Moscow Kremlin
The Kremlin is the stronghold of Moscow and its historical center. Most of the city had been inside the Kremlin walls until the 16th century. Afterwards, the Kremlin became the official Tsars residence with just several most powerful nobles and a head of the Orthodox church, who lived inside. Italian architects built the present Kremlin fortifications at the end of the 15th century. Moscow Kremlin fortress was one of the most fortified in Europe, even more than the ones in Milan and Krakow. The red brick walls with 20 towers were never captured by the enemies.
The impressive bronze Tsar Cannon is one of the largest canons ever made and was cast in 1586 by the foundry man Andrei Chokhov. The canon is 5.34 meters long, weighs an impressive 40 tons and has an incredible caliber of 890 mm. It was originally created with the purpose of defending the Kremlin's Savior Gate, which leads to Red Square, but the canon was never actually fired and has remained on display in the Kremlin as a fine example of Russian workmanship ever since. Its bronze barrel bears a relief of Ivan the Terrible's son, Fyodor, and its enormous gun carriage, which was cast over 250 years later in 1835, is decorated with a lion and snake fighting on either side and a lion's head behind the barrel. The cannon balls lying in front of the canon were cast at the same time as the gun carriage, but are merely decorative as the canon was always intended to fire stone case-shot.
Tsar Cannon
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Kremlin
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