The Kremlin as you have never seen

On the Kremlin which you will never see any more, because it was systematically destroyed in the 1930s together with a great part of old Moscow, you can create a picture for yourself on the basis of the photos of the last Tsar’s coronation ceremony in 1896, and soon we will also dedicate a summary post to the history of its architecture. But the walls of the Kremlin which are still standing you cannot see such as in the pictures below for two reasons. First, because it is Ilya Varlamov who lends you his objective to see, which is one of the best in Russia today, of course if his eye is also behind it. And second, because he shot this series for Трибуна Общественной Палаты, the portal of the Public Chamber, the official monitoring and advisory body of the Russian parliament and government, so it is understandable that he got entry and shooting permits to places which remain forever inaccessible to ordinary mortals. He writes about this:

This was one of my most difficult shootings. Its preparation required a full month: I had to obtain a lot of signatures, compile a list of locations to shoot, to have dozens of permits. I almost forgot about it, when I was suddenly informed that I got the license. Thanks for the support and the harmonizing to the Public Chamber! The wish list of locations was badly cut: I was not allowed to shoot from the roof or take photos on certain towers, but most importantly, I was allowed to take photos of all the walls of the Kremlin. An old dream came true when I was able to walk on these walls and to climb on the inaccessible towers. In this first part of the series I present you the walls and the views opening from the walls.

We present this photo series of historic importance just a few hours after the first Russian publication. Many of the buildings and vistas are familiar, nevertheless unusual are the constellations, the details, the “back yards” of the well known buildings. This series does not seek to present the accurate topography and architectural structure of the Kremlin, but primarily intends to convey the atmosphere of the walls and the scenes opening from them. We, however, will attempt to locate these views on the map when the second part of the series presenting the buildings within the walls will also come to light, which we will also publish here.