Kutafya Tower

The Kutafya Tower is the only surviving barbican-type outwork tower in the Moscow Kremlin, once standing amid the waters of the Neglinnaya River and, together with the Trinity Tower, forming a single defensive complex guarding the fortress's western entrance. The structure is dated to the late 15th–early 16th century, and its design is attributed to the Milanese architect Aloisio the New. Today the tower serves as the main entrance for tourists visiting the Kremlin grounds.

The origin of the name remains a matter of historical debate: according to one version, it derives from an Old Russian word for a clumsily dressed woman, although the tower did not originally look squat at all — at over twenty meters tall, it was quite a slender structure, and its current proportions resulted from the buildup of cultural soil layers around its base over the centuries. Other versions link the name to the word “kut,” meaning corner or shelter, or trace it to the headdress known as “tafya.” The exact date of construction has likewise not been established: historians cite either 1495–1499 or 1516, since the chronicles give no definitive answer.

The tower originally had a horseshoe-shaped plan and projected beyond the wall line toward the river in a rounded bulge, topped by a low wooden tent roof that left the center of the platform open. The lower tier contained embrasures, and three gateway openings led to the Trinity Tower and to either side of the defensive moat; drawbridges on lifting mechanisms were used for crossing. The water level of the Neglinnaya was artificially raised by dams, and over time the tower became almost entirely surrounded by water, further strengthening the defenses of the western entrance.

By the end of the 16th century, once a new belt of fortifications — the White City — had been built around the Kremlin, the Kutafya Tower lost its military significance and became a ceremonial passage for solemn processions of tsars and patriarchs — it was through this tower, for instance, that Boris Godunov entered in 1598 upon his coronation. In 1685 the structure was substantially rebuilt: the massive roof and battlements were replaced with an openwork arcaded parapet with white-stone carving, and the drawbridges were dismantled as no longer needed once the moat had been filled in. Around this time, icon images of saints appeared on the stones, which also led to the tower being called the Borisoglebskaya and Vladimirskaya tower.

In 1780, the tower's decayed internal vault was dismantled, and it has remained open at the top ever since; up until the late 19th century, funeral processions were carried out of the Kremlin through this very gate. During the 20th and 21st centuries the structure was repeatedly restored, and in 2012 a glass pavilion with turnstiles for visitor security checks was added by the north wall — a decision that drew criticism from the architectural community and UNESCO experts.

Despite numerous rebuildings that stripped the tower of its historical brickwork, the Kutafya Tower remains a unique example in Russia of an outwork barbican and one of the most recognizable elements of the Kremlin ensemble, passing thousands of visitors to the museum-reserve through its gates every day.