TSARSKAYA TOWER

A small Tsarskaya (Tsar's) Tower was put directly on the wall between the Spasskaya and Nabatnaya towers of the Kremlin in the 1680s. Its octagonal tent on jug-like columns reminds us of the common at that day chests of perrons of stone dwelling houses. On the Kremlin plans of the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries, a four-sided building with a low marquee, probably made of wood, is shown on the place of the Tsar's Tower. Its name is connected with a legend upon which it served as a kind of a canopy over the tsar's throne, from where the tsar of all Russia could watch the events on Red Square from the walls of the Kremlin. However, it is known that the structure housed the bells of the Kremlin firefighting service — the so-called Spassky alarm bell. The building has preserved its original forms quite well. There is a through arched passage in its lower tier — a continuation of the passageway in the wall. The height of the tower with a weathervane is 16.7 metres.