The complex of the Kremlin, its treasures, its cathedrals and iconostasys, the museums and the treasures, has been decreted from UNESCO as world patrimony of the humanity. Forbidden dream of Napoleone before and later Hitler represents without doubt the center of the general power where all is decided in Russia.

The history of the Moscow Kremlin goes back to olden times. The first written record of Moscow dates back to 1147, to the reign of Great PrinceYuri of Kiev, Vladimir Monomakh's son. He was nicknamed "Dolgoruky" (Long-armed), iof .e., one reaching out for other principalities, for his unification policy. Yuri Dolgoruky is considered to be the founder of Moscow and in commemoration of this an equestrian statue by the sculptor S.V. Orlov was erected in Tverskaya Street in 1954.  One of the most remarkable exhibits of the Kremlin museums linked to the genealogy of Russian princes is the Cap of Monomakh, the Russian Tsars' inherited crown. It even became proverbial. There is a saying: "How heavy you are, the Cap of Monomakh!" meaning the heavy burden of responsibility.  Since time immemorial the Moscow Kremlin has been the centre of Russian statehood, the residence of Russian tsars and hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church.  Under Dmitry Donskoy in 1367-1368, the white-stone walls and towers of the Kremlin were erected and Moscow began to be called "white-stone". In 1485-1495, the Kremlin was totally rebuilt. It was then that the first brickbuildings appeared there and it largely acquired its present appearance and dimensions.  At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter I transferred the capital of Russian to St.Petersburg, however, according to tradition, the Russian tsars were coronated in Moscow. In 1917 the Soviet government transferred the Russian capital back to Moscow. The Kremlin became the seat of the highest state bodies, a sort of preserve, where only those who lived or worked there were admitted. It was only in 1955 that its unique museums have again become accessible to everyone. Church services have recently been resumed in the old cathedrals and the Kremlin bells which have been silent for over 70 years have come to life. The Kremlin has been the residence of the President of the Russian Federation and his Administration since 1992. 
The Kremlin has been and remains a unique monument of Russian culture and a symbol of Russian statehood.  Welcome to the Moscow Kremlin! The Moscow Kremlin is located on the Borovitsky hill, on the left bank of the Moscow River, in the place where the Neglinnaya River meets the Moscow River. The modern  district of the Kremlin had been entirely covered with a forest in antiquity. The ancient name of the Kremlin hill "Borovitsky” (from the Russian bor meaning forest)  might have been connected to it. Archeologists date the first data on stay of a human being on the Borovitsky hill by the  end of the IInd millenium B.C. The later history of the Borovitsky hill’s settling has a long break. The following archeologically investigated stage is dated by the VIIIth-IIIrd centuries B.C. The settlement on the Borovitsky hill might have already head fortifications. From the northeast as means of additional protection, two deep ravines were used. One ravine met the Neglinnaya to the north of  the present Trinity Gate.  The other ravine cut the southern slope of the hill between the Peter and the 2-nd Nameless Towers of the present-day Kremlin. The both ravines were connected gradually with a gully, artificially profound with the first residents of the Kremlin mountain. One can get an idea of life and activity of people of that far epoch at the permanent exhibition "Archeology of the Moscow Kremlin" in the Anninciation Cathedral’s podklet. In 1147, Suzdam Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy (i.e. Long Arms)  invited to Moscow his ally – Novgorod-the Northern Prince Svyatoslav. This event, marked in the Ipatyev manuscript became the first mentioning of the city’s name in the historic chronicle of Ancient Rus. According to the tradition, the city of Moscow is considered to exist since that time. In 1156, as it is marked in the Tver manuscript, Vladimir and Suzdal Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy (i.e. Long Arms). Founded Moscow fortress in the mouth of the Neglinnaya River, higher the Yauza. The new fortress united the two forced centers on the Borovitskiy (Grove) Hill. The names of the rivers point the exact location of the fortress on the triangular area between the present-day Borovitskiy (Grove), Trinity and Secret Gate. In 1237-1240, hordes of khan Batyi invaded the North-Eastern and the Southern Rus. Fourty nine of archaeologically known towns of that time were blown up. In 1238, Moscow rubbed trough the tartar invasion. The manuscript tells the city’s population was eliminated, everyone, both babies and old people, the city itself was blown up and destroyed, so the Moscow land trembled at sorrow and pain. However, the city survived and started to renew and grow. The Moscow princes dynasty was founded by Daniel - the younger son of Vladimir Prince Alexander Nevsky. His name was first mentioned in a manuscript in connection with Moscow in 1382. After the Tartar-Mongolian invasion Russia began paying tributes to the Horde, and princes were to get in the Horde special letters (charters) for possession of their lands. Since 1243,  Vladimir Princes were given the title of Great  Princes. In 1328 the letter for the “Great Vladimir throne” was received by Ivan Kalita (Money-bag), son of Moscow Prince Daniel. However, he did not move to the city of Vladimir, but remained in Moscow. The Head of the Russian Church - Metropolitan Peter, the authority of who was extremely high, moved to Moscow to Prince Ivan Kalita. The Moscow Kremlin became a residence of the Great Prince and Metropolitan. Ivan Kalita achieved the right to collect tributes from all Russian lands. Probably, that is why he was nicknamed "kalita", meaning in the Old Russian language "money-bag".
Under Ivan Kalita, Moscow was actively growing, and his residence on the Borovitsky  hill started to be realized as a separate and main part of the city. Erection of either wooden or white-stone constructions was started in the Kremlin. In 1326-1327, the Assumption Cathedral, the main temple of the state, was built. In 1329, the Church of Ivan the Ladder was constructed. In 1330, Cathedral of the Saviour on the Bor (Forest), and in 1333 – the Cathedral of  Archangel Michael, where Ivan Kalita and his descendants were buried, appeared. In 1339-1340, Ivan Kalita erected a new, bigger oaken  fortress on the Borovitsky hill.Dying, Kalita  left his spiritual letter (will). It left to his sons not only the Moscow lands, but also symbols of authority of Russia of that time. Among them for the first time was mentioned  “the golden cap”, identified with the well-known Monomakh’s crown, the main crown of Russian sovereigns. That way, in the first half of the XIVth century, formation of Moscow Great Princes’ treasury was started. In 1365, the Kremlin suffered from the new fire. Young Prince Dmitry Donskoi decided to build stone fortifications on the Borovitskiy (Grove) Hill. All 1367 winter long, from the Myachkovo village, 30 virsts (country miles) from Moscow, limestone was taken to Moscow on sledges. In spring construction works were started. Finally, the center of Moscow was adorned with white-stone walls and towers as the first white-stone fortress in the North-Western Rus appeared. Two years late, after Moscow had been invaded by tartars in 1382, the render of tribute was to be started anew, in smaller sums though. The growth of the Moscow power was reflected in the spiritual letter missive of Dmitry Donskoi, where the Great Prince’s title was transmitted to the heirs for the first time in the Russian history. In 1404, in the Kremlin on a particular tower called “chasozvon (clock-ringing)” Lazar Serbin, Serbian monk of Athos, mounted a clock. That was the first city clock in Russia, mounted in Moscow before the Novgorod Clock-tower appeared. The Assumption Cathedral was erected in 1475-1479 by Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti on the place where two older churches once stood.
All the stages of the main state cathedral’s construction were described in chronicles.
The Italian architect was suggested to follow the model of the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir, the 5 domed cross-and-cupola church of the XII century.
Working on the cathedral, Aristotle Fioravanti managed both to repeat the main points of the well-known cathedral and to combine them with the Renaissance’s idea of architectural space.

In 1485-1495, Italian masters erected new Kremlin walls and. Since that time, foreigners started calling the Kremlin a castle.  In fact, the towers and the top of the walls remind of those of the Castle of Scaligers in Verona (Castello Scaligero) and the famous Castle Sforza (Castello Sforzesco) of  Milan. However, the likeness deals only with their look as the Italian castles were closed for citizens and could be neither place for a safe escape nor center of their social life.
In distinction from them, the Moscow Kremlin, constructed in accordance with the latest European fortification technology, was a fortress to protect the citizens. Since the higher secular and spiritual power as well as the most revered churches, monasteries and all-Russian Christian holies were concentrated there, the Kremlin was considered the place of “particular state holiness” for the whole Russian land.

After Tsar Boris had died in 1605, fierce struggle for authority began in Russia. It was accompanied by plots, occurrence of tsars-impostors and foreign intervention. The period of 1605 - 1612 was named in history the Great Distemper. In 1612, national home guard under the leadership of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and merchant from Nizhni Novgorod Kuzma Minin released Moscow from interveners. In the early 1613,  in the Kremlin  Faceted Chamber, the Zemskiy Council elected to the most high throne of Russia 13 years old Michael Fyodorovich Romanov - the first tsar of a new dynasty that ruled in Russia for three hundred years. In 1635-1636, the Terem Palace with reception halls and premises was erected  for Tsar Michael. The mid of the XVIIth century was marked by deep ideological crisis - the so called  Great Split. The reason became the reform of the Russian Church inspired by Tsar Alexis Mikhajlovic , son of the Tsar Michajl Romanov and Patriarch Nikon the Tsar’s favourite.   In 1652-1656, during the rise of his career, Nikon reconstructed the Patriarch’s Palace in the Kremlin. The ceremonial hall of the palace – the cross Chamber was particularly admired by contemporaries. In the Cross Chamber Church Councils and feasts for honoured guests used to be held.
          In the reign of  Alexis Mikhailovich the state administration was enlarged and became more complicated. In 1675-1680, a new two storey-office building was erected on the

Borovitsky hill. It stretched from the Archangel’s Cathedral almost up to the Saviour Tower. In 1620-1680, corner and passage towers of rthe Kremlin (except the Secret and the Nicholas Tower) were overbuilt with a marque. By the end of the XVIIth century, the Kremlin was in the flower of its beauty. The original beauty and expressiveness of its  architectural ensemble caused in contemporaries either admiration or figurative comparison with the paradise town of Jerusalem. The new, XVIIIth century began with Peter I’s reformation activity. In 1712, the capital of Russia was transferred on the Neva River’s bank in sacred Peter's city – Saint-Petersburg.
In Moscow the first year of the new century was marked with a terrible fire in the Kremlin. Peter I ordered to build Arsenal (Zeighaus) in the burnt out part, between the Trinity and the Sobakina towers. There was Northern war, and Charles XII prepared for a campaign to Moscow. After the well-known Poltava victory Russia was out of danger. The building of the Arsenal was completed only in 1736 by Empress Anna Ioannovna. In the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries, the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin still remained the main church of Russia. All emperors and empresses came to the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral

to take part in a magnificent crowning ceremony. However, the ancient Kremlin did not satisfy the demands of prestige, comfort and taste of the New Time. Its look started to change.
In 1749-1753, the chambers of the Tsar’s court of the XVth century were demolished, and on their fundaments F.-B. Rastrelli erected new stone Winter Palace in the style of Baroque. In 1756-1764, between the Annunciation and the Archangel’s Cathedrals, on the place of an ancient Treasury Court, architect D.V. Ukhtomsky erected a building of the Armoury Chamber’s gallery for treasures of the imperial treasury. However, several years later the building was demolished as grandiose reorganization of the Kremlin under V.I. Bazhenov's project and erection of a new palace was planned. The plan was not carried out, but after that demolishing the Kremlin lost many ancient buildings. In 1776, the so-called

Archboshop’s House was built under the project by M.F. Kazakov. The small representative building in the style of Classicism styled a corner of the Chudov Monastery and made the area of Ivan Square more precise. In 1776-1787, under the project by M.F. Kazakov project the Senate building was erected in the Kremlin. The new building also constructed in the style of Classicism, was settled down opposite to the Arsenal and formed integral ensemble of Senate Square, having connected in memories of descendants names of two most known governors and reformers of Russia of the XVIIIth century – Tsar Peter I and Empress Catherine II.  The beginning of the XIXth  century was a turning point in the Kremlin treasures’ fate. In 1806, Emperor Alexander I signed decree "About rules of management and preservation of antiquities in order and integrity in the Workshop and Armoury Chamber". The same year on the place of the Trinity Court on the project by architect I.V. Egotov there was started construction of a special museum building. By 1810,   construction works had been completed. However, it was not possible to open a museum in the new building. In June, 1812, the Napoleon army invaded Russia. The Russian army had to leave Moscow. So, the imperial treasury was taken out to Nizhni Novgorod. Only in 1814 the first museum of the native history named the Moscow Armoury Chamber was open in the Kremlin. On display were ancient state regalia, thrones, coronation dresses, gold and silver utensils, personal imperial things, ancient weapons, trophies of the Poltava battle and monuments of National war of  1812. Burnt and plundered, although not captivated ancient capital caused high patriotic feelings. All leading architects of Russia took part in the revival of Moscow. In the Kremlin,  the blown up walls and towers, the Arsenal, the Assumption Belfry and the Filaret Annex of the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower were restored. The devastated Kremlin churches and monasteries gradually relived. Under the decree of Emperor Nicholas I, in 1838-1851, a new palace complex in "national Russian" style was erected in the Kremlin on the project by architect K.A. Ton. It included the Grand Kremlin Palace, a building of Apartments and a more convenient and gorgeous building of a museum - the Moscow Armoury Chamber. New buildings formed an ensemble in the style of historicism - the unique square in Moscow. The square was named Palace, or Imperial.  In 1898, to the east of Cathedral Square on the Borovitsky hill, under the project by sculptor A.M. Opekushin and architect N.V. Sultanov,  the monument to Emperor Alexander II was open. The monument represented a scale architectural construction returning to that part of the Kremlin a volumetric accent. At the late XIXth - early XXth century,  the Moscow Kremlin was more and more realized as a monument of history and culture. So, in 1912, the Arsenal building was given over to the Committee on organization of a museum of National war 1812. The plan was not carried out. In 1914,  the First World War began, and the 1917 Revolution  sharply changed destiny of Moscow and the Kremlin. In March, 1918, the Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow, and it received the status of capital of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republics (RSFSR), since 1922 - the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The Kremlin became a place of work of the supreme bodies of power. It was closed for visiting.  In 1935,  4 eagles were removed from the Saviour, Nicholas, Borovitsky and Trinity towers, and five-pointed stars were mounted. In 1937, on five towers of the Kremlin (the Water-Supplying Tower was added) ruby luminous stars crowning towers till nowadays were mounted. In 1930-s, many monasteries and churches of the country were either closed or destroyed. In 1929, two ancient and glorified monasteries of the Moscow Kremlin – the Chudov monastery and the Ascension Nunnery were demolished. The building of  the Military school erected on their place can hardly be considered a decoration of the Kremlin. In the terrible years of the Great Patriotic War all treasures of the Armoury Museum were evacuated from Moscow, and the Kremlin, fortunately, practically did not suffer. Since 1955, it became accessible to visitors. In 1961, at the Trinity gate, on the place of the first building of the Armoury museum, the Palace of Congresses which, as well as all the Kremlin buildings became a symbol of the time. In 1970-1980-s, unique restoration works were held in the Moscow Kremlin. In 1990, the Moscow Kremlin was included into the World Heritage List of UNESCO. In 1991, the museums of its territory were named “the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Preserve “the Moscow Kremlin” including the well-known Armoury Chamber, the ASrchangel’s, the Annunciation cathedrals, the Church of Laying Our Lady’s Holy Robe, the Patriarch’s Palace, the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower architectural ensemble.
In December, 1991, the USSR as the state of 15 republics ceased to be. Moscow became capital of the independent Russian Federation (Russia), and the ancient Kremlin became residence of the President of the country.