The Arsenal of the Moscow Kremlin (Tseikhgauz) is an architectural
monument of the 18th-19th centuries. Located between Troitskaya and
Nikolskaya towers. It was founded by Peter I in 1701 as the "Tseughaus"
(German: Zeughaus - "arms house").
It was built in 1702-1736 by
architects Christoph Konrad, Dmitry Ivanov, Mikhail Choglokov, Johann
Schumacher. It suffered in the Great Moscow Fire of 1737, and was
restored in 1786-1796 by Matvey Kazakov and engineer Ivan Gerard. Blown
up by the retreating Napoleonic troops in 1812, restored in 1815-1828 by
A. N. Bakarev, I. L. Mironovsky, I. T. Tamansky and E. D. Tyurin.
At present, the barracks of the Kremlin regiment and the
administrative services of the commandant's office of the Kremlin are
located in the Arsenal.
After the great Moscow fire of 1701, Peter I ordered the construction
of the Tseikhauz to begin, which, according to the tsar’s idea, was to
become a military warehouse and a place for storing military trophies,
the order dated November 12, 1701 read: seams, and in that place to
build again a weapons house, called zeykhouz. The building was founded
in 1702 on the site of the burnt Sovereign's Zhitny Yard, the dismantled
Sugar Chambers, the churches of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa and the Entry of the
Lord into Jerusalem, as well as the estates of Trubetskoy and Streshnev.
The Tseikhauz began to be erected by a group of architects, headed by
the architect Mikhail Choglokov, the author of the Sukharev Tower. The
group included M. Remezov, I. Saltanov, Saxon Christoph Konrad and other
architects. The design of the gates of the Zeyhaus was carried out by
the architect D. Ivanov, the painter V. Minin and the engraver A.
Shkhobenek. The work progressed slowly, with interruptions, which was
due to meager appropriations for construction. In 1711-1713 the
two-storey building was roofed. Initially, the building had no windows
from the city side and had a rather gloomy appearance; on the inside,
the walls were to be covered with murals depicting columns twined with
grape leaves, and the front gate was supposed to be decorated with
sculpture. In 1713 (or in 1714) the roof of an unfinished building
collapsed under the weight of gilded tiles and broke through the vaults
of both floors.
The consequences of the destruction were not
immediately eliminated: the funds were still not enough, the architect
of the Tseikhauz, M. I. Choglokov, died, and other craftsmen were busy
on other buildings in St. Petersburg. Only in 1722 was Christophe Conrad
specially returned from the capital to Moscow for the construction of
the Arsenal. After the death of Peter I, appropriations for construction
practically ceased. However, Konrad managed to complete the perimeter of
the trapezoidal building and partially bring it under the roof. The
finishing project presented by him was rejected, and in 1731 Conrad was
fired. From the same year, the construction of the Arsenal was
transferred to the jurisdiction of the artillery office of the Governing
Senate. Construction work was carried out by the architect I. Ya.
Schumacher and the carver I. Muskop under the supervision of Field
Marshal B. K. Minich. During construction, the vaults were replaced with
flat ceilings, the western facade was decorated, windows were pierced on
the wall between the Middle and Corner Arsenal towers, and a richly
decorated main portal appeared from the side of the Nikolsky Gate. The
internal facade of the building was decorated in the Baroque style, the
roof was restored in its former form, and a gallery with a balustrade
was arranged along it. By 1736 the construction of the building was
completed.
During the Trinity fire in 1737, the roof and all the
wooden parts of the building burned down. For a long time, the Arsenal
stood in ruins. In 1754, the architect D. V. Ukhtomsky drew up a project
for the restoration and reconstruction of the building, however,
according to some reports, it was not used. Other researchers of
architecture and historians, for example, I. E. Zabelin, I. M. Snegirev,
I. E. Grabar, A. I. Mikhailov, M. A. Ilyin, T. V. Moiseeva, Ukhtomsky’s
participation in the construction of the Arsenal is beyond doubt. The
restoration of the Arsenal in 1786-1796 was carried out by engineer A.I.
Gerard under the guidance of architect M.F. Kazakov. During construction
work, the vaulted ceilings, the pre-fire silhouette of the roof and the
color scheme of the facades of the building were returned. The main
portal acquired a classic pediment, and instead of the old porches,
ramps were built to enter directly to the second floor.
In 1812,
by order of Napoleon, part of the building was blown up. The arsenal was
restored and received a new finish in 1815-1828 according to the project
developed by Moscow architects A. N. Bakarev, I. L. Mironovsky, I. T.
Tamansky and E. D. Tyurin. The courtyard facades of the Arsenal were
given a late-classical design, the picturesque frieze of the outer
facade was replaced with stucco, the corners of the building were
treated with rustication. Instead of ramps, stairs were installed in the
courtyard, and the high roof was replaced with a flatter gable roof. At
the same time, the building was painted in a monochromatic yellow color
common during late classicism.
Again the building of the Arsenal
was damaged during the October Revolution; was restored in 1922. In 1927
and 1965, memorial plaques were installed on the facade in memory of the
soldiers of the 56th regiment shot by the cadets and in honor of the
dead officers of the Kremlin garrison.
The two-story building has the shape of a square with an inner courtyard, into which gates lead from the side of Senate and Troitskaya squares. The lower floor is worked out with rustication. The thickness of the walls is 4 arshins (2.84 m). Windows with deep slopes are arranged in pairs, at large intervals, the walls are completed by a carved white stone frieze. The high two-tiered roof of the building has not been preserved. On two sides, the Arsenal closely adjoins the Kremlin wall, the height of which had to be almost halved for better illumination of the premises.
The arsenal was conceived by Peter I not only as an armory, but also as a museum of Russian military glory: back in 1702, the tsar ordered that guns captured in battles with the enemy be brought here from Ukraine and Smolensk and “put for eternal glory in memory”. In 1819, 875 captured cannons, recaptured from the Napoleonic invaders, were placed along the facade of the building. In 1960, the old Russian cannons that stood at the former Armory were also brought here (except for the Tsar Cannon, which was transported to the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles).