Moscow Kremlin Palace-City

Timeline

1. 1462–1516Kremlin · MoscowIvan III hired Italian architects (Aristotele Fioravanti and others) to rebuild the Kremlin as a red-brick castle, constructing the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Cathedral of the Archangel, and the Palace of Facets, establishing the basic layout of today's Kremlin and proclaiming Moscow's political meaning as the 'Third Rome'.
2. 1547–1584Kremlin · MoscowIvan IV (the Terrible) held the first tsar coronation in Russian history here, establishing the Kremlin as the symbolic center of autocratic monarchy. He set up the oprichnina (the 'monastic' army) within the palace-city and built Saint Basil's Cathedral beside Red Square adjacent to the Kremlin, further strengthening Moscow's dual status as religious and political center.
3. 1598–1613Kremlin · MoscowAfter the Rurik dynasty died out, the Kremlin experienced the most violent regime changes in Russian history: Boris Godunov (1598–1605), False Dmitry I (1605–1606), and Vasily Shuisky (1606–1610) successively took up residence. In 1610 Polish-Lithuanian forces occupied the Kremlin, intending to install the Polish prince Władysław as tsar, until in 1612 Minin and Pozharsky led a volunteer army to expel the Polish forces, restoring the Kremlin to Russian control; in 1613 the Romanov dynasty began a new era here.
4. 1613Kremlin · MoscowThe Romanov dynasty made the Kremlin its capital, and successive tsars continuously expanded the palace-city. In 1812 Napoleon briefly occupied it and partially blew it up upon retreat, after which it was restored. In the 20th century under the Soviet period it became the seat of government, and today it still serves as the residence and administrative center of the President of the Russian Federation; in 1990 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.