Red brick Kremlin. Why were the Kremlin walls painted white?
The Moscow Kremlin has always been red since its construction (2nd millennium BC). In the 18th century its walls were whitewashed. This was the trend of the time. Entering Moscow in 1812, Napoleon also saw the Kremlin white.
White color
White paint hid the cracks in the Kremlin walls for a long time. They were whitewashed before major holidays. Under the influence of precipitation, the whitewash was quickly washed away, and the walls became an incomprehensibly dirty color. Muscovites called it a noble patina.
Foreign guests of the capital saw the fortress differently. Jacques-François Anselot, who visited Moscow in 1826, described it as a sad spectacle that did not correspond to his historical content. He believed that by trying to give the fortress walls the appearance of youth, Muscovites were “crossing out their past.”
The Kremlin during the war
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War it was decided that the Kremlin walls should be repainted for camouflage purposes. The development and implementation of the project was entrusted to academician Boris Iofan. Both Red Square and the fortifications were disguised as ordinary residential buildings. “Streets” were built behind the Kremlin walls, and black squares of windows were painted on the walls of buildings. The mausoleum seemed ordinary from the air residential building With gable roof. Strategically, this decision was the wisest. But it shows that already in 1941 Stalin was ready for enemy aircraft to circle over Moscow.
Red color
The walls of the ancient structure turned red after the end of the war. In 1947, Stalin ordered their color to be changed to the one favored by the communists. The leader's logic was simple and understandable. Red blood – red flag – red Kremlin.
The time when the Moscow Kremlin was built should be known to every person, loving Russia. Because it is not only the heart of Russia, the soul of the great and largest country in the world, but also one of the most beautiful complexes in the world.
Ancient settlements
Excavations have shown that settlements on the territory of the Kremlin existed 5,000 years ago, and in the 6th century AD Slavic tribes already lived here. In the center of Moscow itself, the remains of a settlement belonging to the Dyakovo culture were found.
Dyakovo settlements, as a rule, were located on river capes. In ancient times, for reasons of convenience and safety, the hills on the banks of the river were the first to be settled in the area. It is advisable at the mouth, so that the water fences the settlement on both sides. The waterway served as a route of communication with neighbors and allowed for more intensive trade, and the hills were not so accessible to enemies and provided an overview of a large area.
Birth of Moscow
And when the Moscow Kremlin was built, surrounded on both sides by the Moscow River and the Neglinnaya River flowing into it, as well as the settlement located on its top, they turned into an impregnable fortress. The first mention of the Kremlin dates back to 1147. At that time there were not even walls built in wood. They appeared only 9 years later - in 1156. The heart of Moscow was first mentioned in connection with Yuri Dolgoruky’s invitation to the newly erected mansions of his ally Svyatoslav Olgovich, the prince of Novgorod-Seversk. The arrival of a future relative (their granddaughter and son - the famous Igor and Yaroslavna - will get married) to the feast is considered the date. This is exactly the time when the Moscow Kremlin was built.
Great Builder
After the construction of the walls, the Kremlin becomes the administrative center for the surrounding and nearby villages. Here the inhabitants of these settlements found shelter during the invasion of enemies. Gradually the importance of this fortress increased, and the territory expanded. And now, under Prince Danil Alexandrovich (1261-1303), the ancestor of the Moscow princes, the city that grew up around the Kremlin became the capital of the small Moscow principality.
At the time when the Moscow Kremlin was built, Yuri Dolgoruky founded Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and Yuryev-Polsky. This prince, who ruled the Rostov-Suzdal principality all his life and died there, was engaged in active urban planning. In addition to the above cities, he founded Dubna, Kostroma, Dmitrov, the village of Senyatino, which was flooded during construction, and, according to one legend, Gorodets. In addition, he built many fortresses and fortified areas. So, when the Moscow Kremlin was built (year 1147), other strategic points were also laid out. And nothing said that it was from this fortress that the capital of the largest state in the world would grow.
Improvements to the future capital
And Moscow was built and expanded. Prince Ivan Kalita (1283-1341) built the first white stone cathedrals. And under him, in 1340, the old wooden walls were replaced by powerful oak ones. And his grandson Dmitry Donskoy (1350-1389), son of Moscow Prince Ivan II the Red, replaced the oak walls with white stone ones. This was the reason for calling Moscow “white stone”. It is this beauty that is depicted in the painting painted in 1879, entitled “View of the Moscow Kremlin from the Stone Bridge.” The capital of Russia, a city with an amazing history, cannot but arouse increased interest. Any main city in the country is loved and respected by its residents. But Moscow is something much more for a Russian person. And it is quite natural to want to know the details of the origin of the city, how it began, how and when the Moscow Kremlin was built, the year of its foundation and under which prince this miracle was built.
First literary mentions
One of the first descriptions of the origins of the great city is in the story “The Tale of the Murder of Daniil of Suzdal and the Beginning of Moscow.” The Ipatiev Chronicle is considered the first reliable source that mentions the town of Moskov - the place of a great feast in honor of the meeting of friends and allies of the Rostov-Suzdal and Novgorod-Seversk princes. There are several answers to the question of what year the Moscow Kremlin was built. You can indicate a specific date in connection with which the Kremlin was first mentioned - on the day of “Heel in Praise of the Virgin Mary,” that is, on Saturday, April 4, 1147. And you can talk for a long time about how the Kremlin was built over the centuries. Is it possible to imagine this complex without the Assumption Cathedral or the Bolshoi
The Kremlin was built and rebuilt
The answer to the question of what year the Moscow Kremlin was built will depend entirely on what is meant by this name - a modern hulk, the residence of the president Russian Federation, or the small wooden structure that started it all. There is not enough page to simply list all the chambers, cathedrals, buildings, squares, gardens and monuments of this main socio-political, historical and artistic complex of Russia, which occupies an area of 27.5 hectares. The Kremlin territory resembles an irregular triangle.
One of the pearls of the Kremlin
The Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin deserves special words. It was built in 1479. The history of the beginning of its creation dates back to 1326. The Great Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita together with Saint Peter laid the foundation this year stone cathedral in Moscow. The capital city (namely, Moscow had this status) was obliged to have the main temple of Holy Rus'. It is Saint Peter who plays the key role in Moscow becoming the first throne. Therefore, after his death, the first Metropolitan of Moscow was buried in the still unfinished main cathedral of Rus'. His relics and the copy of the icon “Our Lady of Petrovskaya”, the original of which was made by the Apostle Peter himself, are one of the main shrines of Russia. The cathedral was rebuilt. This happened during the reign of the unifier of Russian lands under the rule of Moscow, Grand Duke Ivan III. Under him, a large construction project was launched in the Kremlin - all buildings were rebuilt in stone. And in this case, answering the question of when the Moscow Kremlin was built, the year can be called completely different - 1485. During the decade (1485-1495), unique battlements were erected, which are business card great complex.
A priceless treasure of world architecture
As noted above, Dmitry Donskoy rebuilt the original wooden building in stone (as the Kremlin was also called in Rus'). Actually, he built a new stone “kremnik”, and the year of completion of construction, 1367, can also rightfully be considered the date when the Moscow Kremlin was built. Later, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who became the first Russian Tsar (he took the title in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin), the complex itself was also intensively completed.
And the decoration of Cathedral Square is the Ivan the Great bell tower, without which it is difficult to imagine the Kremlin, since it long years was the tallest building in Moscow; it was erected during the reign of Boris Godunov. However, the first Moscow Kremlin was built in 1147 by decree of Yuri Dolgoruky. The fortified part of the city was also called “krom”, which is more suitable for a wooden tower surrounded by a wooden fence. The one and only, legendary and impregnable, the Kremlin is the personification of the power and uniqueness of Russia.
The Moscow Kremlin, which we can admire today, was built by Italians from red brick in 1485–1495 by order of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasilievich. It was not plastered or painted, so the original color of the walls and towers was red.
Fortresses with similar architecture can be found in Europe, for example in Verona and Milan. The most characteristic element, the battlements on the wall in the form of a swallowtail or the letter M, was considered a symbol of imperial power. The pope's opponents, the Ghibellines, had it in their fortresses. The Guelphs, who recognized papal authority above secular ones, built castles with rectangular battlements, so in those days it was possible to distinguish the owner’s belonging to one or another clan.
In medieval Italy, the question of which power is more important - secular or spiritual - was very relevant. In the literal sense, many copies were broken. Since the Milanese architects carried out the order of a representative of secular power, they considered that the imperial sign would be closer to the Russian ruler.
Moscow white stone
It is quite possible that the phrase “White stone Moscow” appeared back in the 14th century under Dmitry Donskoy, when the most important sections of the wall and tower of the originally wooden fortress were replaced with stone ones. White stone fortifications twice saved the city from enemy invasion. In the 15th century, these walls were dismantled or used as foundations during the construction of the brick fortifications that we see today.
In the 18th century, following the fashion trends of the time, the color of the walls and towers was changed, and the brick was whitewashed. This happened not only in Moscow, almost all fortresses in Russian cities were painted in White color. Napoleon in 1812 saw the Kremlin white. After the fires it was repaired and painted white again.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Moscow Kremlin remained formally white, that is, it was whitewashed for various events, but most of the time its walls looked shabby, covered with a “noble urban patina.” Even after the events of 1917, he remained white; this did not bother the Bolsheviks at all.
When did the Kremlin turn red?
In June 1941, it was decided to disguise the Kremlin as residential areas. Windows of houses were painted on the walls, the mausoleum was covered with a plywood cap in the form of an ordinary city building. By the way, everything was done efficiently - German air raids did not cause any damage.
For the 800th anniversary of Moscow, in 1947, the Kremlin was restored, and the walls and towers, by order of Joseph Stalin, were painted red, which harmonized well with the spirit of that era. Since then, the color of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin has been maintained red, periodically tinted to make it look elegant.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Everyone has already heard that the Kremlin was white. Many articles have already been written about this, but people still manage to argue. But when did they start whitewashing it, and when did they stop? On this issue, statements in all articles diverge, as do the thoughts in people’s heads. Some write that whitewashing began in the 18th century, others that at the beginning of the 17th century, and still others are trying to provide evidence that the Kremlin walls were not whitewashed at all. The phrase is widely circulated that the Kremlin was white until 1947, and then suddenly Stalin ordered it to be repainted red. Was it so? Let's finally dot the i's, fortunately there are enough sources, both picturesque and photographic.
Let's understand the colors of the Kremlin: red, white, when and why —>
So, the current Kremlin was built by the Italians at the end of the 15th century, and, of course, they did not whitewash it. The fortress retained the natural color of red brick; there are several similar ones in Italy; the closest analogue is the Sforza Castle in Milan. And whitewashing fortifications in those days was dangerous: when a cannonball hits a wall, the brick is damaged, the whitewash crumbles, and a vulnerable spot is clearly visible, where you should aim again to quickly destroy the wall.
So, one of the first images of the Kremlin, where its color is clearly visible, is the icon of Simon Ushakov “Praise” Vladimir icon Mother of God. Tree of the Russian State. It was written in 1668, and the Kremlin is red.
The whitewashing of the Kremlin was first mentioned in written sources in 1680.
The historian Bartenev, in the book “The Moscow Kremlin in the Old Time and Now” writes: “In a memorandum submitted on July 7, 1680 to the Tsar, it is said that the Kremlin fortifications “were not whitewashed”, and the Spassky Gate “were painted in ink and white in brick". The note asked: should the Kremlin walls be whitewashed, left as is, or painted “in brick” like the Spassky Gate? The Tsar ordered the Kremlin to be whitewashed with lime..."
So, at least since the 1680s, our main fortress has been whitewashed.
1766 Painting by P. Balabin based on an engraving by M. Makhaev. The Kremlin here is clearly white.
1797, Gerard Delabarte.
1819, artist Maxim Vorobyov.
In 1826, the French writer and playwright Francois Anselot came to Moscow; in his memoirs he described the white Kremlin: “With this we will leave the Kremlin, my dear Xavier; but, looking back at this ancient citadel again, we will regret that, while correcting the destruction caused by the explosion, the builders removed from the walls the centuries-old patina that gave them so much grandeur. The white paint that hides the cracks gives the Kremlin an appearance of youth that belies its shape and obliterates its past.”
1830s, artist Rauch.
1842, daguerreotype of Lerebourg, the first documentary image of the Kremlin.
1850, Joseph Andreas Weiss.
1852, one of the very first photographs of Moscow, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is under construction, and the walls of the Kremlin are whitewashed.
1856, preparations for the coronation of Alexander II. For this event, the whitewash was renewed in some places, and the structures on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower were given a frame for illumination.
The same year, 1856, view in the opposite direction, the one closest to us is the Taynitskaya tower with the archery facing the embankment.
Photo from 1860.
Photo from 1866.
1866-67.
1879, artist Pyotr Vereshchagin.
1880, painting English school painting. The Kremlin is still white. Based on all the previous images, we conclude that the Kremlin wall along the river was whitewashed in the 18th century, and remained white until the 1880s.
1880s, Konstantin-Eleninskaya tower of the Kremlin from the inside. The whitewash is gradually crumbling, revealing the red brick walls.
1884, wall along the Alexander Garden. The whitewash was very crumbling, only the teeth were renewed.
1897, artist Nesterov. The walls are already closer to red than to white.
1909, peeling walls with remains of whitewash.
The same year, 1909, the whitewash on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower is still holding up well. Most likely it was whitewashed for the last time later than the rest of the walls. From several previous photographs it is clear that the walls and most of the towers were last whitewashed in the 1880s.
1911 Grotto in the Alexander Garden and the Middle Arsenal Tower.
1911, artist Yuon. In reality, the walls were, of course, a dirtier shade, the whitewash stains more obvious than in the picture, but the overall color scheme was already red.
1914, Konstantin Korovin.
The colorful and shabby Kremlin in a photograph from the 1920s.
And the whitewash on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower was still in place, mid-1930s.
Late 1940s, the Kremlin after restoration for the 800th anniversary of Moscow. Here the tower is clearly red, with white details.
And two more color photographs from the 1950s. Somewhere they touched up the paint, somewhere they left peeling walls. There was no total repainting in red.
1950s These two photos are taken from here: http://humus.livejournal.com/4115131.html
Spasskaya Tower
But on the other hand, everything turned out to be not so simple. Some towers stand out from the general chronology of whitewashing.
1778, Red Square in a painting by Friedrich Hilferding. The Spasskaya Tower is red with white details, but the walls of the Kremlin are whitewashed.
1801, watercolor by Fyodor Alekseev. Even with all the diversity of the picturesque range, it is clear that the Spasskaya Tower was still whitewashed at the end of the 18th century.
And after the fire of 1812, the color red was returned again. This is a painting by English masters, 1823. The walls are invariably white.
1855, artist Shukhvostov. If you look closely, you can see that the colors of the wall and the tower are different, the tower is darker and redder.
View of the Kremlin from Zamoskvorechye, painting by an unknown artist, mid-19th century. Here the Spasskaya Tower is whitewashed again, most likely for the celebrations of the coronation of Alexander II in 1856.
Photograph from the early 1860s. The tower is white.
Another photograph from the early to mid 1860s. The whitewash of the tower is crumbling in some places.
Late 1860s. And then suddenly the tower was painted red again.
1870s. The tower is red.
1880s. The red paint is peeling off, and here and there you can see newly painted areas and patches. After 1856, the Spasskaya Tower was never whitewashed again.
Nikolskaya Tower
1780s, Friedrich Hilferding. The Nikolskaya Tower is still without a Gothic top, decorated with early classical decor, red, with white details. In 1806-07, the tower was built on, in 1812 it was undermined by the French, almost half destroyed, and restored at the end of the 1810s.
1823, fresh Nikolskaya Tower after restoration, red.
1883, white tower. Perhaps they whitewashed it together with Spasskaya for the coronation of Alexander II. And they updated the whitewash for the coronation Alexandra III in 1883.
1912 The White Tower remained until the revolution.
1925 The tower is already red with white details. It became red as a result of restoration in 1918, after revolutionary damage.
Trinity Tower
1860s. The tower is white.
In the watercolor of the English school of painting from 1880, the tower is gray, the color given by spoiled whitewash.
And in 1883 the tower was already red. Painted or cleaned of whitewash, most likely for the coronation of Alexander III.
Let's summarize. According to documentary sources, the Kremlin was first whitewashed in 1680; in the 18th and 19th centuries it was white, with the exception of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Trinity towers in certain periods. The walls were last whitewashed in the early 1880s; at the beginning of the 20th century, the whitewash was updated only on the Nikolskaya Tower, and possibly also on Vodovzvodnaya. Since then, the whitewash gradually crumbled and was washed away, and by 1947 the Kremlin naturally took on the ideologically correct red color; in some places it was tinted during restoration.
Kremlin walls today
photo: Ilya Varlamov
Today, in some places the Kremlin retains the natural color of red brick, perhaps with light tinting. These are bricks from the 19th century, the result of another restoration.
Wall from the river side. Here you can clearly see that the bricks are painted red. Photo from Ilya Varlamov’s blog
All old photos, unless otherwise noted, are taken from https://pastvu.com/
Alexander Ivanov worked on the publication.
In 1366-1367 By order of Dmitry, the capital was fortified with the first white stone Kremlin in Rus'. If for the khan's ambassadors its gates were hospitably open (Dmitry preferred to pay them off with rich gifts), then for other neighbors and rival princes the Kremlin became a powerful defensive fortress. When, in November 1367, on the Trosna River, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd, who was the son-in-law to the Tver prince Mikhail Alexandrovich, defeated the Moscow regiments. Dmitry Ivanovich said: “I won’t let you go to the great reign!” Indeed, the presence of the Kremlin became a reliable defense for the Moscow capital: in 1368, Mikhail Tverskoy’s attempt to besiege the Kremlin and take it failed.
WHITE STONE FORTIFICATIONS OF THE MOSCOW KREMLIN 1367
In 1343, 1354, 1365, approximately once every 10 years, Moscow became a victim of terrible fires, during which, undoubtedly, the fortifications of the oak Kremlin of Kalita burned out. Apparently, these fires were not “accidents”, but sabotage organized by the enemies of Moscow. Therefore, the next year after the fire of 1365, at the beginning of the winter of 1366, “the great prince Dimitrei Ivanovich, having told fortunes with his brother, with the prince with Volodimer Andreevich and with all the oldest boyars, decided to build the city of Kamen Moscow, and having planned it, he did it . But winter brought the stone to Gordow.” By the spring of the following year, 1367, the reserves of stone were sufficient to begin the construction of a white-stone fortress. Its laying aroused fear and anger among the enemies of Moscow.
Construction was carried out with exceptional speed; The chronicle notes that after the foundation of the Kremlin “we began to work without ceasing.” By 1368 it was ready. The Lithuanian army could not take it: “Olgerd stood near the city for three days and three nights, the rest of the suburbs burned down, he burned many churches and many monasteries and retreated from the city, but did not take the city of the Kremlin and went away.”
The area of the Kremlin has now expanded significantly in the northeastern and eastern directions, capturing within the new walls the trading territory located under the walls of the Kalita fortress. In general, the perimeter of the walls now almost coincided in plan with the walls of the Kremlin of Ivan III... Data from written sources make it possible to reconstruct with relative accuracy both the outline of the walls and the location of the towers of the Kremlin in 1367. Let us consider these data, starting from the south-eastern corner and the eastern “approach” walls.
At the southeastern corner of the fortress there should have been a corner round tower that protected the southern section of the eastern wall and the approaches to the coastal lowland in front of the southern wall. This tower stood on the site of the Beklemishevskaya tower. “The Legend of the Massacre of Mamayev” names three passage towers of the eastern wall through which troops marched to the Kulikovo Field: Konstantino-Eleninskaya, Frolovskaya (Spasskaya) and Nikolskaya.
The information about the Frolov Gate is also accurate. During the siege of Moscow by Tokhtamysh, the famous Adam the cloth maker was “above the gates above the Frolovskys.” A century later, in a fire in 1488, “three bridges” burned at the Frolov Gate, that is, the wooden flooring of 3 tiers of the tower battle, which allows us to judge the structure and high altitude covering the gate of the tower. The chronicle's story about the construction of archers at the Frolovsky and Nikolsky gates in 1491 notes that the latter “did not lay the latter on the old basis,” which, therefore, the Frolovskaya tower became on the old basis of the tower of 1367.
Thus, the southern section of the eastern wall of the Kremlin from 1367 exactly coincides with the modern Kremlin wall, just as 3 towers stand in the old places.
The new location of the Nikolsky Gate shows that the northern part of the “approach” wall of 1367 does not coincide with the existing one. Their place is easily and accurately determined by the chronicle indicating that the Church of the Introduction, built in 1458 in the courtyard of the Simonov Monastery, was located “at the St. Nicholas Gate”...
The least is known about the western wall of the fortress built in 1367. The existing wall facing Neglinnaya, which began construction in 1495, was built “not on the old basis - the city was added.” Therefore, the chronicle records about the construction of this wall do not report anything about the wall of 1367 that remained aside and its towers. There is no random mention of her by the chronicler. The western front of the fortress was well covered by the wide swampy bed of the river. Neglinnaya, and the approach to the wall was difficult. It is possible that this large section of the wall up to the Borovitsky Gate did not have a tower. However, there is reason to believe that here, approximately at the site of the Trinity Gate, the wall of the fortress of 1367 was interrupted by a passage tower, bearing the name of the Rizpolozhensky or Bogoroditsky Gate, with a stone bridge across Neglinnaya, leading to the Novgorod Volotsk road...
Borovitskaya gate tower, the presence of which we assumed already in the fortress of the 12th century. and the Kalita Kremlin, in the fortress of 1367 there was no doubt. The record of the construction of the Church of John the Baptist “on the forest” in 1461 indicates that this tower stood “at the Borovitsky Gate.” The southwestern corner tower was built in 1488 “up Moscow, where the Sviblova Strelnitsa stood,” which was the corner tower of the fortress of 1367. Thus, the southern wall of 1367, secured by corner towers, coincides with the wall of the current Kremlin. The Tainitskaya tower of this wall, built in 1485 “at the Cheshkova Gate,” i.e., on the site or near the Cheshkova passage tower of 1367, which led to the water, to the Moskvoretsky “podol,” also coincides. We believe that the Moskvoretsky “ship shelter” under the walls of the fortress was covered with side walls that blocked access to this area in case of military danger.
This is how the plan of the fortress of 1367 is reconstructed. In this form, its perimeter was about 2000 m. The fortress undoubtedly had 8 towers, and maybe 9 towers (if we assume the presence of one tower in the middle of the western wall). Of these, five were concentrated on the eastern “step” wall. This concentration of towers on the most threatened front is a characteristic technique of military engineering of the 14th century. (cf., for example, Izborsk). However, in high degree Interestingly, three of the 5 towers are drive-through; they all acted as gates even in extreme danger. During the heroic defense of Moscow from Tokhtamysh, the townspeople “stood on all the city gates and shibahu stoned from above.” With all the combat power of the gate towers (three-tier battles) and the presence of “iron (i.e., iron-bound) gates” in the towers, it is obvious that such a technique, which weakened the “approach” wall, was used deliberately in anticipation of the active defense of the fortress, the tactics massive attacks on the enemy through the simultaneous deployment of significant military forces at three points. On the other hand, in peaceful conditions, these numerous “gates” of the capital of the Moscow principality, through which roads led to the Kremlin, seemed to symbolize the centralizing power and importance of Moscow, which gathered scattered Russian lands under its mighty hand.
One might think that, like other Russian fortresses built before the advent of firearms, the Moscow fortress of 1367 had relatively thin walls. Because of this, during frequent fires that destroyed the wooden connections of the stone walls, the walls partially collapsed and were replaced with wooden ones. Thus, during the fire of 1445, which caused great destruction to the Kremlin, “hail walls fell in many places,” and during the raid of the Tatars of Tsarevich Mazovsha, the besiegers concentrated their efforts on those areas “where there were no stone fortresses.” It is clear that after many coverings with wood, the Moscow fortress seemed “wooden” to Ambrose Contarini.
Apparently, the walls of 1367 were also relatively low. The description of the siege of the Kremlin by Tokhtamysh’s troops in the Ermolin Chronicle notes that the Tatars managed to knock down its defenders from the walls “even before the city began to exist.” This evidence should be understood not as an indication of the unfinished construction of 1367 as early as 1382, but as an explanation made by the scribe of the chronicle list, who compared at the end of the 15th century. old fortress walls with walls “renovated” by Ermolin in 1462, and the walls of the new Kremlin, the construction of which began in 1485 from the archery at the Cheshkov Gate, reaching a height of 12-13 m.
The nature of the completion of the walls is not entirely clear. Sources talk about wooden parts at the top of the walls (in the fire of 1445, “not a single piece of wood remained in the city”) and about wall “fences,” i.e., like wooden parapets that ran along the top of the walls. One might think that the latter term should be attributed to poetic language the author of “Zadonshchina”, and not to the real wall of the Moscow Kremlin. Most likely, its walls had a crenellated top, as is known, for example, from the Porokhov Fortress. Undoubtedly, the battle move was covered by a “hail roof.” The towers also had a crenellated top and wooden hipped roofs.