Pietro Antonio Solari

Pietro Antonio Solari (Latin: Petrus Antonius Solarius;[1] c. 1445 – May 1493), also known as Pyotr Fryazin (Russian: Пётр Фрязин), was an Italian architect[2] and sculptor.

He was born in Carona and apprenticed under his father Guiniforte Solari, who was the leading architect of the Duomo di Milano.

Engineering methods, technique and architectural forms, used by Solari, were reminiscent of the fortifications of Northern Italy.

On top of the Spasskie Gates there was inscribed the following inscription: IOANNES VASILII DEI GRATIA MAGNUS DUX VOLODIMERIAE, MOSCOVIAE, NOVOGARDIAE, TFERIAE, PLESCOVIAE, VETICIAE, ONGARIAE, PERMIAE, BUOLGARIAE ET ALIAS TOTIUSQ(UE) RAXIE D(OMI)NUS, A(N)NO 30 IMPERII SUI HAS TURRES CO(N)DERE F(ECIT) ET STATUIT PETRUS ANTONIUS SOLARIUS MEDIOLANENSIS A(N)NO N(ATIVIT) A(TIS) D(OM)INI 1491 K(ALENDIS) M(ARTIIS) I(USSIT) P(ONERE).

The Fryazin title originates from the old Russian word фрязь (fryaz), derived from frank, that was used to denote people from Northern Italy.

Pietro Antonio Solari and Marco Ruffo (at the bottom). Fragment of miniature from the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible .
Apollinary Vasnetsov 's depiction of the Kremlin under Ivan III .