Discover Moscow (Москва) : The Moscow of Ivan III

Moscow fortress

War and territorial conquests made the reign of Ivan III a success. As a result, great attention was given by the warrior prince to making Moscow an imposing fortress. The strategy of the Grand Prince was simple: to use the tribute money he no longer paid to the Mongols to protect the city from their armies. Under the guidance of his Italian wife, Ivan III called upon the architects Marco Ruffo and Pietro Antonio Solari (the latter having also worked on the construction of Milan Cathedral), who reinvented the architecture of the Kremlin. The massive influx of Italians (or "Fryazin") during the reign of Ivan III made him the father of the Russian Renaissance. Our most active globetrotters will also see the similarities between the Sforza Castle in Milan and the Kremlin built over the same period several thousand kilometres away. Nevertheless, the Kremlin is a much more ambitious project: for more than 2 kilometres, a brick enclosure 3 to 6 metres thick and 5 to 17 metres high replaces the wooden one. A deep ditch between the Moskva and Neglinnaya rivers transforms the fortification into an island. Finally, a perimeter of towers completes the ensemble. Themost famous are those of the Saviour and Nikolskaya overlooking Red Square; the tower of the Trinity Troïtskaïa and the Borovitskaya tower overlooking Alexander Garden.
The defence of the city does not stop at the walls of the Kremlin. Ivan III launched the construction of a circle of fortified monasteries around the capital, most of which are worth a visit. Theseinclude the monasteries of Danilov - the present seat of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Russia and former NKVD prison -, Simonov (under reconstruction) and Novospaski - the crypt of the Romanovs before they acceded to the throne in the 17th century - in the south.The Andronikov Monasteryto the east includes the Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Painting and the oldest building in Moscow: its Saviour's Cathedral (eponymous). This defensive circle is then completed by the Novodievitchi monasteries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, and Donskoyin the west.

Moscow capital

Ivan III's architectural influence does not stop at the military aspects. Some of the city's most outstanding monuments are due to him, starting with the Cathedral Square within the Kremlin walls. For his work, a large number of Italian architects from all walks of life met and the 15th century Moscow centre is a unique blend of the Venetian, Bolognese, Milanese and Russian schools.
First, the construction of the Dormition Cathedral, the first stone church in Moscow and the largest in the Kremlin, took place between 1475 and 1479. Its architect Aristotile Fioravanti, who was also responsible for the plans of the Podestat Palace in Bologna, created an architectural masterpiece that has remained virtually unchanged ever since, becoming a high point of Russian power. Tsars, starting with Ivan IV, were crowned and married there; Orthodox patriarchs - elected and buried there. It was on his forecourt that Ivan III symbolically tore up the treaty that subjected Moscow to the Golden Horde and declared independence from Russia. The relationship of Ivan III with his architect is discussed: some chronicles content that Aristotle died in captivity, imprisoned by Ivan III for asking to return home to Italy.
The second building that can be traced back to Ivan III is the Church of the Deposition, built between 1484 and 1485. Its current version is a reconstruction after the great Moscow fire of 1737.
Finally, the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, completed in 1508 by the Italian Aloysius the Younger, completes the ensemble. It is the necropolis of the Grand Princes of Moscow and the first tsars (including Ivan III) up to Peter II. Under the tsars, military victories were celebrated within its walls in honour of the leader of the Celestial Militia.
Just next to it is Ivan the Great's bell tower, also completed in 1508, which was 82 m high. At that time the highest tower in the city, it is now part of the Kremlin Palace.
This religious complex is accompanied by a palace complex that was not completed during the reign of Ivan III. While the Faceted Palace, thework of architects Marco Ruffo and Pietro Antonio Solari, which can be seen in Cathedral Square, was completed during his lifetime, the Palace of the Terems was not completed until after his death.

Moscow, the Third Rome

You've probably already heard Moscow referred to as the "Third Rome". This expression became popular among clerics in the 15th century and argues that Moscow was intended to protect the Orthodox faith and carry the divine will inherited from Imperial Rome. Indeed, while Byzantium renamed Constantinople (now Istanbul) radiated as the "Second Rome" at the hands of the Eastern Roman Empire, its conquest by Sultan Mehmet II in 1453 created a vacancy for the main seat of Christian Orthodoxy and the legacy of the Roman Empire. It was to claim this Roman heritage that Ivan III married Zoe Palaeologus (renamed Sophie), niece of the last emperor, in 1472. Even though she did not grow up in Byzantium, she took her role seriously and brought with her the codes of the imperial etiquette and the symbol of the two-headed eagle, which would be the symbol of the Russian Empire for centuries to come. Ivan III then began to call himself Tsar, or "Caesar" to indicate his filiation, but this title only became official with his successor Ivan IV known as The Terrible. Ivan III was more interested in the creation of a powerful centralized state than in religious idealism. He therefore used the ideology of the Third Rome and had cathedrals built at the same time as he encouraged military innovation. After his death, the Russia of the tsars played with this Roman and religious filiation, and Moscow was recognized as the seat of the Autocephalous Patriarchate in 1589 by Constantinople. The reformer and Westerner Peter the Great then eliminates in 1725 any allusion to this practice which he finds from another age. It was not until the coronation of Alexander II a century later, in full reaction to the Napoleonic Wars, that the title "Successor of Constantine's Affairs" and "Sovereign of the Third Rome" was reused in an official setting. Paradoxically, the Third Rome came to symbolize Russian particularism in the face of the world, and this ideology was taken up by the Eurasian philosophy of the "Third Way" in the 1920s, through the promotion of the Russian Idea.