Archaeology has undermined this official dating with evidence that the Kremlin site had been occupied much earlier, probably by Finns, and there is a suggestion that Moscow’s name itself derives from Finnish. Medieval chronicles first mention Moscow in 1147, a date which has become enshrined as the city’s birth year. Protected by dense forests of oak and birch, this trading outpost stood at a strategic junction of trade routes, linking the important river systems of northern and western Russia. Moscow, one of the world’s great cities with a population of around 12 million, began life modestly as a stockaded settlement on a low hill where the river Neglinnaya flows into the Moscow river. Behind this myth the reality of the Kremlin’s story is more curious and fascinating. The Kremlin has been physically re-shaped and publically re-invented to glorify an apparently unchanging Russian state. Over the centuries these buildings have served as text and theatre to project the political message of Moscow’s rulers. This mighty complex is steeped in history but yet it is not timeless. Today, Russians draw deep feelings of national pride from its splendour.

But first and foremost, the Kremlin exists as a fortress, encircled by massive red-brick walls made more formidable by high towers and powerful gateways. Here is an extraordinary political and spiritual powerhouse from which Moscow enforced its rule over Russia. For centuries, it has been, and still continues to be, the seat of government, a centre for church ceremonial, and a hive of civil servants. Within its precincts are treasure-laden museums, opulent palaces, cathedrals of jewel-box interiors whose white bell-towers are capped with golden domes beneath a forest of Orthodox Christian crosses. The Moscow Kremlin, and adjoining Red Square, is an image that stalks our imagination and fixes our view of Russia.

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