Day 62 - Lenin and Kremlin

Today was our day to look at things in and around the Kremlin, so the fact that it was drizzling lightly most of the morning and part of the afternoon didn’t affect us nearly as much as it would have on a day such as yesterday.

To start the day we caught the Metro down to Red Square and joined the queue to see Lenin’s Mausoleum, which opened today from 1:00am to 1:00pm and which, unlike just about everything else in Moscow, is free. I guess the weather and the fact that it is non-peak tourist season helped ensure that the queue was not too long. We were allowed past the barrier in groups of 20 or so to walk up to the security checkpoint. Here all backpacks and cameras had to be deposited in a left luggage facility (requiring payment) before you passed through metal detectors. I had made the mistake of forgetting to include my phone with the left luggage but, because it has a camera in it, I had to go back and check that in too. Fortunately a group of Aussie blokes let me go back to the head of the security check line so I could catch up with Laura (waiting was not permitted). The protocol for visiting the Mausoleum is that after you have enter the downstairs room where Lenin’s body is on display, you have to keep moving as you walk around three sides of the glass case, you cannot stop and have a long look. From my viewing I would have to say that Lenin as displayed appears a damn sight healthier than he did in his final years of life. Some have said that he looks like a wax model, but although his skin didn’t look “normal” I couldn’t say that it looked waxy either. After passing through the Mausoleum you walk along the Kremlin wall where you can see the burial place of scores of other notables from the Soviet era – Premiers, Generals, etc, most of whom (apart from the obvious ones like Stalin) we couldn’t recognise from the Cyrillic script or the sculpture busts.

History Museum from St Basils

It was still only 10:50am and St Basils Cathedral, which we planned to see next, didn’t open until 11:00am. This left me plenty of time to go back and collect my pack and camera – especially since the manned barricades meant that this involved going right around the State History Museum to get back to the left luggage point. At least that meant that by the time we made it back to St Basils it was open and we were able to buy our tickets and go in for a look around. It is hard to say anything much about the insides that couldn’t be said about most of the Orthodox churches we have seen in the last couple of weeks. Very high walls with every inch covered in murals and/or mosaics. Parts of the insides are still being restored, but the parts that have been restored look very good. Also very good – amazing even – was the Orthodox “barber shop quartet” in the central chapel who periodically burst into song to render what I guess were Orthodox hymns or chants. The acoustics where beautiful and it was hard to believe that such rich sounds could be produced just by four unaccompanied voices. It was worth the entry just to hear them.

Next on our To Do list was to visit the Kremlin itself. Since the public entry point is on the opposite side of the Kremlin to the side facing Red Square this meant a bit of a walk around the walls. For those who don’t already know, kremlin is the Russian word for fortress, so the Kremlin consists of its wall and guard towers and the numerous churches and other buildings it contains that are, or have been, palaces or the seat of government. On our way around we were distracted for a time in an Italian buffet restaurant where we had a very nice lunch.

When we reached the ticket office for the Kremlin we had some decisions to make. General entry to the Kremlin, which included the churches, cathedrals and grounds, was A$10.50; if we wanted to go up the Bell Tower as well it was an extra A$4.50; and the Armoury, which houses centuries worth of gold and silver treasures was separate again and cost A$21.00 each. The lady in the ticket office, who spoke pretty good English, was a bit concerned on our behalf that the Bell Tower might not be a good option on a day with low, thick cloud. We were concerned on our own behalf that A$21.00 was a lot to pay for the Armoury when we weren’t sure how interested we would be in ornate dinner plates and fancy horse regalia. In the end we decided to go the whole hog and, as it eventuated, it was a pretty good decision.

Old and new Moscow in the skyline

For starters the Bell Tower turned out to be not just a matter of climbing it for the view. It included an excellent audio visual presentation, in English, across three levels inside the bell tower before you reached the viewing platform. This presentation gave the history not only of the bell tower itself but of the whole Kremlin complex from its beginnings. Whilst we could not see a great distance from the top because of the mist we still had a very good view of the buildings within the Kremlin. In all the tour took about 55 minutes.

Our next stop was the Armoury. This included a free Audio Tour in English which takes an hour and takes you around the highlights. You can then spend longer looking at more things in detail if you so wish. I have to say that the highlights, at least those related to the gold and silver ware, are pretty spectacular. This is not only for the craftsmanship, but the sheer size and opulence of the pieces. We were less interested in the weaponry and the clothing sections, but that doesn’t distract from the overall amazing display of treasure on display. Even with all the amazing things we have seen in recent times, including at the Hermitage last Sunday, it was still well worth the entry fee.

The Tsar Bell

With the winter schedule now in effect we had only an hour left to have a quick look around the rest of the Kremlin. Well, that is, the parts of the Kremlin related to Imperial Russia; the parts related to the current and even Soviet government are still off limits. Thus we had a quick look through the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals and the Church of the Disposition of the Robe. We also had time to check out the 202 tonne Tsar Bell, which had a big chunk fall off as it was just being finished in the foundry. The gardens were closed by the time we were going to walk through them, but we could still get a pretty good view of them so it was no big loss. As we left the Kremlin there was a big crowd of people coming the other way going to see something at the State Concert Hall built in Kruschev’s time – it’s an ugly box like building decorated with the hammer and sickle and Kremlin star, but pretty functional apparently.

We caught the metro back to the hostel, despite some more confusion about which platform we should be on. After a short rest we headed out again for dinner, ending up at a place along Petrovsky Boulevard.