The Kremlin. A Little History

A small settlement in the twelfth century, the residence of the ruler of a feudal principality and, finally, the capital of the united Russian state at the end of the fifteenth century, Moscow grew and developed around the Kremlin. With time it became a symbol of the whole country. Today the Kremlin is the main political centre and artistic ensemble in the capital, the seat of the supreme bodies of state power.

Situated on the high left bank of the River Moskva the Kremlin was from the very outset a fortress defending Muscovites from numerous incursions. The first chronicle reference to Moscow is under the year 1147 when Prince George the Long-Armed (Yuri Dolgoruky) of Suzdal received Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich of Novgorod-Seversky here. At the time the concept of the ‘kremlin’ did not exist, however. It appeared during the fourteenth century. Until then the citadel was called a grad, i.e. town, townlet or citadel.

So, in 1147 two Russian princes met on the bank of the River

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Moskva. The result of this meeting, historians believe, was a mili­tary alliance and the building on Prince George's orders of a number of fortresses, including that of Moscow in 1156. This was not a town, but merely a 'detinets', a log stockade.

George the Long-Armed's fortress was more impressive than the citadel erected before this. Its oval-shaped earthen ramparts sur­rounded by a moat covered an area of three or four hectares. The rampart, on which stood a palisade with towers, had a frame made of oak logs. By the fortress walls a settlement of traders and artisans also protected by a rampart appeared in the twelfth century. In 1282 the Moscow border fortress became the capital of the Moscow Princi­pality.

By this time Moscow had recovered from the terrible devastation to which it was subjected by Khan Batu's Tartar-Mongol hordes at the end of 1237. It must be said that Moscow suffered, attacks not only from these nomadic tribes, but also from other Russian princes – Gleb of Ryazan and Michael of Tver.

The princely strife, foreign invasions and countless fires might well have wiped the town from the face of the earth. But Moscow survived them all to become the centre which united the Russian people in their struggle for independence.

The enhanced power of Moscow and the upsurge of popular forces were heralded by the erection of white-stone Kremlin walls in 1367-8. The first stone Kremlin had six carriage-way towers and three circu­lar corner ones. The new Kremlin walls were erected some distance away from the log walls built by Prince Ivan the Moneybag (Ivan Kalita) in 1339-40. But its east wall was extended considerably to take in part of the trader and artisan settlement. Thus, the form and territory of the Kremlin of I367-8 were very close to those of the present day.

A turning point in the history of the Moscow Principality was the Battle of Kulikovo Field (1380). This victory heralded the li­beration of Russia from the Tartar-Mongol yoke, which lasted more than two centuries, from I243 to 1480. It enhanced the role of Moscow and actively assisted the unification of the Russian lands under Moscow.

The end of the fifteenth century was a great time for Moscow and Russia as a whole. The Tartar-Mongol yoke was cast off at last, and Moscow became the capital of a centralized Russian state ruled

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by Grand Prince Ivan III, a talented statesman and diplomat.

It was during this period that the splendid ensemble of the Kremlin took shape. The new political importance of Moscow as the capital of the united Russian state and the development of bodies of state administration demanded that Ivan Ill's residence should be particularly majestic and impressive, in keeping with Russia's enhanced international status. The delapidated white-stone Kremlin did not fit these new requirements. Over a period of thirty-five years the Kremlin walls, towers, cathedrals, bell-tower and palace were completely rebuilt.

This building of the Kremlin at the end of the fifteenth cen­tury was carried on at a time when the idea of Moscow as the |Third Rome, the heir to the political and ecclesiastical authority of Rome and Byzantium, was widespread.

Consequently Ivan III sought to give his residence a corres­ponding splendour and magnificence. The Kremlin was to become a fitting place for impressive court processions, official ceremonies, receptions and religious festivals. Invited by the Grand Prince, masters from Pskov, Novgorod the Great, Vladimir and other Russian towns flocked to the capital of the young Russian state, a fact which clearly reflected the unifying tendencies characteristic of this age.

At the same time, influenced by his wife Sofia Palaeologos (the niece of Emperor Constantine XI of Byzantium) the Tsar also invited masters from Italy which was famous for its architects and engineers. While taking part in the formation of a single Russian style, distinct from the local art schools, these masters of the Italian Renaissance introduced Italian proportions and forms into Russian architecture.

At the same time the art born in the Kremlin was enriched by the fine creations of such popular masters as Andrei Rublev, Dionysius and Prokhor from Gorodets.

Over the centuries like a magnet Moscow attracted outstanding masters. Theophanes the Greek, Aristotele Pioravantl, Alevisio Nbvi (the New), Marco Ruffо and Pietro Antonio Solario, all found a se­cond homeland here.

Historians of architecture consider that in Moscow, or rather in the Kremlin, these masters produced their finest works. This ar­chitectural ensemble is such a perfect artistic whole, that one

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forgets it^: is the fruit of many generations. The austereness of the monuments of Old Russian architecture is complemented by the exube­rance of the seventeenth-century Russian ornamental style and the severe perfection of classical forms.

The Kremlin made an unforgettable impression on many of the foreigners who visited Moscow. It was unlike the West European feudal castles which served not so much as a means of defence against external enemies, as a form of protection against rebellious towns­folk and were a kind of symbol of the feudal lord's power over the town. The architecture of the castle, to which the townsfolk were not admitted, competed with the town centre grouped round the ca­thedral and town hall.

The Moscow Kremlin, however, was closely linked with the settle­ment of traders and artisans which adjoined, it, and whenever there was a threat of invasion the traders and artisans sought refuge behind the mighty Kremlin walls. Many foreigners who visited Moscow in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries called the Kremlin a large and beautiful castle. And only the perceptive German diplomat Sigmund von Herberstein wrote that it looked like a small town.

"In the town is a castle," he wrote. "Prom its size it could be called a townlet, Sir many walled apartments of the Grand Duke's lie within. The Metropolitan and his priests, the brothers of the Grand Duke, many "of the councillors and the Prince's artisans have their houses here."

But the Kremlin is not just Russia's finest artistic monument. It is also an historical monument. Each building here, each nook and cranny, is redolent of history. The Moscow Kremlin with its ancient towers, cathedrals and palaces is associated with some of the most dramatic and stirring pages of Russian history: fierce battles against invaders, popular uprisings and joyous banquets to celebrate military victories.

Nowhere else can one sense so clearly the country's past and present as in the Kremlin.