Overview

Architect Aloisio da Carezano from Milan built this tower in 1516 to protect the far end of the  Moscow Kremlin's main bridge-way across the River Neglinnaia. The construction in 1685 of a crowning wall with big, open windows brought the tower to its present-day height of 13.5 meters. The width remains a little greater though, giving the whole brick-and-limestone structure its characteristic squat look kutaf'ia means, 'obese woman' in Russian dialects.