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Armory Palace Review
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Armory Palace 
- Address: Kremlin, Moscow
- Phone: 495/202-4631
-
Oruzheynaya Palata,
- Category: Castles/Palaces
- Location: Kremlin/Red Square
Fodor's Review:
The Armory Palace is the oldest and richest museum in the Kremlin. It was originally founded in 1806 as the Imperial Court Museum, which was created out of three royal treasuries: the Court Treasury, where the regalia of the tsars and ambassadorial gifts were kept; the Stable Treasury, which contained the royal harnesses and carriages used by the tsars during state ceremonies; and the Armory, a collection of arms, armor, and other valuable objects gathered from the country's chief armories and storehouses. The Imperial Court Museum was moved to the present building in 1851. It was further enhanced and expanded after the Bolshevik Revolution with valuables confiscated and nationalized from wealthy noble families as well as from the Patriarchal Sacristy of the Moscow Kremlin. The roughly 4,000 artifacts here date from the 12th century to 1917, and include a rare collection of 17th-century silver. The museum tour (at this writing you could only visit the museum by taking one of these tours, though this may change) begins on the second floor. Halls (zal) VI-IX are on the first floor, Halls I-V on the second.
Hall I displays the works of goldsmiths and silversmiths of the 12th through 19th centuries, and Hall II contains a collection of 18th- to 20th-century jewelry. One of the most astounding exhibits is the collection of Fabergé eggs on display in Hall II (Case 23). Among them is a silver egg whose surface is engraved with a map of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The "surprise" inside the egg, which is also on display, was a golden clockwork model of a train with a platinum engine, windows of crystal, and a headlight made of a tiny ruby.
Hall III contains Asian and Western European arms and armor, including heavy Western European suits of armor from the 15th to 17th centuries, pistols, and firearms.
Hall IV showcases a large collection of Russian arms and armor from the 12th to early 19th centuries, with a striking display of helmets. The earliest helmet here dates from the 13th century and is ascribed to Prince Yaroslav, father of military hero and saint Alexander Nevsky (circa 1220-63). Here, too, is the helmet of Prince Ivan, the son of Ivan the Terrible. The prince was killed by his father at the age of 28, an accidental victim of the tsar's unpredictable rage. The tragic event has been memorialized in a famous painting by Ilya Repin now in the Tretyakov Gallery, showing the frightened tsar holding his mortally wounded son. Russian chain mail, battle-axes, maces, harquebuses, ceremonial armor, and Russian and Asian sabers are also in this hall. A highlight of the collection is the large Greek quiver belonging to Tsar Alexei (Peter the Great's father), his Asian saber, and a heavy golden mace presented to him by the Persian shah Abbas. Among the sabers on display here are those of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, the national heroes who ousted the Polish forces from Moscow in the early 17th century; a statue on Red Square pays tribute to them.
Hall V is filled with foreign gold and silver objects, mostly ambassadorial presents to the tsars. Among the displays is the "Olympic Service" of china presented to Alexander I by Napoléon after the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. Hall VI holds vestments of silk, velvet, and brocade, embroidered with gold and encrusted with jewels and pearls. These were once worn by the tsars, patriarchs, and metropolitans.
Hall VII contains regalia and the imperial thrones. The oldest throne, veneered with carved ivory, belonged to Ivan the Terrible. The throne of the first years of Peter the Great's reign, when he shared power with his older brother Ivan, has two seats in front and one hidden in the back. The boys' older sister, Sophia (1657-1704), who ruled as regent from 1682 to 1689, sat in the back, prompting the young rulers to give the right answers to the queries of ambassadors and others. Another throne, covered with thin plates of gold and studded with more than 2,000 precious stones and pearls, was presented to Tsar Boris Godunov by Shah Abbas of Persia. The throne of Tsar Alexei, also from Persia, is decorated with 876 diamonds and 1,223 other stones. Among the crowns, the oldest is the sable-trimmed Cap of Monomakh, which dates to the 13th century. Ukraine is now asking for it back because it originally belonged to the Kievan prince Vladimir Monomakh. It was a gift to the prince from his grandfather, the Byzantine emperor, and is revered as a symbol of the transfer of religious power from Byzantium to Russia. Also on display in this section are several coronation dresses, including the one Catherine the Great wore in 1762.
Hall VIII contains dress harnesses of the 16th through 18th centuries. On display are Russian saddles, including one used by Ivan the Terrible, and other items once belonging to the Moscow Kremlin Equestrian Department.
Hall IX has a marvelous collection of court carriages. The oldest one came from England and is believed to have been presented to Tsar Boris Godunov by King James I at the turn of the 17th century. Here you'll find the Winter Coach that carried Elizaveta Petrovna (daughter of Peter the Great and someone who clearly liked her carriages; 1709-62) from St. Petersburg to Moscow for her coronation. Catherine the Great's French carriage, painted by François Boucher, is arguably the most attractive of the collection.
- Cost: 350R; tickets sold 90 min before each tour
- Open: Fri.-Wed. tours at 10, 12:30, 2:30, 4:30
- Metro: Aleksandrovsky Sad or Borovitskaya
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