Star on the Kremlin tower size. History of the Kremlin stars

The stars on the Kremlin towers appeared not so long ago. Until 1935, in the very center of the country of victorious socialism, there were still gilded symbols of tsarism, double-headed eagles. We will finally learn the difficult history of the Kremlin stars and eagles.

Since the 1600s, the four Kremlin towers (Troitskaya, Spasskaya, Borovitskaya and Nikolskaya) have been decorated with symbols of Russian statehood - huge gilded double-headed eagles. These eagles did not sit on spiers for centuries - they changed quite often (after all, some researchers still argue what material they were made of - metal or gilded wood; there is information that the body of some eagles - if not all - was wooden, and other parts - metal; but it is logical to assume that those first two-headed birds were made entirely of wood). This fact - the fact of constant rotation of spire decorations - should be remembered, because it is he who will subsequently play one of the main roles during the replacement of eagles with stars.

In the first years of Soviet power, all double-headed eagles in the state were destroyed, all but four. Four gilded eagles sat on the towers of the Moscow Kremlin. The question of replacing the royal eagles with red stars on the Kremlin towers repeatedly arose soon after the revolution. However, such a replacement was associated with large financial expenses and therefore could not be carried out in the first years Soviet power.

The real opportunity to allocate funds for installing stars on the Kremlin towers appeared much later. In 1930, they turned to the artist and art critic Igor Grabar with a request to establish the artistic and historical value of the Kremlin eagles. He replied: “... none of the eagles currently existing on the Kremlin towers represent an ancient monument and cannot be protected as such.”

Parade 1935. Eagles watch Maxim Gorky fly by and spoil the holiday of Soviet power.

In August 1935, the following TASS message was published in the central press: “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 eagle 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.”

And so the eagles are removed.

The design and production of the first Kremlin stars was entrusted to two Moscow factories and workshops of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). An outstanding decorative artist, academician Fyodor Fedorovich Fedorovsky took up the development of sketches of future stars. He determined their shape, size, pattern. They decided to make the Kremlin stars from high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. In the middle of each star, on both sides, the emblems of the hammer and sickle, lined with precious stones, were supposed to sparkle.

When the sketches were created, we made models of the stars in life size. The hammer and sickle emblems were temporarily inlaid with imitation precious stones. Each model star was illuminated with twelve spotlights. This is exactly how they intended to illuminate the real stars on the Kremlin towers at night and on cloudy days. When the spotlights were turned on, the stars sparkled and sparkled with a myriad of colorful lights.

The leaders of the party and the Soviet government came to inspect the finished models. They agreed to make the stars with an indispensable condition - to make them rotating, so that Muscovites and guests of the capital could admire them from everywhere.

Hundreds of people of various specialties took part in the creation of the Kremlin stars. For the Spasskaya and Troitskaya towers, the stars were made in the TsAGI workshops under the leadership of the chief engineer of the institute A. A. Arkhangelsky, and for the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers - at Moscow factories under the leadership of the chief designer.

All four stars were different from each other decoration. So, 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. But 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.

The supporting structure of the stars was made in the form of a light but durable stainless steel frame. Framing decorations made of red copper sheets were placed on this frame. They were plated with gold with a thickness of 18 to 20 microns. Each star had a hammer and sickle emblem measuring 2 meters in size and weighing 240 kilograms on both sides. The emblems were decorated with precious Ural stones - rock crystal, amethysts, alexandrites, topazes and aquamarines. To make eight emblems, it took about 7 thousand stones ranging in size from 20 to 200 carats (one carat is equal to 0.2 grams.) From the report of Pauper, an employee of the operational department of the NKVD: “Each stone is cut with a diamond cut (on 73 sides) and sealed to prevent falling out into a separate silver cast with a silver screw and nut. The total weight of all stars is 5600 kilograms.”

Star for the Nikolskaya Tower. 1935 ph. B. Vdovenko.

The frame of the emblem was made of bronze and stainless steel. Each one was separately attached to this frame. gem framed in gilded silver. Two hundred and fifty of the best jewelers in Moscow and Leningrad worked for a month and a half to create the emblems. The principles for the arrangement of stones were developed by Leningrad artists.

The design of the stars was designed to withstand the load of hurricane winds. Special bearings manufactured at the First Bearing Plant were installed at the base of each star. Thanks to this, the stars, despite their significant weight, could easily rotate and become their frontal side against the wind.

Before installing the stars on the Kremlin towers, engineers had doubts: would the towers withstand their weight and storm wind loads? After all, each star weighed on average one thousand kilograms and had a sail surface of 6.3 square meters. A thorough examination revealed that the upper ceilings of the tower vaults and their tents had fallen into disrepair. It was necessary to strengthen the brickwork of the upper floors of all the towers on which the stars were to be installed. In addition, metal connections were additionally introduced into the tents of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers. And the tent of the Nikolskaya Tower turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be rebuilt.

Now the specialists of the All-Union Office of Stalprommekhanizatsiya L.N. Shchipakov, I.V. Kunegin, N.B. Gitman and I.I. Reshetov were faced with the important task of raising and installing stars on the Kremlin towers. But how to do that? After all, the lowest of them, Borovitskaya, has a height of 52 meters, and the highest, Troitskaya, is 77 meters. At that time there were no large cranes, but specialists from Stalprommekhanizatsiya found an original solution. They designed and built a special crane for each tower that could be installed on its top tier. At the base of the tent, a metal base - a console - was built through the tower window. The crane was assembled on it.

The day came when everything was ready for the rise of the five-pointed stars. But first they decided to show them to Muscovites. On October 23, 1935, the stars were delivered to the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after. M. Gorky and installed on pedestals covered with red. In the light of the spotlights, gilded rays sparkled and Ural gems sparkled. The secretaries of the city and district committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the chairman of the Moscow City Council arrived to inspect the stars. Hundreds of Muscovites and guests of the capital came to the park. Everyone wanted to admire the beauty and grandeur of the stars that were soon to flash in the sky of Moscow.

The captured eagles were put on display there.

On October 24, 1935, the first star was installed on the Spasskaya Tower. Before lifting, it was carefully polished with soft rags. At this time, mechanics checked the crane's winch and motor. At 12:40 the command “Vira little by little!” was heard. The star took off from the ground and began to slowly rise upward. When she reached a height of 70 meters, the winch stopped. The steeplejacks standing at the very top of the tower carefully picked up the star and pointed it at the spire. At 13:30 the star descended exactly on the support pin. Eyewitnesses of the event recall that on this day several hundred people gathered on Red Square to follow the operation. The moment the star was on the spire, the entire crowd began to applaud the climbers.

The next day, a five-pointed star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower. On October 26 and 27, the stars shone over the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers. The installers had perfected the lifting technique so well that it took them no more than an hour and a half to install each star. The exception was the star of the Trinity Tower, whose rise due to strong wind lasted about two hours. A little more than two months have passed since the newspapers published the decree on the installation of stars. Or rather, only 65 days. Newspapers wrote about the labor feat of Soviet workers, who created real works of art in such a short period of time.

The star from the Spasskaya Tower now crowns the spire of the River Station.

The first stars did not decorate the towers of the Moscow Kremlin for long. Just a year later, under the influence of atmospheric precipitation, the Ural gems faded. In addition, they did not fully fit into the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin due to their large size. Therefore, 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. Professor Alexander Landa (Fishelevich) was appointed chief engineer for the development and installation of stars. His project is still kept in Samara - five massive albums of drawings in red bindings. They say they are no less impressive than the stars themselves.

Ruby glass was welded at a glass factory in Konstantinovka, according to the recipe of Moscow glassmaker N.I. Kurochkin. It was necessary to cook 500 square meters 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.

Photo

Powerful lamps (up to 5000 watts) raised the temperature inside the stars, like in a locomotive furnace. The heat threatened to destroy both the lamp bulbs themselves and the precious five-pointed rubies. The professor wrote: “It is quite clear that glass should not be allowed to burst and crack in the event of rain or a change in weather and the glass falling down. The fans work flawlessly. About 600 cubic meters of air per hour are passed through the stars, which completely guarantees against overheating.” 


The five-pointed Kremlin luminaries are not in danger of a power outage, since their energy supply is autonomous.

Photo

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. The mechanism for changing lamps is interesting: you don’t even have 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 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.

Once every five years, the glasses of the stars are washed by industrial climbers.

Since the 1990s, there have been public discussions about the appropriateness of Soviet symbols in the Kremlin. In particular, the Russian Orthodox Church and a number of patriotic organizations take a categorical position, declaring “that it would be fair to return to the Kremlin towers the double-headed eagles that have decorated them for centuries.”

Installation of stars on the Kremlin towers

Dismantling the eagles

Double-headed eagles, being state symbols Russia, have been on the tops of the tents of the Kremlin towers since 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 1870, the newest eagle of the Spasskaya Tower is 1912.

Red Square, 1925

After the Bolsheviks came to power, V.I. Lenin repeatedly spoke about the need to dismantle the double-headed eagles from the Kremlin towers. However, at that time, according to various reasons, this was not done. In newsreels from the early 1930s, the towers of the Moscow Kremlin are still crowned with double-headed eagles.

In 1930, the operational department of the NKVD ordered specialists from the Central Art and Restoration Workshops, under the leadership of the famous Russian artist and restorer I. E. Grabar, to conduct an examination of the Kremlin double-headed eagles. Academician Grabar, in his report by the manager of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to Gorbunov, wrote that “... not one of the eagles currently existing on the Kremlin towers represents an ancient monument and cannot be protected as such.”

A week later, on June 20, 1930, Gorbunov writes to the secretary of the presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee 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.

While the stars were being made, the builders and installers were solving the main problem - how to actually remove the double-headed eagles from the towers and fix the stars. At that time there were no large high-rise cranes to help with this operation. Specialists from the all-Union office “Stalprommekhanizatsiya” developed special 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.

Finally, 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 steeplejacks under the guidance and control of the NKVD operational department and the Kremlin commandant Tkalun. The report of the head of the Operations Department of the OGPU Pauker to I.V. Stalin and V.M. Molotov dated November 4, 1935 states: “...I was instructed to remove the eagles from the Kremlin towers and from the Historical Museum by November 7, replacing them with stars. I inform you that this task of the Politburo has been completed..."

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 issue 67.9 kilograms of gold to the NKVD of the USSR for gilding the Kremlin stars. The gold covering of the eagles will be removed and handed over to the State Bank.”

Gem stars

The new gem stars weighed about a ton. The tents of the Kremlin towers were not designed for such a load. The tents of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers 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 first stars 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 symbol was laid out with Ural gems Soviet Russia- hammer and sickle . The hammer and sickle were covered 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.

Ruby stars

Unlike semi-precious stars, ruby ​​stars only have 3 different patterns(Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya are identical in design), and the frame of each star is a multifaceted pyramid. Each beam of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers has 8, and the Nikolskaya tower has 12 faces.

Design Features

Special bearings are installed at the base of each star 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 star, which allowed the star 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.

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 m² of ruby ​​glass, for which a new technology was invented - “selenium ruby”. Previously, gold was added to glass to achieve the desired color; Selenium is cheaper and the color is deeper.

Lamps for Kremlin stars were developed by special order at the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant, their development was carried out by specialists from the lighting laboratory of the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute. Each lamp contains two filaments connected in parallel, so even if one of them burns out, the lamp will not stop shining. The lamps were manufactured at the Peterhof Precision Stones Plant. The power of electric lamps in the stars on the Spasskaya, Troitskaya, Nikolskaya towers is 5 kW, on Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya - 3.7 kW.

When solving the problem of uniform illumination of the star, they immediately abandoned the idea of ​​​​installing many light bulbs inside the star, therefore, to ensure uniform distribution of the light flux, the lamp is enclosed in many glass prisms. For the same purpose, the glass at the ends of the rays of stars has a lower density than in the center. During the day, the stars are illuminated more strongly than at night.

The central control panel for star ventilation is located in the Trinity Tower of the Kremlin. Every day, twice a day, the operation of the lamps is visually checked, and the blower fans are also switched. 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 scene of Moscow at night for the film “The Barber of Siberia” at the personal request of director Nikita Mikhalkov.

Red stars abroad USSR

Notes

see also

Kremlin stars on a 1940 poster

Literature

• Topolin M. A. Kremlin stars. - 2nd ed. - M.: Moscow. worker, 1980. - 64 p.
• Domozhirov G. The first stars of the Kremlin // Chimes. Historical and local history almanac. Vol. 2. - M.: Mosk. worker, 1987. - 384 p. - P. 54-58.
• Goncharenko V. S. Moscow Kremlin. Walls and towers. Guide. - M.: GIKMZ “Moscow Kremlin”, “Art-Courier”, 2001. - 96 p.
• Aldonina R. P. Moscow Kremlin. - M.: “ White City", 2007. - 48 p. - ISBN 978-5-7793-1231-8.

Links

• Kremlin stars- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
• Exactly 70 years ago the ruby ​​stars of the Kremlin were lit. RIA Novosti (November 2, 2007). Archived from the original on March 2, 2012.
• Ruby stars // “Soviet Russia”, 10.23.2007.
• A star to the touch // " Russian newspaper", 05/05/2006.
• Kremlin stars: “royal” predecessors and Soviet heirs // RIA Novosti, 10.24.2010

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 long 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.

Spasskaya Tower with an eagle

Spasskaya Tower with an eagle and mausoleum. 1925

In the first years after the revolution, the Bolsheviks tried to destroy all the symbols of the old world, but the eagles on the Kremlin towers were not touched, and the Soviet government did not reach them. 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.

Parade on Red Square. 1935

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 (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 the indicated 4 towers of the Kremlin a five-pointed star with a hammer and sickle."

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 ranged in height from 52 to 72 meters, and suitable technology- there were no 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.

Dismantling the eagles

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.

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 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 steeplejacks, 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.

The star begins to rise

The first Kremlin stars over Moscow

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.

Before the rise of the restored star to the Trinity Tower, March 1946

Once every five years, industrial climbers ascend to the stars to wash them.

It is interesting that now on Red Square, against the backdrop of the Kremlin ruby ​​stars, you can again see eagles. In the summer of 1997, four eagles returned to their rightful places, which, along with lions and unicorns, adorned the roof of the Historical Museum. The eagles were removed from the museum in 1935, as were the eagles from the Kremlin towers. But these were luckier - they returned.

A copy of the golden Double-Headed Eagle, returned in 1997 to the tower of the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

And in December 2003, the lions and unicorns were also returned, taking their original places on the low towers of the museum.

Unicorn on the building of the Historical Museum

Lions on the building of the Historical Museum

New ruby ​​star

Five-pointed stars were installed, which replaced the double-headed royal eagles. Once every 100 years they were updated, since the image of the state emblem also changed.

All the eagles on the Kremlin towers turned out to be of different times. For example, the eagle was the oldest - 1870.

Lenin said many times that the eagles need to be removed from the Kremlin towers. But they couldn’t find the technology to do this without damaging the towers. For example, in 1924 they wanted to hook eagles to balloons and lower them to the ground. But it turned out that the balloons were not able to withstand such a load. The question of replacing the eagles was raised again in 1935.

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, 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.

It was proposed to replace the armorial eagles with flags, emblems with a hammer and sickle, and the coats of arms of the USSR, but stars were chosen. The preparation of sketches was entrusted to Evgeniy Lansere. In the first draft, Stalin did not like the circle in the center. Lanceray quickly corrected everything and submitted a new sketch for approval. Stalin again did not like the project because of the holding stick. After this, the development of the star sketch was transferred to F.F. Fedorovsky.

It took two weeks to dismantle the eagles. The gold covering was removed from them and transferred to the State Bank.

On October 23, 1935, the Kremlin stars sparkling with gold and gems were installed for public viewing in the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure. Eagles with peeled coverings were placed nearby. And the very next day they were sent for smelting.

The new five-pointed stars weighed about a ton, so the tower tents had to be strengthened to install them. And the tent turned out to be so old that it needed to be rebuilt.

On October 24, Muscovites gathered to watch the installation of the star on. On October 25, the star was installed on, and on October 26 and 27 - on Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya.

The first Kremlin stars were cast from red copper and stainless steel. Special galvanic workshops were built for their gilding. In the center of each star, the symbol of the USSR - the hammer and sickle - was laid out with Ural gems. In total, about 7 thousand stones ranging in size from 20 to 200 carats were required (one carat is equal to 0.2 grams).

Each star had its own design. For example, the star was decorated with rays from the center to the tops, the star of the Trinity Tower was decorated with ears of corn. The pattern of the star followed its outline. The star of the Nikolskaya Tower was without a design.

But the first stars quickly lost their shine: soot, dust and dirt, mixing with sediment, caused the gems and gold to fade.

In May 1937, they decided to install new Kremlin stars made of ruby ​​glass. They were lit over November 2, 1937.

Vodovzvodnaya was added to the four towers. So there were symbolically five five-pointed stars. And the gem star from the Spasskaya Tower was moved to the Northern River Station.

Ruby stars have only 3 types of patterns (Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya are the same), and their frame is based on a multifaceted pyramid. The stars vary in size: on Vodovzvodnaya the beam span is 3 meters, on Borovitskaya - 3.2 meters, on Troitskaya - 3.5 meters, on Spasskaya and Nikolskaya - 3.75 meters. Each star has bearings at the base so that it can rotate like a weather vane, despite its weight.

Each star had double glazing: the inner one was made of milk glass, and the outer one was made of ruby ​​glass. This allowed the Kremlin stars to remain red rather than black, even in bright sunlight.

It is known that during the Great Patriotic War, the stars on the towers were extinguished and covered with tarpaulin so that they would not become a reference point for enemy aircraft. At the same time, windows were painted on the walls of the Kremlin. After this, a complete restoration of the Kremlin stars was required. They returned to the towers in March 1946.

This time the stars were glazed in three layers. First, a flask was blown from molten ruby ​​glass, then it was covered with crystal and milk glass. Sheets were melted from this “layered” cylinder. This made the new stars even brighter.

The stars on the Kremlin towers were extinguished for the second time in 1999 to film the Moscow night scene of the film “The Barber of Siberia” at the request of director Nikita Mikhalkov.

The central control panel for monitoring and controlling the ventilation of the Kremlin stars is located in the Trinity Tower of the Kremlin. Twice a day they check the operation of the lamps and switch the blower fans. Each lamp has two filaments connected in parallel, which allows the lamp to shine even if one of them burns out.

The stars are washed every 5 years, and preventative maintenance is carried out monthly.

On September 10, 2010, members of the Return Foundation appealed to the President with a request to return the eagle to the Spasskaya Tower, but received no response. It is worth noting that the eagles on the towers of the building returned back in 1997.

Do you have anything to tell about the history of the Kremlin stars?

In the fall of 1935, the last symbol of the Russian monarchy was ordered to live long - the double-headed eagles that had been on the tops of the tents of the Kremlin towers since the 17th century. About once a century, the gilded copper eagles were changed, as was the image of the state emblem. At the time of removal of the eagles, they were all of different years of manufacture: the oldest eagle of the Trinity Tower was made in 1870, the newest one, of the Spasskaya Tower, was made in 1912.

After 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 the 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 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.”

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-rise 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 steeplejacks 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 issue 67.9 kilograms of gold to the NKVD of the USSR for gilding the Kremlin stars. 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 of Soviet Russia, covered 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”. Before this, 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, since 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. To maintain reliable operation of auxiliary equipment, scheduled preventative maintenance is carried out monthly. 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 the Moscow night scene for the film “The Barber of Siberia” at the personal request of director Nikita Mikhalkov.

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