The Palace of Facets (Granovitaya Palata). Built in 1487–91 by Italian architects Marco Ruffo and Pietro Solari, the palace is so called from the exterior finish of white stone squares. Following the “brilliant rust” method, the stones were cut into four facets (gran’ in Russian, hence comes the name), which added the walls an attractive look.  Noted for bright wall paintings and lavish interior decorations, the palace was used by Moscow tsars for arranging receptions and other ceremonies.

Behind Granovitaya Palata is the Terem Palace of 1635–36, which incorporates several older churches, including the Resurrection of Lazarus (Voskreseniye Lazarya), dating from 1393. The palace was built by Russian architects headed by Ogurtsov for Tsar Michael Fyodorovich, the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty. The name comes from private rooms (Russian terems) of Tsar’s wife and children, which are on the second floor of the palace. Rich stone carvings and wall paintings, pilasters and parapets decorated with multicolored tiles give the palace a fairy-tale look. The Terem church is another attraction of the palace.

The most imposing of the Kremlin palaces is the Great Kremlin Palace, built by the Russian architect Konstantin Ton as a royal residence in 1838–49 and formerly used for sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. The palace has about 700 rooms occupying the total area of 20,000 square metres. At present, the halls of the palace, which were restored to their original appearance at the end of the last century, are used to hold the official meetings and ceremonies.

The Great Kremlin Palace is connected to the Armoury Palace (Oruzheynaya Palata), built by Konstantin Ton in 1844–51 and now the Armoury Museum, housing a large collection of treasures of the tsars, featuring unique specimens of Russian, Western European and Oriental applied art from the 5th through the 20th centuries. In addition to the early weaponry, fabrics, cookware, and furniture, the museum displays the unique Russia's Diamond Fund’s collection of jewelry and precious stones,  including Orlov diamond (weighs nearly 200 carats) and Shach diamond (of about 89 carats), which are among the world’s largest diamonds.

Address: The Kremlin, Cathedral Square
Nearest metro station: Alexandrovsky sad
Tel:  +7 495 202-3776/4256/0349 (tours)
Open: 10.00 – 16.30
Closed: Th.