Kutafya Tower (also Predmostnaya, Otvodnaya, Borisoglebskaya) is the
only surviving diversion tower of the Moscow Kremlin, it formed a single
defensive complex with the Trinity Tower and the Trinity Bridge. Dating
from the period between 1495-1516, the author of the project is
considered to be the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin.
The tower
was rebuilt and restored several times, as a result, the modern
appearance is significantly different from the original. At the
beginning of the 16th century, the tower was over twenty meters high,
did not have an internal arch and abundant decoration of the facades.
The openwork top was added only in the 17th century. There are
practically no original bricks left in the tower walls.
In the
21st century, the Kutafya Tower serves as the entrance to visitors to
the Kremlin. In 2012, a glass pavilion with turnstiles and security
checkpoints was built near its northern wall. The change in the
appearance of the historical building was critically perceived by
representatives of the architectural community and UNESCO specialists.
There are several versions of the origin of the main name of the
tower. According to the first theory, it goes back to the Old Russian
word "kutafya", which meant a clumsy, ugly-dressed woman. However, at
the time of construction, the tower exceeded twenty meters in height and
looked harmonious. The modern squat appearance was formed gradually due
to earthworks at its base and the growth of the cultural layer over the
centuries-old history of the Kremlin.
The second version explains
the name by the transformation of the word "kut" — shelter, corner.
However, from the point of view of linguistics, its derivative would
sound like "Kutovaya" or "Kutnaya", and not "Kutafya".
The third
version suggests that the name came from the modified word "skufya" —
"tafya", with the addition of the syllable "ku".
It is difficult to accurately determine the year of construction of
the tower due to the lack of unambiguous evidence in the annals, there
are two main versions on this score. According to the historian of the
XIX century Peter Bartenev, the Kutafya Tower was built in 1516, after
the completion of the reconstruction of the Kremlin in brick and the
creation of a line of circular defense. At the same time, Bartenev
defines the period of construction of the Trinity Bridge and tower as
1495-1499, although the Kutafya Tower was their off-ramp and it seems
unlikely that such an important element of defense was not completed for
almost twenty years. At the same time, the brickwork and the device of
the plantar combat at both towers are identical.
In the middle of
the XX century, the historian Mikhail Rabinovich, based on the results
of these archaeological excavations, named both 1495-1499 and 1516 as
the likely time of construction. Based on the architectural
reconstruction of the restorer Dmitry Kulchinsky and the later works of
researchers of the 20th century, the theory is put forward that the
Kutafya Tower was created in 1495-1499, since it is an inseparable part
of the defense link of the Trinity Bridge and Gate. Similarly, during
the creation of the brick Kremlin of Ivan III, the Konstantino-Eleninsky
and Taynitsky entrances to the Kremlin were strengthened.
the line of the fortress wall in the lower part, facing the river
with a rounded side. The building was completed by a low wooden tent
around the circumference of the walls, which left the central part open.
In the upper part there were machiculae and a row of teeth, and on the
lower tier there were loopholes of the plantar combat.
In the
plan of Aleviz Fryazin, the tower had three gates, only the western wall
was deaf. On the other sides there were passages: in the east to the
Trinity Tower, and from the north and south to the protective moat. The
identical design of these two exits assumed the presence of swing
bridges: in both arches there are support blocks for the lifting
mechanism. The next necessary structural element — free slots for the
lever movement — were found only in the northern gate.
At the time of construction, the Kutafya Tower was a powerful
defensive structure. A deep pit was dug at its eastern gate, the second
one was the same at the opposite end of the Trinity Bridge, they could
only be overcome by placing a special wooden platform on top. In the
XVI—XVII centuries, the water level in the Neglinnaya River was raised
by dams, and the banks were reinforced with piles. The water surrounded
the tower from all sides, gradually the river silt and the soil of the
new embankment covered the protruding basement. From the city side, the
tower could only be accessed by an inclined bridge. When approaching
from the Smolensky Tract and attacking the Kremlin, the attackers would
have to turn several times while being in the firing zone.
At the
end of the XVI century, a new defense belt of the Kremlin was created —
the White City. The Trinity Gate was surrounded by a stone wall, and the
Arbat and Nikitsky Gates were built for additional protection. The
Kutafya tower lost its value as a diversion tower and was soon rebuilt.
A cylindrical vault was added to its internal volume, the southern gate
was laid, and the opening of the northern gate was significantly
reduced. The Trinity Gate and Kutafya Tower turned into a "family royal
and patriarchal exit": solemn processions passed through them at the
meeting of monarchs or during the arrival of miraculous icons in the
capital. For example, in 1598, Boris Godunov "went to the kingdom"
through the Kutafya Tower to the Kremlin. On April 5, 1665, four archers
were on duty at the Kutafya Tower, and nine at the Trinity Gate. Such a
guard was considered to be reinforced and was put up on the occasion of
Alexei Mikhailovich's pious exit.
By the end of the 17th century,
the Kremlin had lost its defensive importance and began to turn into a
representative royal residence. In 1685, the Kutafya tower was rebuilt
again in accordance with the requirements of the era: the wooden tent
roof and the teeth of the upper diameter were dismantled, instead they
created an arcade openwork top — a parapet with white stone details.
Since the Aleviz moat had already been filled in, there was no need for
drawbridges and they were dismantled. To get to the Trinity Bridge, a
part of the western wall was dismantled in the tower and a gate was made
there.
From the side of the Trinity Bridge, the face of St.
Vladimir was painted directly on the stones of the tower, from the
Nikitskaya side — Saints Boris and Gleb, and above the exit to
Neglinnaya there was a wooden icon of Three Ecumenical Saints. Thanks to
these images, the Kutafya Tower then bore several names in the speech of
Muscovites: Borisoglebskaya, Vladimirskaya and even Patriarchal — since
it was the closest passage to the Patriarchal Court.
In 1780, due
to dilapidation, it was decided to dismantle the brick vault of the
tower, from that moment on it became completely open inside.
Until the end of the 19th century, all funeral processions left the
Kremlin through the Kutafya Tower.
On September 2, 1812, Napoleon's soldiers entered the Kremlin through
the Kutafya Tower. On October 11, during the withdrawal of the French
army, a significant part of the Kremlin buildings was mined —
Borovitskaya and Nikolskaya towers suffered from explosions,
Vodovzvodnaya was completely destroyed. The Kutafya Tower was not
damaged.
In 1867, the tower was rebuilt again. Under the guidance
of architect P. A. Gerasimov, side archways were laid and a through
passage to Manezhnaya Street was left, and a small wooden guardhouse was
built against the northern wall. Several decades later, in 1901, it was
demolished during another restoration. At the same time, the lower part
of the tower was finally filled in. In 1912, images were still preserved
in the kiots of the Kutafya Tower, and in general its appearance had a
strong resemblance to the towers of the Novodevichy Monastery.
In 1917, during the shelling of the Kremlin by the Bolsheviks, the
Kutafya Tower received significant damage: the walls were broken, many
upper-diameter teeth were destroyed. Repairs were carried out only after
March 1918, when the Kremlin was occupied by the Soviet government
headed by Vladimir Lenin. The Kutafya tower was repaired, and a
guardhouse was built to it again. This time it was already brick and
stylized for the XVII century. The project was carried out by architect
Nikolai Vinogradov. The building stood until 1976, it housed a
checkpoint, an expedition to receive appeals from citizens and a window
for receiving special mail.
The Kutafya Tower was not damaged
during the Great Patriotic War, when the German Air Force bombed Moscow
in 1941. The next renovation took place already in the 1960s and 1970s,
when a large-scale restoration of the historical building was carried
out in the Kremlin under the direction of architect Dmitry Kulchinsky.
In 1976-1977, the tower was given a historical appearance: the original
arched gates were restored in the walls and the facades were given a
two-tone color. The project was led by architects A. V. Vorobyov and A.
I. Khamtsov. The image of St. Vladimir was restored by the hereditary
icon painters Bryagin. During this period, the guardhouse was dismantled
again, but only the second floor was demolished. A concrete platform was
formed on the remaining part, where shopping kiosks and ticket offices
were placed.
In 1993, the Bank of Russia issued a new type of banknote, with an image of the Trinity Gate and Kutafya Tower placed on the reverse side of the 200-ruble banknote. These bills went out of circulation after the 1998 denomination.
In 2006, the Regulatory Commission of the Moscow City Planning
Council received for consideration a plan for the extension of a
checkpoint to the Kutafya Tower, in which future work was called the
reconstruction and restoration of the historic guardhouse building. The
construction was motivated by the desire to speed up the process of
admitting tourists to the Kremlin and create more comfortable conditions
for those waiting in line for inspection. By 2012, the project was
approved. According to the experts of Archnadzor, he violated the
legislation of Russia and the country's international obligations to
protect cultural monuments under the protection of UNESCO. In 2013, its
World Heritage committee included the issue of the preservation of the
Moscow Kremlin on the agenda of the next session.
At the 39th
session of UNESCO in 2015, it was noted that Moscow sent the
organization a report and a report on the state of the Kremlin for the
first time in 25 years, and in 2014 invited representatives of the
society to the international seminar "World Heritage: Preservation,
management, popularization". However, the Russian report lacked a
detailed plan for the development and conservation of the ensemble, and
the necessary protection zones were not designated. UNESCO demanded to
freeze further work inside the Kremlin and provide detailed information
on planned changes with a full list of technical parameters by December
1, 2016.
As of 2018, there is a luggage storage on the ground
floor of the annex to the tower, and the ticket offices and entrance
group are located in the glass pavilion on the second floor.
In
2010, the Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called found and restored
the gate icons of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers. It was planned to
explore and restore the icons of Kutafya and other towers.