When was the Terem Palace in the Kremlin built? Teremny Palace of the Kremlin and Verkhospassky Cathedral. Photo and description
Let's admire the interiors of the Terem Palace at the end of the 19th century. Nowadays it is the residence of the President of Russia.
Interior of the Chamber of Facets with tables prepared for the meal (dignitaries, high clergy, military and civilians), which took place after the end of the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II
Interior of the Golden Tsarina Chamber (built in the 16th century, paintings from the 1580s) in the Kremlin
View of the Romanov Gallery in the [Terem Palace] of the Kremlin (built in 1635-1636 by Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov, Trofim Sharutin, Larion Ushakov)
View of the bedchamber in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin. Moscow
View of the chapel in the Teremny Palace of the Kremlin.
View of the front porch of the Duma Chamber in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin.
View of the front corridor in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin.
Interior of the Cross Chamber in the Romanov Palace.
View of the bedchamber of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich in the Romanov Palace.
Interior of the Golden Patriarchal Chamber in the Kremlin.
Interior of the Golden Patriarchal Chamber
View of part of the living room in the Teremny Palace of the Kremlin
View of the office in the Teremny Palace of the Kremlin.
Interior of the Chamber of Facets (built in 1487-1491 by Italian architects Mark Fryazin and Pietro Antonio Solari)
Interior of the Chamber of Facets
Interior of the Throne Chamber in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin (former Tsar's office or Golden Chamber")
View of carved gilded icon cases in the royal chapel of the Terem Palace
Interior of the [Dumna Chamber] in the Upper Teremok in the Kremlin
Interior of the Romanov Gallery in the [Teremny Palace] of the Kremlin (in the ceiling painting there are portraits of Russian emperors)
The original interiors of the palace have been lost. In the thirties of the 19th century, the walls of the palace rooms were painted in the “Old Russian style”. The windows were decorated with stained glass and tiled stoves were installed. In 1992, restoration of the facades of the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin was carried out.
Churches and icons of the Terem Palace
The architectural ensemble of the Terem Palace also includes other buildings, making it rightfully one of the most important historical monuments Russian architecture of the 17th century. For example, in the western part of the Terem Palace there is the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God “on Senya”. The temple was rebuilt several times. Among the notable features is the almost completely preserved white stone four-pillar church. The construction of this church was carried out at the end of the 14th century by order of Princess Evdokia, the widow of the notorious Prince Dmitry Donskoy. This church is one of the most ancient buildings included in the Moscow Kremlin and is well preserved to this day.
On the territory of the Terem Palace there are a number of churches: the Church of Catherine (built by J. Thaler in 1627), the Church of the Resurrection of the Word built above it and the so-called Crucifixion Church. The roof with majolica and painted crosses, under which 3 churches are united - the Crucifixion, the Savior and the Resurrection of the Word, were made by the monastic elder Hippolytus, a famous carver of that time. By the way, the ancient wooden crucifix installed in the chapel of the Church of the Crucifixion is also the work of Hippolytus.
The house church on the men's half of the Terem Palace was built in 1636, when the construction of the entire complex was almost completed. The church was illuminated in honor of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” (it is believed that the image of the Savior appeared on its own, without human participation), and a little later the church began to be called in a new way - Verkhospassky Cathedral. The same 4 architects who built the entire complex of the Terem Palace worked on the temple. The murals that can be seen in the cathedral were created 30 years later, starting in 1660. Sometimes the cathedral is called “The Savior behind the Golden Lattice” and here’s why. The fact is that they decided to separate the Verkhospassky Cathedral and the Terem Palace with a lattice - not gold, of course, but made of iron. However, the gilding that covers the grille is applied so carefully and carefully that many people think that it is really made of gold! In the Church of the Crucifixion of the Terem Palace there is a very beautiful and monumental iconostasis. His icons are made on silk fabric using the appliqué technique. The author of the icons is the famous master of the Armory Chamber Vasily Poznansky. The Verkhospassky Cathedral also has an iconostasis made in the 18th century in baroque forms. However, in the lower row of the iconostasis of the Verkhospassky Cathedral there are even more ancient icons, works by masters of the 17th century: these are “The Centurion Longinus”, “Fedor Stratelates” and “The Savior Not Made by Hands” with 20 stamps on the theme of the lives of saints. The iconostasis of the Church of the Resurrection of the Glorious is made of wood and decorated with carvings and gilding. And the clock that decorates the temple is a gift from the Swedish King Charles 9.
The first stone living quarters in the royal palace, later called the Terem Palace, were built in 1635 - 1636. for Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
The stone workers were Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov, Trefil Sharutin and Larion Ushakov.
The basis for the newly erected three-story chambers was:
- the lower tier of the northern part of the palace, built by Aleviz Fryazin in 1499-1508. And
- Workshop Chambers built over it in the second half of the 16th century.
The Terem Palace was designed according to the type of Russian wooden houses:
- features of which are manifested both in the exterior and in the layout of the building.
- The palace is a multi-tiered building.
- New floors were erected at some distance from the old walls and rose up in stepped tiers.
Each tier seems to grow from the previous one like a pyramid:
- the talent of the palace creators was fully demonstrated
- limited by space and proximity of neighboring buildings
- they managed to create a masterpiece of architectural art, pleasing the eye with its festive splendor.
The features of Russian wooden architecture can be traced
- not only in the tiered structure, but also
- in the nature of the roof, the solution of the porch with a gable roof and the layout of the rooms,
- reminiscent of the interior of a Russian hut, which is based on a cage (a log frame usually with 3 windows along the facade)
- White stone window frames and portals are decorated with floral patterns depicting birds and animals 
Window of the royal chamber:
- decorated high pediment, but which depicts a coat of arms supported by small columns;
- the bases of the columns are presented in the form of stone sculpted lions
Watchtower with decorative kokoshniks and 8-sided roof
- was attached to the Terem Palace on the western side
- Even before the start of construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace
- From the height of this tower it opened beautiful panorama cities
- Portals with triangular pediments framing the tower windows with colored glass:
--- oriented to the cardinal points,
---reminiscent of the carved frames of the windows of the Terem Palace
Steep hipped roof
- with a patterned design of gilded metal and small flags successfully complements the palace ensemble
For its time, the Terem Palace was a fairly tall building
- the “golden top” is located on the 4th floor of a modern house,
- but the Grand Kremlin Palace, in the courtyard of which the TD is located, almost completely hides it from view.
Coats of arms in the Cross Chamber
Facades of the Terem Palace
- can only be seen through the windows of the Great Kremlin or State Kremlin Palaces
- Only the façade of the Queen’s Golden Chamber and the domes of the house church are visible from Cathedral Square
- From the Armory, however, you can see the gilded dome of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. 
Each floor had its own purpose and its own lifestyle
- The ground floor premises were used for domestic purposes
- It contained rooms for domestic purposes, as well as
- supplies of water and candles, preparations of vegetables and pickles 
The queen's workshops were located on the 1st floor
- All types of clothing, linen and other fabrics for the household of the royal family were prepared here
- Here, court embroiderers decorated clothes with silk, gold embroidery and pearls. 
3rd room on the 3rd floor of the palace - Throne room, or royal office
- In the “red” corner of the room there is a royal chair covered with velvet
- In the 17th century, this was the most beautiful and most inaccessible room in the entire palace
- Only in the mornings did the boyars closest to the Tsar, “waiting for the time,” enter it to hit it with their foreheads 
The middle window of the room, decorated from the facade with a carved white stone casing, was called Petition
- A box was lowered from it, where everyone could submit a Petition letter to the Tsar
- The common people called this box Long, since petitions lay here for a long time, unread by anyone
- This is where the saying comes from: “Don’t put things off for too long.” 
The royal family's chambers were also located here during their stay in the Terem Palace.
- the rest of the time the family lived in a wooden palace,
- which, according to contemporaries, was considered more beneficial for health 
The royal chambers occupied the 2nd floor of the palace
- These were 4 chambers of relatively small sizes,
- covered with closed vaults with strippings
- Passage vestibule, Cross Chamber, Altar Room and Bedchamber.
- In the layout of the rooms, as well as in the general composition of architectural volumes,
- the influence of wooden architecture, in particular, still makes itself felt
- wooden mansions, built on the principle of connecting individual cages
- The walls and vaults of the chambers were painted with floral patterns upon completion of construction
- Then, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the painting was resumed by S. Ushakov.
Existing painting
- completed in 1836 according to drawings by F.G. Solntsev and T.A. Kiseleva
The king’s personal bath was also located on the 2nd floor.
- Water was supplied here using a pump from a water tower
- A spiral staircase led from the bathhouse to the royal bedroom
- The rooms located on this floor were often rebuilt and their purpose changed accordingly
- In the 19th century. an archive was located here, in which the most important state papers were kept 
On the 3rd floor were the king's personal chambers:
- large “rooms with three windows” overlooking the Moscow River
- The suite of rooms on this floor ended with the Bedroom and Chapel. 
In the bedroom
- there was a gilded carved bed with a luxurious canopy,
- embroidered in gold on a red background with numerous inscriptions
In the chapel
- 2 carved iconostases were installed,
- covered with spun gold,
- with icons of the 17th-18th centuries. 
The northern wing housed utility rooms and a narrow corridor.
- According to legend, the most beautiful girls were shown here,
- among whom the king had to choose his bride.
- He had to walk down the corridor three times and
- present a towel to the lucky chosen one 
The 4th floor, or mezzanine, was sometimes called the golden top
- because the roof was covered with gold and silver sheets and painted in different colors
- In the spacious, well-lit room of the golden top, the wall painting attracts attention,
- made in the middle of the last century in the so-called “Russian” style. 
3 galleries surrounded the palace in tiers:
- lower Boyarskaya platform, or Bed porch
- located at the level of the ceiling of the Alevizovsky basement,
- where the Vladimir Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace now stands. 
From this level an open staircase led to the Front Stone Courtyard
- built on top of the aligned vaults of the Workshop Chambers,
- on which 3 floors of the Terem Palace were actually built. 
The exit to the middle walkway was later closed by the Golden Grille
- representing a unique example of blacksmithing skill.
WITH east side There was a front golden porch
- along which they climbed to the 2nd floor to the king’s living quarters
The last tier of the built chambers is the golden-domed Teremok
- located in the center of the building,
- surrounds the 3rd site - the Upper stone courtyard. 
The extraordinary picturesqueness and elegance of the new palace is created not only due to the complex space-planning design of the building, but also due to the rich decorative design of its facades.
Profiled pilasters between the windows, carved and majolica cornices, complex white stone frames of openings with hanging weights and triangular pediments, covered with carved ornaments, tiles and carvings in the flaps of the walkway parapets, gilded roofing - all this is harmoniously combined with the polychrome coloring of the walls and white stone details, restored during restoration of Terems in 1966-1969. Overall, the palace gives the impression of a precious piece of jewelry.
The Upper Golden Porch, topped with a tent and serving as the main entrance to the royal chambers, led from the Verkhnespasskaya platform to the second floor of the palace. With T.D. located in front of the arched basement. From the Boyarskaya platform to the Verkhnespasskaya platform, an open staircase (Lower Golden Porch) ascended, which at the Verkhnepassskaya platform was locked with a gilded copper lattice (this is why the church is sometimes called the Church of the Savior behind the Golden Lattice).
Boyar's Square and the Church of the Savior behind the Golden Lattice in the Moscow Kremlin. 1838. E. Gilbertzon.
In the western part of T.D. The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God “on Senya” is located, notable for the fact that in its basement a four-pillar white stone church from the late 14th century has been preserved. - the most ancient of the Kremlin buildings that have come down to us.
Simultaneously with the traditional techniques of decorative decoration - flies, ornamental wickerwork, polychrome, tiles, a carved gilded ridge on the roof ridge, the architects of T. D. used classical order forms. At this time, the Order of Stone Affairs paid great attention to familiarizing Russian architects with Western European construction experience.
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From the multi-colored glass, tiled stoves and painted walls, Teremov breathes a distant, fabulous antiquity. Furniture is in the style of the 17th century. Benches and chairs are upholstered in Venetian velvet. Once upon a time, the cabinets and shelves were filled with gold and silver dishes, which are now preserved in the Armory. Songbirds sat in golden and silver cages.
No gold was spared when painting the Terem Palace. According to the chronicles, even the roofs and gutters were painted and gilded, and the doorways were decorated with painted and gilded carvings.
Interior decoration of the chambers of T.D. it was very picturesque: bright ornamental painting with heraldic signs woven into it covered the surfaces of walls, vaults, formwork and even window sills; Biblical stories in symbolic form illustrated the monarchical idea. Painted by T.D. (during its resumption during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich) Simon Ushakov took part. The painting has not survived.
The architectural ensemble of the Terem Palace also includes the Golden Tsarina Chamber of the 16th century and house churches (Resurrection of the Word, Savior, Crucifixion chapel, etc.), which in 1682 were brought under one roof and 11 domes were placed on it on necks decorated with tiles. Construction work supervised by the architect Osip Startsev, the drawings for the majolica and crosses were made by the carver, Elder Ippolit.
All restoration work was carried out based on the architectural support of N.G. Mukhin (Mosproekt-2, workshop No. 13) and on the recommendations of TsNRPM technologist M.P. Ievleva.
The original interior decoration of the chambers, with the exception of some fragments, has not been preserved and was made again under the direction of the artist F.G. Solntsev in the style of the 17th century. These works were carried out in 1836-1837. during restoration ancient monument, later included during the construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace in a new complex of palace buildings.
Alekseev F.Ya. View in the Kremlin of the Terem Palace and the Church of the Savior on Bor. 1800s
Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev. Boyar platform in the Moscow Kremlin (1801)
Boyarskaya site in the Moscow Kremlin. (until 1838)
Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin. 1635 - 1636. South facade. Engraving from the 1870s.
Located on a high Kremlin hill, the TD building
- the main façade was facing south, towards the Moscow River
- Topped with a gilded attic roof
- surrounded by open walkways with hipped porches
- TD dominated the Kremlin chambers and mansion building and
- formed an integral part of the entire Kremlin palace ensemble
Currently TD
- as part of the Grand Kremlin Palace
- is the Presidential Residence Russian Federation
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Some photos.
Teremny Palace is part official residence The President of the Russian Federation, and not a museum at all, so getting there is extremely difficult. So we offer an imaginary tour. You can open photographs of interiors and drawings and follow the text, then everything will fall into place and fit into a harmonious picture. True, in the photo post it’s not very clear what belongs to what, but this is the best that we could find, because you can’t go there yourself and figure it all out: a sensitive object.
So, we examined the second floor of the Terem Palace, built by Aleviz. Between the church and the Back Chamber there is a Boyar Staircase. Let's go down it to the first floor. Here, too, the building is surrounded by corridors from the north and south. First there are seven rooms, which in the 19th century were kitchens, and originally were the basements of the chambers of the palace of Ivan III. Further under the Zhiletskaya and Golden Tsarina chambers there are their own basements. Here the noble residents were beaten with batogs for offenses and put under arrest.
The cellars and glaciers of the Grand Duke have been preserved underground. You can get there from some basements on the first floor.
Let's return to the Vladimir Hall. From there you can climb to the Verkhospasskaya platform (Front Stone Courtyard). Before construction it was really a platform for open air on the roof of the second floor of the Terem Palace. Moreover, before the stone mansions of the 17th century, there were residential wooden mansions of kings/grand dukes, and further towards the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary - queens/grand duchesses.
Previously, from the courtyard to the Verkhospasskaya platform one could climb a luxurious staircase, which was separated from the platform by the famous Golden Red Lattice. The staircase was decorated with gilded lions sitting on the railings of each landing.
The lattice, unlike the stairs, is still there. Iron lattice, gilded, painted. There is a legend that it was cast from copper money after the Copper Riot, but in reality it was not.
Well, here we are at the Verkhospasskaya site. If we go straight, we will find ourselves in the Cast Iron Corridor, running along the northern facade. If you go to the right, you will see the Refectory, and behind it is the Church of the Savior behind the Golden Lattice, also known as the Verkhospassky Cathedral. But a staircase with lions rises to the left. The lions hold the monograms of Nicholas I and appeared under him. A porch placed inside a covered room looks somewhat unnatural.
There is a small door under the stairs; let's go through it and find ourselves in a suite of five maid of honor rooms. Initially, these were the chambers of the lower tier of the Terem Palace. From all these rooms you can get into the Cast Iron Corridor. By the way, on the fourth floor above part of the Cast Iron Corridor there is a Portrait Corridor. You can get into it by stairs from the refectory of the Verkhospassky Cathedral. The ceiling of the Portrait Corridor features Russian emperors, which is why the corridor is also called the Romanov Gallery.
Among the rooms on the third floor, one was the Amusement Chamber, the other was the sovereign’s soapbox, where the tsar descended along a special secret staircase, which has survived to this day. The soap dish was insulated with lead to prevent water from passing to the lower floor.
Okay, let's go back to the Verkhospasskaya site and finally go up the stairs. We are on the Golden Porch, topped with a hipped turret. From the Golden Porch we go into the Entrance Hall, and then into the Front (Cross, Dining, Living) Chamber. Initially it was called the Front Hut, because there was no fundamental functional difference between the royal and peasant houses.
The next room is the Throne (Golden) Chamber, also known as the Room. This is the sovereign's own office. It was here that the royal decrees were first announced, and only then the heralds carried them everywhere. The central south window of the Room is highlighted from the outside with white stone carvings and lions. There are two doors on the north side, but now they lead to nowhere, but before there was an entrance to the Upper Tower and a descent to the lower tier.
Behind the Room there are the last two small rooms: the Prayer Room (Krestovaya) and the Bedchamber (Chulan). Previously, there was also a royal buffet and mansions of court pilgrims, but they have not survived.
From the Passage Entrance Hall you can climb a very steep staircase to the fifth floor of the Terem Palace, where in the middle of the vast area (Upper Stone Courtyard) there is a Stone Attic (Terem) with a Lookout Tower. The tower is one large, bright hall, the facades of which are richly decorated with tiles.
The picture is clickable.
Story
Nicholas I
1836—1849
Architects use genuine materials very freely. They are building the Vladimir Hall on the site of the Boyarskaya site, turning the Verkhospasskaya site into a covered room, redoing the stairs, erecting a hipped tower at their own whim and observation deck…
Fedor Solntsev’s approach is more accurate. He restores the interiors of the Terem Palace and the Golden Tsarina Chamber for real, uses genuine objects whenever possible, and if they are missing, he makes remakes based on ancient models. Contemporaries believed and accepted the interiors as original.
1838
Due to reconstruction and construction, ladies-in-waiting and other palace employees are being evicted from the Terem Palace.
The pictures are signed and clickable.
Alexander I
1812
Napoleon's retinue settles in the Terem Palace. After the war, she was replaced by Russian court servants.
1810
The treasures of the Terem Palace are transferred to the Armory Chamber.
1809
The abolition of the churches of the New Savior and the Assumption.
Temporary workers
1743
Repair, extension on the third floor. The treasures of the Tsar's Armory and the Great Treasury are placed in the Terem Palace.
Peter I
1723
1670
Casting and installation of the Golden Grill.
1666
Room door decoration.
1664
1660
A church council is taking place in the Room, which decided to deprive Nikon of his rank.
1655
The old patriarchal palace goes to the princesses, because Nikon is building it in the Tsareboris courtyard.
1654
Tsarina Maria Miloslavskaya gives a reception to the Georgian Tsarina Elena Levontevna in the Golden Tsarina Chamber.
1646
Alexey Mikhailovich is setting up new Amusement Mansions in the Terem Palace. They are being built by the palace carpenter Vaska Romanov.
1630s
The bed chambers became the lower part of the Terem Palace (see below) and were called the Workshop Chambers.
1637
Some groom Ivan Osipov, a gold painter by trade, was already at that time putting burdocks on the roof with gold leaf, silver and various paints, “and in the same mansion, in all the windows (otherwise the attic, i.e. tower) he made mica endings.”
Zabelin I.E. Home life of Russian tsars in the 16th and 17th centuries. M., 1895., future saint. He wrote a whole book about his trip to Muscovy, here is a fragment dedicated to the Golden Tsarina Chamber:
If we look at the vaulted chamber in which we were, we will see that there is no other chamber similar in beauty in the whole world. It is arranged in a sphere shape, covered with the purest gold, decorated with images and, due to its skillful arrangement, miraculously reflects the sounds pronounced in it. On its walls are depicted arabesques, trees, black and red vines, as well as various birds. In the middle of the vault there was a beautifully sculptured lion holding a snake in its teeth, from the middle of which descended many beautiful candlesticks, decorated with precious stones and pearls and skillfully woven like baskets.
I cannot perfectly describe this round chamber and talk about it in detail, because the abundance of what is described frightens me. But a strong desire compels me to describe it, although no mind is able to completely achieve this. From all sides of the chamber, countless images of mosaic work looked at us, representing various events and faces - St. The Virgin Mary, the Lady of the world, holding our redeemer in her arms - the faces of St. angels, hierarchs, martyrs; all these images - great job, - were decorated with diamonds, large pearls and other precious stones. In addition, all the faces of the saints had beautiful crowns and were covered with expensive frames.
I cannot list all the pearls, rubies, sapphires, topazes and other brilliant precious stones with which the icons were covered. I’d better finish my speech about this, because I cannot perfectly describe the countless number of objects that were here.
Arseny Elassonsky, “Description of a trip to Muscovy.”
And Queen Irina Godunova receives Patriarch Job, for the sake of whose election Jeremiah and Arseny came.
1535
Elena Glinskaya receives the Queen of Kazan (probably Syuyumbike) in the Lazarevskaya Chamber (near the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus).
Grand Duchy
1526
The first mention of the Coal Chamber, later known as the Golden Tsarina Chamber.
1508
Aleviz the Old builds the lower tier of the towers. Among them there is the Lazarevskaya (Rear) chamber. The doors from this chamber led to the Bed Porch, which also adjoined the entryway and was connected by a door to the Front Passage, or Red Porch.
1395
Laying stone cellars on the site of the future Terem Palace.
Photo: Terem Palace of the Kremlin and Verkhospassky Cathedral
Photo and description
The first royal chambers made of stone, which appeared on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin at the beginning of the 17th century, were built by order of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and called the Terem Palace. The royal residence of the Terem Palace and the Verkhospassky Cathedral, which since 1636 has been part of the complex of house churches of the Russian tsars, are part of architectural ensemble Grand Kremlin Palace.
Grand Ducal Chambers above Borovitsky Hill
The great Moscow princes always settled on high place. Their residences were built over Borovitsky Hill, from where there were magnificent views of the surrounding area. The first to build a palace on a hill Ivan Kalita. Later, mansions were erected on the edge of Borovitsky Hill for Sofia Vitovtna, wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir Vasily I.
At the end of the 15th century Ivan III undertook a global reconstruction of the Kremlin buildings. Under him, the old walls, built of white stone, were torn down and new brick walls began to be built. Several new structures were built on the territory of the Kremlin, which today are included in the lists of the most important attractions of Moscow. Stone residential buildings also began to be erected at this time, and in the Kremlin, in addition to the Assumption Cathedral, the Faceted Chamber and the Archangel Cathedral, buildings of the Sovereign's Court appeared at the end of the 15th century. Their project belonged to Aleviz Fryazin, an Italian who worked for the great Moscow princes for a long time.
Construction of the Terem Palace
The Time of Troubles, which devastated the Russian land, brought a lot of destruction to Moscow. By 1630, the Tsar's Kremlin palace had fallen into disrepair and was virtually abandoned. The first tsar of the Romanov family Mikhail Fedorovich ordered the construction of new chambers. Subsequently, the royal stone residence was named Terem Palace.
Architects Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov and Trefil Sharutin We used many new technologies in our work. "Iron ties" allowed them to strengthen the walls, leaving them quite thin. Innovations contributed to an increase in the internal area of the structure, which was a very progressive trend in ancient Russian stone architecture.
The walls and foundation remaining from the chambers of Ivan III were taken as the basis of the Terem Palace. The two tiers of the old building were expanded with three new ones, and a tower appeared at the very top. The interiors were decorated richly and whimsically. The roof of the mansion was painted with silver paints and gold leaf, the window openings were covered with mica translucent glass, and the walls and ceilings of the chambers were painted by an artel of icon painters, which was led by Simon Ushakov– a highly developed and talented artist, technically far ahead of his time.
The new royal mansions looked like a very large and even monumental structure. The architect skillfully combined in it the features of ancient Russian classics and elements of Italian architecture:
- The palace is mostly built from bricks, but the platbands, portals, parapets and pilasters are made of white stone.
- Used in decorative decoration traditional techniques of Russian stone architecture– tiled tiles on the cornices of the fourth floor, ornamental stone wickerwork, carved window frames, flaps on the parapets of the walkways, pilasters in the walls between the windows and a gilded ridge on the roof.
- Tiered stepped design The building demonstrates the typical features of mansion buildings erected by ancient Russian architects. However, the internal rooms were arranged in the form enfilades, which is typical for the later period of Russian stone architecture.
- The palace was heated using a system ovens. Each oven was decorated glazed tiles different colors and shapes.
- Led to the state rooms golden porch, which connected the Verkhospasskaya platform and the second floor of the Terem Palace. The entrance, painted in gold, was crowned with a pyramidal tent.
The Terem Palace became one of the buildings of the Royal Court, which occupied a large territory and included many buildings, including the Faceted and Dining Chambers, the Bed Mansions of the Royal Family, the Embankment Chambers and several house churches.
What to see in the Terem Palace
Each of five floors The Terem Palace had its purpose. The three lower floors, located on the basements of the 16th century, served for economic needs. Supplies and food were stored here in the basements and storerooms, and jewelers, gold seamstresses, gunsmiths and lacemakers worked in the workshops.
Royal chambers located on the third and fourth floors. The first premises where the sovereign and members of his family found themselves were checkpoints canopy. They were covered with low arches, and the front room was illuminated by paired lancet windows. The entrance halls were heated by stoves decorated with tiles. In the living room, the tsar communicated with the boyars and sometimes received foreign ambassadors.
Golden Chamber was the most richly decorated room of the royal residence. The walls of the chamber were decorated with gold paintings, the vaults were painted with images of the Savior and saints, and the royal throne, which stood in Throne Chamber, was covered with velvet. The saying about the long box was born here. In the Golden or Throne Chamber there was a box where petitions were submitted. Since the petitions were considered for a very long time and reluctantly, the box began to be called “long.”
A unique painting in the form of ornamental patterns has been preserved on the walls of the room adjacent to the Golden Chamber. They called him pantry and stored dishes and cutlery in it.
IN royal bedchamber there is a bed made by skilled wood carvers and decorated with a canopy made of natural silk. The royal box was made in the 19th century, when one of the reconstructions of the residence took place.
On the top floor of the Terem Palace there is a stone attic, which was called Golden-domed tower. Its roof was covered with gilded sheets, which gave the attic its name. Meetings of the Boyar Duma were held in the Golden-Domed Tower. Adjacent to the tower lookout tower, in the windows of which antique colored glass has been preserved.
Verkhospassky Cathedral
The complex of house churches of the Moscow Kremlin includes Cathedral of the Holy Image, more often called Verkhospassky. The temple was built in the first half of the 17th century and is located above the Throne Palace Chamber on the upper tier of the Terem Palace on its male half. From the north side Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov ordered to build a small side church for Evdokia Lukyanova- his second wife and mother of the prince.
The architects who worked on the project and its implementation were well known in Rus'. Bazhen Ogurtsov, who led a team of builders and architects, had been working in the Moscow Kremlin for about ten years. He participated in the reconstruction of the Assumption Cathedral, erected a gunpowder warehouse, supervised the construction of an extension to the bell tower of Ivan the Great, but his main creation is called the Terem Palace and the Verkhospassky Cathedral with it.
In the 60s of the 17th century, a refectory, and on the flat roof of the lower chambers - porch, connecting the sovereign’s chambers with the cathedral. At the same time, the facades were painted, the five domes of the temple were gilded, and a few years later the walls inside the church were painted by icon painters led by Simon Ushakov. In 1670, a copper and gilded grille was installed to block the staircase from the royal chambers that led to the cathedral. The temple began to be called Savior behind the Golden Lattice.
In 1682, all the house churches of the Terem Palace were brought under a single roof. The complex was crowned with eleven domes with carved crosses. To strengthen the structure, the architects had to build an arch on wide pylons.
In the 18th-19th centuries, the temple was restored and renovated more than once. The reason for starting new work most often was fires. One of them, Trinity, damaged the iconostasis and had to be made anew. Large funds for the repair of the Verkhospassky Cathedral were allocated by the maid of honor Matrona Saltykova. Thanks to her, the altar frescoes were restored in the temple, new royal doors were made and the iconostasis was covered with frames with silver niello.
IN 1812 The French plundered many churches, and the Verkhospassky Cathedral was among the victims. Fortunately, we managed to evacuate the most valuable church utensils in advance, but a lot had to be restored.
The house temple at the Terem Palace in 1836. The order for the next restoration came from the sovereign Nicholas I. The construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace, which began next, also made some changes to the layout of the Terem Palace and Verkhospassky Cathedral. The staircase adjacent to the temple was dismantled, the Verkhospasskaya platform was blocked, and the Golden Lattice was inserted into new arched openings. The wall of the refectory facing west was rebuilt. Now it had three doors, each of which was decorated with decorative grilles, stylized in the 17th century.
The corner of the cathedral, damaged by artillery shelling during the armed revolt of 1917, was restored in 1920, but by that time the temple was already closed and since then no services have been held in it.
Iconostasis of the Savior behind the Golden Lattice
The author of the iconostasis of the Verkhospassky Cathedral is a cabinetmaker Dmitry Shiryaev, who skillfully carved it from wood in the 18th century. In the central part of the iconostasis there is a frame made of blackened silver, made in 1778 at the expense of maid of honor Saltykova.
The most valuable icons of the Verkhospassky Cathedral were painted by artists S. Kostromitin and L. Stepanov. They are located in the local row. Attracts special attention image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, surrounded in the margins by twenty separate compositions called hagiographic stamps.
In the chapel of the cathedral, consecrated in honor of John the Baptist, you can see ancient images painted in XVII century. The most revered of them are icons of Our Lady of Smolensk and St. John the Baptist.
One of most beautiful buildings Russian capital. Erected in the 17th century, which has undergone many changes and transformations, today it is part of the Grand Kremlin Palace, is the Residence of the President of the Russian Federation and a true masterpiece of Russian architectural art. We can say that the Terem Palace is the result of a harmonious synthesis of traditions and features inherent in Russian wooden architecture, and the enfilade construction of premises, completely new and unusual for that time.
History of the Terem Palace
The Terem Palace, which was then simply called the Tsar's Palace, was built in 1635-1636 by order of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. A new building was built by masters Larion Ushakov, Bazhen Ogurtsov and Trefil Sharutin under the leadership of Antipa Konstantinov. The basis for the future palace was the lower tier of the northern part of the grand-ducal palace built in the 15th century and the Workshop Chambers built above it in the next century.
The new palace went down in history as the first royal chambers made of stone. He also became the “ancestor” of the enfilade construction. For its construction, the latest technologies at that time using iron “connections” were used. This made it possible to reduce the thickness of the walls and, accordingly, increase the width of the space.
The first tier of the new palace had an economic purpose; it also housed the chambers of the queen and the heirs to the throne. The third was located on a flat roof (gulbishche) and was a large tower - the same “Golden-Domed Tower” in which meetings of the Boyar Duma were held.
The second tier, in which the royal chambers were located, was considered the “main” one. Each of the chambers had its own name - “Passage Hall”, “Chamber of the Cross”, “Bedchamber”, “Altar Room”. On the south side of the palace there was a front Bed Porch, to which the Golden Staircase led from Boyarskaya Square, which in turn overlooked Verkhnespasskaya site.
The Verkhnespasskaya site got its name due to the fact that the royal house church of the Savior “on Seny” was located on it. This church was also called the “Church of the Savior behind the golden bars,” since the staircase leading to it was locked with bars. Not gold - iron, but the gilding was applied so flawlessly that the grille really seemed golden. And in the western part of the palace there is the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady “on Senya”, built on the foundation of a church built at the end of the 14th century. The Church of Catherine, over which the Church of the Resurrection of the Word was erected, and the Church of the Crucifixion are also located on the territory of the Terem Palace. The crucifix in the chapel of the Church of the Crucifixion is the creation of the hands of the monastic elder Hippolytus. But there are legends about the image of the Savior in the church of the same name that it appeared there without human intervention.
Painting of the Terem Palace
The walls of the Terem Palace were painted with fancy ornaments, heraldic patterns, and decorated with paintings on biblical themes and scenes illustrating monarchical ideas. The original painting has not survived. In 1836 - 1837, 200 years after the construction of the palace, during the restoration work and construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace, the interior painting was done anew under the strict guidance of the artist F. Solntsev. The new wall decoration was in the style of the 17th century.
