Kremlin & Kitay Gorod - Moscow - page 121

Arsenal
North of the State Kremlin Palace is the 18th-century Arsenal ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) , com-
missioned by Peter the Great to house workshops and depots for guns and weaponry. An un-
realised plan at the end of the 19th century was to open a museum of the Napoleonic Wars
in the Arsenal. Now housing the Kremlin Guard, the building is ringed with 800 captured
Napoleonic cannons.
Senate
The offices of the president of Russia, the ultimate seat of power in the modern Kremlin, are
in the yellow, triangular former Senate ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) building, a fine 18th-century
neoclassical edifice, east of the Arsenal. Built in 1785 by architect Matvei Kazakov, it was
noted for its huge cupola. In the 16th and 17th centuries this area was where the boyars
(high-ranking Russian nobles) lived. Next to the Senate is the 1930s Supreme Soviet (
MAP GOOGLE MAP ) building.