| Palace of the Facets | |
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Грановитая Палата | |
 Palace of Facets.Solomonic columns around the windows were added in 1684 | |
 Interactive map of the Palace of the Facets area | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Italian Renaissance |
| Coordinates | 55°45′1″N37°37′0″E / 55.75028°N 37.61667°E /55.75028; 37.61667 |
| Current tenants | Russian presidential administration |
| Construction started | 1487 |
| Completed | 1492 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Marco Ruffo &Pietro Solario |
ThePalace of the Facets (Russian:Грановитая палата,romanized: Granovitaya palata) is a building in theMoscow Kremlin,Russia, which contains what used to be the main banquet reception hall of theRussian tsars. It is the oldest preserved secular building in Moscow. Located on KremlinCathedral Square, between theCathedral of the Annunciation and theDormition Cathedral. Currently, it is an official ceremonial hall in the residence of thePresident of the Russian Federation and thus admission is limited to prearranged tours only.
Named after its distinctive stonework eastern façade with horizontal rows of sharp-edged stones, the Palace of Facets is all that is left of a larger royal palace made of whitelimestone. Although from the façade, it appears to be a three-story rectangular building from the outside, it is actually a one-story building with a semi-basement. On the west side, the building is directly connected to the central building of theGrand Kremlin Palace.
The first floor of the Palace of the Facets consists of the main hall and adjoining sacred vestibule. Both are decorated with richfrescoes and gilded carvings. The vaulted main hall has an area of about 500 m2 (5,380 ft2). The entire vault and the walls are frescoed with elaborate several themes from the history of the Russian State and theRussian Orthodox Church. This was used as a throne room and banqueting hall for the 16th-century and 17th-centurytsars and is still used for holding formal state receptions. The paintings were restored in the 1880s by icon painters fromPalekh by order of TsarAlexander III.
On the palace's southern facade is theRed Porch, an external staircase decorated with stylized lion sculptures on the railings. The tsars passed down this staircase on their way to theCathedral of the Dormition for their coronations. The last such procession was at the coronation ofNicholas II in 1896. In theStreltsy Uprising in 1682, several of Tsar Peter the Great's rebellious relatives were hurled down the staircase onto the pikes of theStreltsy guard. Demolished byJoseph Stalin in the 1930s and replaced with a canteen for Kremlin workers, the staircase was rebuilt in 1994 at great expense.
TheRed Porch orRed Staircase (Russian:Красное крыльцо,romanized: Krasnoye kryltso), decorated with stone lions, leads into the Palace of Facets. In old Russian the wordkrasny meant "beautiful", but today it means "red". This is the same word used for "Red Square".
On the morning of hiscoronation, theTsar was met at the Red Porch, where he took his place beneath a largecanopy held by thirty-two Russian generals, with other officers providing additional support. Accompanied by hisconsort (under a separate canopy) and theimperial regalia, he proceeded slowly toward theCathedral of the Dormition, where hiscrowning andanointing would take place. After the service, the Emperor and Empress proceeded under canopies back to the Red Porch of the Kremlin, where they rested and prepared for a great ceremonial meal at the Kremlin's Hall of Facets. During their procession back to their Kremlin palace, later rulers (starting withNicholas I) stopped on the Red Staircase and bowed three times to the assembled people in the courtyard, symbolizing what one historian has called "an unspoken bond of devotion" between ruler and subjects.
In the 1930s the porch was destroyed, and its place was taken by an unimpressive Kremlin canteen. In 1994 the Red Porch was the first ofMoscow’s monuments to be restored.
In 1487, Grand DukeIvan III commissioned twoItalianRenaissance architects,Marco Ruffo andPietro Solario, to build a stone palace after a series of fires that had ravaged the then predominantly wooden Kremlin. The new palace was completed in 1492 and served as the most important venue for formal receptions of the Tsar, coronation celebrations, feasts, and state ceremonies. TsarIvan the Terrible celebrated his conquest of theKazan Khanate at the Palace of Facets for three days in 1552. Likewise, TsarPeter the Great used the palace to celebrate his 1709 victory overSweden at theBattle of Poltava and the end of theGreat Northern War in 1721. It was also within the Palace of Facets that theZemsky Sobor was held in 1654, resulting in theTreaty of Pereyaslav uniting theRussian Empire withUkraine.
Over the centuries, the Palace of Facets suffered repeatedly from major fires damage and was rebuilt several times in its history. However, it has continued to be used for state receptions even in modern times, including the 1994state visit of QueenElizabeth II. In June 2012, after an extensive restoration, the Palace of Facets was reopened to public,[1] though in practice only organized prearranged tours are available.
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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