The Kremlin: A Representation of Russias Turbulent History
By: Sophie Pizem



Russia has always been a country that has left travelers in a feeling of awe because of its golden churches, bejeweled icons and towering kremlins, madcap czars, wild Cossacks and prolific poets (pg. 13). By the 1600s, it was already the largest country in the world. Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great conquered a territory rich in natural resources that was larger than the Roman Empire. The capital city of Moscow is the center of politics, industry and culture, and the source of the Russian spirit, or dusha (pg.14). It is a truly enchanting city because of the gilded domes of the palaces and churches of the former czars, sights of the Bloshoi Theater, St. Basils Cathedral, and many other historical sights which have shaped Moscow. Perhaps the most outstanding monuments of Russian history is the Kremlin.
The Moscow Kremlin winds around a steep slope high above the Moskva River. It encircles an area of 70 acres next to Red Square. The Russian word Kreml once was used to depict a fortified stronghold that protected a small town. Russian towns were usually built on a high embankment , surrounded by a river and moat as a form of protection against invasions. The word kreml originates from the Greek word kremnos which means steep escarpment. The medieval kremlin acted as a fortress around a town filled with palaces, churches, monasteries, wooden peasant houses and markets. The Moscow Kremlin was built between the Moskva River and Neglinnaya River. It is about half mile long, 62 feet high, and 21 feet thick. There are twenty towers and gates with ten churches and palaces inside the walls.
The Kremlin is the oldest historical and architectural feature of Moscow. IN The first written account in a chronicle of 1147 describes Prince Yuri Dogoruky of Suzdal receiving Prince Svayatoslav on Borovitsky Hill. Dolgoruky ordered a fort to be built on the same hill as his place of residence nine years later. In 1238, the invading Mongols burned the fortress to the ground. By 1236, The Kremlin was surrounded by thick walls and Grand-Prince Ivan I had built two stone churches in addition to the existing wooden ones. During this time, the Orthodox Church moved from Vladimir to Moscow. Prince Dmitri Donskoi replaced the wooden walls with limestone in 1367 in order to fortify them against cannon attacks. Moscow was not referred to as the Beli Gorod, the White Town. In 1382, the Mongols invaded again and brutally killed half the population. Within 15 years, the Kremlin walls were rebuilt. Thephanes and Andrei Rublev painted the interior frescoes of the new Cathedral of the Annunciation.
Ivan III and his son, Vasily III, were responsible for shaping the Kremlin into its present appearance. Once the leaders realized that the Mongols did not pose a threat to the city, they directed their energy towards the aesthetic designs. Ivan the Great appointed eminent Russian and Italian architects to produce a splendid city to reflect the beauty of the Third Rome and the power of the Grand Prince. The white stone of the Kremilin was replaced by red-brick walls and towers, and the Assumption and Annunciation cathedrals were rebuilt on a royal scale.The architects used fanciful elements and asymmetrical designs with colorful onion domes and tall pyramidal tent roofs (pg. 80). These ornamental decorations were later barred under Patriarch Nikon because he deemed them to be sacrilegious. By 1660, Patriarch Nikon was forced to resign because of the dividing feelings within the Church. Immediately, the old decorative details were utilized in the architecture.
Catherine the Great had plans to redesign the Kremlin in the new neo-classical style, but they were never fulfilled. During the War of 1812, Napoleon and his troops were inside the Kremlin walls for 35 days. As he was retreating, he tried to blow it up. The townspeople extinguished the fumes, but three towers were still destroyed. In the mid 1880s, the Kremlin Palace and Armory were built. The Soviet government moved the capital back to Moscow from St. Petersburg in 1918, making the Kremlin its permanent seat. Lenin signed a decree that protected the works of art and historical monuments. He also ordered a restoration of the buildings and turned them into museums.
The Kremlin is a fantastic complex of towers, turrets, minarets, gates, placaes, great halls, government offices, churches with bulbous domes, museums radiant with glittering jewels and ornaments that were once the pride of monarchs and nobles (pg. 1-book 3). These walls, towers, and buildings make up the Kremilns outer shell. It is the history of events filled with czars and Communist leaders that have made the Kremlin the center of a rich and tumultuous country. Invasions from Both West and East, by papal forces and by Tartars, the bitter campaigns of Napoleon and Hitler, palace and peasant uprisings and the bloody reprisals that followed them, the tragic Revolution of 1905 and the Bolshevick Revolution of 1917 are all part of the story (pg. 67). It is a place filled with beautiful pieces of art and architecture, enriched by its historical accounts. The combination of these three elements makes the Kremlin a center- piece of Moscow and a symbol of Russian power to the rest of the world.
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