The Troitski (Trinity) Gate was constructed to give access to the palaces in the Kremlin from the suburb on the other side of the Neglinnaia, in the seventeenth century occupied almost entirely by Court servants and artisans. Towards the close of the eighteenth century this quarter was a slum, the chief haunt of the robbers and desperadoes of Moscow; thence came the men who fired the city during the French occupation. The tower over the gate, in the Gothic style, was added by Galloway early in the seventeenth century and has been twice restored; the rooms in it are now used by the staff in charge of the old archives stored in the various towers of the Kremlin. The bridge is protected by a barbican, the Kutaïfa, a large white tower of original design, the work of Italians, about 1500, battlemented and once furnished with gates and portcullis. The French entered and left the Kremlin by this route. It is the only gate in the Kremlin without a chapel, the church of the Trinity once adjoining having been demolished.
About midway along the wall between the Troitski and Borovitski gates appear the bright-coloured roofs and gables of an old Russian house, the Potieshni Dvorets, whose striking architecture, together with that of the characteristic smaller towers on the walls, relieves the ugliness of the service buildings on the left and the heavy façade of the Treasury building on the right. This side of the Kremlin should be seen from the far side of the gardens, or from the street beyond.
The best view of the Kremlin is that seen from the south end of the Moskvoretski bridge (see page 13.) The balconies of the Hotel Kokoref command the same view, one which reveals at a glance more that is characteristic of Moscow than even the bird’s-eye view from the dome of Ivan Veliki. In the foreground the river and quays; beyond, the walls of the Kremlin with towers in all styles; the fantastic pinnacles of Vasili Blajenni; the blunted spires of the Vossnesenski convent, behind which rise the gilded domes of the Chudov church and the great cupola of the hall of St Catherine in the Senate. Beyond the striking Alexander memorial rises the belfry of Ivan Veliki, and around it cluster the gilded and gay-coloured domes of the cathedrals, then, further to the left, the long façade of the Palace, the pyramidal tower of the Borovitski gate, and, apparently near by, the huge golden dome of the new Cathedral. (See page 299.)
Entering the Kremlin by the Nikolski gate, to the right is the arsenal, to the left the Senate (Law Courts), reaching the transverse route from the Troitski gate, the barracks are in front, the buildings of the service corps to the right, the Chudov monastery to the left; continuing straight on, a large open space is reached; then on the left is the smaller palace, on the far side of the square is the Alexander memorial; close by, on the right, the Synod, then, railed off, the Sobornia Ploshchad with the cathedrals and beyond them the Grand Palace. In the centre rises Ivan Veliki tower which serves as belfry for all the cathedrals.
The cathedrals are, for the most part, described in detail in “Moscow of the Ecclesiastics”; the palaces in the chapter on “Moscow of the Tsars,” and the Chudov and Vossnesenski monasteries in chapter xii.; here the other buildings and sights of the Kremlin may be mentioned.
First and foremost to treat of Ivan Veliki; of Moscow and its bells.