Moscow Guide
The Kremlin
The Great Kremlin Palace
Opening time: The Faceted, Terem and Great Kremlin palaces are only accessible two or three times a month on a special guided tour, run by Patriarshy Dom Tours. The excursion is limited to 25 people.
Price: Tickets sell out fast despite the cost (R2100), so book as far ahead as possible; visitors must submit their passport and visa details and bring both documents to be verified by security
The aptly named Great Kremlin Palace (Bolshoy Kremlevskiy dvorets) stretches for 125m along the crest of the Kremlin hill. Commissioned by Nicholas I, who revered ancient Russia and preferred Moscow to St Petersburg, its yellow-and-white facade employing Russo-Byzantine motifs according to the rules of classical harmony hides five magnificent halls dedicated to the chivalric orders of the empire. Architect Konstantin Ton exploited the newly invented technique of faux mabre, whereby powdered marble was applied to stucco and polished to simulate solid stone on a scale where the real thing would need massive foundations to bear the weight. The result is overpoweringly splendid: when George W. Bush was shown around by Putin, his jaw dropped at the sight – and for once you can't blame him.
The white St George Hall is 61m long and 18m tall; its vaults are adorned with the cross and star of St George and its benches upholstered in the orange and black of the order's ribbon.
Adjacent are two still larger halls that were knocked through in the 1930s to create a meeting place for the Supreme Soviet, which Yeltsin restored at vast expense, adding foyers and galleries that never existed before.