Palace of the Facets
The Palace of Facets is the oldest secular building, not only in the Kremlin
but in the whole of Moscow.
Built in 1487-91 by Marco
Ruffo and Pietro Antonio Solari,
it is the only part of the huge complex constituted by the Great
Kremlin Palace, the Terem Palace
and associated buildings which has been almost completely preserved in
its original form. The name of the palace, which is almost exactly square
in plan, comes from the faceted limestone blocks which pattern the main
front - a form of rustication which originated in the Early Italian Renaissance.
The Palace of Facets is a large chamber with high grained vaults resting
on a thick central rectangular pillar. Its area is 495 square metres and
its height is 9 metres. Murals were painted for the first time in the late
16th century. In 1882 the Palekh painters, the Belousov brothers, restored
the murals of the Palace of Facets from the copies made 200 years previously
by Simon Ushakov. The Palace of Facets served as the tsar's audience chamber
and banqueting hall.
© State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin.
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