TREASURY HOUSE

Chronicles mention that the construction of the Treasury House (Chambers) dates back to 1484-1485. It is likely that till that time the Annunciation Cathedral's old basement had been used as a treasury repository. The Treasury House was founded on order of Tsar Ivan III simultaneously with the new Church of the Annunciation and adjoined it from the east. The Treasury was built by the Italian architect Marco Ruffo, author of the Faceted Chamber. The building was intended for keeping the Great Princes' treasury. It contained old pieces of a tsar's household, including tsar's regalia, viz crowns, sceptres, diadems, etc., as well as gold and silver utensils. The House burnt out in the Moscow fire of 1547 together with other buildings of the Kremlin. Apparently, it was soon restored to its former appearance.

We can see the first depictions of the Treasury House on the Kremlin plans from the 16th-early 17th centuries. The miniature of 1673, showing the procession at Cathedral Square on the occasion of Mikhail Fyodorovich’s election to the throne, gives a more clear representation of the Treasury. A rectangular stone building on a basement with low entrance halls, closely adjoining the apses of the Annunciation Cathedral, is placed between the Archangel and the Annunciation Cathedrals. The House is covered with a high roof with four slopes; the entrance halls probably had a gable roof.

The Treasury building suffered considerable damage in 1737 during another fire that broke out in the Kremlin. The old building, had to be demolished "due to its extreme dilapidation", together with the foundations, and a new building was erected in its place. In 1761, after the paintings and carvings had been copied, the last wall of the Treasury was dismantled, and in 1764 the construction of a new gallery of the Armoury Chamber, designed by the architect D.V. Ukhtomsky, was completed. It remains unclear whether the lost ornamental decoration was restored on the newly built walls and vaults, as Ukhtomsky's building was soon demolished for the planned construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace according to V.I. Bazhenov’s design.