Grand Kremlin Palace

The Grand Kremlin Palace is the former Moscow residence of the Russian emperors, built on the grounds of the Kremlin in 1838–1849 by a group of architects led by Konstantin Ton. It unites in a single architectural ensemble the Terem Palace, the Palace of Facets and the Armoury Chamber, house churches, and the apartments of the grand dukes — more than seven hundred halls and rooms in total, built across different centuries starting from the 14th. Today the head of the Russian state receives guests here, while part of the premises is set aside as the residence of the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Construction was conceived after the fire of 1837 that destroyed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg: Nicholas I instructed Ton to design a residence with fireproof cast-iron and steel structures. For this purpose, the dilapidated 18th-century Elizabethan Palace and the old Stable Yard were demolished. The stylistic point of reference was an unbuilt design for the Kolomenskoye Palace by architect Andrei Stackenschneider, while the building's massing echoed the ancient Terem Palace. Work began in 1839, at the same time as the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and cost the treasury almost twelve million rubles — twice the original estimate.

Ton used lightweight brick vaults of wide span, and assembled the roof on a metal frame — no building in the empire had previously employed such a load-bearing system. This made it possible to install a suspended ceiling without internal supports in the complex's largest hall, the St. George Hall. The dome was crowned with a gilded flagstaff for the imperial standard, beneath which was placed a clock with bells taken from the Spasskaya Tower. The palace's heating was provided by a hot-air furnace system of about fifty stoves in the basement, which fed warm air through channels in the walls to every floor.

The building stretches 125 meters in length and stands 47 meters high, while the total area of the whole complex exceeds twenty-five thousand square meters. The palace is built in the Russo-Byzantine style and forms a quadrangle around an inner courtyard, where the ancient Church of the Saviour on Bor stood until it was demolished in the 1930s. The facades repeat the decor of the Terem Palace on an enlarged scale: the windows are framed by arches with pendant "weights," and the second tier is covered with white-stone carved window surrounds in the spirit of pre-Petrine architecture. Before the revolution, the facade was adorned with five bas-reliefs bearing eagles and the coats of arms of the empire's cities; under Soviet rule these were replaced with a single coat of arms of the USSR, and in the 1990s the historical decor was restored.

After 1918, the new Soviet government settled here, and in 1934 several ceremonial halls were combined into a single space for sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. During the war of 1941–1945, the palace was camouflaged against enemy aircraft. The 1994–1999 reconstruction restored the historical layout, recreating the lost St. George, Alexander, and Andrew Halls.

The palace remains an active state residence and is used for the most important ceremonies — inaugurations, receptions of foreign delegations, and formal receptions; tours here are conducted only by prior appointment.