The Grand Kremlin Palace was built between 1837 and 1849 to serve as the tsar's Moscow residence, on the site of the estate of the Grand Princes, which had been established in the 14th century on Borovitsky Hill; its construction involved the demolition of the previous Baroque palace on the site, designed by Rastrelli, and the 16th century Church of St. John the Baptist, constructed to a design by Aloisio the New in place of the first church ever built in Moscow.

[2] In plan, the Grand Kremlin Palace is presented in the form of a square with a small Cour d'honneur, in the centre of which was the Church of the Saviour on Boru, demolished in the 1930s.

[3][4] The main façade of the complex faces the Kremlin embankment, with the palace's Annunciation Entrance overlooking Sobornaya Square.

Presumably, the arcade of the ground floor was an allegory for the composition of the palace of Ivan III, and the winter garden corresponded to the ancient Kremlin parks.

[6] The façades of the complex corresponding to the decoration of the Terem Palace, in particular, the architect repeated the framing of the windows in greatly enlarged dimensions.

The second tier is divided by pilasters and richly decorated with carved white-stone platbands in Russian-Byzantine style with double arches in the centre, typical for Russian architecture of the 17th century.

[7] Before 1917, the facade of the palace was decorated with five white-stone bas-reliefs in the form of two-headed eagles, above which were the emblems of Moscow, St Petersburg, Kazan, Astrakhan, Poland and Tavrida.

The location of the entrance was necessitated by the need to accommodate a straight grand staircase of 66 steps, the length of which would not have allowed the structure to be installed in the centre of the complex.

Excursions take place during free time from official events according to requests from organisations addressed to the Head of the Commandant's Office of the Moscow Kremlin.

The walls of the room are decorated with gold embossed stars and insignia with the motto "For Service and Bravery" ("Za Sluzhbu i Khrabrost").

By order of the emperor, marble plaques with a list of the regiments, crews and batteries which had received the St George Colors were installed in the room.

The room was subsequently used for the presentation of military awards, decorations and prizes to figures of science and culture, as well as meetings of party representatives with civilians.

The hall is decorated with the coats of arms of the provinces and districts of the Russian Empire, wall mirrors, four marble fireplaces and candelabrums made in the factories of the Duke of Leuchtenberg.

Light enters the hall only through a lantern in the centre of the hipped dome from which hangs a tiered chandelier made in a factory in St Petersburg.

The spatial composition of the room reminds of a baptistery and is designed as a rotunda with a by-pass gallery and a balustrade on the first-floor level.

The room was originally a square in plan with sides of sixteen metres each, but the niches in the corners give it a resemblance to an octagon.

The walls and pilasters are lined with pink and white marble, and the star-shaped parquet is made of more than twenty kinds of wood.

As of 2018, the hall was not included in the tour programme of the Grand Kremlin Palace, as the room was used for meetings of the Russian president with foreign delegations and negotiations.