Museum complex

Weathercock of St. Nicholas Tower of Kitay-gorod

Moscow
1680s
Iron; forging, riveting
61,5 x 82,0 x 62,0 cm (figure of a bird); 28,0 x 110,0 x 95,0 cm (removable platform with 4 curved branches); 62,0 x 81,0 x 95,0 cm (removable platform with two spurs in form of chicks’ heads and holes for the rest of nozzles); 61,0 x 53;0 81,0 x 53,0; 82,0 x 52,0 cm (paired heads nozzles)
From: given to the museum after St. Nicholas Tower of Kitay-gorod was demolished in 1935
Open storage

It is impossible to imagine Old Moscow without a half-ring of the Kitay-gorod fortress wall. It was erected in 1535 - 1538 during the reign of Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya, widow of Vasily III and mother of juvenile Ivan IV, to protect the population of the posad (a settlement surrounded by ramparts and a moat, adjoining a town or a kremlin) from enemy invasions. In the 1680s repair and renovation works were carried out on Moscow fortifications. Part of towers of Kitay-gorod were completed with high tents and covered with green ("enamelled") tiles. Two towers - Nikolskaya and Varvarskaya – were decorated with weathercocks made in form of birds.
The weathercock of the Nikolskaya Tower is a unique item showing the high level of blacksmith skill and Moscow town planning of the late XVII century. Made of boiler iron, a bird with a long neck seems to be hovering over flowers and fruits. Below it on curved pins stylized bird heads with open beaks facing the bird are fixed. Initially, the figure of a bird and bird heads, apparently, were gilded, and fruits and leaves were painted.

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The second forged weathercock toped off the low tent of the Varvarskaya Tower of the Kitay-gorod. Currently it is kept in the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve.
Gilded and painted weathercocks were a decoration of the city. High level of craftsmanship and artistic talent with which these objects were made suggest that they were made by blacksmiths of the palace workshops.
It is difficult to say which bird the blacksmith depicted on the weathercock of the Nikolskaya Tower. Perhaps he was inspired by images of the Garden of Eden with fruits, flowers and birds, or various variants of bird images that he could see on caenina’s and polychrome tiles and white-stone carved reliefs of Moscow churches.
Perhaps the craftsman was inspired by the symbol of pelican above the nest with chicks. The motif of a pelican piercing its own breast with its beak and feed its young of its blood became a symbol of Christ sacrificing himself for man – and because of this was frequently represented in Christian art. At the same time, this image served as a symbol of mercy. The emblem of special love and affection for children was also considered a stork.
In 1934, when most of northern and eastern walls of the Kitay-gorod were demolished, both weathercocks were rescued by an employee of the Historical Museum, the head of the group of metal Nikolai Rudolfovich Levinson (1888 - 1966).

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