Annunciation Tower of the Moscow Kremlin
Description:
The Annunciation Tower was built in 1487-88 between Taynitskaya and Vodovzvodnaya to protect the fortress from the Moskva River. The defensive structure is significant because it is built on the white-stone foundation of the old Kremlin, part of which can be observed here and today.
It got its name in the time of Ivan IV the Terrible. Innocently imprisoned in the basement, the voivode begged for help the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose face appeared in the form of an icon on the north side of the tower. To commemorate the miracle, he was pardoned, and a wooden church of the Annunciation was erected near the building on the Zhitny Yard.
It belongs to the group of quadrangular towers with a tent top and a later built watchtower. Its height is 32.45 m with a weather vane decorated with a branch of willow. The tower was impassable, but near it was located the Portomoy Gate, which was sealed in 1831.
To get to the Blagoveshchenskaya tower is most convenient on foot from the metro station "Borovitskaya".