities, and weddings and baptisms of royal members were also held here. The Annunciation Cathedral was the favorite church of Ivan the Terrible. During his reign, the roof of the church and the garlic caps of the nine small towers on the roof were all plated with gold.

Looking from a distance, the lower part of the entire church is white and the upper part is golden.

The Archangel Cathedral is the mausoleum of all tsars. The remains of 46 czars before Peter the Great are buried here. Walking into the church, there are rows of large coffins plated with gold and silver. Although these tsars were luxurious during their lifetimes, they were buried together in a centralized manner after their death, which was simple and conserved land. Unlike the Chinese emperors, who were extravagant and lustful when they were alive, and their mausoleums occupied such a large area after their death.

The Assumption Cathedral is the most important church in Moscow. Russian metropolitans and archbishops are buried here. The inner walls of the church are decorated with icon murals, which are still well preserved. The colorful murals and silver-gold icon walls make the church very gorgeous and magnificent.

Russians believe in Orthodox Christianity and go to church to pray at ten o'clock every Friday morning. Therefore, there are many churches in Russia. According to tour guide Gemma, there are 1,600 churches in Moscow alone. These churches are not only sacred places to purify people's souls, but most of them have novel structures, unique buildings, and gorgeous decorations. They integrate architectural art, sculpture art, decorative art, and painting art, reflecting the high sublimation of human artistic beauty. They are indeed worthy of being called the Russian A unique wonder and beautiful scenery of the city!