TROITSKAYA TOWER

The Troitskaya (Trinity) Tower is the dominant tower on the west side of the Kremlin; it is a gate tower with a diverted fighting platform. Designed by architect Alevisio Fryazin, it completed constructing the fortifications from the side of the Neglinnaya River in 1495-1499; later, the Alexander Garden was laid out there. In 1516 the stone Troitsky Bridge was built over the Neglinnaya River, and the Kutafiya Tower was built on the other side of the bridge. In the 16th-17th centuries, the Troitskiye Gate was of second importance after the Spasskiye Gate — it served as the passage to the Kremlin’s courts of the patriarch, tsarina and tsarevnas.

The tower got its present-day name in 1658 from the Troistkoye town church in the Kremlin. Before that, it had been called Bogoyavlenskaya, Znamenskaya, Kuretnaya after the churches and the carriage house, located in the Kremlin.

At the end of the 17th century, the tower was raised by a high tent and got architectural decorations close to the decor of the Spasskaya Tower, as well as the chimes, which has not been restored after the fire of 1812. When the Archive of the Imperial Court Ministry was transferred into the tower in 1870-1895, it was rebuilt, and many of the ancient details were lost. After the Neglinnaya River was taken into the line, a white-stone ramp leading to the Kutafiya Tower was replaced by a brick one. A new Troitsky Bridge was built in 1901.

The tower is six-storey with deep two-storey cellars, which served defensive purposes and in the 16th-17th centuries were used as a prison. All the floors of the construction connect by a system of stairs located along the tower perimeter. The fighting platform on the second tier has a room with a flat ceiling. The tower finishes with a quadrangle, above which there is an octagon with a through observation point, topped with a high, slender hipped roof. Ornamental turrets and pinnacles in the corners of parapets and lancet arches form the basis of the rich decor. The tower used to look more ornate at the entrance to the Kremlin in the past because the fighting platform had similar decorations.

The tower height up to the star from the Kremlin side is 65.65 metres, with the star – 69.3 metres. Its height from the side of the Alexander Garden is 76.35 metres, with the star - 80 metres.