Commandant (Deaf, Kolymazhnaya) tower of the Moscow Kremlin
1493-1495. Moscow, Russia
The Commandant's (Deaf, Kolymazhnaya) tower of the Moscow Kremlin was built in 1493-1495 under the Grand Duke, Emperor Ivan III. It stands south of the Trinity Tower on the northwestern side of the Kremlin wall, stretching along the present Alexander Garden. The tower was erected by Russian craftsmen under the leadership of Aleviz Fryazin.
In the 17th century this tower was called Deaf, and sometimes Kolymazhnaya, after the Kolymazhny yard located next to it, where the royal carriages were kept and the stables were located. The building received its modern name at the beginning of the 19th century. after being transferred to the Amusement Palace of the Administration and the apartment of the Kremlin commandant, located next to her.
In 1676-1686, the tower, like all the others, was built with a hipped top for decoration. Initially, all the Kremlin towers were without these superstructures and ended with a belt of overhanging archers, which gave the Kremlin fortifications a gloomy and menacing appearance. But inside the Kremlin, high towers and gilded domes of cathedrals created a picturesque picture in combination with Italian fortifications.
Later and gradually, due to the Russian weather conditions, wooden canopies appeared over the walls, and wooden tents above the towers. The brick hipped roofs, erected at the end of the 17th century, represent national forms of architecture very close to ancient wooden traditions. For these buildings, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, masons and brickmakers were forcibly collected throughout Rus', who scattered in all directions so as not to go to Moscow. The king even had to issue a special decree that “if any of them are buried, then their wives and children should be thrown into prison until their husbands show up.”
In its architectural design, the Commandant's Tower is similar to the nearby Armory. This is a massive quadrangular tower with machicolations and parapet. Above it stands an open tetrahedron, completed by a pyramidal roof, an “observation” tower and an octagonal tent.
Now persistent rumors are circulating around Moscow that a pale, disheveled woman with a pistol wanders around the Commandant’s Tower at night. This is the famous Fani Efimovna Kaplan, who was accused by the Bolsheviks of the assassination attempt on Lenin and who was shot in the Kremlin by its then commandant Malkov.
Bibliography
To prepare this work, materials were used from the site http://artclassic.edu.ru/
The Moscow Kremlin has 20 towers and they are all different, no two are alike. Each tower has its own name and its own history. Only two towers did not get names; they are called the First Nameless and Second Nameless.
Behind them comes the Petrovskaya Tower, but the rightmost tower has two names at once. Nowadays it is called Moskvoretskaya, but once it was called Beklemishevskaya after the name of the man next to whose yard it was founded.
Somehow it turned out that enemies most often attacked from the side of the Moscow River, and the Moskvoretskaya Tower had to be the first to defend itself. That is why it is so formidable and with so many loopholes. Its height is 46.2 m.
The first tower that was founded during the construction of the Kremlin was Tainitskaya.
TAINITSKAYATOWER
It was named so because a secret underground passage led from it to the river. It was intended to be able to take water in case the fortress was besieged by enemies. The height of the Tainitskaya tower is 38.4 m.
BOROVITSKY GATE AND TOWER
They are located on the highest hill, where all of Moscow came from. This tower stands near Borovitsky Hill, on which a pine forest grew a long time ago. This is where its name comes from. The height of the tower with the star is 54.05 m.
BEKLEMISHEVSKAYA (MOSKVORETSKAYA) TOWER
Located in the south-eastern corner of the Kremlin. It was built by the Italian architect Marco Fryazin in 1487-1488. The courtyard of boyar Beklemishev adjoined the tower, for which it received its name. Beklemishev's courtyard, together with the tower, served as a prison for disgraced boyars under Vasily III.
The current name – “Moskvoretskaya” – is taken from the nearby Moskvoretsky Bridge. The tower was located at the junction of the Moscow River with a moat, so when the enemy attacked, it was the first to take the blow. The architectural design of the tower is also connected with this: the tall cylinder is placed on a beveled white stone plinth and separated from it by a semicircular ridge. The surface of the cylinder is cut through by narrow, sparsely spaced windows. The tower is completed by a machicolli with a battle platform, which was higher than the adjacent walls.
In the basement of the tower there was a hidden rumor to prevent undermining. In 1680, the tower was decorated with an octagon carrying a tall narrow tent with two rows of dormitories, which softened its severity. In 1707, expecting a possible attack by the Swedes, Peter I ordered bastions to be built at its foot and the loopholes to be expanded to install more powerful guns. During Napoleon's invasion, the tower was damaged and then repaired. In 1917, the top of the tower was damaged during shelling, but it was restored by 1920. In 1949, during the restoration, the loopholes were restored to their previous form. This is one of the few Kremlin towers that has not been radically rebuilt.
ANNUNATION TOWER
According to legend, the miraculous icon of the Annunciation was previously kept in this tower, as well as in 1731. The Church of the Annunciation was added to this tower. Most likely, the name of the tower is associated with one of these facts. In the 17th century for the passage of laundresses to the Moscow River, a gate was made near the tower, called Portomoyny. They were founded in 1831, and in Soviet times the Church of the Annunciation was also dismantled. The height of the Annunciation Tower with a weather vane is 32.45 m.
– so named because of a car that was once here. She lifted water from a well located below to the very top of the tower into a large tank. From there, water flowed through lead pipes to the royal palace in the Kremlin. This is how in the old days the Kremlin had its own water supply system. He worked for a long time, but then the car was dismantled and taken to another city - St. Petersburg. There it was used to construct fountains. The height of the Vodovzvodnaya tower with a star is 61.45 m.
...which once stood on the banks of the Neglinnaya River, now enclosed in an underground pipe, received its name from the nearby Armory Chamber. Once upon a time there were ancient weapons workshops located next to it. They also made precious dishes and jewelry. The ancient workshops gave the name not only to the tower, but also to the wonderful museum located nearby behind the Kremlin wall - the Armory Chamber. Many Kremlin treasures and simply very ancient things are collected here. For example, helmets and chain mail of ancient Russian warriors. The height of the Armory Tower is 32.65 m.
COMMANDANT'S TOWER
It got its name in the 19th century because the commandant of Moscow was located in the building nearby. The tower was built in 1493-1495 on the northwestern side of the Kremlin wall, which today stretches along the Alexander Garden. It was formerly called Kolymazhnaya after the Kolymazhny yard located near it in the Kremlin. In 1676-1686 it was built on.
In the 19th century, the tower received the name “Komendantskaya”, when the commandant of Moscow settled nearby in the Kremlin, in the Poteshny Palace of the 17th century. The height of the tower from the Alexander Garden side is 41.25 m.
It is named after the church and the Trinity Compound, which were once located nearby on the territory of the Kremlin. Trinity Tower is the tallest tower of the Kremlin. The height of the tower at present, together with the star from the side of the Alexander Garden, is 80 m.
The Trinity Bridge, protected by the Kutafya Tower, leads to the gates of the Trinity Tower. The tower gate serves as the main entrance for visitors to the Kremlin. Built in 1495-1499. Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin Milanz (Italian: Aloisio da Milano).
The tower was called differently: Rizopolozhenskaya, Znamenskaya and Karetnaya. It received its current name in 1658 after the Trinity courtyard of the Kremlin. In the 16th-17th centuries, the two-story base of the tower housed a prison. From 1585 to 1812 there was a clock on the tower.
At the end of the 17th century, the tower received a multi-tiered hipped superstructure with white stone decorations. In 1707, due to the threat of a Swedish invasion, the loopholes of the Trinity Tower were expanded to accommodate heavy cannons. Until 1935, an imperial double-headed eagle was installed at the top of the tower. By the next date of the October Revolution, it was decided to remove the eagle and install red stars on it and the other main towers of the Kremlin.
The Trinity Tower turned out to be the oldest - manufactured in 1870 and prefabricated with bolts, so when dismantling it had to be dismantled at the top of the tower. In 1937, the faded gem star was replaced with a modern ruby star.
KUTAFYA TOWER
(Connected by a bridge with Troitskaya). Its name is associated with this: in the old days, a casually dressed, clumsy woman was called a kutafya. Indeed, the Kutafya tower is not high, like the others, but squat and wide.
The tower was built in 1516 under the direction of the Milanese architect Aleviz Fryazin. Low, surrounded by a moat and the Neglinnaya River, with a single gate, which in moments of danger was tightly closed by the lifting part of the bridge, the tower was a formidable barrier for those besieging the fortress. It had plantar loopholes and machicolations. In the 16th-17th centuries, the water level in the Neglinnaya River was raised high by dams, so that water surrounded the tower on all sides. Its original height above ground level was 18 meters.
The only way to enter the tower from the city was via an inclined bridge.
There are two versions of the origin of the name “Kutafya”: from the word “kut” - shelter, corner, or from the word “kutafya”, which meant a plump, clumsy woman. The Kutafya Tower has never had a covering. In 1685, it was crowned with an openwork “crown” with white stone details.
PETROVSKAYA TOWER
Together with two unnamed ones, it was built to strengthen the southern wall, as it was most often attacked.
Like the two nameless ones, the Petrovskaya Tower at first had no name. She received her name from the Church of Metropolitan Peter at the Ugreshsky Metochion in the Kremlin. In 1771 During the construction of the Kremlin Palace, the tower, the Church of Metropolitan Peter and the Ugreshsky courtyard were dismantled. In 1783 the tower was rebuilt, but in 1812. The French destroyed it again during the occupation of Moscow. In 1818 The Petrovskaya Tower was restored again. Kremlin gardeners used it for their needs. Tower height 27.15m.
MEDIUM ARSENAL TOWER
It rises from the side of the Alexander Garden and is called so because there was a weapons depot right behind it. It was built in 1493-1495. After the construction of the Arsenal building, the tower got its name. A grotto was erected near the tower in 1812 - one of the attractions of the Alexander Garden. The height of the tower is 38.9 m.
CORNER ARSENAL TOWER
Located further away, in the corner of the Kremlin. Once upon a time she was called Sobakina, after the name of a person who lived nearby. But in the 18th century, the Arsenal building was erected next to it, and the tower was renamed. There is a well in the dungeon of the corner Arsenal Tower. It is more than 500 years old. It is filled from an ancient source and therefore it always has clean and fresh water. Previously, there was an underground passage from the Arsenal Tower to the Neglinnaya River. Tower height 60.2 m.
NIKOLSKAYA TOWER
Located at the beginning of Red Square. In ancient times, there was a monastery of St. Nicholas the Old nearby, and above the gate of the tower there was an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The gate tower, built in 1491 by the architect P. Solari, was one of the main defensive redoubts of the eastern part of the Kremlin wall.
The name of the tower comes from the Nikolsky Monastery, which was located nearby. Therefore, an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was placed above the passage gate of the strelnitsa. Like all towers with entrance gates, Nikolskaya had a drawbridge over the moat and protective grilles that were lowered during the battle.
The Nikolskaya Tower went down in history in 1612, when militia troops led by Minin and Pozharsky burst into the Kremlin through its gates, liberating Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders.
In 1812, the Nikolskaya Tower, along with many others, was blown up by Napoleon's troops retreating from Moscow. The upper part of the tower was especially damaged. In 1816, it was replaced by the architect O.I. Bove with a new needle-shaped dome in the pseudo-Gothic style. In 1917, the tower was damaged again. This time from artillery fire. In 1935, the dome of the tower was crowned with a five-pointed star. In the 20th century, the tower was restored in 1946-1950s and in 1973-1974s. Now the height of the tower is 70.5 m.
SENATE TOWER
It rises behind the Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin and is named after the Senate, whose green dome rises above the fortress wall. The Senate Tower is one of the oldest in the Kremlin. Built in 1491 in the center of the north-eastern part of the Kremlin wall, it performed only defensive functions - it protected the Kremlin from Red Square. The height of the tower is 34.3 m.
SPASSKAYA (FROLOVSKAYA) TOWER
This name comes from the 17th century, when an icon of the Savior was hung over the gates of this tower. It was erected on the spot where the main gates of the Kremlin were located in ancient times. It, like Nikolskaya, was built to protect the northeastern part of the Kremlin, which had no natural water barriers. The passage gates of the Spasskaya Tower, at that time still Frolovskaya, were considered “holy” by the people. No one rode through them on horseback or walked through them with their heads covered. The regiments setting out on a campaign passed through these gates; kings and ambassadors were met here.
In the 17th century The coat of arms of Russia, a double-headed eagle, was placed on the tower; a little later, coats of arms were placed on other high towers of the Kremlin - Nikolskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya.
In 1658 the Kremlin towers were renamed. Frolovskaya turned into Spasskaya. It was named so in honor of the icon of the Savior of Smolensk, located above the passage gate of the tower from the side of Red Square, and in honor of the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, located above the gate from the Kremlin.
In 1851-52 A clock was installed on the Spasskaya Tower, which we still see today - the Kremlin chimes.
Chimes are large clocks that have a musical mechanism. The bells play music at the Kremlin chimes. There are eleven of them. One large one, it marks the hours, and ten smaller ones, their melodious chime is heard every 15 minutes. The Kremlin chimes mechanism occupies three floors. Previously, chimes were wound manually, but now they do it using electricity. The Spasskaya Tower occupies 10 floors. Its height with the star is 71 m.
ROYAL TOWER
It is not at all like other Kremlin towers. There are 4 columns right on the wall, and on them there is a peaked roof. There are neither powerful walls nor narrow loopholes. But she doesn’t need them. Because the tower was not built for defense at all. According to legend, Tsar Ivan the Terrible loved to look at his city from this place. Later, the smallest tower of the Kremlin was built here and called it Tsarskaya. Its height is 16.7 m.
ALARM TOWER
She got her name from the large bell - the alarm that hung above her. Once upon a time there were guards on duty here all the time. From above, they vigilantly watched to see if the enemy army was approaching the city. And if danger was approaching, the watchmen had to warn everyone and ring the alarm bell. Because of him, the tower was called Nabatnaya. But now there is no bell in the tower.
One day at the end of the 18th century, at the sound of the Alarm Bell, a riot began in Moscow. And when order was restored in the city, the bell was punished for divulging bad news - they were deprived of their tongue.
In those days it was a common practice to recall at least the history of the bell in Uglich. Since then, the Alarm Bell fell silent and remained idle for a long time until it was removed to the museum. The height of the Alarm Tower is 38 m.
CONSTANTINE-ELENINSKAYA TOWER
It owes its name to the Church of Constantine and Helena that stood here in ancient times. The tower was built in 1490 and was used for the passage of the population and troops to the Kremlin. Previously, when the Kremlin was made of white stone, there was another tower in this place.
It was through her that Dmitry Donskoy and his army went to the Kulikovo field.
The new tower was built for the reason that there were no natural barriers from the Kremlin on its side. It was equipped with a drawbridge, a powerful diversion gate and passage gates, which later, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. were dismantled. The tower got its name from the Church of Constantine and Helena, which stood in the Kremlin. The height of the tower is 36.8 m.
FIRST UNNAMED TOWER
It neighbors Taynitskaya and is a remote building. In the XV - XVI centuries. it served as a gunpowder storage. In 1547, the pylon completely burned down in a fire, but in the 17th century. it was rebuilt and supplemented with a tier with an interesting name: “tent”. When the government started building a luxurious Kremlin palace, the facility was liquidated. As soon as the work that was entrusted to the architect Bazhenov was completed, it was decided to work on the structure again. As a result, the beauty of the Kremlin was complemented by another object, the exact height of which is 34.15 m.
SECOND UNNAMED TOWER
The tower was built in the 1480s as an intermediate tower on the south side of the Kremlin.
Since 1680, the tower has acquired even greater attractiveness in an architectural sense, as it was completed with a 4-sided tent and equipped with an observation post-tower. The stone structure is neatly crowned with a tent with a weather vane.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the tower had a later gate. Like many other towers of the southern wall, the Second Nameless Tower was dismantled in 1771 in preparation for the construction of the Bazhenov Grand Kremlin Palace and was rebuilt after the construction of the palace ceased.
At first it was called Kolymazhnaya because of its proximity to the Kolymazhny yard, where the royal carts and carriages were kept. The tower was also called the Second Konyushennaya (Konyushennaya was the name of its neighbor -). And in the 19th century, a commandant settled nearby, in the Amusement Palace, and the tower received a new name - the Commandant's.
Many people remember the footage from the film “Lenin in October”, where on August 30 the evil terrorist Fanny Kaplan shoots and wounds Lenin. But historians say she is innocent.
Mini-guide to the Kremlin walls and towersFirst, the testimony of the witnesses differs in significant details. Secondly, they write about three shots from the Browning, and 4 cartridges were found at the scene. Thirdly, during the shots, Fanny Kaplan stood 20 steps from Lenin, but the investigation proved that they were shot at point-blank range. Fourthly, at the time of arrest, Kaplan’s hands were occupied with an umbrella and a reticule. In addition, she had too little vision to be a sniper. She was even called “blind Feiga.” And, having regained consciousness, Lenin immediately asked: “Has he been caught?”
But there was no trial of Fanny Kaplan. Under pressure, she admitted her guilt. “Blind Feiga” was sentenced to death, and on September 3, 1918, 4 days after the assassination attempt on Lenin, Kremlin commandant Pavel Malkov carried out the sentence by shooting Fanny in the back of the head.
According to legend, Kaplan’s body was burned and her ashes were buried in the Tainitsky Garden. Later there were rumors that Lenin pardoned Fanny, and she lived to a ripe old age. There were even witnesses who saw her in the 1930s and even in the 1940s.
The Commandant's Tower of the Moscow Kremlin has a wall thickness of 1.7-3.3 m, rising 41.25 m from the side of the Alexander Garden. The length of the outer perimeter at the base is 30.5 m. It is located between the Trinity and Armory towers. Erected during the reign of Ivan III, in 1493-1495.
Names of the Commandant's Office
Throughout the history of the existence of the Commandant's Office, it had three names. In the 17th century it was called Deaf due to the lack of passage gates. It was also called Kolymazhnaya, since the Kolymazhny yard was located nearby - a kind of garage for the royal carriages and stables.
The current name, Commandant’s, was given in the 19th century, almost 4 centuries after its construction. They called it that when the commandant of Moscow moved into the Amusement Palace, standing next to it.
Architect
The architect was, of course, the Italian architect from Milan - Aleviz Fryazin (Aloisio da Carcano). It was he who was invited to continue the construction of the Moscow Kremlin after the death of his compatriot Pyotr Fryazin (Pietro Antonio Solari).
Like its “sister”, Komendantskaya has a quadrangle at the base and a stone hipped top (it was erected in 1676-1686). It consists of 3 cylindrical tiers.
Near Komendantskaya
You can approach it through the Alexander Garden. Having walked along it a little more, we will see in front of us the majestic Trinity Tower - the highest passage tower of the Moscow Kremlin, considered second in importance after
