Kremlin

President of Russia

| A WORD TO VISITORS |
| SEND A LETTER |
| PHOTO ALBUM |
| DISCOVERING THE KREMLIN |
| SUBSCRIPTION |
| RUSSIAN |

National Priorities:
| The Nation`s Health
| Land Reform
| Education and Science

THE FACETED PALACE |

| Moscow Kremlin

Administrative buildings | The Kremlin Towers | The Kremlin Cathedrals | Squares and Gardens

The Senate

Building 14 (The Presidium)

The Arsenal

The Poteshny Palace

The State Kremlin Palace

The Grand Kremlin Palace

The Terem Palace

The Armory

The Faceted Palace

The State History Museum

The Faceted Palace

The Faceted Palace is one of the few surviving parts of the original royal palace built in the late 15th century by Ivan III. The palace, which the tsar used as his grandest official hall, is the oldest stone civilian architectural monument in Moscow. The palace was built in 1487-1491 by Russian master builders under the supervision of Italian architects Marco Ruffo and Pietro Antonio Solari, also known as Marco and Pyotr Fryazin. The building, with its distinct box shape, boasts a most unusual facade covered with faceted white limestone. The walls of the grand-looking hall - with an area of 500 square meters and a height of 9 meters - were covered with paintings in the second half of the 16th century. (The paintings with Biblical themes were renewed by Simon Ushakov in 1668 and masters from Palekh in the 1980s.) The famous Krasnoye Kryltso – the red or beautiful porch – is a grand entrance with a staircase and leads to the Sacred Vestibule, the anteroom at the entrance to the reception hall. For many centuries major historic events in the life of the Russian state took place here: the sittings of the Zemsky Sobor (National Assembly) and the Boyar Duma (Noblemen’s Council), and the greeting of foreign ambassadors. It was in this palace that Tsar Ivan the Terrible celebrated the victory over the Kazan Khanate in 1552, the Zemsky Sobor of 1653 passed a decision about the reunification of Ukraine and Russia and Peter the Great celebrated his victory over Sweden.

|  | TITLE | SITE MAP | ABOUT THE SITE | RUS | | |