List of former structures in the Moscow Kremlin

This list of former structures in the Moscow Kremlin contains a selection of individual buildings or connected building complexes that stood in Moscow on the territory of the Kremlin and were either destroyed by human hands or by force majeure and were not rebuilt in their original form. The list does not claim to be exhaustive and contains only the best-known buildings whose origins and / or usage history has been passed down to the present. This applies above all to sacred buildings and representative secular buildings that still existed in the 18th century or later. Most of them were only demolished in the 20th century at the behest of the Bolsheviks and partially replaced by new buildings that still stand today.

Monasteries

Chudov Monastery

The Chudov Monastery ( Russian Чудов монастырь ) was before it was destroyed in 1929-30 as one of the oldest Russian Orthodox monasteries in Moscow and hosted four church buildings alone. It was donated by Metropolitan Alexius in 1365 and dedicated to the festival of the miracle of the Archangel Michael (miracle = in Russian chudo , hence later Chudov monastery ) on September 6th . The administration building of the Moscow Kremlin built in the 1930s now stands in its place .

Building	Emergence	Destruction or demolition	Brief description
Alexius Church Церковь св. Алексия	1483-85	1929	It was consecrated to Metropolitan Alexius, the canonized founder of the monastery, and until the end it housed a reliquary with his remains. In 1839 a very neat iconostasis was made for the church , which was additionally decorated with bas-reliefs by the famous sculptor Fyodor P. Tolstoy . Unusually only male believers had access to the Alexius Church; so that women could also see the sanctuary of Alexius, it was placed in the open gallery that connected the Alexius Church with the Annunciation Church.
St. Andrew's Church Церковь Апостола Андрея Первозванного	1682	1929	This church stood west of the Church of St. Alexius and the Church of the Annunciation and was dedicated to the Apostle Andrew . Only monks from the Chudov Monastery were allowed into it.
Small Nicholas Palace Малый Николаевский дворец	1775-76	1929	Originally built as the seat of Archbishop Plato, the palace belonged to the Tsar's court at the beginning of the 19th century. The future Tsar Alexander II was born here in 1818 . The architect of the palace was Matwei Kazakow , who also built the Senate Palace in the Kremlin, which still exists today .
Michael's Cathedral Михайловский собор	1504	1929	The most important church in the Chudov Monastery was built on the site of several previous buildings, which were also dedicated to the miracle of the Archangel Michael. The first of them was built in 1365, a few years after the monastery was founded. A number of historical events are connected with St. Michael's Cathedral : for example, several later tsars were baptized there after birth , and according to tradition, Patriarch Hermogenus was imprisoned in the cellars of the cathedral. The church was almost square in shape and was closed at the top by a single drum with an onion dome .
Church of the Annunciation Церковь Благовещения	1680s	1929	The Annunciation Church was added to it from the north side during a restoration of the Alexius Church, so that the two churches have been connected by an open gallery since then. In 1905 Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov , murdered by revolutionaries, was buried in the base of the church . After the monastery was demolished, its crypt was lost for a long time and was discovered in the late 1980s when the roadway in front of the administration building erected on the site of the monastery was renewed. His remains were later transferred to the New Savior Monastery in Moscow.

Ascension Monastery

In contrast to the Chudov Monastery, the Ascension Monastery ( Вознесенский монастырь ) was a women's monastery. It also gave way to today's administration building in the winter of 1929/30. It was founded around 1386, possibly by Eudoxia, the widow of Grand Duke Dmitri Donskoy .

Building	Emergence	Destruction or demolition	Brief description
George's Church Георгиевская церковь	???	Early 19th century	The church stood on the site of the Katharinenkirche and was demolished before the foundation stone was laid.
Assumption Cathedral Вознесенский собор	1587-88	1929	The Assumption Cathedral was considered the main church of the convent and was first built when it was founded, around 1408. The church was rebuilt in 1521, possibly by the Italian Aloisio Lamberti da Montagnana , the architect of the Archangel Michael Cathedral ; it was extensively rebuilt and extended in 1588. The iconostasis of the demolished cathedral can now be seen in the Kremlin's Twelve Apostles Church . The sacristy of the monastery was located in the basement of the Assumption Cathedral .
Katharinenkirche Екатерининская церковь	1809-1817	1929	The style of the church was strongly based on the Gothic and therefore looked very atypical for Russian Orthodox sacred buildings. The design came from the famous Italian architect Carlo Rossi , who later a. a. worked in Tver and Saint Petersburg .
Michael Maleïnos Church Церковь Михаила Малеина	1610s	1929	The attached to the Assumption Cathedral church was from the mother of Tsar I. Michael donated. She had the church consecrated to the Byzantine saint Michael Maleïnos , who was considered the patron saint of her son.

Individual buildings outside the monasteries

Building	Emergence	Destruction or demolition	Brief description
Boris Godunov Palace Запасной дворец Бориса Годунова	1601-03	1770s	As one of the few Kremlin structures that Tsar Boris Godunov had built during his short reign, this three-story palace was built in place of a wooden residential building. In the middle of the 17th century a decorative garden was laid out on its roof; there were also several ponds and fountains that were fed from the first Kremlin aqueduct . The palace was demolished in the 1770s to make way for the planned and later abandoned Tsar's palace and was not rebuilt later.
Monument to Alexander II Памятник Александру II	1898	1918	The monument stood in the southern part of the Kremlin, near the slope of the fortress hill on the bank of the Moscow River . It was erected in memory of Tsar Alexander II who was murdered by terrorists and was dismantled soon after the Soviet Russian government entered the Kremlin as an undesirable symbol of the Tsarist empire .
Church of the Savior in the Forest Церковь Спаса на Бору	1330	1933	Built under Grand Duke Ivan Kalita , this church was the oldest completely preserved Kremlin building until its destruction. Originally it was the central church of the Savior Monastery located in the Kremlin, which was moved down the Moscow River at the beginning of the 16th century as part of the extensive reconstruction of the Kremlin (known today as the New Savior Monastery ( Новоспасский монастырь )). The stone church remained, however, had to be rebuilt or rebuilt several times over the course of time, and was finally demolished by order of the Soviet power : Since the church had been enclosed by this since the construction of the great tsar's palace , it was the one made in the 1930s Enlargement and merging of two parade halls to form a conference room in the way.
Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist Церковь Рождества Иоанна Предтечи	1509	1847	A wooden church, which was built on the site of the church consecrated in 1509, is said to have been the oldest church building in the area of today's Moscow, according to a document. The church was torn down during the construction of the Tsar's Palace in the Great Kremlin Palace ; their altar was transferred to the nearby Borovitsky tower , where it existed until the beginning of the 20th century.
Church of St. Athanasius and Kyrill Церковь Св. Афанасия и Кирилла	14th century	1776	Mentioned for the first time at the end of the 14th century, the church belonged for a long time to the property of the Kirillo Belozersky monastery , as well as several neighboring residential and commercial buildings.
Church of St. Constantine and Helena Церковь Св. Константина и Елены	1692	1928	The first mention of a wooden church with this name comes from the year 1470. It stood on the eastern Kremlin wall, in the immediate vicinity of a through tower, which is still called Konstantin-Helenen-Turm after this church .
Church of St. Kosma and Damian Церковь Св. Косьмы и Дамиана	15th century (?)	End of 18th century	The church was first mentioned in writing in 1475. In addition to several secular buildings - including a horse stable of the Chudov monastery - it was demolished for the construction of the Senate Palace (1776–87).
Lenin monument Памятник Ленину	1967	1995	The statue of the revolutionary leader and first Soviet head of state Lenin in the Kremlin Garden, near the administration building of the Moscow Kremlin and on the site of the Alexander II monument that was demolished in 1918, was ceremoniously unveiled on November 2, 1967 on the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution . In 1995 it was removed from the Kremlin and transferred to the Lenin Museum in its former suburban residence, Gorky Leninsky .
Church of the Annunciation Церковь Благовещения на Житном дворе	1731	1933	The church stood near the Annunciation Tower on the southern Kremlin wall and gave this tower its name, which still exists today. Previously, on the tower facade facing the Kremlin, there was an icon with the motif of the Annunciation , which, according to legends, arose “by itself” and was said to have a miracle effect. The church was built directly onto the tower so that the facade with the icon was now in its interior.
Church of St. Nicholas of Gostun Церковь Николая Чудотворца Гостунского	1506	1817	This church was dedicated to the supposedly miraculous Nicholas icon from the village of Gostun (near the town of Belyov ). In 1817 the Moscow Governor General left them on the occasion of the visit of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Remove overnight to clear a parade ground in their place - near the Savior Gate . The altar of the church was transferred to the side annex of the Ivan the Great bell tower .
Kremlin Horse Farm Конюшенный приказ	1673	1840	The building complex of the horse stables belonging to the Zarenhof also included a representative administration building with a decorative tent tip over the entrance portal to the inner courtyard. The building stood on the site of today's armory and was demolished before it was built.
Prikas building Здания приказов	1675	1770s	The buildings of the Prikas authorities, erected in a 124-meter-long row, stood along the southern slope of the Kremlin hill and were demolished for the later abandoned construction of the great Tsar's palace. For the same purpose, large parts of the southern Kremlin wall were also removed, but restored a few years later.
Old building of the armory Старое здание Оружейной палаты	1806-12	1950s	The classical building was originally intended to display the treasures of the armory of the Moscow Kremlin . However, it later turned out to be too small for this and was replaced in this function from 1844 to 1851, today's armory building. It was used by the military for a century before it gave way to the State Kremlin Palace, built in its place in 1961 .
Treasury Казённая палата	around 1484	1770s	The building adjoined the Church of the Annunciation to the east and was intended for the storage of money and treasures from the Grand Duke's treasury (the high basement of the Cathedral of the Annunciation was previously used for this purpose ). The architect was Marco Ruffo , one of the Italian builders who played a key role in the construction of today's Kremlin ensemble. Together with several other structures, the chamber gave way to the construction of the Tsar's Palace, which was never realized in the 1770s.
Monument to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Памятник великому князю Сергею Александровичу	1908	1918	The monument in the form of a large cross, painted with the participation of the artist Viktor Vasnetsov , was erected on the site of the 1905 assassination attempt by Ivan Kaljajev on Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov , who was killed in the process. In the spring of 1918, the monument was one of the first symbols of the Tsarist empire to be removed by the Bolsheviks; According to the records of the Kremlin commander at the time, the head of state Lenin himself actively helped with the removal .
Sergius Church Сергиевская церковь	1557	Early 19th century	The church stood at the Trinity Gate and was part of the Metochi of the Trinity Monastery of Sergiev Posad . She was u. a. known for their characteristic tent roof .
Tarakanov Palace Палаты Тараканова	1471	17th century	The palace belonged to the merchant Tarakanow and was probably the first private brick Kremlin building. It stood near the Redeemer Tower and was possibly demolished during its renovation in 1624-25.
Winter Palace Зимний дворец	1749-53	1830s	As the tsar's residence, this baroque-style building designed by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (who later also created the winter palace of the same name in Saint Petersburg) was the immediate predecessor of the residence built in 1838-49 in the complex of the Great Kremlin Palace . Long before the 18th century, the tsars and grand dukes had palaces built in the same place, as this part of the Kremlin, which is particularly well visible from the outside, at the southern tip of the fortress hill, was particularly suitable for representative buildings.

literature

AJKiselëv (Ed.): Moskva. Kremlin i Krasnaya Ploščadʹ . AST / Astrel, Moscow 2006, ISBN 5-17-034875-4 ; Pp. 149-167
SKRomanjuk: Kremlʹ i Krasnaya Ploščadʹ . Moskvovedenie, Moscow 2004, ISBN 5-7853-0434-1 ; Pp. 170-217

Web links

Commons : Historical Images of the Moscow Kremlin - Collection of images, videos and audio files