This year marks 80 years since proud stars lit up on the towers of the Moscow Kremlin instead of double-headed eagles. But their path to the Kremlin towers turned out to be thorny and winding...

The first eagle settled on the towers of the Moscow Kremlin around 1600, and the last nested on the Spasskaya Tower only in 1912. The birds themselves were wooden, their parts were bolted together. The wings and heads were cast from metal. The whole structure was covered with gilding.

It would seem that the Bolsheviks should have removed the eagles in the first place. But it was not there! They continued to decorate the Kremlin towers until 1935. And their demolition was first discussed in 1930. (Apparently, there were more important things to do.) The new authorities even turned to the then-famous artist Igor Grabar with a request to evaluate the historical value of the double-headed eagles on the Kremlin towers. Fearing for his life, the restorer said what was expected of him: the eagles are not a monument of antiquity and cannot be protected by the state.

Soon a note was sent to the Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Yenukidze from the former personal secretary of Lenin - Gorbunov. In it, the author claimed that Vladimir Ilyich, during his lifetime, repeatedly demanded that the eagles be removed and replaced with flags.

But even after that, the proud birds still remained in place. What was the matter? It turned out - in the budget! As follows from the minutes of the meeting of the secretariat of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR dated 12/13/1931: a proposal was received to include in the estimate for 1932 the costs of removing eagles from the Kremlin towers in the amount of 95,000 rubles. It was supposed to replace the eagles with the coats of arms of the USSR. But in 1932 no money was found. Or maybe they couldn’t decide what to exchange the eagles for?

Special operation of the NKVD

The final and irrevocable decision to remove the double-headed eagles from the Kremlin towers was made only in the summer of 1935. The TASS message read: “The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided by November 7, 1935 to remove four eagles located on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity towers of the Kremlin wall, and two eagles from the building of the Historical Museum. By this date, it was decided to install five-pointed stars on the indicated four towers of the Kremlin. The responsibility for carrying out the operation of national importance was assigned to the commandant of the Kremlin Tkalun and, of course, the all-powerful NKVD. Preparation took a record two months, including time for sketching, coordination and production of the stars themselves.

They say that Stalin personally took an active part in the development of sketches. Although officially the design and manufacture of the first Kremlin stars were spoiled by two Moscow factories and the workshops of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, the well-known decorative artist Academician Fedor Fedorovich Fedorovsky was involved in the development of sketches.

However, it turned out to be not difficult to come up with an image of stars - unlike their manufacture. The star cases were welded from high-alloy stainless steel, and then lined with gilded copper sheets.

A memorandum has been preserved in which Kaganovich agrees to allocate 68 kg of gold for gilding the stars! Its thickness was 20 microns. On both sides of the star was decorated with an emblem - a hammer and sickle weighing 240 kilograms, decorated with precious stones: rock crystal, amethysts, alexandrites, topazes and aquamarines. Each of the stones was brilliant-cut (73 facets) and placed in a special silver caste with a screw and nut fastening. The total number of stones exceeded 7,000 pieces from 20 to 200 carats each, and two hundred and fifty of the best jewelers of the country were involved in their processing. Everything would be fine, only the stars turned out to be too bulky and heavy. The authorities even had to strengthen the dilapidated towers of the Kremlin. Steel structures were built into each, on which the first stars were planted.

The stars turned out to be different not only in decoration, but also in size. The edges of the star on the Spasskaya Tower were decorated with rays emanating from the center. The star of the Trinity Tower had the same rays, but designed in the form of ears of corn. Two contours were depicted on the star of the Borovitskaya Tower - one inscribed in the other, but for some reason the rays of the star of the Nikolskaya Tower did not have a pattern.

Maina, Vira, herbs a little ...

The installation of stars turned out to be a serious problem. There were no appropriate mechanisms for lifting weights on the towers. The specialists of Stalprommekhanizatsiya solved the most difficult task by designing and creating their own unique crane for each of the towers. It was fixed on the upper tier of each of the towers. At the base of the tent, a console was installed through the tower window, on which a crane was then assembled.

Before climbing the towers, the stars were put up for public viewing in Gorky Park. They installed it on special pedestals, upholstered in red calico, after which spotlights fell on their faces. According to eyewitnesses, at that moment the Ural gems sparkled with myriads of multi-colored lights. And already on October 24, 1935, the first star was raised on the Spasskaya Tower. The next day, another star shone on the top of the Trinity Tower. On October 26 and 27, five-pointed stars adorned the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers of the Kremlin.

The first pancake is lumpy

But, no matter how hard the Bolsheviks tried, the first attempt was unsuccessful. By 1937, the stars suddenly went out. The reason for this was the soot and smog of a large city, as well as adverse meteorological conditions. The stones just darkened. And the stars themselves turned out to be so massive that they began to suppress the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin.

After complaining about the wasted money and time, having calculated the optimal proportions, the authorities ordered new luminous ruby ​​stars. The semi-precious stones were replaced with internal illumination, and the fifth one, Vodovoznaya, was added to the four towers with a star.

An indispensable condition was the creation of a special design of the stars, thanks to which they would not corrode, and it would be possible to wash off dirt and soot from the outer surfaces. They even created a special control panel for the mechanisms of stars. But the second time was not without curiosities.

The fact is that the legendary ruby ​​glass was brewed with special additives of selenium and gold. When the trial batch was taken out into the street, it turned out that in daylight the ruby ​​​​glass looks almost black! Mourning stars over the Kremlin? A huge scandal was brewing. I had to lay a second inner layer of milky glass. Now the stars shone with the even color of natural rubies.

Powerful (up to 5000 watts!) lamps also caused a lot of trouble. When heated, they created a terrible heat, from which the ruby ​​​​glass could burst or crack. For cooling, powerful fans were used, passing about 600 cubic meters of air per hour.

It fades, it fades

Despite the fact that the creators of ruby ​​stars tried to take into account all the factors for their smooth operation, the stars went out several times.

The first time this happened during the Great Patriotic War. Realizing that the light of the stars is an excellent guide for enemy aircraft, the stars were extinguished and tightly wrapped with tarpaulin, and windows were painted on the walls of the Kremlin. However, when the stars were stripped of their disguise, they were found to be riddled with shrapnel holes. The stars underwent a large-scale restoration and were returned to the towers only in March 1946. The reconstruction was beneficial: to two layers, ruby ​​and milky, a third was added - made of crystal. Now the stars shone even brighter than before.

In 1996, the stars of the Kremlin were extinguished by Nikita Mikhalkov during the filming of Moscow at night in The Barber of Siberia. For the third time, they disappeared from the eyes of Muscovites for restoration behind massive casings-cases in 2014.

Why a star?

Since the times of the USSR, the inhabitants of Russia have become so accustomed to the abundance of red stars that they have not wondered for a long time why exactly the stars shone over the Kremlin?

On the one hand, the five-pointed star is a symbol of the god of war, Mars. It adorns the banners of Russia, China, the USA... On the other hand, a five-pointed star turned with one ray upwards has been considered a symbol of protection and security since ancient times. Which of these options the Bolsheviks had in mind is now difficult to say ...

By the way

Kremlin stars can also be used as a kind of weather vane. And because of their design, they can even withstand direct hurricane winds!

Here we somehow studied, and now let's move on to a more specific topic, especially since the date corresponds. 80 years ago, in the period from October 24 to October 27, 1935, the first five-pointed stars were installed on the four towers of the Moscow Kremlin.

Until this historical moment, the spiers of the Kremlin towers were decorated with heraldic double-headed eagles. The first double-headed eagle was hoisted on top of the tent of the Spasskaya Tower in the 50s of the 17th century. Later, Russian coats of arms were installed on the highest travel towers of the Kremlin - Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya. In October 1935, instead of the two-headed royal eagles, five-pointed stars appeared over the Kremlin.

It was proposed to replace the emblematic eagles with flags, as on other towers, and emblems with a sickle and a hammer, and the coats of arms of the USSR, but it was the stars that were chosen.

They tried several times to change the symbol of the Russian Empire to the symbol of the new Soviet power. Back in the years of the civil war, this proposal was made by the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.I. Lenin. However, in conditions of total economic collapse, the wish of the leader of the revolution was not fulfilled.

Why exactly the five-pointed star became the symbol of Soviet power is not known for certain, but it is known that this symbol was lobbied by Leon Trotsky. Seriously fond of esotericism, he knew that the star is a pentagram, has a very powerful energy potential and is one of the most powerful symbols.

The swastika, the cult of which was very strong in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, could well become a symbol of the new state. The swastika was depicted on the "kerenki", swastikas were painted on the wall of the Ipatiev House by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna before being shot. But by an almost unanimous decision at the suggestion of Trotsky, the Bolsheviks settled on a five-pointed star. The history of the 20th century will still show that the "star" is stronger than the "swastika" ... The stars shone over the Kremlin, replacing the double-headed eagles.

1935 parade. Eagles watch Maxim Gorky fly by and spoil the holiday;)))

And only on August 23, 1935, a resolution was adopted by the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to replace the old symbols with new ones. Immediately after this, a TASS message was released informing the Soviet people: “... by November 7, 1935, remove 4 eagles located on the towers of the Kremlin wall, and 2 eagles from the building of the Historical Museum. By the same date, it was decided to install five-pointed stars with a hammer and sickle on the Kremlin towers. .

The design and manufacture of new Kremlin symbols was entrusted to the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute. Professor N.E. Zhukovsky with the participation of two Moscow defense plants. The sketches were approved by I.V. Stalin.

The preparation of sketches was entrusted to E.E. Lansere. On the first sketch, Stalin wrote: Okay, but it would be necessary without a circle in the center , with "without" underlined twice. Lansere quickly corrected everything and gave a new sketch for approval. Stalin again made a remark: Good, but it would be necessary without a fastening stick , and the word "without" was again underlined twice. After that, the development of a sketch of the stars was transferred to F.F. Fedorovsky.

When the sketches were created, life-size models of stars were made. The hammer and sickle emblems were temporarily encrusted with imitations of precious stones. Each mock-up star was illuminated by twelve spotlights. This is how the real stars on the Kremlin towers were supposed to be illuminated at night and on cloudy days. When the searchlights were turned on, the stars sparkled and sparkled with a myriad of colored lights.

The leaders of the party and the Soviet government came to inspect the finished models. They agreed to the production of stars with an indispensable condition - to make them rotating so that Muscovites and guests of the capital could admire them from everywhere.

Hundreds of people of various specialties participated in the creation of the Kremlin stars. For the Spasskaya and Troitskaya towers, the stars were made in the workshops of TsAGI under the guidance of the chief engineer of the institute, A. A. Arkhangelsky, and for the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers, at Moscow factories under the supervision of the chief designer.

The first Kremlin stars were made of red copper and stainless steel. Special electroplating shops were built for their gilding. In the center of each star, Ural gems (amethysts, topazes, alexandrites, rock crystal, aquamarines) laid out the symbol of the USSR - a hammer and sickle, covered with gold. In total, it took about 7 thousand stones ranging in size from 20 to 200 carats (one carat is equal to 0.2 grams).

From the report of Pauper, an employee of the operational department of the NKVD:

“Each stone is cut with a brilliant cut (73 facets) and, in order to avoid falling out, is embedded in a separate silver caste with a silver screw and nut. The total weight of all the stars is 5600kg.”

The drawing was unique for each star. So the Star of the Spasskaya Tower was decorated with rays from the center to the tops, the star of the Trinity Tower - ears of corn. On the Borovitskaya tower, the pattern of the star followed its contour. The star of the Nikolskaya tower was without a picture.

The stars of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers were the same in size. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4.5 meters. The stars of the Trinity and Borovitskaya towers were smaller. The distance between the ends of their beams was 4 and 3.5 meters, respectively. The weight of the steel supporting frame, sheathed with metal sheets and decorated with Ural stones, reached a ton.

The design of the stars was designed for the load of a hurricane wind. Special bearings made at the First Bearing Plant were installed at the base of each star. Thanks to this, the stars, despite their considerable weight, could easily rotate and become their frontal side against the wind.

Star for the Nikolskaya Tower. 1935 ph. B.Vdovenko

Before installing the stars on the Kremlin towers, the engineers had doubts: would the towers withstand their weight and storm wind loads? After all, each star weighed an average of a thousand kilograms and had a sailing surface of 6.3 square meters. A careful study revealed that the upper floors of the vaults of the towers and their tents came to a dilapidated state. It was necessary to strengthen the brickwork of the upper floors of all the towers on which the stars were to be installed. In addition, metal ties were additionally introduced into the tents of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers. And the tent of the Nikolskaya Tower turned out to be so dilapidated that it had to be rebuilt.

Now the specialists of the All-Union office Stalprommekhanizatsiya L. N. Shchipakov, I. V. Kunegin, N. B. Gitman and I. I. Reshetov faced a responsible task - to raise and install stars on the Kremlin towers. But how to do that? After all, the lowest of them, Borovitskaya, has a height of 52 meters, and the highest, Troitskaya, is 77 meters. At that time there were no large cranes, but the specialists of Stalprommekhanizatsiya found an original solution. They designed and built a special crane for each tower, which could be installed on its upper tier. At the base of the tent, a metal base - a console - was built in through the tower window. On it, they assembled a crane.

The day came when everything was ready for the rise of the five-pointed stars. But first we decided to show them to Muscovites. On October 23, 1935, the stars were delivered to the Central Park of Culture and Leisure. M. Gorky and installed on pedestals upholstered with red calico. In the light of searchlights, gilded rays sparkled, Ural gems sparkled. The secretaries of the city and district committees of the CPSU (b), the chairman of the Moscow Council, arrived to inspect the stars. Hundreds of Muscovites and guests of the capital came to the park. Everyone wanted to admire the beauty and grandeur of the stars that were soon to flare up in the sky of Moscow.

Putting a thousand-kilogram stars on the towers of the Kremlin was not an easy task. The catch was that there was simply no suitable equipment in 1935. The height of the lowest tower, Borovitskaya, is 52 meters, the highest, Troitskaya, is 72. There were no tower cranes of such a height in the country, but for Russian engineers there is no word “no”, there is a word “must”.

Specialists of Stalprommekhanizatsiya designed and built a special crane for each tower, which could be installed on its upper tier. At the base of the tent, through the tower window, a metal base was mounted - a console. A crane was assembled on it. So, in several stages, the double-headed eagles were first dismantled, and then the stars were hoisted.

Star for the Trinity Tower in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure. M. Gorky

The installation of the Kremlin stars has become a real holiday for Moscow. The stars did not begin to be taken under the cover of night to Red Square. The day before the hoisting on the Kremlin towers, the stars were put on display in the Park. Gorky. Together with mere mortals, the secretaries of the city and district CPSU (b) came to see the stars, Ural gems sparkled in the spotlights and the rays of the stars sparkled. The eagles, taken from the towers, were installed here, clearly demonstrating the dilapidation of the "old" and the beauty of the "new" world.

On October 24, 1935, the first star was installed on the Spasskaya Tower. Before lifting, it was carefully polished with soft rags. At this time, the mechanics checked the winch and the crane motor.

At 12 hours 40 minutes, the command “Vira little by little!” The star broke away from the earth and began to slowly rise upwards. When she was at a height of 70 meters, the winch stopped. The climbers standing at the very top of the tower carefully picked up the star and pointed it at the spire. At 13:30, the star descended exactly on the support pin. Eyewitnesses of the event recall that on that day several hundred people gathered on Red Square to follow the operation. At that moment, when the star was on the spire, this whole crowd began to applaud the climbers.

The next day, a five-pointed star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower. On October 26 and 27, the stars shone over the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers. The installers worked out the lifting technique so well that it took them no more than an hour and a half to install each star. The exception was the star of the Trinity Tower, the rise of which, due to a strong wind, lasted about two hours. A little more than two months have passed since the newspapers published the decree on the installation of stars. To be exact - only 65 days. Newspapers wrote about the labor feat of Soviet workers, who created real works of art in such a short time.

However, the new symbols were destined for a short century. Already the first two winters have shown that due to the aggressive impact of Moscow rains and snow, both the Ural gems and the gold leaf that covered metal parts have faded. In addition, the stars turned out to be disproportionately large, which was not revealed at the design stage. After their installation, it immediately became clear: visually, the symbols are absolutely not in harmony with the slender tents of the Kremlin towers. The stars literally overwhelmed the architectural ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin. And already in 1936, the Kremlin decided to design new stars. The sketches were prepared by the famous theater artist and decorator, People's Artist of the USSR, Academician F.F. Fedorovsky. It was he who came up with the idea to use special ruby ​​glass instead of metal to decorate star rays. He also redefined the shape, size and pattern of the stars.

In May 1937, the Kremlin decided to replace metal stars with ruby ​​stars with powerful internal illumination. Moreover, Stalin decided to install such a star on the fifth Kremlin tower - Vodovzvodnaya: a stunning view of this slender and very architecturally harmonious tower opened from the new Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge. And it became another very advantageous element of the "monumental propaganda" of the era.

Ruby glass was brewed at a glass factory in Konstantinovka, according to the recipe of the Moscow glass maker N. I. Kurochkin. It was necessary to weld 500 square meters of ruby ​​glass, for which a new technology was invented - "selenium ruby". Prior to this, gold was added to the glass to achieve the desired color; selenium is both cheaper and the color is deeper. At the base of each star, special bearings were installed so that, despite their heaviness, they could rotate like a weather vane. They are not afraid of rust and hurricane, because the "rim" of the stars is made of special stainless steel. The fundamental difference is that weathercocks indicate where the wind is blowing, and the Kremlin stars indicate where. Have you understood the essence and significance of the fact? Due to the diamond-shaped cross-section of the star, it always stubbornly stands head-on against the wind. And any - up to a hurricane. Even if everything around is blown clean, the stars and tents will remain intact. That's how it's designed and built.

But suddenly the following was discovered: in the sunlight, ruby ​​stars appear ... black. The answer was found - the five-pointed beauties had to be made two-layer, and the lower, inner layer of glass should be milky white, which scatters light well. By the way, this provided both a more even glow and hiding the filaments of lamps from human eyes. By the way, a dilemma also arose here - how to make the glow even? After all, if the lamp is installed in the center of the star, the rays will obviously be less bright. A combination of different thicknesses and color saturation of the glass helped. In addition, the lamps are enclosed in refractors consisting of prismatic glass tiles.

Professor Alexander Landa (Fishelevich) was appointed chief engineer for the development and installation of stars. His project is still kept in Samara - five massive albums of drawings in red bindings. They say they are no less impressive than the stars themselves.

But that is another story.

As for the first stars, one of them, which was located on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin in 1935-1937, was later installed on the spire of the Northern River Station.

The Kremlin stars not only spin, but also glow. To avoid overheating and damage, about 600 cubic meters of air per hour is passed through the stars. The stars are not in danger of a power outage, since their power supply is autonomous. Lamps for the Kremlin stars were developed at the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant. The power of three - on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers - is 5000 watts, and 3700 watts - on Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya. In each, two filaments are mounted, connected in parallel. If one burns out, the lamp continues to burn, and a malfunction signal is sent to the control panel. To change the lamps, you do not need to climb to the star, the lamp goes down on a special rod right through the bearing. The whole procedure takes 30-35 minutes.

In the entire history, the stars went out only 2 times. The first time, during the Second World War. It was then that the stars were extinguished for the first time - after all, they were not only a symbol, but also an excellent beacon-landmark. Covered with burlap, they patiently waited out the bombardment, and when it was all over, it turned out that the glass was damaged in many places and needed to be replaced. Moreover, the accidental pests turned out to be their own - artillerymen who defended the capital from Nazi air raids. The second time Nikita Mikhalkov filmed his "The Barber of Siberia" in 1997.
The central control panel for star ventilation is located in the Trinity Tower of the Kremlin. The most modern equipment is installed there. Every day, twice a day, the operation of the lamps is visually checked, and the fans for blowing them are switched.

Once every five years, the glass of the stars is washed by industrial climbers.

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On October 24, 1935, the first five-pointed star was installed on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin.

Until 1935, the spiers of the Kremlin towers were decorated with heraldic double-headed eagles. The Moscow Kremlin has 20 towers and only four of them were crowned with the coat of arms of the state. The first double-headed eagle was hoisted on top of the tent of the Spasskaya Tower in the 50s of the 17th century. Later, Russian coats of arms were installed on the highest travel towers of the Kremlin: Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya.

The question of replacing the royal eagles on the Kremlin towers with figures symbolizing a new period in the life of the country repeatedly arose shortly after the 1917 revolution. In 1930, specialists from restoration workshops led by Igor Grabar concluded that the figures of double-headed eagles were of no historical value and, therefore, could be replaced. Instead of "symbols of tsarism" they decided to install stars.

Ruby star on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Filming in 1935

On October 24, 1935, with a large crowd of people on Red Square, a five-pointed star was hoisted on the Spasskaya Tower. On October 25, the star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower, on October 26 and 27 - on the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers.

The body of the stars was made of stainless steel lined with gilded copper sheets. In the center of them on both sides were a sickle and a hammer, decorated with Ural gems - topazes, amethysts, aquamarines. Each of the seven thousand stones used for decoration was cut and set in a setting.

The pattern was not repeated on any of the stars. The distance between their rays on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers was 4.5 meters, on the Troitskaya and Borovitskaya - four and 3.5 meters, respectively. The star on the Spasskaya Tower was decorated with rays that radiated from the center to the tops. The rays of the star mounted on the Trinity Tower were made in the form of ears of corn. On the Borovitskaya tower, the pattern repeated the contour of the five-pointed star itself. The star of the Nikolskaya Tower was smooth, without a pattern.

The stars weighed about a ton each. The tents of the Kremlin towers were not designed for such a load, therefore, before installing the stars, they were strengthened, and on Nikolskaya they were rebuilt. Raising the stars at that time was a big technical problem, since there were no high-rise tower cranes. Special cranes had to be made for each tower, they were installed on consoles, fixed on the upper brick tiers.

Illuminated from below by searchlights, the first stars adorned the Kremlin for almost two years, but under the influence of atmospheric precipitation, the gems faded and lost their festive appearance. In addition, they did not fully fit into the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin because of their size. The stars turned out to be too big and visually hung heavy over the towers.

In May 1937, it was decided to install new stars on the twentieth anniversary of the October Revolution, and on five Kremlin towers, including Vodovzvodnaya.

On November 2, 1937, new stars lit up over the Kremlin. More than 20 enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine-building, electrical and glass industries, research and design institutes participated in their creation.

Sketches of new stars were developed by the People's Artist of the USSR Fyodor Fedorovsky. He suggested the ruby ​​color of the glass, determined the shape and pattern of the stars, as well as their sizes, depending on the architecture and height of each tower. The proportions and sizes were chosen so well that the new stars, despite the fact that they were installed on towers of different heights, seem the same from the ground. This was achieved thanks to the different sizes of the stars themselves. The smallest star burns on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, located in a lowland: the distance between the ends of its rays is three meters. On Borovitskaya and Trinity stars are larger - respectively 3.2 and 3.5 meters. The largest stars are installed on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers, located on a hill: the span of their rays is 3.75 meters.

The main load-bearing structure of the star is a voluminous five-pointed frame, which rests at the base on a pipe, in which bearings are placed for its rotation. Each ray is a multifaceted pyramid: the star of the Nikolskaya Tower has a twelve-sided pyramid, and the rest of the stars have an octagonal one. The bases of these pyramids are welded together in the center of the star.

For uniform and bright illumination of the entire surface of the star, at the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant, special incandescent lamps with a power of 5000 watts for the stars of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya and Troitskaya towers and 3700 watts for the stars of the Borovitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya towers were developed and manufactured, and to protect the stars from overheating, specialists developed a special ventilation system.

For more reliable operation of the lamps, two filaments (spirals) of incandescence connected in parallel are mounted in each of them. If one of them burns out, the lamp continues to glow with reduced brightness, and the automatic device signals a malfunction to the control panel. The lamps have an extremely high luminous efficiency, the temperature of the filament reaches 2800°C. In order for the light flux to be evenly distributed over the entire inner surface of the star, and especially at the ends of the rays, each lamp was enclosed in a refractor (a three-dimensional hollow fifteen-sided figure).

The difficult task was to create a special ruby ​​glass, which had to have different densities, transmit red rays of a certain wavelength, be resistant to sudden temperature changes, mechanically strong, not discolor and not be destroyed by solar radiation. It was made under the guidance of the famous glazier Nikanor Kurochkin.

In order for the light to be evenly scattered, each Kremlin star had double glazing: internal, made of milky glass, two millimeters thick, and external, made of ruby ​​glass, six to seven millimeters thick. An air gap of 1-2 millimeters was provided between them. The double glazing of the stars was due to the characteristics of the ruby ​​glass, which has a pleasing color only when illuminated from the opposite side, but the contours of the light source are clearly visible. Without backlighting, ruby ​​glass looks dark even on bright sunny days. Thanks to the internal glazing of the stars with milky glass, the light of the lamp was well dispersed, the filaments became invisible, and the ruby ​​glass was highlighted most brightly.

The stars are illuminated from within, day and night. At the same time, to preserve the juicy ruby ​​​​color, they are highlighted more strongly during the day than at night.

Despite their significant mass (about one ton), the stars on the Kremlin towers rotate relatively easily when the wind direction changes. Due to their shape, they are always installed with the front facing into the wind.

Unlike the first non-luminous stars, ruby ​​ones have only three different patterns (Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya are identical in pattern).

The mechanisms for serving the Kremlin stars are located inside the towers. The control of equipment and mechanisms is concentrated at the central point, where information about the operating mode of the lamps is automatically submitted.

During the Great Patriotic War, the stars, like the entire Kremlin, were disguised. In 1945, having removed the camouflage, experts discovered that ruby ​​glasses had cracks and holes from fragments of anti-aircraft artillery shells, which worsened their appearance and made it difficult to operate. The reconstruction of the Kremlin stars was carried out from September 7, 1945 to February 7, 1946. During it, the glazing of the stars was replaced with a three-layer one, consisting of ruby ​​glass, crystal and milk glass. Ruby glasses on the stars of the Spasskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers were given a convex shape. During the reconstruction, it was also possible to improve the illumination of the stars. Inspection hatches were made in all five rays of each star.

In 1980, electric winches were installed to replace lamps in stars and mount equipment, but the main mechanisms remained the same - the 1937 model.

Stars are usually washed every five years. Scheduled preventive maintenance is carried out on a monthly basis to maintain the reliable operation of auxiliary equipment; more serious work is carried out every eight years.

Eremenko A.G. - head of history department

ethnography and nature, candidate of cultural studies, associate professor

Beautiful ruby ​​stars fit so harmoniously into the appearance of five ancient Moscow towers that they seem to be their natural continuation. But for many years no less beautiful double-headed eagles sat on the Kremlin towers.

Huge gilded double-headed eagles appeared on the four towers of the Kremlin from the mid-50s of the seventeenth century.

In the first years after the revolution, the Bolsheviks tried to destroy all the symbols of the old world, but they did not touch the eagles on the Kremlin towers, the hands of the Soviet government did not reach them. Although Lenin repeatedly reminded of the need to dismantle them, this operation required a lot of money, was very technically difficult, and at first the Bolsheviks could not decide what to replace the eagles with? Various proposals came in - with flags, the coat of arms of the USSR, the emblem with a sickle and a hammer ... Finally, they settled on the stars.

In the spring of 1935, watching the planes flying by at the parade, Stalin was especially annoyed by the sight of the royal eagles, spoiling the whole picture.

At the end of the summer of 1935, a TASS message came out: " The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided by November 7, 1935 to remove 4 eagles located on the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, Trinity towers of the Kremlin wall, and 2 eagles from the building of the Historical Museum. By the same date, it was decided to install a five-pointed star with a hammer and sickle on the indicated 4 towers of the Kremlin".

All the stars decided to make it different, each with its own unique pattern. For the Nikolskaya Tower, they designed a smooth, without a pattern, star.

When the layouts were ready, the leaders of the country came to look at them and gave the go-ahead for the production of real stars. Their only wish was to make the stars rotate, and they could be admired from everywhere.
They decided to make the stars from high-alloy stainless steel and red copper. The symbol of Soviet Russia, the hammer and sickle, sparkling in the sun and under the beams of searchlights, was to become a real decoration. A whole army of jewelers worked on the creation of this beauty from a huge number of Ural gems for a month and a half.

The stars turned out to be much heavier than the eagles, the weight of each star was about 1000 kg. Before installing them, it was necessary to additionally strengthen the tents on the towers. The design had to withstand even hurricane winds. And in order for the stars to become rotating, bearings were installed at their base, which were made for this purpose at the First Bearing Plant.

Now the daunting task of dismantling the double-headed eagles and the subsequent erection of huge stars in their place was ahead. The towers had a height of 52 to 72 meters, and there were no suitable equipment - high cranes - then. It was necessary to come up with something, and the engineers still found a way out. A crane was designed separately for each tower, which was installed on the upper tier on a special metal base, specially mounted for this.

After the eagles were dismantled with the help of this technique, they did not immediately raise the stars in their place, but decided to show them to Muscovites first. To do this, for one day they were put on public display in the Park. Gorky.

Eagles were also placed nearby, from which the gilding has already been removed. Of course, the eagles lost next to the sparkling sparkling stars, symbolizing the beauty of the new world.

On October 24, 1935, having thoroughly checked the equipment, they began to slowly raise the star to the Spasskaya Tower. Having reached a height of 70 meters, the winch was stopped, and the climbers, carefully guiding the star, very accurately lowered it onto the supporting spire. Everything worked out! Hundreds of people gathered in the square and watching this unique operation applauded the installers.

Over the next three days, three more stars were installed, shining on the Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya and Troitskaya towers.

However, these stars did not last long on the towers. Two years later, they lost their luster, faded - soot, dust and dirt did their job.
It was decided to replace them, while it was recommended to reduce their size, since the first stars still looked rather heavy. The task was set - to do it as soon as possible, by the 20th anniversary of the revolution.

This time it was decided to make stars from ruby ​​glass and glow from the inside, and not from spotlights. To solve this problem, the best minds of the country were involved.
The recipe for ruby ​​glass was developed by the Moscow glassmaker N. I. Kurochkin - to achieve the desired color, selenium was added to the glass instead of gold. Firstly, it was cheaper, and secondly, it made it possible to obtain a richer and deeper color.

And so, on November 2, 1937, new, ruby ​​stars lit up on the Kremlin towers. Another star appeared - on the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, and there were five such towers, like the rays of the star.

These stars really shine from within.

This effect is achieved thanks to special custom-made 5000 watt lamps inside them. In addition, they have two filaments, one for safety net. In order to change the lamp, you do not need to climb up to it, you can lower it on a special bar.
Glazing at the stars is double. Outside, ruby ​​glass for color, and milky white inside, for better dispersion. Milky white glass is used so that ruby ​​glass does not appear too dark in bright light.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Kremlin stars went out - they were sheathed, since they were an excellent guide for the enemy. And after the war, when the tarpaulin was removed, it turned out that they received minor shrapnel damage from an anti-aircraft battery located nearby. I had to send the stars for restoration, after which they shone even brighter. A new three-layer glazing of the stars was made (ruby glass, frosted glass and crystal), and their gilded frame was also updated. In the spring of 1946, the stars were returned to the towers.

The Moscow Kremlin is the oldest and central part of Moscow on Borovitsky Hill, on the left bank of the Moskva River. Its walls and towers were built of white stone in 1367, and in 1485-1495 of brick. The modern Kremlin has 20 towers.

In the 50s of the 17th century, on top of the tent of the main tower of the Kremlin (Spasskaya) they erected the coat of arms of the Russian Empire - a double-headed eagle. Later, the coats of arms were installed on the highest travel towers of the Kremlin: Nikolskaya, Troitskaya, Borovitskaya.

After the revolution of 1917, the question arose repeatedly of replacing the royal eagles on the Kremlin towers with figures symbolizing a new period in the life of the country - the coats of arms of the USSR, gilded emblems with a hammer and sickle, or simple flags, as on other towers. But in the end we decided to install the stars. However, this required large financial expenditures, which the Soviet government could not afford in the first years of its existence.

In August 1935, the decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was published to replace the double-headed eagles on the Kremlin towers with five-pointed stars with a hammer and sickle by November 7, 1935. Before that, back in 1930, the authorities asked the famous artist Igor Grabar about the historical value of the eagles. He found that they were changed on the towers once a century, or even more often. The oldest was the eagle on the Trinity Tower - 1870, and the newest - on Spasskaya - 1912. In a memorandum, Grabar said that "none of the eagles now existing on the Kremlin towers is an ancient monument and cannot be defended as such."

Double-headed eagles were removed from the Kremlin towers on October 18, 1935. For some time they were exhibited on the territory of the Park of Culture and Leisure, and then.

The first five-pointed star was erected on the Spassky Tower on October 24, 1935, with a large crowd of people on Red Square. On October 25, the star was installed on the spire of the Trinity Tower, on October 26 and 27 - on the Nikolskaya and Borovitskaya towers.

Throughout the years of existence, the Kremlin stars have been provided with the most thorough care. They are usually washed every five years. Scheduled preventive maintenance is carried out on a monthly basis to maintain the reliable operation of auxiliary equipment; more serious work is carried out every eight years.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources