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51-707: The Kremlin Presidium was located in the northern part of the Kremlin, adjacent to the Kremlin Senate and forming one side of Ivanovskaya Square . The edifice of four storeys had three wings opening toward the Senate, which a central building which faced Taynitskaya Garden to the south connected. The southern facade had an Ionic colonnade and a gabled roof in the center, reflecting the Neoclassical style of

102-417: A Neoclassical style characterized by symmetry and rigour. The building was completed in 1787, with interior work continuing to 1790. Kazakov's building cost 759,000 roubles. According to Ivan Kondratiev, Catherine was so impressed by the building that she gave Kazakov her gloves, saying "I'll pay your bills later, for now – this is a token for your wife". She indeed repaid Kazakov with diamonds, promotion and

153-482: A Soviet propaganda icon. However, originally it carried a statue of St. George, then a statue of Justice (destroyed by French troops in 1812). The exterior styling of the building is an unusual mix of Doric and Ionic order columns. Inside the building, the large “Catherine Hall” is designed as a parade room, where especially important ceremonies are held. This is a circular hall, with a 24.7-meter diameter under extensive bas-relief ornamentation depicting Catherine as

204-510: A bell which was never rung and a cannon that was never fired. For a long time, there was a common theory that the Tsar Cannon was created only to impress foreigners of Russia's military powers. Thus, according to writer Albert Valentinov: "...Andrey Chokov knew from the very first moment that this would not be a whopper cannon at all. Even if we assume that the barrel would fire grapeshot, a massive amount of propellant would be needed to push

255-479: A central pentahedral portion and two side trihedral portions. In the middle of the main façade is an arched passage fashioned like a triumphal arch leading to the inner yard. Inside is Rotunda Hall (diameter 24.6 m or 80 ft 9 in and internal height 27 m or 89 ft), once called The Pantheon of Russia . Its green dome, carrying the state flag as seen from the Red Square, would later become

306-472: A classical fireplace. The Banqueting Room in light yellow and blue tones completes the enfilade of representation rooms. The furniture in it was created according to the surviving drawings of the 18th century. The Fireside Hall and Drawing Room are used for meetings and the signing of state documents. The Dining Room is used for informal breakfasts and lunches and working meetings of the Russian president with

357-424: A pension. The building later served as a model for several other official buildings in other Russian cities in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Later, in line with legal reforms of Catherine's successors, the building lost its national functions and became the seat of Moscow Regional Court (Здание Московских судебных установлений) and several other state offices. In 1905, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov ,

408-414: A result, the strength of the cannon was tested, and the weight of the powder charge was optimized. During the test, the charge weight was gradually increased to 120 kg. The set amount of propellant charge was 53 kg of black gunpowder in battle, putting the firing range to at most 1.2 km. As quoted by writer Mikhail Osorgin, who witnessed the events: …4 miles from the city, on the banks of the river, there

459-611: Is a monument of Russian artillery casting art, cast in bronze in 1586 in Moscow, by the Russian master bronze caster Andrey Chokhov . Mostly of symbolic impact, it was never used in a war. However, the cannon bears traces of at least one firing. Per the Guinness Book of Records it is the largest bombard by caliber in the world, and it is a major tourist attraction in the ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin. The Tsar Cannon

510-483: Is located just past the Kremlin Armory , facing towards the Kremlin Senate . The Tsar Cannon is made of bronze ; it weighs 39,312 kilograms (86,668 lb) and has a length of 5.34 m (17.5 ft). Its bronze-cast barrel has an internal diameter of 890 mm (35.0 in), and an external diameter of 1,200 mm (47.2 in). The barrel has eight cast rectangular brackets for use in transporting

561-452: Is purely decorative. This weapon was never intended to be transported on or fired from this gun carriage. According to one version, the name of this cannon, "Tsar", is associated with the image of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. However, it is more likely that this name owes to the massive size of this cannon. In old times the cannon is also sometimes called the "Russian Shotgun" (Дробовик Российский, Drobovik Rossiyskiy , lit. Shotgun Russian), because

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612-464: Is shaped like an isosceles triangle with each side approximately 100 metres (330 ft) in length, and with one side directly adjacent to the Kremlin Wall parallel to Red Square . The building has three floors and is painted in the same yellow color as many other administrative buildings within the Moscow Kremlin. The triangular structure has an inner courtyard, and is divided by hallways into

663-573: The Place of Skulls in order to protect the eastern approaches to the Kremlin, indicating that it originally did have a practical application. However, by 1706, it was moved to the Kremlin Arsenal and mounted on a wooden gun carriage. It was not used during the French invasion of Russia , although Napoleon Bonaparte considered removing it to France as a war trophy. The wooden gun carriage burnt in

714-588: The Politburo . Vladimir Lenin had his study and private apartment on the third floor in 1918-1922. Later, the Senate housed Joseph Stalin 's study and conference hall. Stalin maintained a small service apartment within the Kremlin Senate, although he chose not to live within the Senate building as his main residence. In 1955, Lenin's apartments were opened to public access; however, in 1994, all exhibits of this museum were relocated to Gorki Leninskiye and

765-578: The Russian presidential administration and is a highly secured and restricted area closed to the public. At present, only the southern corner façade, opposite the Tsar Cannon can be viewed. The Kremlin Senate is located in the northern part of the Kremlin grounds, between the Kremlin Arsenal and the former, now demolished, Kremlin Presidium (the site of which is planned to be a park). It

816-468: The fire that consumed Moscow in 1812 , and was replaced in 1835 by the present metal carriage, which disabled the firing function of the cannon. In 1860, the Tsar Cannon was moved to its current location on Ivanovskaya Square near the Tsar Bell , which is similarly massive and is the largest bell in the world (but which has never been rung). Voltaire joked that the Kremlin's two greatest items were

867-579: The Cannon yard, by Russian master Andrey Chokhov. The carriages and the cannon itself were richly decorated in 1835 at the St. Petersburg plant of Berd, with designs by architect A. P. Bryullov and drawings engineer P. Ya. de Witte. The Tsar Cannon was placed at several points around Moscow in its history. It is known to have been mounted on a special frame with a fixed inclination angle in the Red Square near

918-533: The Great had been a frequent guest in Moscow at the time when the city, neglected by past monarchs, did not have enough state offices. She ordered the construction of a building to house the Moscow branches of the Governing Senate, namely the national judiciary administration and the seat of elected administration for the Moscow region. The new building was designed by Matvey Kazakov who had participated in

969-532: The Great , Catherine the Great , Nicholas I and Alexander II . The hall's crystal chandeliers are based on drawings by Kazakov . In the recess of the courtyard is the main compositional centre of the building – the Catherine Hall. It is one of the largest circular halls in Moscow: it is 25 metres in diameter and 27 metres high. Formerly it had been intended for assemblies of the nobility for elections to

1020-676: The Greek goddess Minerva . The Presidential Residence consists of two parts: the business part and the representative part. The business part includes the working and representative rooms, the Presidential Council Hall, the Library and the Security Council premises. The representative part consists of a grand enfilade of rooms where international meetings and protocol events are held. All the rooms are located along

1071-585: The Russian Pavilion at the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna . The Perm cannon was to take its place in Kronstadt at Fort Constantine (Russia) , where a special carriage was already installed to ensure all-around coverage, and to protect St. Petersburg from the sea. Two such cannons were also intended to equip the armored frigate "Minin", which was built in St. Petersburg from 1866 to 1878. However,

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1122-654: The Senate closed its doors to the public again. From 1946 through the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Council of People's Commissars , later known as the Council of Ministers and as the Cabinet of Ministers , was based in this building. In 1994-1998, Senate building was converted to house the Russian presidential administration . An indiscriminate reconstruction from scratch destroyed Kazakov's interiors. Preservation advocate Alexei Komech reported from

1173-488: The Tsar Cannon—each of which weighs approximately one ton—were produced in 1834 as a decoration, and are too large to have been used in the cannon. According to legend, the cannonballs were manufactured in St. Petersburg, and were intended to be a humorous addition and a symbol of the friendly rivalry between Moscow and St. Petersburg . The cannon was cast in bronze in 1586, during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, in

1224-495: The adjacent Senate Building. However, the halls of the wings were much simpler and less conspicuous. The building had three floors and was painted in the same yellow color as many of the other administrative buildings in the Moscow Kremlin . The Presidium was on the site of the former Chudov Monastery which Metropolitan Alexius of Moscow founded in 1365, Ascension Convent , and Lesser Nicholas Palace. These were among

1275-486: The bronze parts that would fade away after the shot, also due to the absence of a pilot hole , which makes firing completely impossible. In the spring of 2001, as commissioned by the management of the Moscow Udmort enterprise "OAO Izhstal", a replica of the cannon was cast in iron. The replica weighed 42 tons, with a single wheel at 1.5 tons, the kernel at 1.2 meters and a caliber of exactly 89 cm. This copy

1326-603: The cannon never reached Kronstadt. The Giant has been returned to the road in Perm. This is due to the fact that the engineer-inventor Pavel Matveyevich Obukhov of Zlatoust has developed the technology to produce high-strength steel cannons. Having established a factory in St. Petersburg, he began producing lighter cannons, which were installed with breeched (the Krupp system), obsoleting the Perm cannon. Emperor Alexander II 's decision saved it from destruction, instead preserving it as

1377-456: The cannon weighs about 12 tons, with the barrel and the carriage cast in steel, and the wheels being solid. Three staples were installed on the cannon for fastening cables when moving it. It was cast on Zvenigovsky Shipyard named after N. S. Butyakov. Initially, the ornaments were cut from wood, and then cast from metal. The copy was suitable for shooting, as the barrel and the core were welded together. Four ornamental cannonballs are located next to

1428-686: The cannon. The Tsar Cannon located in Perm was the world's largest 20-inch cast-iron cannon. Unlike other "Tsar cannon"s, the one in Perm was a military weapon. The cannon, nicknamed the "Perm Giant", was made in 1868, by the order of the Ministry of Marine to the Motovilikha manufacturing plant (which is PAO " Motovilikha Plants " today, manufacturing weapon systems such as cannons, mortars, howitzers, self-propelled artillery, " Grad ", " Uragan " and " Smerch " rocket systems). Tests were carried out with

1479-475: The chestnut garden that used to grace the Senate's courtyard in the 1970s. On the night of May 2-3, 2023, the building was hit by an alleged drone attack , which detonated on top of its roof. Tsar Cannon The Tsar Cannon ( Russian : Царь-пушка , Tsar'-pushka ) is a large early modern period artillery piece (known as a bombarda in Russian) on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin . It

1530-536: The design of the Moscow Arsenal, and construction was started in 1776 by Karl Blank on a large triangular property in the north-east of the Moscow Kremlin, following a 1775 draft by Kazakov. The site once housed the Trubetskoy family palace and at least three churches. In 1779 Blank was demoted, and Kazakov took the lead. He envisaged Governing Senate as a “Temple of Law”, and designed the structure in

1581-531: The factory to Zakamskaya Pohulyanka. There were undershoots where the cannonball fell into the water, rising fountain spray and steam. There was no one, and no guns behind the Dalyu on the other side, only the smoke from the volleys indicated where the cannons were firing from… The river roared, shaking the air, and the mood of war was all over." A model of the Perm Tsar Cannon in full size was put before

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1632-530: The gun on 16 August 1869, starting from firing from the shore of the Kama River (which is around 0.8–1 km wide). Later tests were carried out on this place until the end of Perestroika, with a lot happening in Soviet times. A certain F. V. Pestich, chief of the artillery of Kronstadt port attending most of the tests. The Perm cannon made a total of 314 shots, including grapeshot and bombs of different systems. As

1683-508: The gun was meant to shoot 800 kg stone grapeshot rather than true, solid cannonballs. The cannon ought to be classified as only a mortar by its barrel length in modern classification, with the barrel length at only 6 calibers. However, in the 17th to the 18th century, it was rather called a " bombard cannon ", since mortars at that time had barrel lengths of no more than 2.5 calibers, or 3.5 calibers at maximum for long-range mortars. The spherical cast-iron projectiles located in front of

1734-408: The gun, which is mounted on a stylized cast-iron gun carriage with three wheels. The barrel is decorated with relief images, including an equestrian image of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich , with a crown and a scepter in his hand on horseback. Above the front right bracket the message "The grace of God, Tsar and Great Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, Autocrat of All Russia" was cast. There were two more labels cast at

1785-504: The historic edifices in the Kremlin that Joseph Stalin ordered demolished as part of the state atheism campaign, pursuant to which religious structures throughout Russia were razed. Ivan Rerberg , a prominent architect of Moscow who had designed the Kiyevsky Rail Terminal , was assigned to design a new administrative building for the Soviet government, and its construction began almost immediately. The new edifice

1836-417: The historical vista of Ivanovskaya Square . At the same time experts doubt the possibility of such an authentic reconstruction. Meanwhile a plan to build a new park on the site was announced. In April 2016 the Presidium was demolished. A little earlier the closed public entrance through Spasskaya Tower was opened to allow direct passage between Red Square and Alexander Garden ; it was previously closed to

1887-784: The leaders of various states. On the third floor of the northeast part of the building is the Presidential Library. The bookcases contain encyclopaedias, reference books and legislation. This room contains an authentic copy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, on which the presidents take the oath of office. The Governing Senate was an institution created by Tsar Peter the Great in 1711. It had six departments, four of which were in St Petersburg and two of which were in Moscow. Empress Catherine

1938-416: The local government. Its decoration consists of 24 columns of Corinthian white marble and bas-reliefs in antique style. The partitions between the windows in the domed section are filled with plaster medallions with bas-relief images of Russian dukes and tsars. In the piers between the columns are eighteen high relief panels on allegorical subjects composed by Gavrila Derzhavin and Nikolay Lvov . They reflect

1989-582: The military governor of Moscow, was assassinated just outside the Moscow Senate by Ivan Kalyayev . This was commemorated by a memorial cross , designed by Victor Vasnetsov in 1908. In 1918, the monument was destroyed by the Bolshevik administration. After the 1917 Russian Revolution and relocation of the capital to Moscow, the Kremlin Senate served as the seat of the Soviet government, including

2040-489: The outer facades and are connected through corridors running along the perimeter of the inner courtyards. The president's executive office, decorated in white and green colours, is located in the Oval Room. Meetings and negotiations are held there and state awards are presented. The room is decorated with a malachite fireplace, a mirror with a bronze clock and candelabrums on the mantelpiece, and four tall sculptures: Peter

2091-701: The public after the Bolshevik Government relocated there in 1918. Kremlin Senate The Kremlin Senate ( The Senate Palace , Russian : Сенатский дворец ) is a building within the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia . Initially constructed from 1776 to 1787, it originally housed the Moscow branch of the Governing Senate , the highest judiciary and legislative office of Imperial Russia . Currently, it houses

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2142-399: The site: "... crushed walls, ripped air ducts and piles of 200 year old bricks remind me of wandering around ruins of Berlin 's Reich Chancellery in 1946". Other sources, however, maintain that the reconstruction actually restored the interiors to the original Kazakov's plans after two centuries of ad-hoc modifications. Present-day photographs also show that the builders destroyed and paved

2193-506: The state activities of Catherine II and glorify legality, justice and enlightenment. The vault of the dome is decorated with caissons, giving it depth. The president's office is in classicist style, with a circular rotunda adorned with a bronze chandelier. Next to it is the Blue Drawing Room with white and gold furniture. The Audience Hall, in light colours with gilding, is decorated with portraits of Russian emperors, marble and

2244-572: The top of the barrel, to the right is "The decree of the faithful and Christ-king and the Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, Sovereign Autocrat of all Great Russia with his pious and god-blessed queen, Grand Princess Irina"; While to the one to the left is "Cast in the city of Moscow in the summer of year 7904 (c. 1585 in Gregorian calendar ), in his third summer state, by Andrey Chokov." The cannon-style gun carriage, added in 1835,

2295-413: The two-ton shot, making it impossible for the cannon to be transported from one position to another. Therefore Chokhov did not mean to cast it as a functional cannon at all. His cannon is always only a symbol of Russian power and of the capabilities of the Russian industry. If we render a Russian master able to create such a whopper cannon, the smaller ones would have much less use. Therefore, the Tsar Cannon

2346-491: Was a cannon factory. Trying new guns, not testing shot projectiles (but shells seems more while there was none), but cannonballs. They shot it over the Kama River, landing in the forest, where trees were knocked down and deep ditches were dug by those cannonballs. I was not allowed to go there. Yes, and there was no one, except on Sundays, when the plant was silent as tiny spiders float on the river and boats carry people from

2397-659: Was completed in 1934, two years after Rerberg's death. Initially it was not named, and it hosted the Red Commanders School, which was a military academy for Red Army leaders. The School was relocated in 1935, and from 1938 the building housed the offices of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet , whose head was the de jure head of state of the Soviet Union . From 1958-61, part of the building

2448-714: Was converted into the 1,200-seat Kremlin Theatre (Кремлёвский театр). However, it proved to be an awkward venue, and its functions were transferred to the newly built State Kremlin Palace . In 2001 the Presidium was slated for repair. After the relocation of the Presidential Administration to the Staraya Ploschad in 2011, important renovations began that were originally planned to be completed by 2015. Despite several years of renovation work, which

2499-405: Was criticized as an imprudent expenditure of public funds, alternative proposals were made. It was decided to discontinue the renovation and demolish the building entirely. In 2014 President Vladimir Putin proposed the restoration of the former Chudov Monastery , Ascension Convent , and Lesser Nicholas Palace. This proposal, if approved, would radically change the plan of the Kremlin and restore

2550-756: Was given as a present from Moscow to Donetsk, which was installed in front of the Donetsk City Hall in May 2001. There were two copies, with the other one produced in Izhevsk set in the premises of OAO Izhstal. In 2007, another replica was installed in front of the National Art Gallery in Yoshkar-Ola . This replica was made in a scale of 1:2. This replica is incomplete, with ornaments changed or absent, and other details missing. The kernel of

2601-477: Was put on display in the Kremlin for foreign diplomats." The cannon was last restored in 1980 in the town of Serpukhov . It was thoroughly studied by specialists in the Artillery Academy at that time and gunpowder residue was found, indicating that the cannon had been fired at least once, hinged and dug into the ground. Another theory by other researchers is that Tsar cannon never fired because of

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