Red Gate were triumphal arches built in an exuberantly baroque design in Moscow. Gates and arches of this type were common back in 18th century Moscow. However, the Red Gate was the only one that survived until the 20th century. It was demolished in 1928 and the name still survives in an eponymous Moscow Metro station.
Background
National roots
The Russian tradition of triumphal arches goes back to the time of Peter I. However, their specific Muscovite shape is a direct consequence of the Time of troubles of the early 17th century. Civil war, foreign raiders, and rampant crime of that period forced the landlords to fortify their town and country estates. In their simplest form, gates were cut through wooden palisade walls, and fortified with a small defensive platform perched above them. If money allowed, gates were fortified with a barbican tower, again with a raised wooden platform. In the 18th century, this platform transformed into a raised structure above the main arch. Thus early Russian triumphal arches have a triangular, tripartite composition. Contemporary 18th-century engravings present different variations of the type. It is believed that these gates influenced traditional Moscow architects in favor of Petrine Baroque, producing masterpieces like the Church of St. John the Warrior. An extant example of private estate gates following the same layout belongs to the former Golitsyn estate on Volkhonka street.
Petrine tradition
The first true triumphal gates in Russia were installed by Peter I of Russia, intended for his generals' and his own triumphant rides. The earliest are dated 1697 and 1703. Three sets of gates were set in
The second round of triumphal construction, commemorating the Battle of Poltava in 1709, resulted in seven gates being built in Moscow, notably the barbican gate on Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge. The third occasion, the Battle of Gangut of 1714, was celebrated in Saint Petersburg only. Finally, the Treaty of Nystadt was celebrated in both Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Peter's successors had built various gates, but Red Gate in Moscow were the only ones that survived to 20th century.
The original arch on the site of Red Gate was built to commemorate the Battle of Poltava in 1709. Catherine I replaced it with a new structure in order to commemorate her own coronation in 1724. This arch burnt down 8 years later and was restored in 1742, for Elizabeth's coronation procession, which proceeded from the Moscow Kremlin to the Lefortovo Palace through the edifice. In 1753, the wooden arch was demolished and replaced with a stone one. The design by Prince Dmitry Ukhtomsky faithfully followed that of Catherine I's architects. This was a refined specimen of baroque sensibility, with red-blood walls, snow-white reliefs, golden capitals, and 15 bright paintings representing "Tsardoms of the Russian Empire", coats of arms of Russian provinces, etc. A large portrait of Empress Elizabeth, surrounded by a lambent halo, was replaced with a double-headed eagle for Nicholas I's coronation in 1825. The structure was crowned by a golden statue of trumpeting angel. Around the gate, a spacious square was laid out.
