There has always been a bunch of legends about secret staircases and passages in the Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin revealed another of its mysterious. A sudden discovery was made in the place where everything seems to have been discovered. Restorers found secret corridors and staircases in the walls of the Patriarchal Kremlin.
There has always been a bunch of legends about secret staircases and passages in the Kremlin. There was a strong belief in their existence but nobody knew where exactly to look for them. Their discovery can be considered a major archeological finding of recent years. It is possible that some of them may lead to a famous library of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Palace's One-Pillar Chamber was under restoration. During the Soviet period there were public lavatories here. The voids were found when builders took the tile off the walls and sank a boring.
“As a rule, during the restoration unexpected discoveries are made which surprise specialists as well as restorers and architectural historians. In this building amazing in-stairs spaces and rooms were discovered”, Alexey Levykin, director of the Kremlin Museum scientific department says.
Historians think that these walled up stairs connected Patriarch Nikon's Chambers with the backyard. They made it possible to hide from the danger or to leave the palace quickly. In the time of peace they could serve practical purposes.
“Meals which were cooked here were then brought to gala chambers through these stairs. Two of them were found during the restoration. They had not been used for a long time”, the head of the Kremlin's department of architectural monument's restoration Tatiana Krasheninnikova explains.
Tiny rooms located in the walls could be used for storage. Archeologists scrutinized every brick and sifted the dust in discovered bays.
The rooms discovered are rather small but they will definitely serve as an extra space for the Kremlin's museums. The restoration actually was started in hopes to solve the problem of space. A new exhibition hall is to be opened in One-Pillar Chamber with some new objects on display. A researcher Marina Golovanova who holds a unique collection of banners says that some of them never left the repository. A banner, which was used during the coronation of Nicholas II, is worth exposing to the public other then being tucked away. Some of the banners are kept in such places you can hardly access them. “The exhibits are not always kept as they should be. It is better to keep staffs in a horizontal position”, Marina Golovanova says.
The Moscow Kremlin Museum will celebrate its 200th anniversary next year. By this time the problem of space is going to be solved as they say. All the restoration workshops and storerooms are going to be removed from the territory of Kremlin. Rooms that they occupy at the moment are to be restored and then will be used as exhibition halls for more then 100,000 objects.
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