Moscow Kremlin, Cathedral Square and the Armoury Chamber

Overlooking the Moskva River to the south, Red Square to the east, and Alexander Garden to the west, the Moscow Kremlin is the historic fortified core of the Russian capital. Behind its triangular perimeter of red brick walls and towers stand five palaces and four cathedrals. While the Grand Kremlin Palace and Senate serve as official presidential working buildings, the Moscow Kremlin Museums open Cathedral Square and the Armoury Chamber to visitors every day except Thursday.

Tickets, entry gates, and security rules

The Kremlin uses two main ticket categories that must be understood before queuing at the ticket office in Alexander Garden (or booking online; check the official site for advance release windows):

1. Cathedral Square Architectural Ensemble ticket: Grants entry through the whitewashed Kutafya Tower and across the bridge to Trinity Tower, giving access to the outdoor grounds, the Tsar Bell, the Tsar Cannon, and the interiors of the cathedrals and the Church of the Deposition of the Robe.
2. Armoury Chamber (Oruzheynaya Palata) timed ticket: Admits visitors through Borovitskaya Tower at the southwestern corner of the wall for a specific timed session inside the treasury museum.

Large backpacks and suitcases are not permitted inside the Kremlin walls; a left-luggage room operates beneath the Trinity Bridge in Alexander Garden.

Dormition, Archangel, and Annunciation Cathedrals

Cathedral Square (Sobornaya Ploshchad) owes its Renaissance-meets-Muscovite appearance to Grand Prince Ivan III, who summoned Italian architects and Pskov master builders in the late fifteenth century:

• Cathedral of the Dormition (Uspensky Sobor): Built between 1475 and 1479 by Bolognese architect Aristotele Fioravanti on the site of a 1326 stone church, this five-domed limestone cathedral served as the coronation church of Russian monarchs from 1547 until 1896 and holds the tombs of Moscow's metropolitans and patriarchs.
• Cathedral of the Archangel (Arkhangelsky Sobor): Constructed between 1505 and 1508 under Italian architect Lamberti Aloisio da Montagnana (Aloisio the New), its Venetian-style exterior scallop shells enclose the necropolis of Muscovite grand princes and tsars up to the move of the capital to Saint Petersburg.
• Cathedral of the Annunciation (Blagoveshchensky Sobor): Erected between 1484 and 1489 by masters from Pskov and expanded with additional domes after a fire in 1547 under Ivan the Terrible, this nine-domed church served as the private chapel of the royal family.

Ivan the Great Bell Tower, Tsar Bell, and Tsar Cannon

Rising 81 metres at the eastern edge of Cathedral Square, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower was completed in 1508 under Vasily III as a shared belfry for the three cathedrals that lacked their own bell towers. At the foot of its octagonal white tiers rests the Tsar Bell (Tsar-Kolokol), commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna. Standing 6.14 metres tall with a diameter of 6.6 metres and a weight of 201,924 kilograms, the bronze bell cracked during a fire before it could ever be suspended or rung; the detached fragment beside it weighs 11,500 kilograms.

A short walk north stands the Tsar Cannon (Tsar-Pushka), cast in bronze in 1586 by master founder Andrey Chokhov during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Measuring 5.34 metres in length with an 890-millimetre internal calibre and weighing 39,312 kilograms, it rests on a decorative nineteenth-century cast-iron carriage.

Inside the Kremlin Armoury

Founded as the royal arsenal in 1508 and housed in its current nineteenth-century building overlooking the Moskva River, the Armoury Chamber preserves the Monomakh's Cap, imperial coronation thrones, diplomatic gifts of English and Augsburg silver, ceremonial horse tack from the Stables Treasury, eighteenth-century court carriages, and Imperial Fabergé Easter eggs. After exiting into Alexander Garden, you can walk west along Volkhonka Street toward the Tretyakov Gallery and Pushkin Museum or follow the 3-day Moscow itinerary.