The Moscow Kremlin and Red Square: Kremin Guide

St. Nicholas Tower

      70.4 metres high with the star. Its foundations were laid at the same time as the Saviour Tower. Like the latter it has a barbican which looks onto Red Square. The drawbridge from the tower over the moat which used to run across the square was removed in the eighteenth century. Originally both carriage-way towers facing the square had similar architecture.
      In the eighteenth century the St. Nicholas Tower was badly damaged during a great fire. It was restored by the architect Ivan Michurin, and it is probably then its new upper section acquired clear baroque features. At the beginning of the last century the tower was completely rebuilt by the architect Aloisio Rusca in national romantic style.
      In 1812 the tower was blown up by retreating French troops. It was restored soon afterwards from a design by the architect Osip Bove retaining features of the old style which distinguished St. Nicholas Tower from the other Kremlin towers. The lacy white stone ornament on the bastion's main facade, the two tiers of octagons crowned by a tent roof and the decorative turrets on the corners create an impression of exuberant optimism.
      The St. Nicholas Tower also suffered during the fighting in October 1917, but the following year the architect Nikolai Markovnikov restored it.
      The tower is named after the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonder Worker which used to be over the carriage-way gate of the bastion.