5 Point Stops Inside the Moscow Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin is one of the most famous constructions in the world!
Students studying Russian with us wanted to pay it a visit! Read about their experience !
Last friday, Liden & Denz school of Moscow organized a great excursion: a guided tour of the Kremlin. Many students (me too!) joined this activity and it was really successful! We met our guide Max outside the entrance at 3 o’clock and our tour began. He told us about the origins and the composition of the Moscow Kremlin (Моско́вский Кремль). The name “кремль” means “fortress inside a city” and this is the reason why it literally looks like a fortress. The complex serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation but nowadays he doesn’t live there .
Point stops in Moscow Kremlin
1. The fortress was build in 1492 on request of Grand Prince Ivan III, who invited some skilled Italian architects (the most important was Aristotele Fioravanti) in order to create what he wanted. First, they build the big red wall, really similar to the one of the Sforza Castle in Milan. Its main aim was to defend the residence of the tsars from the enemies. When we went inside Moscow Kremlin we were all very impressed. Nobody expected to find a real city inside that walls. There are zebra cross in order to cross the roads and if someone walks outside them, a policeman is ready to recall him to order.
We could see the Tsar cannon which is one of the major touristic attractions of the Kremlin. It is the largest bomber by caliber in the world but it was never used in a war.
2. Not so far from there is the Tsar Bell. It is a 6.14 tall and 6.6 metre diameter bell, made of bronze. It is the largest bell in the world and its weight is of 201,924 kilograms. It was broken during a fire and near the bell there is also the broken piece of bronze.
3. After this, we went in the Cathedral Square that is, as you can imagine, surrounded by three cathedrals. It is the real heart of all the Kremlin. The first church we visited was the Cathedral of Dormition that was completed in 1479 and where all the Tsars were crowned. The other two churches set on the square are the Cathedral of the Annunciation and the Cathedral of the Archangel Micheal, where some monarchs were buried.
4.The other important building settle on this square is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower which symbolize a burning candle. It was completed in 1600 and it’s 81 meters high. Until the Russian revolution, the construction of buildings taller than this tower was forbidden.
5. The last part of the visit was inside the Armoury museum (по русский: Оружейная палата). It originated as the royal arsenal in 1508 but now it stores all the weapons, jewelries and various household articles of the tsars. There we saw the beautiful and shining jewels of the Tsars, the imperial crowns and their carriages. But the real jewel of the crown of the museum is the Fabergé Eggs collection. Indeed, in the Armoury there are ten of the famous Imperial eggs and it was pretty interesting see all of them in person.
After that, our visit came to an end and it was a real pity because we were all very interested in exploring more and more this amazing place. And overall we were very grateful to our guide, Max, who made the visit really interesting and special.
I really suggest everybody who will visit Moscow to go to take a look inside the Kremlin because it’s really a unique experience.
До скорого!
Elena
Elena, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz Moscow
