Annunciation Tower

This tower was built in 1487-88. It is 32.45 metres (106.5 ft) high with the weather vane. The architect is unknown. The tower was named after the icon of the Annunciation which was once above the gate. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, a church of the same name was built adjoining the tower. The cube, the truncated tent roof and the watch-tower were added in the late seventeenth century. Originally the tower had a carriage-way, but it was blocked up at the beginning of the eighteenth century and the so-called Trouser-Washing Gate was built in the wall close by, through which laundry was taken from the Kremlin down to the river. Traces of this gate can still be seen on the inside of the wall. Under Ivan the Terrible the tower was used as a prison. Soviet specialists have restored the loopholes and gilded weather vane.