10 OLDEST houses in Moscow (PHOTOS)

1. Palace of Facets

Moscow Kremlin, Palace of Facets. View from Ivan the Great Bell Tower

Ludvig14 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

It was built in 1487-1491 by Italian architects Mark Fryazin (real identity unknown, ‘Fryazin’ is a nickname) and Pietro Antonio Solari by order of Grand Duke Ivan III. The building became the main ceremonial hall of the Kremlin.

2. Old English Court

Old English Court in Moscow, Russia

Reda Kerbush (CC BY-SA 4.0)

It was built in the 15th century as residential chambers and, since the 1550s, was transferred to a London-based Muscovy Company that traded with Russia. After British embassies began to frequent Moscow, ambassadors and their retinue lived in this building. The English Court was the first representative office of a foreign power in Russia.

3. The Romanov Chambers in Zaryadye

House of the Boyars Romanov, Varvarka street, Moscow

Ludvig14 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

They were built at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries and belonged to the Romanov boyar family. According to legend, Mikhail Fedorovich, the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty, was born in this house in 1596.

4. The Amusement Palace in the Kremlin

The Amusement Palace as seen from Alexandrovsky garden

A.Savin (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The building was built in 1651 as the boyar residential chambers, but, from 1672, theatrical performances began to be staged within its walls and the building became known as the ‘Amusement (‘Poteshny’) Palace’. The Church of the Praise of the Virgin, which was the house church of the royal family, was built into the building.

5. Emelyan Ukraintsev’s Chambers

Emelyan Ukraintsev’s Chambers

NVO (CC BY 3.0)

Built in 1665, the chambers belonged to a major statesman named Yemelyan Ukraintsev, a member of the Boyar Duma. Since 1770, the Moscow Main Archive has been located tthere.

6. Averkiiy Kirillov’s Chambers

Averkiy Kirillov's House

Ludvig14 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

From the outside, these chambers look like an 18th-century palace, but they were built in the 1650s for Averky Kirillov, a major official of those times.

7. The Krutitsy Gallery

The Krutitsy gallery

Umid Khamzin (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The gallery above the Holy Gates of the Krutitsky Patriarchal Metochion in Moscow (built in 1693-1694) is part of the chambers of Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna, connecting his house with the cathedral. From the windows of this gallery, the metropolitan priests blessed the people and gave alms to the poor.

8. Zgura’s Tower

The Zgura Tower

NVO (CC BY-SA 4.0)

It is unknown why this unique building was built at the end of the 17th century. In the 1920s, local historian Vladimir Zgura (1903-1927), the founder of the Society for the Study of the Russian Estate, lived there.

9. Mazepa’s Chambers

Mazepa's chambers

Gennady Grachev (CC BY 2.0)

Built in the 16th-17th centuries (exact date is unknown), these chambers were mistakenly considered the residence of Ivan Mazepa during his visit to Moscow.

10. The Volkov-Yusupov Palace

The Yusupov-Volkov palce

Legion Media

There is no exact date for this building, either – it could have been erected in the 15th-16th centuries and, then, rebuilt many times. For almost 200 years, from the 1720s up until 1917, the palace was owned by the Yusupov family.

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