Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Official website of the State –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
On October 24, 1935, the first five-pointed star was installed on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin, replacing the double-headed eagle. Why was this decision made, and what are the stars made of?
Symbol of the new power
The question of replacing the imperial eagles on the Kremlin towers with figures symbolizing a new period in the country's life has arisen repeatedly since 1917. Several proposals were made regarding what exactly to replace the heraldic eagles with: the USSR coat of arms, gilded emblems, etc. The "star of Mars with a plow and hammer" symbol was approved by order of the People's Commissar of War and the Navy, Leon Trotsky, on May 7, 1918.
Initially, the star was a military attribute, the wearing of which threatened civilians with court martial. After the Civil War, it was incorporated into the flags and coats of arms of the USSR and the Union republics.
Thus, the five-pointed red star became a symbol of the state and the dominant ideology, complementing the complex official coat of arms. During these same years, its new symbolic meaning emerged: the five rays represent the five continents that would soon unite under the banner of communism.
The stars aligned
In the first years after the Revolution, the authorities lacked both the financial and technical capacity to replace the eagles. In 1930, at the request of the NKVD, art historian and restorer Igor Grabar conducted an expert assessment of them. He determined that "none of the eagles currently on the Kremlin towers constitutes a historical monument and cannot be protected as such." In late 1931, the cost of installing a new symbol of power was approved—over 95,000 rubles, a colossal sum for the time. Work began in August 1935.
Incidentally, the last documentary reminder of the Tsar's eagles over the Kremlin was Grigory Alexandrov's 1936 film "Circus": the imperial decorations can be seen in the final scene of the athletes' parade on Red Square.
Star matter
Initially, the artist Yevgeny Lanceray was tasked with preparing sketches of the stars, but Stalin twice returned his drawings, demanding the removal of first the "center circles," then the "fastening sticks." After this, Yevgeny Lanceray was removed from the project and assigned to theatrical designer and academician Fyodor Fyodorovsky.
The stars were welded from high-alloy stainless steel and covered with gilded copper sheets. The new symbols became true works of art—68 kg of gold were used for their manufacture, each adorned with a hammer and sickle weighing a total of 240 kg, as well as over 7,000 gemstone inlays, including aquamarines, amethysts, topazes, rock crystal, and alexandrites.
Each star differed in its artistic design. For example, the star on the Spasskaya Tower was decorated with rays radiating from the center to the top. The star on the Trinity Tower had rays shaped like ears of grain, the Borovitskaya Tower had a pattern that followed the outline of the five-pointed star itself, and the Nikolskaya Tower star had no design at all.
To ensure the Kremlin walls could support the weight of the new symbols, the brickwork of the towers' upper floors was reinforced and additional metal bracing was installed around the perimeter. The Nikolskaya Tower's tent was completely dismantled and rebuilt.
Little star, shine!
However, the first stars quickly lost their beauty and luster: in just two years, the stones had become dull and the coating had become smoky. Furthermore, they were disproportionately large and did not fit well with the architectural ensemble.
In May 1937, it was decided to install a replacement made of ruby glass and replace the amber ones with internal lighting. This was intended to prevent the figures from rusting and make it easier to remove soot and dirt. Another innovation was the creation of a fifth star for the Vodovzvodnaya Tower.
People's artist Fyodor Fyodorovsky redefined the shape and design of the stars, proposing a ruby-colored glass and different sizes so that they would look identical from the ground.
The recipe for ruby glass was developed by glassmaker Nikanor Kurochkin, who later supervised the melting and processing of the material. It was he who proposed creating stars with double glazing: the inner surface was made of milky glass, without which the ruby glass would appear black during the day, and the air gap between the layers diffused the light sources within the star. For his outstanding achievements in glassmaking, Kurochkin was awarded the Stalin Prize.
During the Great Patriotic War, the stars suffered significant damage and were reconstructed from 1945 to 1946. The internal lighting and cooling mechanisms were improved, and the glass was laminated using a special technology.
The everlasting light
The Moscow Kremlin's star illumination operates around the clock, with the lamps burning more intensely during the day than at night to maintain their ruby glow. They have an independent power supply, so the Kremlin symbol won't fade even during a power outage, and the new-generation energy-saving bulbs don't produce carbon deposits, maintaining the star's constant brightness.
Apart from wartime and post-war renovations, the stars were turned off only once: in the mid-1990s during the filming of The Barber of Siberia, at the personal request of director Nikita Mikhalkov to President B.N. Yeltsin.
Subscribe to the "Our GUU" Telegram channel. Publication date: October 24, 2025.
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