The arsenal of the Moscow Kremlin or, as it was also called under Peter I, the Zeichhaus, survived many destructions and fires. It was repeatedly built, rebuilt and rebuilt by famous architects before it acquired the form that it now has. It can be called a building with a difficult fate. But without this structure, the modern Kremlin is hard to imagine.
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The building of the Arsenal in the Moscow Kremlin was laid according to the plan of Peter I. This happened in 1702, for which an order was received. At that time he was called the Zeichhaus, which translated from German meant "Armory". According to the plan of the emperor, this should be an armory, a storage of military trophies. The place was personally selected in the Kremlin by Peter I and designated as “from the Nikolsky Gate to the Trinity”, which he wrote about in an order dated November 12, 1701.
At that time, the territory of the Kremlin was used for living, here, in Gosudarev Zhitny Dvor, for the safety of the townspeople brought their grain reserves. By the time the Arsenal was built, there was a big fire in which the Zhitniy Yard burned down. At this point, it was decided to build an "Armory House". This, at that time, was supposed to be the largest building in the Kremlin. To lay the Tseikhgauz, many buildings were dismantled, including two churches "The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem" and "Paraskevi Fridays", the Sugar Chambers, the private estates of the Streshnevs, Trubetskoys and the Lykov house, from which soldiers were sent during the Streltsy riot to kill Peter .
Construction and restoration
The project at the first stage of the construction of the Moscow Kremlin Arsenal was led by the famous architect M. Choglokov. In 1706, due to lack of money due to the war with Sweden, construction was suspended. The guns captured from the Swedes were brought here. After the resumption of work in 1714, the walls of both floors were erected under the roof, but the calculations were summed up. The roof, unable to withstand the severity of the gilded tiles, collapsed, breaking through the floor.
It was not possible to eliminate the consequences of the destruction quickly. M. Choglokov died, there were no other architects in Moscow. The construction was completed during the reign of Tsarina Anna Ivanovna in 1736. A year later, during a fire, all wooden structures, including ceilings and roofing, burned out.
The restoration of the Moscow Kremlin Arsenal lasted ten years, from 1786 to 1796. But the building stood for only 16 years. During the Napoleonic invasion, by order of Bonaparte, part of Zeichhaus was blown up. Such a strange and tragic fate at this building. It seemed that he could no longer be, but a few years after the destruction of the restoration work was resumed, since here, according to the Petrine tradition, 875 gun trunks had been brought back from the French.
Recovery after the Napoleonic invasion
The victorious war with Napoleon aroused a feeling of great patriotism in the Russian people. The guns captured from the French were the engine that made Peter I fulfill the will and rebuild the Arsenal on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, which would serve as the museum of the glory of Russian weapons.
The Arsenal building was restored in the years 1815-1828. Russian architects worked under the direction of A.N. Bakarev I. I. Mironovsky, I. T. Tamansky and E. D. Tyurin over the implementation of the project. They decided to make the facade facing the courtyard, in the style of late classicism, decorate the stucco walls, process the corners of the building with rust.
Architecture
After recovering from the damage received during the Napoleonic invasion of 1812, the description of the Moscow Kremlin Arsenal of that time is fully consistent with the timely building. It had a trapezoidal plan, inside there was a courtyard where ramps went. Instead, staircases were installed. The high roof was made lower, flat with two slopes. The color of the building is selected in accordance with the accepted standards of late classicism - yellow.
Recovery after the October Revolution
Another, last, restoration of the Moscow Kremlin Arsenal building occurred after the events of the October Revolution in Moscow. On the night of November 7/8/1917, the Winter Palace was taken by revolutionary detachments in Petrograd, and power passed into the hands of revolutionary-minded workers and soldiers. At the same time, in Moscow, the working groups were offered strong resistance. The fighting continued everywhere.
The counter-revolutionary troops threw all their forces into the capture of the Kremlin, whose defense was held by soldiers and commanders of the 56th guard regiment and the garrison command at the Arsenal. The counterrevolutionaries tricked into the Kremlin, captured soldiers, officers of the regiment and the Arsenal and shot them.
On November 13, revolutionary units began shelling the Kremlin, which lasted three days. The shelling also damaged the Arsenal building. Restored it in 1922. In 1927, memorial plaques with the names of soldiers of the 56th regiment and officers of the Kremlin garrison shot by cadets were installed on the facade. In 1955, they began conducting excursions to the Moscow Kremlin, where anyone could see its sights, including the Arsenal. In 1965, restoration work was completed.
Exhibits
Currently, one of the main attractions of the Moscow Kremlin is Arsenal. Here on the perimeter of the building on special pedestals 830 guns are exhibited. Of these, most are:
- Napoleonic guns - trophies of the war of 1812;
- 25 Russian cannons, previously located in the Armory;
- other guns, howitzers, mortars - trophies captured in battle from Turks, Prussians, Austrians, Dutch, Spaniards and Italians.
Each weapon has its own story, fate, its own name. Experienced guides will tell about all this during an excursion in the Moscow Kremlin. As suggested by Peter I, the Kremlin’s Arsenal became the repository of guns captured on the battlefield. They witnessed the feat of the Russian armies, the glory and honor of Russian weapons. This attraction of the Kremlin is always popular with tourists.