Some interesting facts about the Moscow Kremlin, from ‘A Walk Around the Moscow Kremlin’:
…Two famous monuments of Russian casting art are situated in the Kremlin. The Tsar Bell is the biggest bell in the world (weight - 200 t, height - 6.14 m). The Tsar Cannon is the biggest cannon in the world (barrel's weight - 40 t, caliber - 890 mm, outside diameter - 1200 mm).
…The Kremlin opened for mass tourism only in 1955; before then, the top USSR political leaders lived and worked inside the Kremlin.
…By the 16th century, the population of Moscow was more than 100,000, bigger than London with its suburbs.
…During the three-day coronation of Catherine II, two fountains on Red Square produced streams of red vine and white wine.
…In 1812, Moscow was practically destroyed by fire.
…Not all the contemporaries of architect Thon were in favor of the Great Kremlin Palace. Writer Fiodor Dostoevskiy called the palace a "big chest on the Kremlin Hill".
…During the flood of 1908, the Kremlin walls stood 2.3 meters in water. Moscovites traveled by boats around the “Moscow Venice” among the flooded buildings, gardens and squares.The first, and only, time I visited the Kremlin the country was called the Soviet Union and the day was as cold and miserable as one would expect Moscow in February to be. At the time, I was interested in the more violent aspects of Russian history than her architecture or current politics, and so much of the detail relayed to our group by our requisite INTOURIST guide was lost on me. I do remember being dazzled by St. Basil’s profusion of colors and shapes, and thinking it crazy that so many people would line up in the sub-zero temperatures to view Lenin’s tomb.
After viewing ’A Walk Around the Moscow Kremlin’, by Alexey Trusov of imediatour.com, (who also shot a great pano of the Cathedral of the Dormition) I now realize that the Kremlin is far more interesting than I gave it credit for in my extreme youth, when I was obsessed by the grisly details of Czar Nicholas II and his family’s slaughter. Yet had I viewed an interactive multimedia program featuring 50 illustrated articles, 10 unique musical pieces, over 50 panoramas, a slideshow, 190 illustrations and a user-friendly 3D map of the Kremlin to educate myself beforehand, my trip to the Kremlin would have been far more insightful and productive. The educational market would seem the perfect target for the Moscow Kremlin program: it’s interactive, full of rich historical detail, and presented in a way isn’t overly taxing to young, restless minds. It’s also ideal for anyone planning a trip to Moscow or those with an interest in Russian history.
The Kremlin is linked to all the most important historical and political events in Russia since the 13th century; it is the stronghold of Moscow and its historical center. Most of the city had been inside the Kremlin walls until the 16th century; later it became the official residence of the Czar and a few of the most powerful nobles and the head of the Orthodox Church. The Kremlin fortress was one of the most fortified in Europe and enemies never captured the red brick walls with 20 towers.
There are three main ancient Moscow cathedrals inside - Arhangelskiy (Archangel cathedral), Uspenskiy (Assumption cathedral), Blagoveshenskiy (Annunciation cathedral) – that are open for visitors. There is also the Palace of the President, a 19th century white and yellow classical palace, and an old, Russian style Czars’ palace, the Palace of the Patriarch (the head of Russian church), an Armory museum, the Czar-cannon (huge cannon), and Czar-bell (huge bell). Today, the Kremlin palace is the official residence of the President of Russian Federation. And at the foot of the Kremlin ramparts, on Red Square, sits St. Basil’s Basilica, one of the most fascinating Russian Orthodox monuments.
There are three sections to the program: the first is an Historical Overview of Moscow history, the Kremlin and Red Square displayed in a pretty storybook format; the second is the Panoramic Walk featuring an interactive map in the lower half of the screen, the selected pano in the upper left and information about the pano in the upper right; the third section is the slideshow consisting of 56 high quality photographs.
The Panoramic Walk is a nicely done and the real ‘meat’ of the program. The map is dotted with red hotspots and it also behaves as an object movie - twirling it left or right changes the view and reveals hotspots previously hidden behind buildings. The cubic panoramas also includes hotspots and the information window often includes highlighted text referring to a particular object within the pano - clicking on the highlights controls the pano and brings that building or square or whatever into central focus. The only thing missing are more interior panos; there are four but they’re a little difficult to find (look into ‘Details’ in the panos of the Cathedral square.
‘A Walk Around Moscow Kremlin’ is a great educational tool and certainly more fun than reading a physical textbook. The addition of the Panoramic Walk and map make it useful for those intending a visit. The interface is user-friendly with nice touches like being able to open the storybook illustrations for a larger view and further details. The authors have obviously put in a great deal of effort and it shows. It is well worth the $19.95 price tag (payment can me made through Kagi, a U.S. company similar to PayPal) and they also offer a free trial download.
Alexey Trusov and Leonid Lopanitsin, who hail from the Russian city of Veliky Novgorod, spent two summers in Moscow shooting the panos and other photographs of the historical city center that were not used in the program. Unfortunately, both summers were rainy and a lot of time was lost. Another eight months were spent developing the program, involving nine more team members.
They initially used a Nikon Coolpix 950 then bought a Nikon Coolpix 4500, which they used with a Ëèíçà Fisheye Converter FC-E8, using their own pano head. Software used: Photomatix, PTGui, CubicConverter, CubicConnector, SoundSaVR, DeliVRator and Tribeworks iShell 3
‘A Walk Around Moscow Kremlin’: http://www.imediatour.com
Download program: http://www.imediatour.com/files/krmsetup.exe
Alexey Trusov is also the man behind ’Virtual Cathedral of the Dormition’.
Alexey Trusov: info[at]imediatour[dot]com
Publisher: iMediaTour, Ltd. Russia
Price: $19.95
Platforms: Windows (44 MB), Mac OS X (46 MB)
Demonstration video on the site and free trial download.
http://www.imediatour.com
