The 500 year old Kremlin Clock (Russian: Кремлёвские часы; Kremlyovskiye chasy) is an often rebuilt clock on Spasskaya Tower in The Kremlin. The clock dial is above the main gates leading into Red Square. The clock chimes on the quarter hour, and bells toll each full hour. According to various historical accounts, the clock on the Spasskaya Tower appeared between 1491 and 1585. It has been tinkered with, rebuilt, music added, clockworks re-engineered, and of course, the clock dials have been updated, re-gilded, and more.
It was pretty cool seeing it in person, although there were so many other fantastic buildings, churches, and sculptures that it almost becomes lost among all the other great sights. I remember when I was young, they would often show the clock tower in reports on The Kremlin (our cold war enemies). U.S. News, however, would more often show some grim, great Soviet building (there are only a couple of that style)--they almost never showed the great churches or towers.
The four Kremlin clock faces are 20 feet in diameter, with one on all four sides of the tower. The Roman numerals are two and a half feet tall. The length of the hour hand is nearly ten feet, and of the minute hand nearly eleven feet. The total weight of clock and bells is 25 tons (or about 1/8 the weight of the gigantic Czar Bell on the plaza.
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