| The Moscow Kremlin: the Borovitskaya and Oruzheynaya (Armoury) Towers |
| The Moscow Kremlin: the Borovitskaya and Oruzheynaya (Armoury) Towers |
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Type: Moscow Kremlin
Series: architecture
Country: Russia
Scale: 1:250
Quantity of sheets: 10 x A4
The instruction in English
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| THE BOROVITSKAYA TOWER is situated on the south-western flank of the Borovitskiy Hill. Its name arises from the old pine forest (bor), that once covered this part of the hill. The tower was built by the Italian architect Pietro Antonio Solari in 1409 and was used as the entrance to the utility part of the monarch's yard, separated from its front area by a stone wall erected in 1499. By the order of the tsar Aleksey Mihaylovich in 1658 the Borovitskaya Tower was renamed into the Predtechenskaya Tower in accord with the nearby situated church of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner (Predtecha) under Bor. However, the old name of the tower survived after all and remained till nowadays. Originally the tower was a massive tetragonal construction, covered with a wooden hipped roof. In the 1680-ies they raised above it three tetragonal constructions diminishing to the top, the opened octagon and the stone hipped roof, what gave to the tower a pyramidal tier shape. At that time they also attached the loophole situated at the side of the tower. In it the entrance gate with the iron grating and lifting bridge over the Neglinnaya River was made. In the 18-th century when repairing the tower the pseudo-Gothic details were introduced into its decor. In 1812 when the Vodovoznaya Tower next to it was blown up, the top of the hipped roof of the Borovitskaya Tower fell down. In 1816-1819 the tower was renovated under the guidance of O.I.Bove. In 1848 the altar of the Church of Birth of St.John the Forrunner under Bor was carried to the Borovitskaya Tower and the pseudo-Gothic decor was taken away. The height of the tower to the star is 50,7m, with the star - 54,05m.
THE ORUZHEYNAYA (ARMOURY) TOWER was built in 1493-1495 on the north-western side of the Kremlin wall that is stretching nowadays along the Alexandrovskiy Garden. It is situated between the Borovitskaya and Komendantskaya Towers. At the beginning of the 17-th century it had the entrance gates to the Stable Yard in the Kremlin. Hence its ancient name arises. In 1676-1686 the tower was overbuilt with a hipped roof and till nowadays it has preserved its medieval forms well. Its architectural solution is similar to the adjacent Commandant Tower - the massive tetragonal construction square in plan, completed by the combat ground with the parapet, the opened tetragonal constrution above it crowned by the pavilion with the inspection tower. Inside the main space of the tower there are two tiers of arched rooms, in the lower of which the entrance from the side of the Kremlin leads. Its temporary name the tower received in the 19-th century according to the building of the Armoury Chamber built on the territory of the Kremlin. The height of the tower is 38,9m.
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