The Beklemishevskaya Tower is located near the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, which stands above the Moskva River, which is why it is also known as the Moskvoretskaya Tower. Why did this building get such a name? In fact, it became Beklemishevskaya at the end of the 15th century, after it was erected. The name of the tower was given by the nobleman Beklemishev, who lived next to the Kremlin wall, which overlooked the building.
Who built the Beklemishevskaya tower?
At that time, foreign architects turned to the construction of various buildings. The Beklemishevskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin was built according to the project of Mark Fryazin, as the Russians called it. In fact, the name of the architect is Marco Ruffo. For some reason, it is generally accepted that the surname Fryazin means belonging to the genus. However, in that period, "frigas" was a common name for someone of Western European descent. It is because of this that this (albeit modified) word became a surname for people, for example, from Italy, France or Spain, who lived in Russia in the XV-XVI centuries.
The architectural view of the building
The location of the main cylinder is on the base of white stone, which has a semicircular roller in the junction of the elements. The Beklemishevskaya tower of the Kremlin is equipped with four tiers so that circular firing is possible. The building provides for the presence of a well and an auditory cache in order to prevent undermining. At the end of the XVII century, the building was supplemented by an octagon, which had a narrow tent and two rows of rumors. It should also be noted that the tent in the tower has no internal overlap.
Building history
That same boyar by the name of Beklemishev died in 1525. He was executed because he participated in the rebellion, which was directed against Prince Vasily the Third. Then the courtyard and tower were given for the maintenance of the prison to imprison nobles who were objectionable.
In addition to this function, the Beklemishevskaya tower was also a defensive structure. Since its location is connected with the angle in the southeast of the Kremlin’s triangle, it stood in the way of the first blows of the enemies. This is due to the fact that attacks of opponents, as a rule, occurred through the waters of the Moscow River. For this purpose, observation platforms were built, auditory caches underground - for the timely detection of undermining.
At the beginning of the XVIII century, according to the orders of Peter I, who was expecting an attack on the city by the Swedish troops, several ramparts were poured from the ground under the arches of the tower, erected bastion buildings, and also cracked several loopholes to establish tools of a more impressive size and power. Despite the fact that during the revolution, the building was destroyed, after a few years, it looked as before.
The next time for reconstruction was 1949, when the loopholes returned to their original size. As for the rest of the elements, the Moskvoretskaya Tower was almost not restored, unlike other similar ones in the Kremlin.
How to find this building? It is located at the intersection of the Kremlin embankment and Vasilievsky descent.