Kremlin

President of Russia

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| DISCOVERING THE KREMLIN |
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National Priorities:
| Russia in the CIS
| The Nation`s Health
| Education and Science

DISCOVERING THE KREMLIN |

The Origin of the Kremlin

Moscow and the Kremlin are inseparable in the early history of the city.

Moscow appeared at the end of the 11th century as a small town at the mouth of the River Neglinnaya. From the very beginning, the settlement was fortified with a moat and a wall. Thus, the “town”, or the Kremlin, is the earliest part of historical Moscow.

The early Kremlin settlement at the confluence of the Moskva and Neglinka rivers became a centre of crafts and trade. Additionally, it was a convenient location, strategically advantageous, and protected from enemies by two rivers. At the beginning of the 12th century this territory joined the principality of Suzdal, which was finally formed under Prince Yury Dolgoruky, the son of Vladimir Monomakh. As a frontier point of the Rostov-Suzdal principality, Moscow took on the role of a fortress.

The first fortress that we know about from chronicle sources was built on the south-west side of the Borovitsky hill on an area of one and a half hectares. It occupied the elevated part of the hill, the steep promontory which is now the site of the modern Borovitsky gates. The hill was much higher and steeper then than it is now. During construction works from the 17th to the 19th century it was gradually filled in from the side of the Moskva and Neglinnaya rivers.

[Next... The “Small Wooden Town” on Borovitsky Hill]

| The Histiry of the Kremlin |  | The Era of Peter the Great
| The Origin of the Kremlin |  | The Second Half of the 18th Century
| The “Small Wooden Town” on Borovitsky Hill |  | 1812 and the Restoration of the Kremlin
| The Kremlin in the 13th Century |  | Construction Work in the Kremlin in the 19th Century
| A Residence Fit for Princes |  | The 20th Century: the Kremlin’s Losses
| The White Stone Kremlin of Dmitry Donskoi |  | The Most Recent History of the Ancient Kremlin
| The Kremlin in the 15th - 17th Centuries |  |

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