The fortress of political might and fear continued - Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow 545
What and Why
Built as early as the mid-12th century CE, the Kremlin (Russian: Кремль, Kreml') is now home to the president of Russia (Россия, Rossiya) and the epicentre of post-cold-war Russian politics. The Kremlin has survived almost a millennium of upheavals, change-of-hands, vandalism and reconstruction, the fortress-complex symbolises the political forte Russian leadership over history. Together with the Red Square (Красная Площадь, Krasnaya Ploshchad') as blogged in Moscow (Москва) - Red Square, the landmark send shivers down one spine with its air of political and military might, sandwiching a pious religious air of Eastern Orthodoxy.
Toponymy
The word 'kremlin' actually means 'fortress' and technically there are many kremlins in Russia, for instance the kremlin in our blogged Veliky Novgorod (Великий Новгород). Of course nowadays the word kremlin has become synonymous with Moscow (Москва, Moskva) and the Russian government, politics and espionage.
See
We enter through the usual entrance at the Troitskaya Tower (Троицкая Башня, Troickaya Bašnâ) and follow a clockwise route.
Troitskaya Tower (Троицкая Башня)
The Troitskaya Tower is now officially the main entrance into Kremlin and every tourists enter through this gate. This is also the tallest towers around Kremlin at 80 m. The word 'troitskaya (троицкая)' means 'trinity' as it used to have an icon of the Holy Trinity atop until the Soviet Union (Советский Союз, Sovetskiy Soyuz) government replaced it with a star in 1935 CE.
Amusement Palace (Потешный Дворец)
Built in the mid-17th century CE, the Amusement Palace (Потешный Дворец, Poteshny Dvorets) was so-named as it was once used as a theatre to stage performances to entertain the family and court of the tsar (царь) Alexei Romanov (Алексей Романовы).
State Kremlin Palace (Государственный Кремлёвский Дворец)
The State Kremlin Palace (Государственный Кремлёвский Дворец, Gosudarstvennyy Kremlovskiy Dvorets) was once the most important buildings within the Kremlin or even the world when it housed the congresses of the Soviet Union Communist Party (Коммунистическая Партия Советского Союза, Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza). It was a time when all focusses were on the developments and proceedings inside the building. The building atmosphere is also reflected by its Soviet-style architecture when everything was large and cold. Commissioned by Nikita Khrushchev (Никита Хрущёв) to replace many classical and heritage buildings inside the Kremlin, it is now used as a concert hall.
Arsenal (Арсенал Московского Кремля)
The massive yellow trapezoidal building is the Arsenal (Арсенал Московского Кремля, Arsenal Moskovskogo Kremlya) and is off-limit to tourists and was at one time the largest building in Moscow. As the name suggests it is an arsenal.
Senate Palace (Сенатский Дворец)
The yellow Senate Palace (Сенатский Дворец, Senatskiy Dvorets) houses the Russian Presidential Administration (Администрация Президента Российской Федерации, Administratsiya Prezidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii) and is thus highly secured and closed to the public. In fact only the southern corner façade, as picture above, can be viewed.
This is the building the recent Kremlin drone attack took place in May 2023 CE.
Twelve Apostles Church (Церковь Двенадцати Апостолов)
The iconic Twelve Apostles Church (Церковь Двенадцати Апостолов, Tserkov Dvenadtsati Apostolov), with its Byzantine (Greek: Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων, Basileía Rhōmaíōn) silver dome towers stands tall in Kremlin, as it was constructed atop a podium.
Incredibly it is not even a proper church. Since the Soviet times it has been converted to a museum and exhibits artworks, religious and household items of the Russian royal eras.
Next to the church stands a major icon of Kremlin on display, the Tsar Cannon (Царь-пушка, Tsar-pushka). The cannon is a monument of Russian artillery casting technique, as it was casted in bronze in 1586 CE. At an internal diameter of 890 mm and a calibre of 20 inches, as per Guinness Book of Records it is the largest bombard by calibre in the world but fortunately it had never been used in war. The spherical projectile each weighs one tonne but is largely decorative as it would be too large for the cannon.
It was casted for the Tsar Fyodor I Rurikovich (Фёдор I Рюриковичи, Fyodor I Rurikovichi).
Assumption Cathedral (Успенский Cобор)
Possibly the most important church in Moscow as far as official and religious duties are concerned, the Assumption Cathedral (Успенский Собор, Uspeskiy Sobor) is the most highly regarded church in the city. It was the coronation site of the first Russian Tsar Ivan IV Rurikovich (Иван IV Рюриковичи, Ivan IV Rurikovichi), and since the 18th century CE, the coronation site of all Russian emperors until the collapse of the Russian Empire (Россійская Имперія, Rossiyskaya Imperiya).
Inside the church, one has to take note of the extremely impressive iconostasis, the very high frescoes and the Monomakh (Мономахъ) throne.
This particular royal seat is really the icon of the church. It was built for Ivan IV in the 16th century CE and was so named because it is decorated with carvings of Prince Vladimir II Monomakh (Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Мономахъ, Volodiměrŭ Monomakhŭ). Monomakh is a revered prince and is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The important relation of Monomakh to the Russian tsar is that one of the panels shows Monomakh receiving the crown from the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Μονομάχος, Kōnstantinos Monomachos). This legend was used to confer legitimacy of the Russian monarchs as direct lineage to the Byzantine Empire. Historically however, the two events do not match: Vladimir II was grand prince during the early 12th century CE while Constantine IX reigned during the mid-11th century CE.
Ivan the Great Bell Tower (Колокольня Иван Великий)
The very elegant Ivan the Great Bell Tower (Колокольня Иван Великий, Kolokolnya Ivan Velikiy) was built and named after Ivan I Danilovichi (Ива́н I Данилович, Iván I Danilovichi). It is important to note that the word 'great' refers to the the tower rather than Ivan I as it stands 81 m and is the tallest structure of Kremlin and it is one famous with its belfry. Because of its height, the tower also served as an observation post.
The enormous Tsar Bell (Царь–колокол, Tsar-kolokol) is the largest bell on Earth and it was actually the third generation of various bells. This bell was actually casted from remnant iron from the two previous bells destroyed in fires. Weighing over 100,000 kg, it was casted into final form in 1737 CE, and was hung and ready for mounting onto the belfry. Unfortunately in the same year a big fire broke out in Kremlin and the fire spread to the wooden structure for the bell. Fearing damage, guards threw water onto the bell and immediately it cracked, and a big cracked fragment fell off. The cracked fragment itself is three-times bigger than the largest bell in the world, the bell in Liverpool Cathedral. The remaining damaged bell fell back into its casting pit. Even Napoléon Bonaparte, considered removing the bell as a trophy to France during his Moscow occupation, but discarded the idea as it was simply too heavy.
The Tsar Bell remained in its pit for almost a century until it was only raised in the mid-19th century CE. The fragment and the bell, due to the heat expansion and water cooling during the fire ordeal, could not fit back into each other anymore.
To quote Voltaire (né François-Marie Arouet), Kremlin's two greatest showpiece items were never ever used: a bell that was never rung and a cannon that was never fired.
Cathedral of the Archangel (Архангельский Cобор)
Constructed in early 16th century CE, the Cathedral of the Archangel (Архангельский Собор, Arkhangelskiy Sobor) was so-called the last great cathedrals to be built in Kremlin. It was the main necropolis of the Russian tsars until the relocation of the capital to Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург, Sankt-Peterburg) (See our blogged Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург) | City centre). The cathedral is dedicated to the archangel Saint Michael (Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל, Mīḵāʾēl).
Cathedral of the Anunciation (Благовещенский Cобор)
The smallest of all churches inside Kremlin, the Cathedral of the Anunciation (Благовещенский Собор, Blagoveschensky Sobor) was built as a personal abbot for the tsar, and hence the small size, but it is now a museum. The church is particularly eye-catching for its multiple golden onion domes. Unlike other Kremlin churches which are largely designed by Italians, this one was done entirely by Russian.
One of the main features of Orthodox churches is the respective iconostasis. I shall blog about it in Vladimir (Влади́мир).
Grand Kremlin Palace (Большой Кремлёвский Дворец)
It is actually very difficult to take a picture of the Grand Kremlin Palace (Большой Кремлёвский Дворец, Bolshoy Kremlyovskiy Dvorets) as there is not a lot of empty spaces around the palace, and hence the best picture has to be taken across the river, just like the main picture. It served as the official residence of the Russian tsars and is now the official working residence of the president of Russia. The palace now fully includes and encloses the Terem Palace (Теремной Дворец, Teremnoy Dvorets) which is now the residence of the Russian president. This is now almost fully out-of-sight. The name derives from the Greek word 'τέρεμνον' meaning 'dwelling'.
While technically the Grand Kremlin Place could be visited, it must be requested officially and hence much of the inner grandeur can only be seen from guidebooks. We were not invited inside during our trip.
Church of the Deposition of the Robe (Церковь Ризоположения)
Next to the palace stands the tiny Church of the Deposition of the Robe (Церковь Ризоположения, Tserkov Rizopolozhyeniya). The name refers to a festival dating from the 5th century CE, celebrating when the robe of the Virgin Mary (Hebrew: מרים, Maryam) was taken from Palestine (Greek: Παλαιστίνη, Palaistínē) to Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Kōnstantinoupolis), where it protected Constantinople from being conquered.
State Armoury (Оружейная Палата)
The State Armoury (Оружейная Палата, Oruzheynaya Palata) houses all the wealth collected by the Russian tsars and royalties since 1508 CE. In fact this is actually the oldest museums in Moscow and was an arsenal when it was first constructed, and hence its name. The current form of the building was redesigned during the mid-19th century CE.
Of all the star exhibits, the most famous are definitely the Fabergé eggs (яйцо Фаберже, yaytso Faberzhe). There are only 57 of these jewelled eggs and they are a symbol of status and extreme wealth. These eggs were made by Peter Fabergé (Петер Фаберже) of the famous jeweller House of Fabergé (Дом Фаберж, Dom Faberzhe).
The Kremlin is a wall fortress which is characterised by its 19 towers around the wall. A number of these towers dates back to the 12th century CE during the original Kremlin construction. Not all of them are accessible as a few of them are out-of-bounds to public access.
Arbat (Арбат)
The name Arbat (Арбат) probably comes from the Arabic word 'أرباض (arbāḍ)', meaning 'suburb' but now this has become the main tourist areas for historic churches, artisan kiosks and antique shops. The main street now is pedestrianised and has become a major tourist attraction. One of the main highlights along the street is the great poet Alexander Pushkin (Александр Пушкин) house-museum, although we did not spend too much time inside.
Victory Park (Парк Победы)
Victory Park (Парк Победы, Park Pobedy) was planned to be built in the 1960s CE to commemorate the victory for World War II, only for it to completed in 1995 CE for the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.
Gorky Park (Парк Горького)
Gorky Park (Парк Горького, Park Gorkogo) is easily Moscow's most visited park, especially made famous by the political thriller Gorky Park, which incredibly, was actually filmed in Finland (Finnish: Suomi). It used to be the main communist propaganda site for the former Soviet Union.
The main reason I went to the park was not because of the park itself, but because the Soviet version of the space shuttle, Buran (Буран), was placed there until 2014 CE when it was moved to a museum, as pictured above. The Buran, meaning 'blizzard' was almost certainly a product of espionage and plagiarism, which resulted in a remarkable resemblance to the American space shuttle. In Soviet defence, in spite of the visual similarities, many key differences and advances were apparent:
Buran was around 10% larger, both in size and payload than the American Space Shuttle.
Buran's booster, Energia (Энергия, Energiya) was much bigger in size and is a single four-chambered recyclable rocket. The rocket had its own navigation and control system.
The Energia booster could form part of the payload for lower orbits and serve as a launch vehicle all by itself.
Buran-Energia used liquid propellant against the solid propellant in the American version.
The Energia rocket was manufactured almost in one piece, without major segments or any O-rings, which led to the Challenger disaster.
Buran was designed for both manned and autonomous flights, including lift-offs and landings. The only flight mission that took place in 1988 CE was autonomous and uncrewed.
Aerodynamically Buran was more streamlined leading to a higher lift-to-drag ratio.
As mentioned, only one official flight ever took place in 1988 CE and lasted 3.5 hours and only one space shuttle spacecraft was ever fully completed, and that was the one sitting in Gorky Park. There had been discussions of resurrecting the programme, especially in view of the retirement of the American space shuttle programme since 2011 CE.
Bolshoi Theatre (Большо́й Театр)
Home to the world's most famous ballet company, the Bolshoi Theatre (Большо́й Театр, Bolšój Teatr), literally meaning the 'big theatre' is an impressive landmark by itself. The neo-classical architecture building was opened in the late 18th century CE but the original building was burnt down by fire and the current building was reconstructed in mid-19th century CE.
Ballet came to Russia during the reign of Peter I (né Пётр I Романов, Pyotr I Romanov) when he was extremely fond of the European culture (more in our blog in Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург) | City centre) and it quickly developed into a force of its own with its unique style and technique. Unfortunately due to time we did not have the chance to watch a performance in Moscow.
Moscow does have quite a lot to offer and clearly we cannot cover everything of note in Moscow as that would mean a total plagiarism act from a guide book.
Buy and Do
Banya (Баня)
Banya (Баня), the Russian version of sauna, is an important part of Russian culture and tradition and is a means for social bonding. There are plenty of public banya all around Moscow, but since we went during the intense summer we did not any urge for this activity.
Soviet memorabilia (Советские памятные вещи)
A wide array of old Soviet memorabilia (Советские памятные вещи) including wristwatches, old notes, clothings or even small military gadgets are available in the market. They are extremely popular.
One very famous souvenir that every tourists buy in Russia is the matryoshka (матрёшка). We shall elaborate on the famous Russian dolls in Sergiev Posad (Сергиев Посад) where they originated.
Eat and Drink
Vodka (Водка)
Vodka (Водка), as a spirit beverage, is really the true spirit of Russia. It is clearly the national drink of Russia and literally one can smell vodka in the air of Moscow, where everyone is consuming everywhere in open air all around the clock. While there is a long-running debate whether vodka really comes from Russia or Poland (Polish: Polska), Russian vodka has always been considered as the finest. By the way, the word 'vodka' is a diminutive form of the Slavic word 'voda' meaning 'water' adding the roots '-k' as a diminutive suffix and '-a' to denote a feminine gender for the object.
According to legend, vodka was first created inside the Kremlin in early 15th century CE by the Russian monk Isidore (Исидор) and he is often credited as producing the first proper recipe of vodka. Traditionally vodka was distilled from potatoes or corn and was mainly used for medicinal purpose due to its alcohol content, although now grain is the most common ingredient. Vodka was traditionally also much lower in alcohol content, not more than 40%, until modern distillation techniques became available later.
More interestingly flavoured vodkas were actually more popular in the beginning as the practice of flavouring has practical origins. During the early days of production in the Middle Ages, the lack of techniques and equipment forbid total removal of impurities and the vodkas made were left with various unwanted aromas and flavours. As a result, various flavours, like honey or lemons were added into vodkas to mask these unwanted flavours. Only as distillation techniques improved, then flavoured vodkas became speciality.
The most famous vodka brand is definitely Smirnoff, created by Pyotr Smirnov (Пётр Смирнов) who purposely gallicise the name to make the brand more international.
Borscht (Борщ)
The most celebrated and well-known Russian dish is definitely the borscht (борщ), a sour soup made with beetroot, vegetables and beef-stew. The distinctive bright red or pinkish hue comes directly from the beetroot, which is the key ingredient. Variations of recipes exist with tomatoes, potatoes, cabbages, onions and different types of meat as alternative ingredients. One can easily say that borscht is easily the biggest Russian cultural export to the world.
The soup has mainly Slavic origin with hogweed as the main ingredient, which is reinforced by its etymology. The name itself has a Proto-Slavic origin coming from the word '*bŭrščǐ' meaning 'hogweed'. The English word 'borscht', however comes from Yiddish 'באָרשט (borsht)', as the soup was first popularised in North America by Yiddish-speaking Jews from Eastern Europe.
There is a political twist to the origin of borscht. While the beetroot version of borscht is definitely the most current and common one, which is largely accepted as the Eastern European or Slavic, the current ICH register however assigns it as an entirely Ukrainian ICH in 2022 CE, possibly for current geopolitical reason in view of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In Chinese restaurants, we actually grow up with a similar red soup called the Russian soup (Chinese: 罗宋汤, luosongtang) which is probably closer to minestrone than the authentic borscht, as it lacks beetroot and the main ingredients are usually tomato, cabbage and beef. Sometimes we simply refer this as the red soup.
We had a few of versions of borscht in Russia and they varied differently from one place to another: some is richer in taste than the other, some is blood-red, some is pink. There is no usually tomato and usually comes with a dip of sour cream. There were hints of sage and saffron, but in spite of the mix, the soup was light and to me it tasted very refreshing and I could right away imagine how soothing a steaming bortsch could be in the cold winter of Moscow.
Café Pushkin (Кафе Пушкинъ)
We had our first borscht in the very prestigious restaurant Café Pushkin (Кафе Пушкинъ), which is an institution in Moscow. This is easily one of the best dinners I ever had. The café is listed as one of the top ten things to do in Moscow in Time and goes into the top recommended restaurants in any guidebook in Russia.
The cafe is actually very new. You can google its website and turns out they have a more than interesting story, which I quote directly:
'More than 40 years ago Gilbert Becaud, famous French chansonier, gave performances in Moscow. Returned to France he wrote a song “Natalie” and dedicated it to Natalie, his Russian interpreter. There are such words in this song: “We are walking around Moscow, visiting the Red Square and you are saying learned words about Lenin, the revolution, but I am thinking: “I wish we sat in the “Café Pushkin”, with snow falling outside the windows, we would be drinking hot chocolate and talking of another things… ”. The song became incredibly popular in France, and it is no wonder that in Moscow the Frenchmen searched for the “Café Pushkin” and failed to find it because it was solely the poetic fantasy of Becaud. It was the song that compelled Andrey Dellos (Андрей Деллос) to create “Café Pushkin”. Finally on June 4th, 1999, on Tverskoy Boulevard Moscow, “Café Pushkin” was opened in a Baroque mansion, which opening was attended by Gilbert Becaud and there he sang his world-famous song “Natalie”.'
The not-so-big Baroque style restaurant is located at along the main street leading right to the Kremlin. The restaurant casts itself as a library with a very classy French flair and ambience. The restaurant size is definitely much smaller than its reputation, and the restaurant of this class certainly attracts patrons of sizeable reputation, including us. The restaurant was actually divided into two sections: the lower 'pharmacy' and the upper 'library' where it was closed during the time. The menu of the two sections were slightly different, I think the library offers a larger and pricier varieties. The menu offers a French-Russian fusion and the cuisine was both a grand French cinematic display immersed with a Russian force of aromas, zest and taste. Honestly once you're in the restaurant, you cannot help but admire the atmosphere you are in and under no circumstance, you can put down your camera.
Clearly the restaurant is expectedly expensive. Our dinner for seven people comes to USD $80 per head, but honestly I find it worth every penny: food, ambience and experience.
Getting There and Around
The Troitskaya Tower is best accessed via the metro Aleksandrovskiy Sad (Александровский Сад) station. Just Kremlin alone would easily take at least one or two full days of visit, without mentioning the other sites mentioned in the blog.
The entrance fee into the Kremlin is RUB 1,000₽ with a separate entrance fee to different buildings.
One nuisance of travelling in Moscow is that there are really plenty of drunkards, who urinate around the streets and metro station and are the main source of problems in the city. Stay away from troubles, after all Russians are not famous for their friendliness.
References
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