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Moscow Kremlin opened for free visits
On July 20, 1955, the Moscow Kremlin was first opened for free public visits since the Soviet government relocated to Moscow in 1918. According to Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper, by the evening of July 20th, several tens of thousands of people had already visited the previously restricted area as part of guided tours.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was possible to visit the Grand Kremlin Palace, house churches, and the patriarch's complex, as well as residential and outbuildings belonging to the Imperial Court. However, access to monasteries and other religious sites, such as the Chudov Monastery, was restricted. In 1814, the Armory exhibition was opened to members of the nobility and merchants.In 1918, when the highest organs of Soviet power were housed in the Kremlin, and the Soviet leadership began to reside there, free access to its territory was restricted. By the end of 1920, more than 2,100 individuals had been registered, occupying all habitable spaces, including cathedrals, monasteries, churches, and even the bell tower of Ivan the Great. The total number of Soviet personnel who were present in the Kremlin during working days reached 5,000.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Moscow Kremlin underwent reconstruction, during which significant losses were suffered by the architectural complex. Several monuments, including those to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Emperor Alexander II, and the chapels of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, and Borovitskaya Towers, as well as the Church of Saints Constantine and Helena, Chudov, Voznesensky Monasteries, Small Nikolaevsky Palace, Church of the Annunciation at Zhitny Yard and Cathedral of the Savior on Bor, were demolished. On November 4, 1935, the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) decided to replace the four double-headed eagles that had previously adorned the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Borovitskaya, and Troitskaya Towers of the Kremlin wall, as well as those from the Historical Museum, with five-pointed stars.
During these years, visits to the Armory and tours of the Kremlin were only possible upon special requests from institutions, enterprises, and for delegates to congresses and conferences. With the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Kremlin became one of the most secure state facilities in the USSR. Additional access restrictions were imposed. On June 30, 1941, the museum treasures of the Armory were evacuated to Sverdlovsk, where they remained until the beginning of 1945. After the end of the war, participants of the Victory Parade were among the first visitors of the restored exhibition. Although free access to the museum remained limited, the number of visitors reached 65,000 in 1947.
After the death of J. V. Stalin in 1953, great changes took place in the Kremlin. On January 1st, 1954, a Christmas tree was first placed in the St. George's Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. After that, a tour of the Kremlin and the Armory was organized for children and their parents.
A year later, in July 1955, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) decided to make the Kremlin open to free visits. The Moscow City Committee of the CPSU and the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council worked together with the commandant of the Kremlin to prepare for this change. They enhanced lighting, applied restrictions to bridges, installed traffic lights and crossing signs.
On July 20th, 1955 at 9:00, the first groups of tourists entered the Kremlin through the Borovitsky Gate with free tickets until mid-April of the following year.
Simultaneously with the revival of the Kremlin as a museum and historical and cultural complex, by the decision of N. S. Khrushchev, the top Soviet leadership began moving out of the Kremlin apartments and into office living space in Moscow and the region. The last long-term resident of the Kremlin was K. E. Voroshilov, who lived there from 1925 to 1962.
The opening of free access to the Kremlin was not only a cultural event of great importance. Participants in a meeting of the party organization of a separate officer battalion of the Commandant's Office in Moscow Kremlin held in August 1955 noted that "the opening of the Kremlin for free access for workers was an act of political significance. It put an end to bourgeois propaganda about the Iron Curtain and gave workers in cities and villages of our country the opportunity to learn about the historical monuments and the art of many generations in our beloved homeland."
By decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Armory Chamber and the Kremlin cathedrals and churches were transferred to the Ministry of Culture in April 1960. This formed a new institution - the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin.
In 1991, the museums of the Moscow Kremlin received the status of the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Moscow Kremlin."
Lit.: Доступ разрешён: как Кремль стал открытым для посещения // Официальный портал Мэра и Правительства Москвы [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://www.mos.ru/news/item/76935073/; Кремлёвская коммуналка: вожди, монахи, хозработники // Родина – федеральный выпуск: № 10 (1023). 1 октября 2023 [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://rodina-history.ru/2023/10/01/kremlevskaia-kommunalka-vozhdi-monahi-hozrabotniki.html; Московский Кремль в годы Великой Отечественной войны (1941–1945) и послевоенное время // Музеи Московского Кремля [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://www.kreml.ru/about-museums/world-war-2/; Тайное путешествие Ильича. Почему Советское правительство переехало из Петрограда в Москву // Родина – федеральный выпуск: №3 (318). 12 марта 2018 [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://rodina-history.ru/2018/03/12/rodina-pravitelstvo-iz-petrograda-v-moskvu.html.
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