Inside the Kremlin
Let's go visit the Кремль, shall we? The main entrance is through a gate, through the red tower seen in the background. To get there, we can stroll along the terrace of the Охотный ряд shopping center and past the old riding hall, the Манеж, seen in the upper right (today it's used for exhibitions and other events). Or we can stroll through the Alexander Garden (Александровский сад) below.
This is the Trinity Tower (Троицкая башня). Today it's main entrance into the Kremlin for tourists (unless you've scored tickets to see the Kremlin's jaw-dropping treasure stockpiles in the Diamond Fund (Алмазный фонд) and Armoury Chamber (Оружейная палата). Those are much harder to get in to, since tickets are timed, and limited, and in any case photography isn't allowed there! Today we'll do the standard walking tour of the Kremlin grounds.
Students new to Russia may be somewhat surprised to find that there's little "Soviet" about the Kremlin. It contains primarily Imperial-era palaces and 15th-century churches. One of the few Communist-era structures, the State Kremlin Palace (Государственный Кремлёвский дворец, built in 1961), can be seen just beyond the gate, to the right. Once used for Congresses of the Communist Party, today it's mostly a concert venue.
Just as we enter, we see on our left cannons captured by the Russians from Napoleon's invading armies in 1812. The conflict was known in Russia as the "Fatherland War" (Отечественная война) Of course, the Soviet Union faced a more horrific war when Hitler launched his surprise invasion; that war is known in Russia as the "Great Fatherland War" (Великая Отечественная война). The adjective отечественный is derived from the noun отечество (fatherland), which in turn derives from отец (father). Needless to say, what we call World War II was a central event in Soviet History, and we'll be hearing plenty about it during our studies.
This is the Kremlin Senate, or Senate Palace (Сенатский дворец). It can be seen from Red Square as well, just behind Lenin's Mausoleum. Lenin lived and worked here after the Soviet capital was moved from Petrograd (as St. Petersburg was called beginning in WWI) to Moscow; later, Stalin did as well. It still houses the official presidential office today.
The gigantic "Tsar Cannon" (Царь-пушка) was created in Moscow in 1586. More an ornamental feat than a practical weapon, it was never used in battle.
Next comes the "Tsar Bell" (Царь-колокол), famous for having never been rung. Work began on it in 1734 to cast it in a pit dug close by to where the bell remains today. Unfortunately, the bell cracked when water was thrown onto it during a fire. The broken bell was so heavy that it could not be raised from its pit until 1836. Those who lack a full appreciation for the difficulty of casting giant bells might check out the climactic scene of Soviet film director Andrey Tarkovsky's film Andrei Rublev (Андрей Рублёв).
Here's a closer look at the Колокольня Ивана Великого, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, completed in 1508. Attached to the bell tower is the Assumption Belfy (Успенская звонница), completed in 1552.
Wait, is this even Russian? Actually, no — it's another language, called Church Slavonic, which we'll return to quite frequently as our knowledge of Russian advances. In short, Church Slavonic is based on the Slavic dialect which the Greek Orthodox missionaries Cyrill and Methodius systematized, and into which they began translating the Christian scriptures and liturgy in their efforts to Christianize the Slavs. Of course, before they could begin translation, they had to create an alphabet — which became the Cyrillic alphabet we've just learned. In medieval Russia, Church Slavonic was both the official liturgical language of the church, and also the language used in writing generally. Indeed, it is still the language used in Russian Orthodox church services to this day. So, for example, when you're reading inscriptions on icons, or anywhere on churches or other older buildings, chances are you're dealing with Church Slavonic, and its slightly different version of the Cyrillic alphabet. On top of all this, the decorative script called вязь, in which the letters are arranged in an interlocking pattern — this script can be extremely difficult to read! Luckily, the style here is relatively mild. Look in the upper left-hand corner, which contains a name in the genitive case: Бориса Фeдоровича (this is the end of a phrase that says that the tower — actually, its third, top level — was built by order OF Boris Fyodorovich). Can you find it? If you're a fan of Russian opera, you may have heard of this ruler — he's usually referred to as Борис Годунов.
The domes of the Verkhospassky Cathedral (Верхоспасский собор) in the Kremlin, with their crescent-moon ornaments. One sometimes hears that these symbolize victory over Islam, or, more specifically, Russia's liberation from the so-called Mongol-Tatar Yoke — the period from 1237-1480 when Russia was subjugated by the Golden Horde. However, this is simply not the case — the use of the crescent moon element predates the Mongol invasion, and was traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary.
The Cathedral of the Dormition (Успенский собор). This is where the Russian tsars were coronated, even after Peter the Great moved the Russian capital from Moscow to his new city of St. Petersburg, founded in 1703. The entrance to the Cathedral of the Dormition. The "Dormition" refers to the Orthodox tradition that the Virgin Mary fell into a peaceful sleep, dying without suffering before being received into heaven. Mary is often referred to in Russian as the Богородица, the Mother of God — that is, one who gave birth (the verb is родить) to God (Бог). As is typically the case with religious terms, this is a Slavic calque, or literal translation, of an original Greek term — in this case, Theotokos (in Greek, Θεοτόκος).
The next major church in the Kremlin complex is the Cathedral of the Archangel (Архангельский собор. This is where the Russian tsars and other dignitaries were buried, until Peter moved the capital (Peter himself and all subsequent Tsars — including the remains of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family, executed by the Bolsheviks — are interred in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.)
Near the church complex are some gardens.
In the upper right-hand corner you can spot the top of Ivan the Great's Bell Tower.
A look back at the entire complex from the far end of the park.
Turning around, we realize we've come full circle, back near our starting point of our tour of Red Square — now we're looking at the Savior Tower from the opposite direction, from within the Kremlin. Red Square lies just beyond it.
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