The Kremlin overlooks the Moskva River to the south, Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square to the east, and Alexander Garden to the west.

Likewise, during the Cold War, it referred to the Government of the Soviet Union, which operated out of the city in the erstwhile Russian SFSR.

The Slavs occupied the south-western portion of Borovitsky Hill as early as the 11th century, as evidenced by a metropolitan seal from the 1090s which was unearthed by Soviet archaeologists in the area.

The grad was greatly extended by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1156, destroyed by the Mongols in 1237 and rebuilt in oak by Ivan I Kalita in 1339.

[7] Dmitri Donskoi replaced the oak palisade with a strong citadel of white limestone in 1366–1368 on the basic foundations of the current walls;[7] this fortification withstood a siege by Khan Tokhtamysh.

The Chudov Monastery was founded by Dmitri's tutor, Metropolitan Alexis; while his widow, Eudoxia, established the Ascension Convent in 1397.

The highest building of the city and Muscovite Russia was the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built in 1505–1508 and augmented to its present height in 1600.

The Kremlin was separated from the walled merchant town (Kitay-gorod) by a 30-meter-wide moat, over which Saint Basil's Cathedral was constructed during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

The metochion was administrated by the Trinity Monastery and contained the graceful tower church of St. Sergius, which was described by foreigners as one of the finest in the country.

The Kremlin's liberation by the volunteer army of prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin from Nizhny Novgorod paved the way for the election of Mikhail Romanov as the new tsar.

Following the death of Alexis's son, Feodor, and the Moscow Uprising of 1682, Tsar Peter escaped with much difficulty from the Kremlin and as a result developed a dislike for it.

The Golden Hall, a throne room with murals painted probably after 1547, was destroyed to make place for the Kremlin Palace, commissioned by Elizabeth of Russia and designed by the Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1752.

[8] Although still used for coronation ceremonies, the Kremlin was abandoned and neglected until 1773, when Catherine the Great engaged Vasili Bazhenov to build her new residence there.

Bazhenov produced a bombastic Neoclassical design on a heroic scale, which involved the demolition of several churches and palaces, as well as a portion of the Kremlin wall.

Several years later the architect Matvey Kazakov supervised the reconstruction of the dismantled sections of the wall and of some structures of the Chudov Monastery and built the spacious and luxurious Offices of the Senate, since adapted for use as the principal workplace of the President of Russia.

During the Imperial period, from the early 18th and until the late 19th century, the Kremlin walls were traditionally painted white, in accordance with fashion.

During the remainder of the reign of Alexander I, several ancient structures were renovated in a fanciful neo-Gothic style, but many others, including all the buildings of the Trinity metochion, were condemned as "disused" or "dilapidated" and were torn down.

The only new features added during this period were the Monument to Alexander II and a stone cross marking the spot where in 1905 Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was assassinated by Ivan Kalyayev.

During the Second World War, in order to confuse the German pilots, the towers were repainted with different colors and covered with wooden tents.

The other notable structure is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower on the north-east corner of the square, which is said to mark the exact center of Moscow and resemble a burning candle.

It contains dazzling reception halls, a ceremonial red staircase, private apartments of the tsars, and the lower story of the Resurrection of Lazarus church (1393), which is the oldest extant structure in the Kremlin and the whole of Moscow.

[12] To stop disruptions to traffic caused by motorcades, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the construction of a helipad in the Kremlin.