Kremlin & Kitay Gorod - Moscow - page 127

Ivan the Great Bell Tower
With its two golden domes rising above the eastern side of Sobornaya pl, the Ivan the Great
Bell Tower ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) is the Kremlin's tallest structure - a landmark visible
from 30km away. Before the 20th century it was forbidden to build any higher than this
tower in Moscow.
Its history dates back to the Church of Ioann Lestvichnik Under the Bells, built on this
site in 1329 by Ivan I (and later destroyed). In 1505, Italian Marco Bono designed a new
belfry, originally with only two octagonal tiers beneath a drum and a dome. In 1600 Boris
Godunov raised it to 81m.
The building's central section, with a gilded single dome and a 65-tonne bell, dates from
between 1532 and 1542. The tent-roofed annexe, next to the belfry, was commissioned by
Patriarch Filaret about 100 years later.
Architectural Exhibit
Ivan the Great houses the Museum of the History of Moscow Kremlin Architecture (
MAP GOOGLE MAP ; admission R500) , a multimedia presentation of the architectural history
of the Kremlin complex. Using architectural fragments and electronic projections, the exhib-
it illustrates how the Kremlin has changed since the 12th century. Special attention is given
to individual churches within the complex, including several churches that no longer exist.
The 45-minute tour ends with a 137-step climb to the top of the tall tower, yielding an amaz-
ing (and unique!) view of Sobornaya pl, with the Church of Christ the Saviour and the
Moskva-City skyscrapers in the distance.
That said, at the time of research, the bell tower was closed for no apparent reason, with
no indication of when it might reopen. If it is open, the price of a ticket to Ivan the Great is
supposed to include admission to the other churches (not the Armoury), so you don't have to
buy an additional ticket to the Kremlin grounds.
Tsar Bell
Beside (not inside) the Ivan the Great Bell Tower stands the world's biggest bell, a
202-tonne monster that has never rung. An earlier version, weighing 130 tonnes, fell from
its belfry during a fire in 1701 and shattered. Using these remains, the current Tsar Bell (-
MAP GOOGLE MAP ) was cast in the 1730s for Empress Anna Ivanovna. The bell was cool-
ing off in the foundry casting pit in 1737 when it came into contact with water, causing an
11-tonne chunk to break off. One hundred years later, the architect Montferrand took the