Moscow was "white-stone", but in what years was the Kremlin white, and in what years everyone remembers red? Many articles have already been written about this, but people still manage to argue. But when did they start to whitewash him, and when did they stop? On this issue, the statements in all the articles diverge, as do the thoughts in people's heads. Some write that they began to whitewash in the 18th century, others, that back in the early 17th century, and still others try to provide evidence that the Kremlin walls were not whitewashed at all. Everywhere the phrase was circulated that the Kremlin was white until 1947, and then suddenly Stalin ordered it to be repainted red. Was it so?
Let's, finally, dot everything and, fortunately, there are enough sources, both picturesque and photographic.
So, the current Kremlin was built by Italians at the end of the 15th century, and, of course, they did not whitewash it. The fortress retained the natural color of red brick, in Italy there are several similar ones, the closest analogue is the Sforza castle in Milan. Yes, and whitewashing fortifications in those days was dangerous: when a cannonball hits the wall, the brick is damaged, the whitewash crumbles, and you can clearly see the vulnerable spot where you should aim again, for the speedy destruction of the wall.
So, one of the first images of the Kremlin, where its color is clearly visible - the icon of Simon Ushakov “Praise to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The tree of the Russian state. It was written in 1668, and the Kremlin is red here.
For the first time, in written sources the whitewashing of the Kremlin is mentioned in 1680.
The historian Bartenev, in his book “The Moscow Kremlin in the old days and now,” writes: “In a memo, filed on July 7, 1680, addressed to the tsar, it is said that the fortifications of the Kremlin were“not whitewashed,”and the Spassky Gate“were written in ink and white in brick". The note asked: whitewash the walls of the Kremlin, leave them as they are, or paint them "brick" like the Spassky Gate? The tsar ordered to whitewash the Kremlin with lime …"
So, at least since the 1680s, our main fortress was whitewashed.
Promotional video:
1766 year. Painting by P. Balabin after engraving by M. Makhaev. The Kremlin is clearly white here.
1797, Gerard Delabart.
1819, artist Maxim Vorobyov.
In 1826, the French writer and playwright François Ancelo came to Moscow, he described the white Kremlin in his memoirs: “With this we will leave the Kremlin, my dear Xavier; but, looking back at this ancient citadel, we will regret that, correcting the destruction caused by the explosion, the builders removed the age-old patina from the walls that gave them so much grandeur. The white paint hiding the cracks gives the Kremlin a youthful appearance that does not match its shape and erases its past."
1830s, artist Rauch.
1842, Lerebourg daguerreotype, first documentary depiction of the Kremlin.
1850, Josef Andreas Weiss.
1852, one of the very first photographs of Moscow, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is under construction, and the walls of the Kremlin are whitewashed.
1856, preparation for the coronation of Alexander II. For this event, the whitewash was updated in places, the structures on the Vodovzvodnaya tower - frame for illumination.
The same 1856, a view in the opposite direction, closest to us - Taynitskaya tower with an arrow leading to the embankment.
Photo of 1860.
Photo of 1866.
1866-67.
1879, artist Pyotr Vereshchagin.
1880, painting of the English school of painting. The Kremlin is still white. Based on all the previous images, we conclude that the Kremlin wall along the river was whitewashed in the 18th century, and remained white until the 1880s.
1880s, the Kremlin's Konstantino-Eleninskaya Tower from the inside. The whitewash is gradually crumbling and reveals the red-brick walls.
1884, wall along the Alexander Garden. The whitewash was badly crumbled, only the teeth were refurbished.
1897, artist Nesterov. The walls are closer to red than to white.
909, peeling walls with the remains of whitewash.
The same 1909, the whitewash still adheres well to the Vodovzvodnaya Tower. Most likely it was whitewashed for the last time later than the rest of the walls. From several previous photographs, it is clear that the walls and most of the towers were last whitewashed in the 1880s.
1911 year. Grotto in the Alexander Garden and the Middle Arsenal Tower.
1911, artist Yuon. In reality, the walls were, of course, of a dirtier shade, the stains from whitewashing are more obvious than in the picture, but the overall range is already red.
1914, Konstantin Korovin.
The colorful and shabby Kremlin in a photograph of the 1920s.
And on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, the whitewash was still kept, mid-1930s.
Late 1940s, the Kremlin after restoration for the 800th anniversary of Moscow. Here the tower is already clearly red, with white details.
And two more color photographs from the 1950s. Somewhere they tinted, somewhere they left shabby walls. There was no total repainting in red.
1950s.
Spasskaya Tower
But on the other hand, everything turned out to be not so simple. Some towers stand out from the general chronology of whitewashing.
1778, Red Square in the painting by Friedrich Hilferding. The Spasskaya Tower is red with white details, but the walls of the Kremlin are whitewashed.
1801, watercolor by Fyodor Alekseev. Even with all the diversity of the picturesque scale, it is clear that the Spasskaya Tower was nevertheless whitewashed at the end of the 18th century.
And after the fire of 1812, the color red was returned again. This is a painting by English masters, 1823. The walls are invariably white.
1855, artist Shukhvostov. If you look closely, you can see that the colors of the wall and the tower are different, the tower is darker and redder.
View of the Kremlin from Zamoskvorechye, painting by an unknown artist, mid-19th century. Here the Spasskaya Tower was whitewashed again, most likely for the celebrations of the coronation of Alexander II in 1856.
Photo of the early 1860s. The tower is white.
Another photo of the beginning of - mid-1860s. The whitewashing of the tower is crumbling here and there.
End of the 1860s. And then suddenly the tower was painted red again.
1870th. The tower is red.
1880s. The red paint is peeling off, in some places newly painted places and patches are visible. After 1856, the Spasskaya Tower was never whitewashed again.
Nikolskaya tower
1780s, Friedrich Hilferding. The Nikolskaya Tower is still without a Gothic top, decorated with early classical decor, red with white details. In 1806-07, the tower was built on, in 1812 it was blown up by the French, almost half destroyed, and rebuilt at the end of the 1810s.
1823, fresh Nikolskaya tower after restoration, red.
1883, the tower is white. Perhaps they whitewashed it together with Spasskaya, for the coronation of Alexander II. And they renewed the whitewash for the coronation of Alexander III in 1883.
1912 year. The White Tower remained until the revolution.
1925 year. The tower is already red with white details. It became red as a result of the restoration in 1918, after revolutionary damage.
Trinity Tower
1860s. The tower is white.
In the watercolors of the English school of painting in 1880, the tower is gray, this color is given by the spoiled whitewash.
And in 1883 the tower was already red. Painted or whitewashed, most likely for the coronation of Alexander III.
Let's summarize. According to documentary sources, the Kremlin was first whitewashed in 1680, in the 18th and 19th centuries it was white, with the exception of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers in certain periods. The walls were last whitewashed in the early 1880s; in the early 20th century, the whitewash was renewed only on the Nikolskaya Tower, possibly even on Vodovzvodnaya. Since then, the whitewash has gradually crumbled and washed off, and by 1947 the Kremlin naturally assumed an ideologically correct red color, in some places it was tinted during restoration.
Kremlin walls today
Photo: Ilya Varlamov.
Today, in some places, the Kremlin retains the natural color of red brick, possibly with a slight tint. These are bricks from the 19th century, the result of another restoration.
Wall from the side of the river. Here you can clearly see that the bricks are painted red. Photo from Ilya Varlamov's blog.
Alexander Ivanov