Front Gate complex

The front gate was built in 1672-1673 opposite the Church of the Ascension. In the XVII century, it was the main entrance to the Tsar’s Courtyard: the Tsar’s family and their guests entered the palace through it. The high and multi-tiered gate was elaborately decorated, so it was also called Red, which in Old Russian meant beautiful.

The guests of the Tsar’s Courtyard were greeted with a ‘funny and clever invention’: on both sides of the gate there stood wooden lions covered with animal skin. Driven by an internal mechanism, the lions growled and frighteningly rolled their eyes. Unfortunately, this wonder did not survive to our days.

The mechanical lions were powered by air pressure, which came from the Organ Chamber located on the second floor of the Front Gate. The first floor is pierced  by two archways: the smaller (the passway) and the larger one (the driveway). The room on the third floor was used for clockwork, so it was named the Clock Chamber. Both the clock and the lions were invented and made by the master Pyotr Vysotsky. The clock chimed due to the bells located on the fourth floor under the tented roof.

Nowadays, the clockwork from the Sukharev tower, demolished in 1934, is installed in the Clock Chamber. The clock strikes every 15 minutes, and several times a day you can hear the melody of an old polyphonic song “Oh, Russian Eagle”, written in honour of the victory of the Russian army in the Battle of Poltava.

In 2002-2003, a set of scientific research and restoration works was carried out. Thanks to this, the authentic historical appearance of the Front Gate was revealed. Since 2004, the Front Gate ensemble has hosted the permanent exhibition ‘Milestones of the history of Kolomenskoe’.

Did you know that…

• The clock dial faces the Tsar’s Courtyard. It shows that the clock was intended exclusively for the Tsar.