The Moscow Kremlin has long been a universally recognized symbol of Russian statehood. This ancient fortress on the banks of the Moskva River is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are no uninteresting towers in the Kremlin; each of them deserves a separate story. But let's try to look at what only one Tainitskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin is like. In what century was it built and what are its architectural features?
Moscow white stone
The first stone fortress on the banks of the Moskva River appeared in the second half of the fourteenth century under the Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. It was built of white stone, which gave rise to the subsequent centuries to call Moscow white stone. And the Moscow Kremlin gradually began to acquire its present appearance at the end of the fifteenth century, when the Russian sovereign Ivan the Third began a large-scale reconstruction of the previously existing fortress walls.
They managed to deteriorate fairly and did not correspond to the status and tasks of the Russian state, which is gaining power. The Taynitskaya
Tower of the Moscow Kremlin was the first of those twenty that rise today above the ancient fortress walls.
Heading south
All defensive fortifications in the world are oriented towards the direction from which the threat emanates. In this context, the Taynitskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin is no exception. The southern borders of the Russian state emanated a constant threat from the Mongol-Tatar invaders and steppe nomads. Just a few decades before the Taynitskaya Tower of the Kremlin began to be built, the capital of the Russian state was attacked by the troops of Khan Tokhtamysh. This descendant of Genghis Khan, who captured and plundered Moscow, came from the southern direction.
Therefore, Muscovites had no doubt about the need to build defensive lines to repel the threat from the south. And the Taynitskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin, whose century is reckoned from the era of the reign of Tsar Ivan the Third, was the first among them. According to the laws of military strategy, it was in the direction of the main blow from the likely enemy.
How the Kremlin was built
The Taynitskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin, the construction date of which, according to historical chronicles, is designated in 1485, was built as part of the fortress wall facing Zamoskvorechye. The sovereign Ivan the Third appointed a competent Italian fortifier as the head and architect of the construction. In Russian historical sources, he is designated as Anton Fryazin. The new Kremlin was built in stages, the old fortifications of the fourteenth century were replaced by new ones.
The first in the construction plans was the southern wall of the fortress, as the most important for the defense of the city. And the Taynitskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin was located strictly in its middle. She fully met all the fortification requirements of her time. A well was located inside it in a special cache - this circumstance gave it a name. In addition, in the basement was a secret underground exit to the
Moscow River. The tower had an entrance gate and a retractable archery with a lifting mechanism.
Architectural features and historical details
The Taynitskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin is distinguished by the rigor and conciseness of its architectural forms. It has everything you need to perform fortification functions and there is nothing superfluous. It is also interesting that this is the first building of the Moscow Kremlin, where the Italian architect used fired red brick as the main building material. In the second half of the seventeenth century, a four-sided tent-like completion in the Russian style was erected above the upper tier of the tower.
During this period, the tower had a clock with a battle and a signal bell tower. Observers were on duty on it, they had to ring the alarm bell at the sight of fires in Zamoskvorechye. For wooden Moscow, general fire alarm was of great importance. The Taynitskaya tower was badly damaged by explosions in 1812 when Napoleon’s army retreated from Moscow. But after three years she was restored.
Subsequent adjustments
It should be noted that in its entire history of more than five hundred years, the Taynitskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin has never been used for its intended purpose. Nobody besieged her, there was no need to shoot from loopholes at enemies. And since she lost her fortification significance, changes have taken place in her appearance. The entrance gate was closed, an underground passage to the river was filled up, and the secret well was closed. The Taynitskaya Tower acquired the status of a cultural and historical monument and serves as an ornament to the Sofia embankment of the Moscow River.