The Kremlin Armory, which is part of the complex of the Kremlin Grand Palace, is one of the most famous and important museums in the world, containing a collection of more than 4000 objects spanning from the 4th to the 20th century. Many of the masterpieces on display are works by the best Russian artists and craftsmen that were created in the Kremlin itself. Others were donated to the tsars by kings and ambassadors from other countries.
For centuries the royal family and the patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church had kept their treasures within the walls of the Kremlin, but it was Peter I of Russia who thought of organizing all the precious objects in orderly museum collections in the 18th century. His successors then completed the project, which was finished in 1851 with the construction of the splendid Kremlin Armory, built where the stables once stood.
The architect was the same as that of the Grand Palace, Konstantin Thon, who chose an elegant Russian-Byzantine style, characterized here by facades decorated with delicate ornamental motifs and columns in white stone.
In the nine exhibition rooms across the two floors of the palace, you can admire jewelry, weapons and armor, state insignia, clothes that belonged to the tsars and tsarinas, including splendid clothes worn by the tsars during important ceremonies, and clothes and objects that belonged to the patriarchs of the church, with precious embroideries and inserts in gold, silver and precious stones, as well as magnificent sleighs and carriages.
Some of the most interesting pieces are without a doubt the famous Fabergé eggs, which tsars and tsarinas exchanged as gifts at Easter, as well as crowns and thrones. One that I’d like to point out is made of ivory, which was also used by Ivan the Terrible, and another called "throne of diamonds" studded with 870 diamonds, 185 rubies, pearls and turquoise, which was given to the tsar by the Shah of Persia.
An interesting fact: The magnificent sleigh on display here, was used in 1742 by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great, to go to Moscow for her coronation and was pulled by 23 horses!
