The names of the 20 towers of the Moscow Kremlin are not even known to all Muscovites, although the citadel itself, its walls and towers are one of the main attractions of not only the capital itself, but the whole vast country.
Answer to any question
The history and reason for the appearance of the towers, the appearance of one or another name, the role of each of them in the history of the capital, take place at school. But over time, the names are forgotten. It is very good that nowadays all information about them is widely available, and at any time you can get answers to any questions, for example, how the towers of the Moscow Kremlin are located, the names of all vezhes, to which part of the wall any of them relates, how were used etc.
One of the business cards
Long life (the first mention of a wooden fortress dates back to 1156) of the country's most important fortress is very interesting. The Kremlin is on a par with world historical monuments such as the Great Wall of China, the Tower of London, the contours of the demolished Bastille, Egyptian pyramids. On Earth, an infinite number of attractions, but significant, landmark objects are not so many. Few people are not familiar with the Spasskaya Tower, and only a few at first glance do not recognize the symbol of Moscow, the capital of boundless Russia. But for the Russian, especially for the Muscovite, who from childhood goes on excursions to the center of the capital, the main towers of the Moscow Kremlin are familiar. The names of each of them are taught from the 3rd grade, but many preschoolers without hesitation can list, if not all 20, then the most significant of them, and not only those that go to Red Square.
The uniqueness of the structure
The most important fortress of the country, located on Borovitsky Hill, has always been the center of the socio-political life of the state, and for most of the history of Russia, the residence of the country's rulers was located here. This is the heart of power.
In addition, the fortress is unusually beautiful. Millions of tourists from all over the world want not only to see one of the wonders of the world, but also to get acquainted with its history - in what century these walls were erected, by whom, the origin of the name is “Kremlin”. The towers of the Moscow Kremlin are of particular interest - they have no analogues in the world, they differ from each other. And only from the second half of the XVII century, some of them are kept in a single architectural style.
The essence of the name
In ancient Russia, until the fourteenth century, the city, surrounded by a wall with loophole towers, was called the “Detinets,” later the names chrome, cream, cremère, and kremlevnik appear. The origin of the term “Kremlin” itself has several versions, but all of them indicate a strongly fortified, inaccessible place. Located in an impenetrable forest or on an impregnable steepness, it is often washed by a river or surrounded by a moat filled with water. And any fortress is surrounded by high walls.
Impregnable fortress
The following diagram of the Moscow Kremlin with the names of the towers demonstrates how well a place was chosen for one of the oldest Russian fortresses - the wrong triangle is protected by the Moscow River on one side.
In the old days, from the other side, where the Alexander Garden is now located, the wall was protected by the Neglinnaya River. Along the third edge of the triangle overlooking Red Square, there was a deep moat filled with water. In addition, the layout of the Moscow Kremlin with the names of the towers shows that the corner vezha (the old Russian name for the towers) is basically circular in shape, while all the others are square.
The subtleties of the construction of defensive structures
This form of a defensive tower is a fortification technique, the trick of which is that from rounded walls the shells of enemy guns ricochet, and shelling from it could be carried out round-the-clock. When taking the fortress, the corner towers of the Moscow Kremlin were considered priority. Their names are Vodovzvodnaya (Sviblova, Southwest), Beklemishevskaya (known as Moskvoretskaya, southeast corner) and the most powerful Kremlin tower - Angular Arsenal (Sobakina) tower, which closes the defensive line of the wall from the side of Red Square. She controlled the crossing of the Neglinnaya River.
Northeastern section of the Kremlin wall
Each of these fortifications was intended for specific purposes. The plan of the Moscow Kremlin with the name of the towers demonstrates that all vezhas located on the side of Red Square, from Angular Arsenalnaya to Beklemishevskaya (clockwise) contain, in addition to the two named, six more structures of this type. These are the Nikolskaya and Senate, Spasskaya and Tsarskaya, Nabatnaya and Konstantino-Eleninsky towers.
South and northwest towers
From Beklemishevskaya to Vodovzvodnaya tower, that is, on the site of the Kremlin wall that runs along the Moscow River, in addition to the corners, there are five more vezh - Petrovskaya and Second Bezymyannaya, First Bezymyannaya, Tainitskaya and Blagoveshchenskaya. The third side of the irregular triangle, running along the Neglinnaya River, which was taken into the pipe, from the previous sections is distinguished by the only surviving bypass strelitsa called Kutafya Tower, which is connected by a bridge to the highest Kremlin tower - Troitskaya. In addition to the angular Vodovzvodnaya and Arsenalnaya, Troitskaya and Kutafia, on this segment are the Borovitskaya and Oruzheynaya, the Commandant and the Middle Arsenal towers.
Different in everything
All towers of the Moscow Kremlin, the names of which were listed above, were built at different times by Italian masters, who at that time were called "Fryazhs". The very first was Tainitskaya, built in 1485.
Over the next decade, all fortifications were put into operation (the last was built in 1495 by Troitskaya), except for the smallest Tsarskaya built in 1680. The second most important - Troitskaya is the tallest tower of the Moscow Kremlin. She changed names repeatedly. However, almost all the towers throughout their existence were called differently, and two are nameless. Epiphany and Rizopolozhenskaya, Znamenskaya and Kuretnaya - this is how the original
Trinity Tower was called at different times
, the height of which reaches 80 meters.
Reasons for the name
The Kremlin itself is far from fully understood; it contains many mysteries. The towers of the Moscow Kremlin, the names of which sound especially unusual for the ear of a modern person, used to be called differently, as a rule. But the modern names, if you look deeply, are quite understandable - Spasskaya is called so because it had the Savior’s icon on it , Vodovzvodnaya - because with a special device, water from the Moscow River flowed to its top and was then distributed throughout the Kremlin. The name Tsarskaya speaks for itself - from there the tsar (especially Ivan the Terrible liked to do this) watched the events on Red Square.
By her own
The Nikolskaya Tower, which falls out of the general Kremlin ensemble with both architecture and color, is called so because it housed the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. This tower has a very interesting fate - through it the militia entered the Kremlin under the leadership of Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin. It burned in 1737, and the French blew it away while escaping from the Kremlin. But with all these hardships, the icon of St. Nicholas never suffered - with the explosion that brought out windows in the neighboring streets, the glass did not even crack on it.
Simple names
Why and what are the towers of the Moscow Kremlin called, it is extremely interesting to find out. And how wonderful that in our time it is easy to get acquainted with the history of any of them.
For example,
Beklemishevskaya tower: why is it called that? After all, her other name - “Moskvoretskaya” - was clear and understandable: it is located above the Moskva River. Beklemishevskaya, as well as Sviblovskaya (Vodovzvodnaya) are named so because the yards of the Beklemishev and Sviblovy boyars were adjacent to the Kremlin in these places. The Kremlin itself and everything connected with it is a holy and symbolic place for any Russian.