Twenty towers, which in ancient times helped to defend the Kremlin from enemies, and now adorn the most significant architectural structure in Russia, differ from each other both in height and shape. The highest tower of the Kremlin ensemble is Troitskaya.
Tower on the Neglinnaya river
The construction of the Trinity Tower began in 1495 and lasted four years. The construction was supervised by the Italian architect Aloisio da Milano, who in Russia was called, like other Italian architects, Fryazin. The Trinity Tower completed the construction of fortifications on the western wall of the Kremlin from the side of the Neglinnaya River, and became the same dominant element of the facade as the Spasskaya Tower on the eastern wall. When the rich decoration of tents was added to the Kremlin towers at the end of the 17th century, the new white-stone decor of the Trinity Tower began to largely repeat the decorations of the Spasskaya.
The powerful six-story tower had a defensive significance for the fortress, and in the deep two-story basement, after the disappearance of the military threat, a prison was located.
It is known that earlier there was a secret passage from the Troitskaya tower to Nikolskaya, and further along it it was possible to get out to Kitay-gorod.
In 1516, a wooden and then a stone bridge was erected across the Neglinnaya River, connecting the Trinity and Kutafya towers. The bridge also began to be called Trinity, on which they drove to the courtyard of the patriarch and to the chambers of the female half of the royal family. Now the gates of the Trinity Tower are the main entrance to the Moscow Kremlin for visitors and tourists.
The original architecture of the Troitsky Bridge is interesting - it did not spread from one tower to another, but stood in the middle, and the bridges were leaning back from it to the towers.
The tower received its current name only in 1658, when Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich placed the courtyard of the Trinity Monastery next to it. Prior to that, the tower was called Epiphany, Robe de Rizopolozhenskaya and Znamenskaya by the names of other monasteries, and even visited Karetnaya in honor of Karetny Dvor.
Lost treasures of the Trinity Tower
In 1685, a chime clock was installed on the tower, which worked until the Moscow fire of 1812. Now the clock has reappeared above the gate of the tower, but at the place of another loss - the icon of the Kazan Mother of God. The icon was damaged in 1917 during the storming of the Kremlin by the revolutionaries, and later removed from the tower and lost.
Another victim of the new regime in 1935 was the imperial double-headed eagle at the top of the tower. The oldest of the Kremlin eagles was assembled on bolts and had to be disassembled right on the spire of the highest tower of the Kremlin. The eagle was replaced with a gilded gemstone star, but after a couple of years the star faded and was replaced by a modern ruby glass star.
The height of the Trinity Tower together with the star is 80 meters.
In 1707, Moscow was preparing to repel the Swedish invasion, so the loopholes on the tower had to be widened: the muzzles of heavy guns did not enter into the former narrow windows for the shooters. And in 1870, the tower housed the Archives of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, and part of the decoration suffered during the reconstruction of the premises for document storage. Today, the Trinity Tower houses the Presidential Orchestra.
