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This is a
medieval fortress that forms the center of many Russian cities. The
best-known kremlin is in Moscow, where it forms one of the world’s
largest architectural compounds replete with historical and cultural
monuments and is the locus of government and presidential offices.
The word has come to signify the government of the Soviet Union and
now of Russia. |
The Moscow
Kremlin sits on the Borovitsky Hills, where a Slavic settlement was
established at the turn of the 12th century. By the late 15th
century, with the elevation of the Grand Duchy of Moscow among other
Russian princedoms, the Kremlin had become the seat of Russia’s
secular and religious authorities. In the 18th and 19th centuries,
with the capital transferred to St. Petersburg, Moscow retained its
preeminence as the nation’s religious and spiritual center. In 1918,
it regained its status of the capital city and the government moved
its headquarters back to the Kremlin. Today, it is the residence of
the Russian president.
The Moscow
Kremlin has changed its appearance several times over the centuries.
In the late 17th century, this was a town center with a carefully
planned system of streets, squares, and gardens. In the 18th and
19th centuries, many of its medieval structures were replaced with
monumental palaces and administrative buildings.
The Kremlin
museums include the Armory Palace, the Assumption Cathedral, the
Cathedral of the Archangel, the Annunciation Cathedral, the Church
of the Deposition of the Robe, the Patriarch’s Palace with the
Church of the Twelve Apostles, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, and
the collection of cannons and bells.
Adjacent to
the Kremlin is the Red Square, which, in the Middle Ages, was the
site of a large market for local and foreign traders. In the Soviet
era, Red Square was the venue of military and athletic parades. Now
it is sometimes used for holding huge open-air concerts and for
festive gatherings of Muscovites on major holidays, such as the New
Year.