Pin from the Soviet Union showing the Spasskaya Tower on the Red Square.
The Spasskaya Tower, translated as ‘Saviour Tower’, is the main tower on the eastern wall of the Moscow Kremlin which overlooks Red Square. The tower was commissioned to be built by Ivan III, or Ivan the Great, and the grandfather of Ivan the Terrible.
The Spasskaya Tower was built in 1491 by the Italian architect Pietro Antonio Solari. According to a number of historical accounts, the clock on the Spasskaya Tower appeared between 1491 and 1585. It is usually referred to as the Kremlin chimes and designates official Moscow Time.
The tower gate was once the main entrance into the Kremlin. In tsarist times, anyone passing through the gates had to remove their headgear, crossing thenselves and dismount their horses. This practice was revived in 2010, but ceremonially.