Kremlin towers 1635 1636. The Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin is a miracle of Russian architecture of the 17th century. Grand Ducal Chambers above Borovitsky Hill

The Moscow Kremlin has never ceased to amaze humanity for almost four centuries. The luxurious decoration impresses with its variety of forms. The large size of the building and the wealth of decorations make it possible to come and be surprised every time, to discover something new, unnoticed before. Just imagine if Meursault, the character in Camus’s story “The Stranger,” remembered the details not of his wretched little room, but of these chambers.

The Terem Palace in the Kremlin has become an integral part not only of Moscow, but of all of Russia. Few people from other cities or countries have not heard about it. It deservedly claims to be the eighth wonder of the world. This is one of the symbols Russian Federation.

History of construction

The Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin was built in just a year, from 1635 to 1636. Although the time frame for construction of such a scale is the shortest, this in no way affected the quality of the construction. Moreover, considering that this is the first Russian stone palace, The Kremlin has refuted the proverb that the first pancake is always lumpy. It became an example for the construction of many other stone buildings. Firstly, the decoration of the building is traditional, as in buildings made of wood. Secondly, the strength of the entire structure was difficult to beat at the time. Yes and not all modern buildings can compete with the palace. I would like to hope, but it is unlikely that the “Khrushchev” buildings will stand for four centuries, not only without losing their presentation, but at least maintaining the foundation.

It was built by four of the best architects of that time: L. Ushakov, A. Konstantinov, B. Ogurtsov and T. Sharutin. The Terem Palace in the Kremlin was built on the time-tested foundation of the northern tier of the Kremlin ensemble, which was laid one and a half hundred years earlier. In addition, this is the first building built of stone and has several floors.

Three tiers were built, as planned. The first site was called the boyars', in which the master's sleeping quarters were located. She was on the first floor. The second one is intended for walking and is connected to the first floor by a staircase. The entrance is a golden lattice, a masterpiece of blacksmith craftsmanship. The third tier was called the Golden-Domed Teremok.

Purpose of the Terem Palace

Today historians argue why the tsar ordered the construction of the Terem Palace in the Kremlin. Scientists disagree. Some argue that the Terem Palace in the Kremlin, no matter what century it was built, had one purpose - to provide peace and relaxation for the Tsar and his entire family. The upper floors were built as children's rooms. Others insist that he wanted to show his and his country’s wealth with such magnificent decoration. Therefore, the premises were used to receive ambassadors from Sweden and others. Also here, in their opinion, important meetings of the boyars were held.

Some historians even express such absurd ideas that the chambers were intended to contain the mistresses of kings. They based this opinion on its similarity to the Sultan’s harem. And today this Turkish building is distinguished by its luxury and wealth.

Style of the Terem Palace

The style in which the Terem Palace in the Kremlin was built (in which century it was built is stated above) is also distinguished by its luxury. That is, this is the birth of Russian Baroque. And although the direction existed in many other countries, and Rus' was not its founder, it nevertheless made its contribution to the history of architecture. Hence the emergence of a style that is commonly called “purely Russian.”

This style is characterized by lush decoration and design of stone buildings as rich wooden huts.

The Terem Palace became a real example for inheritance. Although the construction dates back to the 17th century, Russian-style houses are still extremely popular today.

Exterior of the Terem Palace

Externally, the Terem Palace in the Kremlin resembles a pyramid of extraordinary beauty. You can even compare it to a birthday cake. It's so bright.

Each upper tier is slightly smaller than the previous one, which made it possible to use the remaining platforms for various purposes. For example, the platform above the second floor is the territory where the festivities were held.

The window frames are painted white and are surrounded by stylized images of flowers. The character of the roof is also reminiscent of wooden huts - it is a gable structure, decorated with patterns of different colors.

Attached watchtower decorated with amazing kokoshniks, and the roof consists of eight sides. Its windows offer a magnificent view of the city.

Interior of the Terem Palace

The Terem Palace in the Kremlin surpassed its construction time not only in its external characteristics. The interior of the building also amazes with its unprecedented splendor.

If you describe it in three words, it is luxury, diversity, wealth. If you describe all the interior details separately, it will take a lot of time and more than one

Each tier of the building had its own purpose. The basement was intended for storing supplies. The queen chose the first floor - her workshops were located there. The second is the reception, in modern terms, where guests and ambassadors from different countries. A large box was lowered from one of the rooms, where those who wished to place their requests and complaints.

There were also royal chambers and a bathhouse.

The walls of the chambers are painted with floral patterns and gold. The round vaults are decorated with unusual patterns and ornaments, real modeling, gilding, and carved expensive wood.

Unfortunately, the painting has not been preserved in its original form. It was restored according to the drawings of the great artist - archaeologist, painter Fyodor Grigorievich Solntsev - and his student Kiselev already in the 19th century. Considering that the paint of those times was extremely resistant, the reasons for re-applying the pattern are explained by the partial or complete destruction of the wall decoration. It could have been Napoleon's attack, or the decision to remodel the interior, which was never implemented.

This is the Terem Palace in the Kremlin. It is known reliably in what century it was built. But few buildings have survived from those times. Today it is in almost the same condition as it was almost four centuries ago.

Many believe that Leonid Gaidai’s legendary film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession” was filmed in the Kremlin. This is partially true. But the Terem Palace in the Kremlin (photo presented in the article) has nothing to do with the film. The film was shot in only a chase scene. The royal chambers are studio sets, and the “royal clothes” are the skillful work of costume designers.

Terem Palace was built in what century? Reply to this question known, but opinions are divided regarding the relationship of architecture to the Renaissance or Baroque era.

How to get there?

Today, the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin is closed to the public. But it is still possible to get into it.

You need to register in advance for groups to visit. The queues are huge, so it is necessary to make arrangements in advance. But this is only half the story. After recruiting a group, you must obtain permission from a Kremlin representative to visit the palace. Well, once inside, just enjoy the tour.

Teremny Palace is part official residence The President of the Russian Federation, and not a museum at all, so getting there is extremely difficult. So we offer an imaginary tour. You can open photographs of interiors and drawings and follow the text, then everything will fall into place and fit into a harmonious picture. True, in the photo post it’s not very clear what belongs to what, but this is the best that we could find, because you can’t go there yourself and figure it all out: a sensitive object.

So, we examined the second floor of the Terem Palace, built by Aleviz. Between the church and the Back Chamber there is a Boyar Staircase. Let's go down it to the first floor. Here, too, the building is surrounded by corridors from the north and south. First there are seven rooms, which in the 19th century were kitchens, and originally were the basements of the chambers of the palace of Ivan III. Further under the Zhiletskaya and Golden Tsarina chambers there are their own basements. Here the noble residents were beaten with batogs for offenses and put under arrest.

The cellars and glaciers of the Grand Duke have been preserved underground. You can get there from some basements on the first floor.

Let's return to the Vladimir Hall. From there you can climb to the Verkhospasskaya platform (Front Stone Courtyard). Before construction it was really a platform for open air on the roof of the second floor of the Terem Palace. Moreover, before the stone mansions of the 17th century, there were residential wooden mansions of kings/grand dukes, and further towards the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary - queens/grand duchesses.

Previously, from the courtyard to the Verkhospasskaya platform one could climb a luxurious staircase, which was separated from the platform by the famous Golden Red Lattice. The staircase was decorated with gilded lions sitting on the railings of each landing.

The lattice, unlike the stairs, is still there. Iron lattice, gilded, painted. There is a legend that it was cast from copper money after the Copper Riot, but in reality it was not.

Well, here we are at the Verkhospasskaya site. If we go straight, we will find ourselves in the Cast Iron Corridor, running along the northern facade. If you go to the right, you will see the Refectory, and behind it is the Church of the Savior behind the Golden Lattice, also known as the Verkhospassky Cathedral. But a staircase with lions rises to the left. The lions hold the monograms of Nicholas I and appeared under him. A porch placed inside a covered room looks somewhat unnatural.

There is a small door under the stairs; let's go through it and find ourselves in a suite of five maid of honor rooms. Initially, these were the chambers of the lower tier of the Terem Palace. From all these rooms you can get into the Cast Iron Corridor. By the way, on the fourth floor above part of the Cast Iron Corridor there is a Portrait Corridor. You can get into it by stairs from the refectory of the Verkhospassky Cathedral. The ceiling of the Portrait Corridor features Russian emperors, which is why the corridor is also called the Romanov Gallery.

Among the rooms on the third floor, one was the Amusement Chamber, the other was the sovereign’s soapbox, where the tsar descended along a special secret staircase, which has survived to this day. The soap dish was insulated with lead to prevent water from passing to the lower floor.

Okay, let's go back to the Verkhospasskaya site and finally go up the stairs. We are on the Golden Porch, topped with a hipped turret. From the Golden Porch we go into the Entrance Hall, and then into the Front (Cross, Dining, Living) Chamber. Initially it was called the Front Hut, because there was no fundamental functional difference between the royal and peasant houses.

The next room is the Throne (Golden) Chamber, also known as the Room. This is the sovereign's own office. It was here that the royal decrees were first announced, and only then the heralds carried them everywhere. The central south window of the Room is highlighted from the outside with white stone carvings and lions. There are two doors on the north side, but now they lead to nowhere, but before there was an entrance to the Upper Tower and a descent to the lower tier.

Behind the Room there are the last two small rooms: the Prayer Room (Krestovaya) and the Bedchamber (Chulan). Previously, there was also a royal buffet and mansions of court pilgrims, but they have not survived.

From the Passage Entrance Hall you can climb a very steep staircase to the fifth floor of the Terem Palace, where in the middle of the vast area (Upper Stone Courtyard) there is a Stone Attic (Terem) with a Lookout Tower. The tower is one large, bright hall, the facades of which are richly decorated with tiles.

The picture is clickable.

Story

Nicholas I

1836—1849

Architects use genuine materials very freely. They are building the Vladimir Hall on the site of the Boyarskaya site, turning the Verkhospasskaya site into a covered room, redoing the stairs, erecting a hipped tower at their own whim and observation deck…

Fedor Solntsev’s approach is more accurate. He restores the interiors of the Terem Palace and the Golden Tsarina Chamber for real, uses genuine items whenever possible, and if they are missing, he makes remakes based on ancient models. Contemporaries believed and accepted the interiors as original.

1838

Due to reconstruction and construction, ladies-in-waiting and other palace employees are being evicted from the Terem Palace.

The pictures are signed and clickable.

Alexander I

1812

Napoleon's retinue settles in the Terem Palace. After the war, she was replaced by Russian court servants.

1810

The treasures of the Terem Palace are transferred to the Armory Chamber.

1809

The abolition of the churches of the New Savior and the Assumption.

Temporary workers

1743

Repair, extension on the third floor. The treasures of the Tsar's Armory and the Great Treasury are placed in the Terem Palace.

Peter I

1723

1670

Casting and installation of the Golden Grill.

1666

Room door decoration.

1664

1660

A church council is taking place in the Room, which decided to deprive Nikon of his rank.

1655

The old patriarchal palace goes to the princesses, because Nikon is building it in the Tsareboris courtyard.

1654

Tsarina Maria Miloslavskaya gives a reception to the Georgian Tsarina Elena Levontevna in the Golden Tsarina Chamber.

1646

Alexey Mikhailovich is setting up new Amusement Mansions in the Terem Palace. They are being built by the palace carpenter Vaska Romanov.

1630s

The bed chambers became the lower part of the Terem Palace (see below) and were called the Workshop Chambers.

1637

Some groom Ivan Osipov, a gold painter by trade, was already at that time putting burdocks on the roof with gold leaf, silver and various paints, “and in the same mansion, in all the windows (otherwise the attic, i.e. tower) he made mica endings.”

Zabelin I.E. Home life of Russian tsars in the 16th and 17th centuries. M., 1895., future saint. He wrote a whole book about his trip to Muscovy, here is a fragment dedicated to the Golden Tsarina Chamber:

If we look at the vaulted chamber in which we were, we will see that there is no other chamber similar in beauty in the whole world. It is arranged in a sphere, covered with the purest gold, decorated with images and, due to its skillful arrangement, miraculously reflects the sounds pronounced in it. On its walls are depicted arabesques, trees, black and red vines, as well as various birds. In the middle of the vault there was a beautifully sculptured lion holding a snake in its teeth, from the middle of which descended many beautiful candlesticks, decorated with precious stones and pearls and skillfully woven like baskets.

I cannot perfectly describe this round chamber and talk about it in detail, because the abundance of what is described frightens me. But a strong desire compels me to describe it, although no mind is able to completely achieve this. From all sides of the chamber, countless images of mosaic work looked at us, representing various events and faces - St. The Virgin Mary, the Lady of the world, holding our redeemer in her arms - the faces of St. angels, hierarchs, martyrs; all these images - great job, - were decorated with diamonds, large pearls and other precious stones. In addition, all the faces of the saints had beautiful crowns and were covered with expensive frames.

I cannot list all the pearls, rubies, sapphires, topazes and other brilliant ones precious stones with which the icons were covered. I’d better finish my speech about this, because I cannot perfectly describe the countless number of objects that were here.

Arseny Elassonsky, “Description of a trip to Muscovy.”

And Queen Irina Godunova receives Patriarch Job, for the sake of whose election Jeremiah and Arseny came.

1535

Elena Glinskaya receives the Queen of Kazan (probably Syuyumbike) in the Lazarevskaya Chamber (near the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus).

Grand Duchy

1526

The first mention of the Coal Chamber, later known as the Golden Tsarina Chamber.

1508

Aleviz the Old builds the lower tier of the towers. Among them there is the Lazarevskaya (Rear) chamber. The doors from this chamber led to the Bed Porch, which also adjoined the entryway and was connected by a door to the Front Passage, or Red Porch.

1395

Laying stone cellars on the site of the future Terem Palace.

From the Terem Palace, located behind the Palace of Facets, there is a breath of distant fairy-tale antiquity. Unfortunately, the palace itself Cathedral Square not visible. Best Review The tower can be accessed from the inner palace courtyard or from the Ivanovo Bell Tower, but there is no access there.

History of the Terem Palace

The Terem Palace, three floors high, was built in 1635-1636 over two levels of chambers during the times of Vasily III and Ivan IV (XVI century). Subsequently, due to numerous alterations, the lower floors lost their ancient appearance. Tsarevich Alexei Mikhailovich was the first to live in stone chambers, and his father continued to live in wooden ones, believing that this was healthier. In 1637, the new stone mansions were finally finished: the walls were painted with gold and silver paints, and multi-colored mica windows by master Ivan Osipov were inserted into the windows. Architects define the appearance of the Terem Palace as a motley combination of Old Russian style with Italian (in Rus' it was called Lombard).

The Terem Palace stood on the territory of the Royal Court, which occupied a fairly large area and included many different chambers, churches, towers, orders, workshops and courtyards. Most of the buildings were wooden, and almost every representative of the royal family had their own house or mansion with elaborate decorations. The Tsar himself lived with his sons in the Terem Palace. The chambers of the queen and princesses were located on the north side and have not survived to this day. The front façade of the palace buildings was not the southern one, as it is now, facing the Moscow River, but the eastern one, facing Cathedral Square.

The Royal Court, together with the Terem Palace, reached its greatest prosperity in the second half of the 17th century. At that time, according to the testimony of foreign travelers, the roofs of the towers were gilded. On the buildings along Borovitsky Hill, greenhouses and gardens were built in the image of the famous gardens of the Babylonian queen Semiramis. During the 18th century, the Terem Palace and the rest of the old Royal Court gradually fell into disrepair. In the big fire under Anna Ivanovna in 1737, almost all the buildings burned down and the tower was badly damaged. At the behest of Elizaveta Petrovna, the architect Rastrelli built a new Royal Palace, which stood on the site of the present Great Kremlin. Palace servants and their families settled in the rooms of the towers.

In 1812, Napoleon stayed at the Elizabeth Palace, and after that the palace burned down along with other buildings. As already mentioned, in 1838-1849, at the behest of Emperor Nicholas I, Konstantin Top built the current Grand Kremlin Palace, combining it with towers. For the 200th anniversary of the towers, their appearance and interior decoration were recreated according to ancient samples and drawings from the time of Alexei Mikhailovich. Somewhat later, in the 1870s, the artist Timofey Kiselev, based on the drawings of academician Fyodor Solntsev, completed the current paintings on a golden background. The previous 17th-century painting by Simon Ushakov, with the exception of some fragments, has not survived. Multi-colored glass instead of mica was inserted in the 19th-20th centuries.

Construction of towers

1. Basement.
2. Household services.
3. Golden porch.
4. Golden-Domed Teremok

The Terem Palace consists of five floors. The two lower ones, as before, are occupied by economic services. The third, where in the 17th century the royal soapbox (bathhouse) and the rooms of the royal children were located, was used before the revolution as an archive of ancient state papers; now it is also an official one. On the fourth floor, the furnishings of the royal private chambers were restored - the Anterior (or Refectory), Cross (or Duma) chambers, the sovereign's office, and the bedchamber (bedroom). On the fifth floor there is the Golden-Domed Tower with an open gallery around it, built by Mikhail Fedorovich for his sons.
The entire building retains the character of the ancient wooden mansion. It resembles several huts stacked on top of each other. Almost all the rooms in the living quarters are the same, each with the traditional three windows for huts. Only the top floor - the Golden-Domed Teremok - consists of one bright room.

Until the end of the 17th century, no one except the king and his family entered the living quarters located on the fourth tier of the towers. First, the staircase leads to the Verkhospasskaya platform, fenced with the famous Golden Lattice. Since few Russians were lucky enough to observe the grille up close, a legend arose that it was cast from depreciated copper money, withdrawn from circulation by Alexei Mikhailovich in 1662 to stop the Copper Riot. (Such an original way of fighting inflation.) In fact, it is masterfully forged from iron and gilded. From a distance you can see a floral pattern on it, and up close you can see fantastic fish, birds and monsters.

Behind the bars there is a porch with sculptures of two lions on the sides. The lions hold shields with the monogram of Nicholas I, since during his reign a restructuring took place, and the porch, which was previously outside the towers, ended up in the interior. It is called Golden because it once adjoined the Golden Chamber, where church utensils were made. From the arch above the porch stairs hangs a weight in the form of a lion's head holding an apple in its mouth (this symbolizes keeping palace secrets).

The first room with low arches and tiled stoves is called the Front Room and is painted with images of holy kings and princes - Constantine and Helen, Prince Vladimir and Princess Olga. Ancient tiles on stoves have not changed their brightness for hundreds of years, and to this day the secret of their manufacture has been lost. Here the boyars awaited the arrival of the tsar, and then followed him to the Cross Chamber and sat down on the benches according to their rank.

In the Cross Chamber, in the morning the king took the blessing of the priest, and in the afternoon, sitting on the throne, discussed state affairs. Sometimes he received ambassadors here, but only from Christian powers. Until 1918, two caskets with historical documents were preserved in the chamber - on the election of Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom (1613) and on the establishment of the patriarchate in Russia (1589).

Next is the third room, which in the 17th century was called exactly that - a room, but not a simple one, but a Golden one. In the modern sense, this is an office, albeit a special one, the likes of which you won’t see anymore. Its doors were covered with gilded leather with images of plants and animals. In the left front corner near the window is the royal throne. In front of him is a carpet embroidered by the princesses. The walls are painted in gold on a bright red background. In the middle of the vault the Savior is depicted on the throne, around him are the ecumenical and Moscow saints. Along the perimeter of the walls are the coats of arms of the Russian kingdoms and lands. The most delicate issues were resolved here, for example, the deprivation of Nikon of the patriarchal rank. Sometimes the tsar treated the closest boyars in his office, and at other times he fed the beggars and “his” pilgrims. These pilgrims lived near the choir and were fully supported. Leading a pious life, they sometimes lived up to a hundred years or more.

The Golden Room has another interesting detail. Its middle window, near which the royal throne stood, opens onto the courtyard onto the so-called Boyarsky platform (or Bed porch) and is marked on the façade with a carved white stone frame with a double-headed eagle. It is called Petition - from here a box was lowered on a rope into which petitions were placed directly to the king (petitions).

The fourth room is the bedchamber, that is, the bedroom. Along the walls there are medallions with touching scenes of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Savior, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in infancy, etc. The Russian Tsar rested on a small carved bed with a curtain made of Chinese silk and a canopy at the head, on which “magic” words from the 44th Psalm of the Prophet David were embroidered in Greek. The young armor bearer sang this psalm in front of King Saul, relieving his melancholy and fatigue. Under the bedchamber there is a “soap box”, otherwise a bathhouse or shower room, where one could go down a twisted ladder. Its floor and walls were sealed with lead plates to make it waterproof.

The side door leads to the Prayer Room.
On the wall are two gilded icon cases with ancient icons, crosses and panagias that belonged to Alexei Mikhailovich. On the lectern, near which the king prayed, lay a handwritten Gospel of the 14th century. In the window frames of two adjacent rooms, mica - “Russian glass” - has been preserved. They say that there was a buffet here, where, among other things, there was malvasia and Rhine wine - the favorite wines of Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich. It is likely that they treated their boyars to them.

From the entryway you can go to a narrow twisted staircase that leads to the last, fifth tier, to the Golden-Domed Tower. This is the one great chamber on the flat roof of the Terem Palace, surrounded by a gallery. Attached to it from the west is the so-called Lookout Tower with multi-colored glass in the ancient windows. Carved decorations for the amusement of princes and princesses depict fairy-tale and mythological creatures - centaurs with bows, silenes with tails and hooves, parrots in bunches of grapes, and the like.

How Russian tsars lived in the Kremlin

In the 17th century, the spirit of Byzantium permeated the walls of the Terem Palace. There was a strict routine and hierarchy in everything. Any violation of etiquette and even an obscene word spoken here could be perceived as an insult to the king and lead to disgrace. To prevent conspiracies and intrigues, hiding places were set up everywhere.

The daily routine of the Moscow kings was traditional. We got up at dawn, with the first rays of the sun, at four or five o'clock, and in winter - at the latest at seven in the morning. In the Cross Chamber, candles were already burning in front of the icons; on the lectern (stand for icons) lay an icon of a festive event or of the saint whose memory day was celebrated on that very day. The king prayed for about a quarter of an hour, then received the blessing of the priest, who sprinkled him with holy water, specially brought to the court from distant monasteries and holy places. Afterwards, the king himself or with the queen went to one of the palace churches, where he listened to matins and sometimes early mass. On major holidays this took place in one of the Kremlin cathedrals. The mass lasted two hours. On the days of Great Lent and other fasts, Alexei Mikhailovich stood at the service for five hours and sometimes made a thousand bows.

There was no breakfast in the current sense - simply because it was not customary to eat before the service, and after it it was soon time for lunch. Then the king began his current affairs and finished them at about 12 noon. At these same hours, the tsar sometimes received foreign ambassadors. Representatives of Christian powers entered it through the Annunciation Cathedral, which was connected to the palace, and non-Christians - along a separate staircase that stood between the Annunciation Cathedral and the Faceted Chamber.

Having finished his business, the sovereign went to the meal. On fast days they ate only oatmeal with rye bread, washed down with wine, beer or apple juice, and on ordinary days about 70 dishes were served to the table, including caviar, stews, roasts, etc. During long fasts (four a year), they ate sparingly three times a week, and on other days they limited themselves to pickled mushrooms or cucumbers and half a glass of beer.

After the meal, the king went to bed and usually slept until three in the afternoon, as is customary in the East, where noon is the hottest time of the day. After sleep, the courtiers again came to the king, with whom he went to vespers in the temple, and after it discussed matters for an hour or two. Then the king communicated with members of his household, read soulful books, listened to stories of pilgrims about pilgrimages to distant lands, about sphinxes and people “with dog heads” seen somewhere in Egypt. Sometimes he played chess or watched the performances of circus performers in the Amusement Chamber. After the evening meal, he went to the evening prayer in the Cross Chamber, where he began his day.

The lifestyle of queens and princesses was also traditional. In addition, they were very rarely allowed to leave the palace; even within the territory of the Royal Court there were strict restrictions on them. All those close to him, with the exception of the king, communicated with them not directly, but only through trusted noblewomen. The joy of queens and princesses was their solemn appearances at church services, where they could appear in all the splendor of their attire, but in deserted churches, since no one was allowed into the Kremlin at that time. This continued from century to century, until Peter I. Under him, this routine was disrupted, and the life of the imperial court in a new place, in St. Petersburg, went in a European way.

Photo: Teremny Palace of the Kremlin and Verkhospassky Cathedral

Let's admire the interiors of the Terem Palace at the end of the 19th century. Nowadays it is the residence of the President of Russia.

Interior of the Faceted Chamber with tables prepared for the meal (dignitaries, high clergy, military and civilians), which took place after the end of the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II

Interior of the Golden Tsarina Chamber (built in the 16th century, paintings from the 1580s) in the Kremlin

View of the Romanov Gallery in the [Terem Palace] of the Kremlin (built in 1635-1636 by Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov, Trofim Sharutin, Larion Ushakov)

View of the bedchamber in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin. Moscow

View of the prayer house in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin.

View of the front porch of the Duma Chamber in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin.

View of the front corridor in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin.

Interior of the Cross Chamber in the Romanov Palace.

View of the bedchamber of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich in the Romanov Palace.

Interior of the Golden Patriarchal Chamber in the Kremlin.

Interior of the Golden Patriarchal Chamber

View of part of the living room in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin

View of the office in the Teremny Palace of the Kremlin.

Interior of the Chamber of Facets (built in 1487-1491 by Italian architects Mark Fryazin and Pietro Antonio Solari)

Interior of the Chamber of Facets

Interior of the Throne Chamber in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin (former Tsar's office or Golden Chamber")

View of carved gilded icon cases in the royal chapel of the Terem Palace

Interior of the [Dumna Chamber] in the Upper Teremok in the Kremlin

Interior of the Romanov Gallery in the [Teremny Palace] of the Kremlin (in the ceiling painting there are portraits of Russian emperors)

The original interiors of the palace have been lost. In the thirties of the 19th century, the walls of the palace rooms were painted in the “Old Russian style”. The windows were decorated with stained glass and tiled stoves were installed. In 1992, restoration of the facades of the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin was carried out.

Churches and icons of the Terem Palace

IN architectural ensemble The Terem Palace included other buildings, making it rightfully one of the most important historical monuments Russian architecture of the 17th century. For example, in the western part of the Terem Palace there is the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God “on Senya”. The temple was rebuilt several times. Among the notable features is the almost completely preserved white stone four-pillar church. The construction of this church was carried out at the end of the 14th century by order of Princess Evdokia, the widow of the notorious Prince Dmitry Donskoy. This church is one of the most ancient buildings included in the Moscow Kremlin and is well preserved to this day.

On the territory of the Terem Palace there are a number of churches: the Church of Catherine (built by J. Thaler in 1627), the Church of the Resurrection of the Word built above it and the so-called Crucifixion Church. The roof with majolica and painted crosses, under which 3 churches are united - the Crucifixion, the Savior and the Resurrection of the Word, were made by the monastic elder Hippolytus, a famous carver of that time. By the way, the ancient wooden crucifix installed in the chapel of the Church of the Crucifixion is also the work of Hippolytus.

The house church on the men's half of the Terem Palace was built in 1636, when the construction of the entire complex was almost completed. The church was illuminated in honor of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” (it is believed that the image of the Savior appeared on its own, without human participation), and a little later the church began to be called in a new way - Verkhospassky Cathedral. The same 4 architects who built the entire complex of the Terem Palace worked on the temple. The murals that can be seen in the cathedral were created 30 years later, starting in 1660. Sometimes the cathedral is called “The Savior behind the Golden Lattice” and here’s why. The fact is that they decided to separate the Verkhospassky Cathedral and the Terem Palace with a lattice - not gold, of course, but made of iron. However, the gilding that covers the grille is applied so carefully and carefully that many people think that it is really made of gold! In the Church of the Crucifixion of the Terem Palace there is a very beautiful and monumental iconostasis. His icons are made on silk fabric using the appliqué technique. The author of the icons is the famous master of the Armory Chamber Vasily Poznansky. The Verkhospassky Cathedral also has an iconostasis made in the 18th century in baroque forms. However, in the lower row of the iconostasis of the Verkhospassky Cathedral there are even more ancient icons, works by masters of the 17th century: these are “The Centurion Longinus”, “Fedor Stratelates” and “The Savior Not Made by Hands” with 20 stamps on the theme of the lives of saints. The iconostasis of the Church of the Resurrection of the Glorious is made of wood and decorated with carvings and gilding. And the clock that adorns the temple is a gift from the Swedish King Charles 9.