The Arsenal

As visitors enter the Kremlin through the Trinity Gate, they can't miss the impressive Arsenal building on their left side, commissioned in 1701 by Emperor Peter the Great to store weapons and military equipment. Construction was started by the Moscow architects Konrad and Ivanov, but stopped at the time of the great Northern War with Sweden, and only recommenced in the 1830s under the supervision of the engineer Gerard. Peter ordered that the Arsenal be made into a museum celebrating military glory and encouraged the collection of military paraphernalia from all over the country and that seized from foreign enemies during battle.

Most of the Arsenal's collection is now housed in the Armory, apart from several canons that were captured during the Napoleonic Wars, and which are ranged along the front of the building. The Arsenal stands on the site of the medieval boyars' quarter of the Kremlin, where Moscow's higher nobility resided until the 15th century.