“Moscow is the heart of Russia, the Kremlin is the heart of Moscow,” says the saying. Well, indeed, Moscow began with the Kremlin, Russia - with Moscow, more precisely, with the unification of the lands around the small Moscow inheritance, which Prince Alexander Yaroslavich allocated, while dying, to his two-year-old son Daniel, in 1263.
Fortress on Borovitsky Hill
Even Vyatichi built a village (detinets) on a high hill surrounded by rivers on three sides, and subsequently surrounded it with earthen ramparts and additionally dug ravines. Such was the first primitive defensive structure. Under Ivan Danilovich Kalita, the Kremlin was built from oak oversized logs. Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy built the Kremlin from white stone, from quarries located relatively close to Moscow. And only Ivan III, who threw off the Tatar yoke, built the Kremlin that we now know.
Kremlin construction
The second wife of the Grand Prince of Moscow was the Byzantine princess, who grew up in Italy. She knew what great masters Italian builders and architects were, and therefore, to strengthen the power of Moscow, in order to show everyone its greatness, the construction of the new Kremlin by Italians, whom the people called "muds", began. By 1515, brick walls and twenty towers of the Kremlin grew , among which was the Troitskaya tower.
Towers
Almost every tower is unique and has its own name. You can find interesting facts about almost every one. The Konstantin-Eleninsky tower is located at the place where Prince Dmitry Ivanovich traveled to the Kulikovo field. The Tsar’s tower is not even a tower, but rather an elegant tower. From it, according to legend, Ivan IV watched what was being done on Red Square. The gates of the Spasskaya Tower were considered saints, since an icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands hung above them . Through them it was impossible to ride a horse, it was necessary to dismount and be sure to remove the cap from the head. There is a legend about Napoleon. When he entered Moscow through captured Spassky Gate, the wind blew, and a cocked hat flew off his head. Finally, there is the Troitskaya tower, which will be a separate story. Kutafya tower adjoins it .
They are connected by a bridge, renovated in 1901. The Commandant and Armory towers remained almost unchanged in their medieval form. They both have a tented top and are decorated with a weather vane. But let's move on to the heroine of the story - this is the Troitskaya tower.
Tall beauty
For almost five thousand years, many generations have been pleased by the Milanese architect Aloisy built in 1495, whom Muscovites called Aleviz Novy or Aleviz Fryazin, eighty meters high (with a star), the highest tower of the Kremlin - Troitskaya. In fact, its height is uneven. From the side of the Kremlin its height without a star is a little more than 65 m, and with a star it is almost 70 m, and when viewed from the Alexander Garden, the height of the Trinity Tower is a little more than 76 m.
The tower is six-story, it has cellars that once served as a prison. It is located in the northwest wall, under which
the Neglinka River once flowed
, which served as an additional defensive fortification. Now it is taken into pipes and covered with earth. It houses the Alexander Garden, but the river still flows into the Moscow River near the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge. They say that there is such warm water that unpretentious guppy aquarium fish are found in it all year round.
The Trinity Tower is connected by a bridge, which was located above the river, with the Kutafia Tower. The gates of the Trinity Tower are the second most important after Spassky. Once through them the road went to the palaces of the patriarch, queens and princesses. Now it is the main gate for visitors to enter the Kremlin. Opposite is the Alexandrovsky Sad metro station and the Manege. And inside the Kremlin, an excursionist immediately sees the Kremlin Palace, built in 1961. At the tower, the name was changed five times. And only since 1658 it is a tower - Troitskaya. Above her gate was an icon. But after the 17th year she was lost. Now there are watches on this place. But from the side of the Kremlin an empty place of an icon case was preserved.
On top of the tower
The national emblem of Russia, a copper gilded double-headed eagle, crowned the tower until 1935. These eagles were changed about once every hundred years. But on the Trinity Tower was the oldest, replacement has not been made since 1870. Its dismantling was carried out right on top of the tower. The eagle was replaced by a gilded semiprecious star. But in 1937, faded Kremlin stars were exchanged for ruby glass stars. The star on the Trinity Tower is a complex technical structure that weighs about a ton.
Inside, the frame is made of multifaceted pyramids and the internal glazing is made of milk glass, which makes the light soft. Outside is a golden
ruby glass of six millimeter thickness. On the Trinity Tower, the star has eight faces. It is mounted on bearings and rotates gently when the wind moves. Inside there are lamps arranged in such a way that when one of the filaments burns out, the star continues to shine. In addition to lamps, there are fans to cool the glass from overheating. The star is lit around the clock. In any weather and at any time of the year, it is clearly visible for 10 km. During the war, almost all the stars were damaged and completely restored by 1946. Each star on the tower is cleaned with special compounds once every five years. The cleaning process itself takes about a week. The star is cleansed both outside and inside.
The second most solemn Trinity Tower, through which sightseers pass to the Kremlin, is still as elegant and attractive as in the first years of construction.