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Books

Secrets of the Kremlin

Catherine Merridale's Red Fortress gets behind the facade of Russia's most famous building

14 December 2013

9:00 AM

14 December 2013

9:00 AM

Red Fortress Catherine Merridale

Allen Lane, pp.505, £30

A building bearing testimony to the power of eternal Russia; a timeless symbol of the Russian state; a monument to Russian sovereignty. To the modern eye, the Kremlin fortress seems as if it had always been there, as if it had never changed and never will.

All of which is utter nonsense, as Catherine Merridale’s fascinating history reveals: the story of this famous compound is not one of continuity, but of construction, destruction and reconstruction.

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