Great Kremlin Palace

a palace of the Moscow Kremlin. It was built during 1839–49 by the architect K. A. Ton with the participation of the architects F. F. Rikhter, N. I. Chichagov, P. A. Gerasimov, V. A. Bakarev, and others. The naming of the palace’s formal halls after Russian prerevolutionary orders (George, Vladimir, Catherine) is reflected in their architectural decor.

George Hall (named in honor of the military order of George the Victor) is decorated with statues (works by I. P. Vitali) representing regions incorporated by Russia, bas reliefs (sculptor P. K. Klodt) with representations of George the Victor defeating the dragon, and marble plates with the names of the chevaliers of the Order of George and military units that have distinguished themselves. Before 1917 the Great Kremlin Palace was the Moscow residence of the Russian emperors and was used for formal receptions.

After the Great October Revolution and the transfer of the capital of the Soviet state to Moscow (March 1918), the former Andrew Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace was used for sessions of the highest Soviet and Party bodies and congresses of the Comintern. Here Lenin spoke many times as did other prominent figures of the Communist Party and the Soviet state and of the international Communist and workers’ movement.

In 1933–34, the adjoining Andrew and Alexander halls were converted, upon the plan of the architect I. A. Ivanov-Shits, into the 2,500–seat Hall of Assembly, forming the palace’s largest hall. The center of its architectural composition is a monumental statue of Lenin (by the sculptor S. D. Merkurov). On Dec. 5, 1936, the USSR Constitution was adopted in this hall, at the Extraordinary Eighth Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The Hall of Assembly is used for sessions of the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and RSFSR, ail-Union conferences of industrial and agricultural workers, and congresses of the creative unions; diplomatic and government receptions are also held here. The fourteenth, fifteenth, and seventeenth through twenty-first congresses of the Communist Party were held in the Great Kremlin Palace.