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SPASSKAYA TOWER |

| Moscow Kremlin

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

Borovitskaya Tower

Vodovzvodnaya Tower

Blagoveshenskaya Tower

Tainitskaya Tower

Pervaya Bezymyannaya Tower

Vtoraya Bezymyannaya Tower

Petrovskaya Tower

Beklemishevskaya Tower

Konstantino-Yeleninskaya Tower

Nabatnaya Tower

Tsarskaya Tower

Spasskaya Tower

Senatskaya Tower

Nikolskaya Tower

Uglovaya Arsenalnaya Tower

Srednyaya Arsenalnaya Tower

Troitskaya Tower

Kutafya Tower

Komendantskaya Tower

Oruzheinaya Tower

Spasskaya Tower

The tower is by right regarded as the most beautiful of all the Kremlin towers. It was built in 1491 under the supervision of the architect Pietro Antonio Solari, also known as Pyotr Fryazin. Originally it was called Frolovskaya and later renamed the Spasskaya - or Savior’s - Tower in honor of the Icon of the Savoir Not Made By Hands, which crowned the gateway. The gates of the Spasskaya Tower were the main entrance to the Kremlin, regarded as holy and awe-inspiring: men had to take off their hats when walking through the gates, and it was forbidden to ride through on horseback. It was here that soldiers went off to battle and foreign ambassadors were greeted.

Originally the tower was half its present height. In 1624-1625 Russian architect Bazhen Ogurtsov and English master builder Christopher Halloway built a multi-tiered top with a stone tent roof. Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich ordered clothes to be made for the fantastical decorative statues to cover their nakedness. In the mid-17th century the first Kremlin double-headed eagle was mounted on the main Kremlin tower. Later, double-headed eagles appeared on the Nikolskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers.

The first clock was mounted in 1491, and the present Kremlin chimes were installed in 1851-1852 by the Butenop brothers. The diameter of the dial is 6.12 meters, the height of the numerals is 72 centimeters and the length of the hour hand is 2.97 meters, while that of the minute hand is 3.28 meters.

The tower is 67.3 meters high (71 meters with the star mounted in 1935).

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