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IVAN SQUARE
This is reached by walking between the Archangel Cathedral and the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower.
Ivan Square is much younger than Cathedral Square. In the sixteenth century it began to emerge as the place where the so-called prikazy (central government departments in Russia during the sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries) were concentrated. The square's architectural ensemble took shape in the sixteenth century, although it subsequently changed considerably.
Like Cathedral Square, Ivan Square was irregular in shape. In terms of size they were about the same. Grouped around Ivan Square were the mansions of the Grand Prince's numerous relatives and the highest ranking boyars.
On the east side of the square was the stone Church of St. Nicholas, built in 1506 in the reign of Basil III. To the west it was bounded by the Archangel Cathedral and the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower, and to the south by the prikazy on the brow of Borovitsky Hill. The extensive development of the centralized Russian state's foreign relations, the large-scale building, the erection of fortifications and their reconstruction all over the country, and finally the development of medicine led to the establishment of departments dealing with foreign affairs, stone building, apothecary and other matters.
By the sixteenth century Ivan Square was one of the liveliest in Moscow. It was open to pedestrians and horsemen, unlike Cathedral Square where pedestrians only were permitted.
A large crowd of petitioners with all manner of requests and complaints would gather in the morning by the departments. From the porches of the legal departments court decisions were read out and the punishment of offenders took place on this very spot. All kinds of applications were drawn up in a special chamber next to the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower.
Today Ivan Square is bordered on the west by the Archangel Cathedral, the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower, the belfry with the Philaret Annexe and the Curch of the Twelve Apostles; on the south by the Kremlin garden which runs down to the embankment of the River Moskva; and on the east by the governmental buildings.
Ivan Square boasts two remarkable specimens of Russian metal-work, namely, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell.
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