The first stars did not decorate the towers of the Moscow Kremlin for long. Just a year later, under the influence of precipitation, the Ural gems faded. Now the stars were clearly visible only in the immediate vicinity of the Kremlin walls. In addition, they did not fully fit into the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin due to their large size. Therefore, in May 1937, the Soviet government decided to install new stars, luminous, ruby, and not on four, but on five Kremlin towers - Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya.
Prominent scientists, artists, architects, engineers, and workers of many specialties took a direct part in the creation of new Kremlin stars. More than 20 enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and glass industries, research and design institutes participated in the production of parts and materials.
People's Artist of the USSR F. F. Fedorovsky redefined the shape and design of the stars, as well as their sizes, depending on the architecture and height of each tower. He also suggested a ruby glass color. This time the proportions and sizes were chosen so well that the new stars, despite the fact that they were installed on towers of different heights, appear the same from the ground. This was achieved thanks to the different sizes of the stars themselves. The smallest star is now burning on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, located in the lowland: the distance between the ends of its rays is 3 meters. On Borovitskaya and Troitskaya the stars are larger - 3.2 and 3.5 meters, respectively. The largest stars are installed on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers, located on a hill: their span is 3.75 meters.
One of the Moscow research institutes was commissioned to develop structural elements of the Kremlin ruby stars and ventilation devices for them.
According to the new project, the main supporting structure of the star was a three-dimensional five-pointed frame, resting at the base on a pipe in which bearings were placed for its rotation. Each ray was a multi-sided pyramid: the star of the Nikolskaya Tower has a twelve-sided one, the other stars have an octagonal one. The bases of these pyramids were welded together at the center of the star. All structural elements of the star were made of high-quality stainless steel, specially welded at the Elektrostal plant near Moscow.
A lot of work in creating ruby stars was done by a team of specialists from the lighting laboratory of the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute under the leadership of Professor S. O. Maizel and candidates of technical sciences N. V. Gorbachev and E. S. Ratner. The authors of the project faced complex tasks. How to ensure that the entire surface of the star is brightly and evenly illuminated, from the center to the tip of the rays? Place dozens of light points inside stars? But then every now and then you will have to change the burnt out lamps. Install one powerful one in the middle? But no matter how powerful the lamp is placed, its light at the end of the rays will be much weaker than in the center of the star. And one more thing: at night the ruby stars will be beautiful, and under the sun their rich red glass will seem almost black. Still, we settled on one lamp.
For this purpose, the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant developed and manufactured special incandescent lamps with a power of 5 thousand watts for the stars of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers and 3700 watts for the stars of the Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers.
These lamps are still unique today. Their creator was Chief Engineer plant R. A. Nelender.
For more reliable operation of the lamps, two incandescent filaments (spirals) connected in parallel are mounted in each of them. If one of them burns out, the lamp continues to glow with reduced brightness, and the automatic device signals the control panel about the malfunction. The lamps are relatively small in size: they resemble a cylindrical glass bulb with a metal base. Due to the fact that the filaments are arranged in a tent shape, the lamps have extremely high luminous efficiency. The temperature of the filament reaches 2800°, so the bulbs are made of heat-resistant molybdenum glass.
In order for the light flux to be evenly distributed over the entire inner surface of the star, and especially at the ends of the rays, the lamp was enclosed in a refractor (a three-dimensional hollow fifteen-sided figure). The purpose of the refractor, the edges of which are assembled from prismatic heat-resistant glasses, is to evenly disperse the light flux of the lamp over the entire surface of the star.
A serious task was set for the glass industry: to weld special ruby glass for the Kremlin stars. Before this, such glass was not brewed in large quantities in our country. The task was assigned to the Konstantinovsky Glass Factory in Donbass.
The difficulty in making glass was that it had to have different densities and transmit only red rays of a certain wavelength. At the same time, the glass had to be resistant to sudden changes in temperature, mechanically strong, not discolored or destroyed by exposure solar radiation.
The recipe for making glass was compiled by the famous Moscow glass specialist Nikanor Illarionovich Kurochkin, a man of amazing talent and extraordinary skill. Even as a village boy, Kurochkin became interested in glassmaking and, thanks to his inquisitive mind and innate gift, came to know the “soul” of glass. He was the first in our country to produce curved glass of various shapes and sizes: for searchlights, airplanes, river and sea vessels, cars.
Under the direct supervision and with the participation of N.I. Kurochkin, the melting and processing of ruby glass for the Kremlin stars was carried out. Behind high achievements in the field of glass production this outstanding master was awarded the State Prize.
Each Kremlin star had double glazing: internal, made of milk glass, 2 millimeters thick, and external, made of ruby glass, 6-7 millimeters thick. An air gap of 1-2 millimeters was provided between them. The double glazing of the stars was caused by the characteristics of ruby glass. The fact is that it has a pleasant color only when illuminated from the opposite side, but the contours of the light source are clearly visible. Without backlighting, ruby glass looks dark even in bright conditions. sunny days. Thanks to the internal glazing of the stars with milk glass, the lamp light was well diffused and the filaments became invisible. And the ruby glass shone most brightly.
It was decided to illuminate the stars from the inside with a lamp both during the day and at night. However, to maintain their rich ruby color during the day, they needed to be illuminated more intensely than at night.
The glazing surface of each star of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers was about 9 square meters, and Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya - about 8 meters. In the center of the star, where the luminous flux of the lamp is greatest, the ruby glass had a greater color density, and at the ends of the rays, where the flux is weaker, it was less. In this way, uniform illumination of the ruby glass was achieved over the entire surface of the star.
Outer contour and artistic pattern each star was framed with details made of red sheet copper, plated with gold. The thickness of the gold coating was 40 microns. Almost 11 kilograms of gold were spent on gilding all the framing parts of the stars. In order to use this valuable metal economically, the framing parts of the stars were gilded only on the front side.
In order for the stars not to overheat from the heat generated by powerful lamps, they needed to be continuously cooled. Workers at one of Moscow's research institutes quickly created a special ventilation system. It consists of a filter to clean the air from dust and two cooling fans, one of which is a backup. The air sucked in by the fan is first purified in a filter and fed into the star through the tower spire (which is the support of the star and at the same time a channel for lifting the lamp). Here the air cools both the lamp and the refractor.
The fans are interlocked not only with each other, but also with the lamp installed in the star. When one fan stops for any reason, the backup fan is automatically switched on. In the event of a stop and standby, the burning lamp turns off immediately. It cannot be otherwise: after all, the temperature on the surface of stars can reach more than 100°. And until the fan starts working, until strong cooling jets of air flow in, the lamp will not light up. Specialists from the all-Union office Stalprommekhanizatsiya proposed original devices that made it possible to replace burnt-out lamps in stars in just 20-30 minutes.
Remote control of the complex equipment of the ruby stars was concentrated on local consoles in each tower and on the central control panel, where a variety of equipment was located on large marble panels: switches, ammeters, switches, warning alarms. Automatic control over the operation of all stars is concentrated on the central control panel. From here, the personnel on duty can perform any operations to turn on and off lamps, fans and other equipment of each star, set the required voltage, etc.
The design of unique electrical equipment and the development of complex electrical circuits for star control were carried out by Elektroprom specialists.
One of the first non-luminous stars, taken from the Spasskaya Tower, but without the hammer and sickle, later crowned the spire of the Khimki railway station. It is still admired by thousands of people arriving in the capital along the Moscow-Volga canal.
After turning on the Kremlin ruby stars, a crucial time has come for the specialists who ensured their uninterrupted operation. At first, there were people on duty at each tower at the control panels around the clock. But after we were convinced of the reliability of the ventilation systems and electrical equipment, round-the-clock duty was concentrated only on the central control panel.
Now, along with the Kremlin chimes, five-pointed ruby stars have also stood on eternal watch. But this watch was interrupted by the Great Patriotic War.
Immediately after the start of the war, the Kremlin, like all of Moscow, changed its appearance. To make security easier historical monuments, I had to resort to camouflage. The Kremlin walls, as well as all buildings, squares and gardens of the Kremlin were camouflaged. The shiny golden domes of churches and cathedrals and the cross of the bell tower of Ivan the Great were painted over.
They went out, dressed in protective covers and Kremlin stars. It was not easy to cover them. When this work was carried out, they blew strong winds. The climbers first climbed to the star of the Spasskaya Tower, began to put a cover on the upper beam, and it inflated with the wind like a sail, rushed and pulled people down with it from a great height. Safety belts saved the day. The cover was later found on the roof of GUM... The stars of the other Kremlin towers soon dressed in protective “military” uniforms.
Nazi aviation, every time it managed to break into the skies of Moscow, tried to bomb the Kremlin, but the anti-aircraft artillery of the capital's air defense opened powerful barrage fire. Shell fragments sometimes hit ruby stars, causing them damage.
For four years the Kremlin star was covered with protective covers. But then May 1945 came. Soviet people celebrated the victory over Nazi Germany. And already on the second day after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the commandant of the Moscow Kremlin N.K. Spiridonov instructed the operators to prepare the ruby stars for inclusion.
Climbers began lifting repair cradles on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers. They removed the camouflage covers from the stars and were saddened to see cracks and holes in the ruby glass from fragments of anti-aircraft artillery shells. Working for three days from dawn until late evening, the operators washed the glass, polished the gilded frame parts to a shine, and put the mechanisms and equipment in order.
And then, at the same time, ruby stars flashed again on all five towers of the Kremlin. It was happy event. That May evening, many residents and guests of the capital came to Red Square to admire the peaceful light of the Kremlin stars.
However, a few months later, on August 27, 1945, it was decided to carry out a major overhaul and reconstruction of the Kremlin stars. The fact is that big number fragmentation holes and cracks in the glasses of stars worsened them appearance, made operation difficult.
For about eight years now, ruby stars have been crowning the Kremlin towers, and during this period a number of shortcomings have emerged that require elimination. Firstly, the framed gilded details of the stars quickly dimmed and became covered with dark spots. It was necessary to lift the repair cradles twice a year, usually in spring and autumn, in order to polish the parts to a shine again and again. And this work at high altitude is not easy. Therefore, it was necessary to improve the quality of gilding artistic details stars
In addition, the ends of the rays, especially the upper ones, were obscured by the internal structural elements of the stars and were poorly illuminated in the evening and at night. The rays seemed to be cut off, and thus the integrity of the impression was violated. Milk glass glazing turned out to be not strong enough. Due to the high temperature, the glass inside the star almost all cracked, and in some places completely collapsed. Through ventilation slits and holes from fragments, dust, soot, rain, and snow penetrated into the star. All this was deposited on the refractor glasses and on the inner surface of the milky glazing, causing the stars to lose their brightness and appear as if they were spots. Another significant drawback was revealed in the design of the stars - they did not have inspection hatches, without which it was impossible to carry out internal inspections, check the serviceability of the optical system, and remove accumulated dirt.
The reconstruction of the Kremlin stars was carried out from September 7, 1945 to February 7, 1946. The star from the Trinity Tower was the first to be removed; the star removed from the Spasskaya Tower was the last to be repaired.
During the reconstruction, large and complex work was carried out, significantly improving the performance of the stars. This time the framing parts, made of red copper sheets, were gilded on both sides by electroplating. The thickness of the gold coating is now 50 microns. More than 27 kilograms of gold were used to gild all the stars. The most labor-intensive process of gilding was polishing the parts. This complex and painstaking work was carried out by the best Moscow jewelers.
This time the stars were glazed in a completely new way. According to a special recipe developed by N. S. Shpigov, three-layer ruby glass was made. It was brewed at the Krasny May glass factory in Vyshny Volochyok.
The technology for manufacturing three-layer glass is interesting. A glassblower would blow a large flask from molten ruby glass, envelop it in molten crystal, and then in milk glass. The “layered” cylinder welded in this way was cut while hot and straightened into sheets. The crystal layer performs an important function in a star: when the milk glass cracks, it prevents the ruby glass from breaking, and, conversely, when the ruby glass cracks, it prevents the milk glass from breaking.
Ruby glasses on the stars of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers they gave a convex shape. This made the stars more voluminous and elegant, since the convexity of the glass enhances the effect of ruby reflection. During the reconstruction, it was also possible to improve the illumination of the Kremlin stars. In particular, some structural elements that shade the rays were thinned, and in some places completely removed.
Inspection hatches were made in all five rays of each star. Now, if necessary, operators could open the star, check the condition of the glazing, optical system and structural elements, and remove dust that had penetrated inside.
The workers and engineers who took part in the reconstruction of the Kremlin ruby stars showed great diligence and a lot of imagination. As a result, complex and painstaking work was completed in an extremely short time frame. Much credit for this also belonged to the chief engineer of the plant where the stars were being reconstructed.
At the beginning of 1946, the updated ruby stars, even more beautiful and elegant, lit up again - brighter and more festive than before. Since then, like beacons, they have been keeping a constant watch in the Moscow sky.
To serve the stars, there are special hatches in the upper part of the tower tents, to which steeplejacks reach via a steep spiral staircase located inside the tower. Through the hatch, the worker enters an open area rising more than 50 meters above the ground. And then the steeplejack climbs up an invisible metal ladder pressed to the roof of the tent. At the tower spire, he strengthens consoles with blocks, passes cables through them, to which a repair cradle is attached on the ground. It is lifted with winches with great care so as not to damage the architectural decorations of the tower. The steeplejack climbs onto the cradle, and from there climbs up a metal ladder to the star itself.
Star inspection hatches, as a rule, are opened by two people: one opens the hatch frame, removes the glass, and the other helps him. Opening a hatch is perhaps one of the most difficult operations, requiring high skill. When examining a star, you not only have to clean it of dust, but sometimes also replace the defective ruby glass. And this is also not easy. The glass must be cut according to the template and carefully adjusted to the opening. Up there, sometimes you have to do welding work.
The staff servicing the ruby stars had to work a lot in 1974, when extensive work was carried out on the repair and restoration of Red Square and the structures of the Moscow Kremlin.
As you know, from May to November 1974, Red Square was a work site. The booms of cranes shot up to the height of the Kremlin towers, and the towers themselves were dressed in scaffolding. Art historians and restorers, masons and granite makers, finishers, roofers, and mechanics came to the main square of the country. For five months, more than a thousand highly qualified specialists worked around the clock here in the center of Moscow.
On Red Square, builders re-paved paving stones in some places and rebuilt the guest stands, lining them with light gray granite. The Kremlin wall between the Nikolskaya and Spasskaya towers was restored. Special bricks for restoring the ancient wall were produced by a factory in the city of Zagorsk. And high-quality clay for making such bricks was supplied from a quarry of one of the Latvian factories.
Restoration work was also carried out on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Senate and Nabatnaya towers of the Kremlin. Snow-white stone for the restoration of plinths, decorative ornaments and sculptures on the Kremlin towers was mined in quarries in the Crimean region, not far from Bakhchisarai.
During the same period, the famous Kremlin chimes were not operational for three months. Workers at the Watch Industry Research Institute completely restored their unique mechanism.
The work carried out in 1974 was only the beginning of the implementation of a comprehensive plan for the restoration and reconstruction of Red Square and the most valuable historical and architectural monuments of the Kremlin - its palaces, cathedrals, churches. This comprehensive plan also included a major overhaul of the Kremlin ruby stars. Behind long years uninterrupted operation Since the last reconstruction of the stars, inevitable defects in the glazing have arisen: cracks and corrosion have appeared on some ruby glasses. The reflectivity of the refractors also weakened somewhat, and the glass of the optical system became dusty, which ultimately reduced the illumination of the stars.
All these defects were completely eliminated during a major overhaul of the stars on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers in October 1974.
After the overhaul of the stars crowning the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers was completed, the operation of their mechanisms was repeatedly checked.
In 1977, all major work on the restoration of the Kremlin stars was completed.
The spiers of the Kremlin towers were decorated with heraldic double-headed eagles. The Moscow Kremlin has 20 towers and only four of them were crowned with the state coat of arms. The first double-headed eagle was erected on top of the tent of the Spasskaya Tower in the 50s of the 17th century. Later, Russian coats of arms were installed on the highest passage towers of the Kremlin: Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya.
The question of replacing the royal eagles on the Kremlin towers with figures symbolizing a new period in the life of the country repeatedly arose soon after the 1917 revolution. In 1930, specialists from restoration workshops led by Igor Grabar gave a conclusion according to which the figures of double-headed eagles were not of historical value and, therefore, could be replaced. Instead of “symbols of tsarism” they decided to install stars.
On August 23, 1935, the decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was published to replace the double-headed eagles on the Kremlin towers with five-pointed stars with a hammer and sickle by November 7, 1935.
On October 24, 1935, with a large crowd of people on Red Square, a five-pointed star was erected on the Spasskaya Tower. On October 25, the star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower, on October 26 and 27 - on the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers.
The body of the stars was made of stainless steel, lined with gilded copper sheets. In the center of them, on both sides, were a sickle and a hammer, decorated with Ural gems - topazes, amethysts, aquamarines. Each of the seven thousand stones used for decoration was cut and placed in a frame.
The pattern was not repeated on any of the stars. The distance between their beams on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers was 4.5 meters, on the Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers - four and 3.5 meters, respectively. The star on the Spasskaya Tower was decorated with rays diverging from the center to the tops. The rays of the star installed on the Trinity Tower were made in the form of ears of corn. On the Borovitskaya Tower, the pattern followed the contour of the five-pointed star itself. The star of the Nikolskaya Tower was smooth, without a pattern.
The stars weighed about a ton each. The tents of the Kremlin towers were not designed for such a load, so before installing the stars they were strengthened, and on Nikolskaya they were rebuilt. Lifting stars at that time was a big technical problem, since there were no high-rise tower cranes. Special cranes had to be made for each tower; they were installed on consoles mounted on the upper brick tiers.
Illuminated from below by spotlights, the first stars decorated the Kremlin for almost two years, but under the influence of atmospheric precipitation the gems faded and lost their festive appearance. In addition, they did not fully fit into the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin due to their size. The stars turned out to be too large and visually hung heavily over the towers.
In May 1937, it was decided to establish for the twentieth anniversary October revolution new stars, and on five Kremlin towers, including Vodovzvodnaya.
On November 2, 1937, new stars lit up above the Kremlin. More than 20 enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and glass industries, research and design institutes took part in their creation.
Developed sketches of new stars folk artist USSR Fedor Fedorovsky. He suggested the ruby color of the glass, determined the shape and pattern of the stars, as well as their sizes depending on the architecture and height of each tower. The proportions and sizes were chosen so well that the new stars, despite the fact that they were installed on towers of different heights, appear the same from the ground. This was achieved thanks to the different sizes of the stars themselves. The smallest star burns on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, located in the lowland: the distance between the ends of its rays is three meters. On Borovitskaya and Troitskaya the stars are larger - 3.2 and 3.5 meters, respectively. The largest stars are installed on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers, located on a hill: the span of their rays is 3.75 meters.
The main supporting structure of the star is a three-dimensional five-pointed frame, resting at the base on a pipe in which bearings are placed for its rotation. Each ray is a multi-sided pyramid: the star of the Nikolskaya Tower has a twelve-sided one, the other stars have an octagonal one. The bases of these pyramids are welded together in the center of the star.
To ensure uniform and bright illumination of the entire surface of the star, the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant developed and manufactured special incandescent lamps with a power of 5000 watts for the stars of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers and 3700 watts for the stars of the Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers, and to protect the stars from overheating, specialists developed a special ventilation system.
For more reliable operation of the lamps, two incandescent filaments (spirals) connected in parallel are mounted in each of them. If one of them burns out, the lamp continues to glow with reduced brightness, and the automatic device signals the control panel about the malfunction. The lamps have extremely high luminous efficiency; the filament temperature reaches 2800°C. In order for the light flux to be evenly distributed over the entire inner surface of the star, and especially at the ends of the rays, each lamp was enclosed in a refractor (a three-dimensional hollow fifteen-sided figure).
The difficult task was to create a special ruby glass, which had to have different densities, transmit red rays of a certain wavelength, be resistant to sudden temperature changes, be mechanically strong, and not discolor or deteriorate from exposure to solar radiation. It was made under the guidance of the famous glassmaker Nikanor Kurochkin.
To ensure that the light was evenly scattered, each Kremlin star had double glazing: the inner one, made of milk glass, two millimeters thick, and the outer one, made of ruby glass, six to seven millimeters thick. An air gap of 1-2 millimeters was provided between them. The double glazing of the stars was caused by the characteristics of ruby glass, which has a pleasant color only when illuminated from the opposite side, but the contours of the light source are clearly visible. Without backlighting, ruby glass looks dark even on bright sunny days. Thanks to the internal glazing of the stars with milk glass, the light of the lamp was well scattered, the filaments became invisible, and the ruby glass shone most brightly.
The stars are illuminated from within both day and night. At the same time, to preserve the rich ruby color, they are illuminated more strongly during the day than at night.
Despite their significant mass (about one ton), the stars on the Kremlin towers rotate relatively easily when the wind direction changes. Due to their shape, they are always installed with the frontal side facing the wind.
Unlike the first non-luminous stars, ruby stars have only three different patterns(Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya are identical in design).
Mechanisms for servicing the Kremlin stars are located inside the towers. Control of equipment and mechanisms is concentrated at a central point, where information about the operating mode of the lamps is automatically supplied.
During the Great Patriotic War, the stars, like the entire Kremlin, were camouflaged. In 1945, after removing the camouflage, experts discovered that fragments of anti-aircraft artillery shells had caused cracks and holes in the ruby glass, which worsened their appearance and made it difficult to use. The reconstruction of the Kremlin stars was carried out from September 7, 1945 to February 7, 1946. During it, the glazing of the stars was replaced with a three-layer one, consisting of ruby glass, crystal and milk glass. The ruby glasses on the stars of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers were given a convex shape. During the reconstruction, it was also possible to improve the illumination of the stars. Inspection hatches were made in all five rays of each star.
Electric winches were installed to replace lamps in the stars and install equipment, but the main mechanisms remained the same - model 1937.
Stars are usually washed every five years. To maintain reliable operation of auxiliary equipment, scheduled preventative maintenance is carried out monthly; more serious work is carried out every eight years.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
October 29th, 2013On October 24, 1935, the last symbol of the Russian monarchy - the double-headed eagles on the Kremlin towers - was ordered to live long. Instead, five-pointed stars were installed. Let's remember 7 facts about Kremlin stars.
1. SYMBOLICS
Why the five-pointed star became the symbol of Soviet power is not known for certain, but what is known is that Leon Trotsky lobbied for this symbol. Seriously interested in esotericism, he knew that the star - a pentagram, has a very powerful energy potential and is one of the most powerful symbols.
The symbol of the new state could well be the swastika, the cult of which was very strong in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The swastika was depicted on the “Kerenki”; swastikas were painted on the wall of the Ipatiev House by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna before being executed. But by an almost unanimous decision, at the suggestion of Trotsky, the Bolsheviks settled on a five-pointed star. The history of the 20th century will show that the “star” is stronger than the “swastika”... The stars also shone over the Kremlin, replacing the double-headed eagles.
2. TECHNIQUE
Placing thousand-kilogram stars on the Kremlin towers was no easy task. The catch was that suitable technology in 1935 it simply did not exist. The height of the lowest tower, Borovitskaya, is 52 meters, the highest, Troitskaya, is 72. There were no tower cranes of this height in the country, but for Russian engineers there is no word “no”, there is the word “must”.
Stalprommekhanizatsiya specialists designed and built a special crane for each tower, which could be installed on its upper tier. At the base of the tent, a metal base - a console - was mounted through the tower window. A crane was assembled on it. So, in several stages, the double-headed eagles were first dismantled, and then the stars were erected.
3. RECONSTRUCTION OF TOWERS
The weight of each of the Kremlin stars reached up to a ton. Considering the height at which they were supposed to be located and the sail surface of each star (6.3 sq.m.), there was a danger that the stars would simply be torn out along with the tops of the towers. It was decided to test the towers for durability. Not in vain: the upper ceilings of the tower vaults and their tents have fallen into disrepair. The builders strengthened the brickwork of the upper floors of all towers: additional metal connections were introduced into the tents of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers. The tent of the Nikolskaya Tower turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be rebuilt.
4. SO DIFFERENT AND TURNING
Do identical stars didn't. The four stars differed from each other in their artistic design.
On the edges of the star of the Spasskaya Tower there were rays emanating from the center. On the star of the Trinity Tower, the rays were made in the form of ears of corn. The star of the Borovitskaya Tower consisted of two contours inscribed one into the other, and the rays of the star of the Nikolskaya Tower had no pattern.
The stars of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers were the same in size. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4.5 meters. The stars of the Trinity and Borovitskaya towers were smaller. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4 and 3.5 meters, respectively.
Stars are good, but spinning stars are doubly good. Moscow is big, there are a lot of people, everyone needs to see the Kremlin stars. Special bearings manufactured at the First Bearing Plant were installed at the base of each star. Thanks to this, despite their significant weight, the stars could easily rotate, turning to face the wind. By the location of the stars, therefore, one can judge where the wind is blowing from.
5. GORKY PARK
The installation of the Kremlin stars became a real holiday for Moscow. The stars were not taken under cover of darkness to Red Square. The day before they were installed on the Kremlin towers, the stars were put on display in the Park named after. Gorky. Together with mere mortals, the secretaries of the city and district CPSU(b) came to look at the stars; in the light of the spotlights, Ural gems sparkled and the rays of the stars sparkled. The eagles removed from the towers were installed here, clearly demonstrating the dilapidation of the “old” and the beauty of the “new” world.
6. RUBY
Kremlin stars were not always ruby. The first stars, installed in October 1935, were made of high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. In the middle of each star, on both sides, the emblem of the hammer and sickle, laid out in precious stones, sparkled. Gems after a year they dimmed, and the stars were too big and did not fit well into the architectural ensemble.
In May 1937, it was decided to install new stars - luminous, ruby ones. At the same time, another one was added to the four towers with stars - Vodovzvodnaya.
Ruby glass was welded at the glass factory in Konstantinovka, according to the recipe of the Moscow glassmaker N.I. Kurochkin. It was necessary to weld 500 square meters of ruby glass, for which it was invented new technology- “selenium ruby”. Before this to achieve desired color gold was added to glass; Selenium is cheaper and the color is deeper. Special bearings were installed at the base of each star so that, despite their weight, they could rotate like a weather vane. They are not afraid of rust and hurricanes, since the “frame” of the stars is made of special stainless steel. The fundamental difference: weather vanes indicate where the wind is blowing, and Kremlin stars indicate where the wind is blowing. Have you understood the essence and significance of the fact? Thanks to the diamond-shaped cross section
stars, she always stubbornly stands head-on against the wind. And any - up to a hurricane. Even if everything around is completely demolished, the stars and tents will remain intact. That's how it was designed and built. But suddenly the following was discovered: Ruby stars appear... black. The answer was found - the five-pointed beauties had to be made in two layers, and the bottom, inner layer of glass had to be milky white, scattering light well. By the way, this provided both a more even glow and hiding the filaments of the lamps from human eyes. By the way, a dilemma arose here too - how to make the glow even? After all, if the lamp is installed in the center of the star, the rays will obviously be less bright. The combination of different thicknesses and color saturations of the glass helped. In addition, the lamps are enclosed in refractors consisting of prismatic glass tiles.
7. LAMPS
The Kremlin stars not only rotate, but also glow. To avoid overheating and damage, about 600 cubic meters of air per hour are passed through the stars. The stars are not in danger of a power outage because their energy supply is self-sufficient. Lamps for the Kremlin stars were developed at the Moscow Electric Tube Plant. The power of three - on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers - is 5000 watts, and 3700 watts - on Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya. Each contains two filaments connected in parallel. If one lamp burns out, the lamp continues to light, and a fault signal is sent to the control panel. To change lamps you do not need to go up to the star; the lamp goes down on a special rod directly through the bearing. The entire procedure takes 30-35 minutes.
In the entire history of the stars, they went out only 2 times. The first time was during World War II. It was then that the stars were extinguished for the first time - after all, they were not only a symbol, but also an excellent guiding light. Covered in burlap, they patiently waited out the bombing, and when it was all over, it turned out that the glass was damaged in many places and required replacement. Moreover, the unintentional pests turned out to be their own - the artillerymen who defended the capital from fascist air raids. The second time was when Nikita Mikhalkov filmed his “The Barber of Siberia” in 1997.
The central control panel for star ventilation is located in the Trinity Tower of the Kremlin. The most modern equipment is installed there. Every day, twice a day, the operation of the lamps is visually checked, and the fans for blowing them are switched.
In the fall of 1935, the last symbol of the Russian monarchy - the double-headed eagles that were on the tops of the tents - was ordered to live long. Kremlin towers from the 17th century. About once a century, the gilded copper eagles were changed, as was the image of the state emblem. At the time the eagles were removed they were all different years production: the oldest eagle of the Trinity Tower is from 1870, the newest is from the Spasskaya Tower, from 1912.
After the October Revolution, V.I. Lenin repeatedly spoke about the need to dismantle the double-headed eagles from the Kremlin towers. There were several proposals to replace the coat of arms eagles - with simple flags, like on other towers, with the coats of arms of the USSR, gilded emblems with a hammer and sickle. But in the end they decided to install the stars.
On June 20, 1930, the manager of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, Gorbunov wrote to the secretary of the presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR A. S. Enukidze:
V.I. Lenin several times demanded the removal of these eagles and was angry that this work was not done - I personally confirm this. I think it would be nice to remove these eagles and replace them with flags. Why do we need to preserve these symbols of tsarism?
With communist greetings, Gorbunov.
In an extract from the minutes of the meeting of the secretariat of the USSR Central Executive Committee dated December 13, 1931, there is a mention of a proposal to include 95 thousand rubles in the estimate for 1932 for the cost of removing eagles from the Kremlin towers and replacing them with the emblems of the USSR. However, only in August 1935 a Politburo resolution was issued: “The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) decided by November 7, 1935 to remove 4 eagles located on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity towers of the Kremlin wall and 2 eagles from the building Historical Museum. By the same date, it was decided to install a five-pointed star with a hammer and sickle on the indicated 4 Kremlin towers.”
Removing the double-headed eagles from the Kremlin towers and attaching stars to them was not an easy task. The height of the lowest tower, Borovitskaya, is 52 meters, the highest, Troitskaya, is 72 meters. At that time there were no large high-altitude cranes to help with this operation.
Specialists from the all-Union office “Stalprommekhanizatsiya” developed cranes that were installed directly on the upper tiers of the towers. Through the tower windows at the base of the tents, strong console platforms were built, on which the cranes were assembled. The work of installing the cranes and dismantling the eagles took two weeks.
Double-headed eagles taken from the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers, in the Central Park of Culture and Culture named after. Gorky, October 23, 1935
On October 18, 1935, all 4 double-headed eagles were removed from the Kremlin towers. Due to the old design of the eagle from the Trinity Tower, it had to be dismantled right at the top of the tower. The work of removing the eagles and raising the stars was carried out by experienced climbers under the guidance and control of the NKVD operational department and the Kremlin commandant Tkalun. Having made sure that the eagles were of no value, the first deputy people's commissar of the NKVD addressed a letter to L. M. Kaganovich: “I ask for your order: to hand over to the NKVD of the USSR for gilding Kremlin stars 67.9 kilograms of gold. The gold covering of the eagles will be removed and handed over to the State Bank.”
On October 23, 1935, the stars were delivered to the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure and installed on pedestals covered in red. New symbols appeared for review by Muscovites and guests of the capital state power, shimmering with gold and Ural gems. Next to the golden stars sparkling from the light of the spotlights, they placed the removed eagles with the stripped gold, sent to be melted down the next day.
The new gem stars weighed about a ton. The tents of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers were not designed for such a load, so they had to be reinforced from the inside with metal supports and pins, on which it was planned to plant the stars. A metal pyramid with a support pin for the star was installed inside the Borovitskaya Tower tent. A strong metal glass was installed at the top of the Trinity Tower. The tent of the Nikolskaya Tower turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be completely dismantled and rebuilt.
On October 24, a large number of Muscovites gathered on Red Square to watch the installation of a five-pointed star on the Spasskaya Tower. On October 25, a five-pointed star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower, and on October 26 and 27 on the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers.
The stars of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers were the same in size. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4.5 meters. The stars of the Trinity and Borovitskaya towers were smaller. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4 and 3.5 meters, respectively.
The first stars, installed in October 1935, were made of high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. Electroplating workshops were specially built to gild 130 m² of copper sheets. In the center of the star, a hammer and sickle was laid out with Ural gems - a symbol Soviet Russia, coated with gold 20 microns thick.
The pattern was not repeated on any of the stars. The star on the Spasskaya Tower was decorated with rays diverging from the center to the tops. The rays of the star installed on the Trinity Tower were made in the form of ears of corn. On the Borovitskaya Tower, the pattern followed the contour of the five-pointed star itself. The star of the Nikolskaya Tower was smooth, without a pattern.
However, very soon the stars lost their original beauty. The soot, dust and dirt of the Moscow air, mixing with precipitation, caused the gems to fade, and the gold lost its shine, despite the spotlights illuminating them. In addition, they did not fully fit into the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin due to their size. The stars turned out to be too large and visually hung heavily over the towers. The star, which was on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin in 1935-1937, was later installed on the spire of the Northern River Station.
In May 1937, a decision was made to replace the semi-precious stars that had lost their shine with new stars - luminous ones made of ruby glass. Ruby glass was welded according to the recipe of the Moscow glassmaker N.I. Kurochkin at the glass factory in Konstantinovka. It was necessary to weld 500 square meters of ruby glass, for which a new technology was invented - “selenium ruby”. Previously, to achieve the desired color, gold was added to glass, which was inferior to selenium in cost and color saturation.
On November 2, 1937, new ruby stars lit up over the Kremlin. To the four towers with stars, another one was added, which did not previously have an ending in the form of an eagle - Vodovzvodnaya. Unlike semi-precious stars, ruby ones have only 3 different patterns (Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya are the same in design), and the frame of each star is a multifaceted pyramid. Each ray of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers has 8, and the Nikolskaya tower has 12 faces.
At the base of each star, special bearings are installed so that, despite their weight (more than 1 ton), they can rotate like a weather vane. The “frame” of the stars is made of special stainless steel produced by the Elektrostal plant near Moscow.
Each of the five stars has double glazing: the inner one is made of milk glass, which diffuses light well, and the outer one is made of ruby glass, 6-7 mm thick. This was done for the following purpose: in bright sunlight, the red color of the stars would appear black. Therefore, a layer of milky-white glass was placed inside the stars, which allowed the stars to look bright and, in addition, made the filaments of the lamps invisible. The stars have different sizes: on Vodovzvodnaya the beam span is 3 m, on Borovitskaya - 3.2 m, on Troitskaya - 3.5 m, on Spasskaya and Nikolskaya - 3.75 m.
During the Great Patriotic War, the stars were extinguished and covered with a tarpaulin, as they were a very good reference point for enemy aircraft. When the protective camouflage was removed, fragmentation damage from a Moscow medium- and small-caliber anti-aircraft air defense battery, located in the area of the Kremlin's Big Square, became visible. The stars were removed and lowered to the ground for repairs. The complete restoration was completed by New Year 1946. In March, the stars were raised onto the towers again.
This time the stars were glazed in a completely new way. According to a special recipe developed by N. S. Shpigov, three-layer ruby glass was made. First, a flask was blown from molten ruby glass, which was covered with molten crystal and then with milk glass. The “layered” cylinder welded in this way was cut and straightened into sheets. Three-layer glass was produced at the Krasny May glass factory in Vyshny Volochyok. The steel frame was re-gilded. When the stars were lit again, they became even brighter and more elegant.
Before the rise of the restored star to the Trinity Tower, March 1946/kp.ru
The stars are not in danger of a power outage because their energy supply is self-sufficient. The lamps were manufactured at the Peterhof Precision Stones Plant. Each lamp contains two filaments connected in parallel, so even if one of them burns out, the lamp will not stop shining. and a fault signal will be sent to the control panel. To change lamps you do not need to go up to the star; the lamp goes down on a special rod directly through the bearing. The entire procedure takes 30-35 minutes. The power of electric lamps in the stars on the Spasskaya, Troitskaya, Nikolskaya towers is 5 kW, on Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya - 3.7 kW.
To protect the stars from overheating, a ventilation system was developed, consisting of an air purification filter and two fans, one of which is a backup. Power outages are not a problem for ruby stars, since they are self-powered.
Stars are usually washed every 5 years. Monthly for maintenance reliable operation scheduled maintenance work is carried out on auxiliary equipment. More serious work is carried out every 8 years.
For the second time in its history, the stars were extinguished in 1996 during the filming of a Moscow night scene for the film “The Barber of Siberia” at the personal request of director Nikita Mikhalkov.
Materials used:
The beautiful ruby stars fit so harmoniously into the appearance of the five ancient Moscow towers that they seem to be their natural continuation. But for many years no less beautiful double-headed eagles sat on the Kremlin towers.
Huge gilded double-headed eagles have appeared on four Kremlin towers since the mid-50s of the seventeenth century.
In the first years after the revolution, the Bolsheviks tried to destroy all the symbols of the old world, but they did not touch the eagles on the Kremlin towers; Soviet power. Although Lenin repeatedly reminded of the need to dismantle them, this operation required a lot of money, was very technically complex, and at first the Bolsheviks could not decide what to replace the eagles with? There were various proposals - flags, the coat of arms of the USSR, an emblem with a hammer and sickle... Finally, we settled on stars.
In the spring of 1935, watching the planes fly by at the parade, Stalin was especially irritated by the sight of the royal eagles spoiling the whole picture.
At the end of the summer of 1935, a TASS message was published: " The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided by November 7, 1935 to remove 4 eagles located on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity towers of the Kremlin wall, and 2 eagles from the building of the Historical Museum. By the same date, it was decided to install a five-pointed star with a hammer and sickle on the indicated 4 Kremlin towers".
They decided to make all the stars different, each with its own unique design. A smooth star without a pattern was designed for the Nikolskaya Tower.
When the models were ready, the country's leaders came to look at them and gave the go-ahead for the production of real stars. Their only wish was to make the stars rotate so that they could be admired from everywhere.
They decided to make the stars from high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. The real decoration should have been the symbol of Soviet Russia, sparkling in the sun and under the rays of searchlights - the hammer and sickle. An entire army of jewelers worked for a month and a half to create this beauty from a huge number of Ural gems.
The stars turned out to be much heavier than the eagles; the weight of each star was about 1000 kg. Before installing them, we had to additionally strengthen the tents on the towers. The structure had to withstand even hurricane winds. And in order for the stars to become rotating, bearings were installed at their base, which were manufactured for this purpose at the First Bearing Plant.
Now the extremely difficult task lay ahead of dismantling the double-headed eagles and then installing huge stars in their place. The towers had a height of 52 to 72 meters, and there were no suitable equipment - high cranes - then. It was necessary to come up with something, and the engineers finally found a way out. A crane was designed separately for each tower, which was installed on the upper tier on a special metal base, specially mounted for this purpose.
After the eagles were dismantled using this technique, they did not immediately raise the stars in their place, but decided to first show them to Muscovites. To do this, for one day they were put on public display in the Park named after. Gorky.
The eagles, from which the gilding had already been removed, were also placed nearby. Of course, the eagles played next to the sparkling sparkling stars, symbolizing the beauty of the new world.
On October 24, 1935, having thoroughly checked the equipment, we began to slowly raise the star to the Spasskaya Tower. Having reached a height of 70 meters, the winch was stopped, and the climbers, carefully guiding the star, very accurately lowered it onto the support spire. Everything worked out! Hundreds of people gathered in the square and watched this unique operation, the installers applauded.
Over the next three days, three more stars were installed, shining on the Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya and Trinity towers.
However, these stars did not appear on the towers for long. Just two years later they lost their shine and became dull - soot, dust and dirt did their job.
It was decided to replace them, and it was recommended to reduce their size, since the first stars still looked rather heavy. The task was set to do this as soon as possible, by the 20th anniversary of the revolution.
This time it was decided to make the stars from ruby glass and glowing from within, and not from spotlights. The country's best minds were recruited to solve this problem.
The recipe for ruby glass was developed by Moscow glassmaker N.I. Kurochkin - to achieve the desired color, selenium was added to the glass instead of gold. Firstly, it was cheaper, and secondly, it made it possible to obtain a more saturated and deep color.
And so, on November 2, 1937, new ruby stars lit up on the Kremlin towers. Another star appeared - on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, and there were five such towers, like the rays of the star.
These stars truly glow from within.
This effect is achieved thanks to special lamps inside them with a power of 5000 watts, made to special order. In addition, they have two filaments, one for safety net. In order to change the lamp, you do not need to climb up to it; you can lower it on a special rod.
The stars have double glazing. The outside is ruby glass for color, and the inside is milky white for better dispersion. Milky white glass is used to prevent ruby glass from appearing too dark in bright light.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Kremlin stars went out - they were covered up, since they were an excellent reference point for the enemy. And after the war, when the tarpaulin was removed, it turned out that they had received minor shrapnel damage from an anti-aircraft battery located nearby. The stars had to be sent for restoration, after which they shone even brighter. A new three-layer glazing of the stars was made (ruby glass, frosted glass and crystal), and their gilded frame was also updated. In the spring of 1946, the stars were returned to the towers.
