The REST of the Kremlin

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- Monday morning

The Kremlin is a fortress, which encompasses 72 acres, but only the central part is for tourists.    While the fortress of Moscow is the most famous, most Russian cities have a citadel/ Kremlin.

We visited two churches and interestingly neither had seating for the worshipers. 

 Altho seating for the tsar (in the old days) still exists.  One church had a bench for “handicapped” persons, but most everyone was expected to stand during the service.    As we entered each church only one of the two doors was open, causing a log jam with so many tourists entering.  Our guide mentioned that the reason for limited access is because of humidity and damage to the frescoes.  All the walls from floor to ceiling were covered with fresco paintings of “saints” and patriarchs and other important church figures and seemed to me quite cluttered and “unlovely”.    In one church, stables had been installed in the past, so the nobles could ride their horses into the building and be cared for inside.   We saw “Greek” crosses which have two cross pieces—one pointing to paradise and one pointing to hell.   We heard about the two types of Orthodox clergy—the black priests, who are celibate, and could be in line to “move up” in the hierarchy of their religion. And the white priests who have families, but are limited to the lower stations in the church.

The tour guide we had, Natasha, was very, very knowledgeable about the history of the Kremlin, but was not much of a people person.  She must have had a bad day, because she lost patience with several in our group quite quickly.  She “yelled” at one person for misunderstanding her comments about the Kremlin, and she said at one point “I suppose everyone is here—if not it’s your problem”   I would not make a good tour guide, but I’m not sure she had the people skills that day to cope with us.  The sound system she used in the museum was quite helpful, but when was talking to us outside, her voice didn’t carry well.   I tried to stick close to her, so I could hear her spiel.  I did learn that only “Royal” churches have gold cupolas.  We saw the largest bell in the world (200 tons) which broke as it was hoisted out of its mold and we also saw the largest cannon (20 tons) that has never been shot.  Not sure what the significance of each was.