What you say is quite true Robert. The Russian President uses this space for his receptions. What is interesting though is the fact that unlike the Palaces at Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof, Pavlovsk and Gatchina, the Kremlin Palace was not looted, bombed and burnt during the barbarian Nazi German invasion. What you see today of the Palaces around the outskirts of St. Petersburg are post world war two recreations. Therefore the Kremlin Palaces are actually more authentic from the time of the Tsars. The Terem Palace actually dates back much earlier than Nicholas I. It is quite fascinating. A visit to the Kremlin alone to see the Armoury and State Diamond Fund, the surviving cathedrals and the sheer bulk of the walls plus the the huge Tsar Cannon and Bell is quite extraordinary. The Cathedrals are magnificent and very Russian indeed. St. Petersburg is quite western even with its Russian influence whereas Moscow is pure Russian. It would be a shame to visit Russia and only see St.Petersburg and not Moscow. Moscow really was extremely small and provincial while St.Petersburg was the imperial capital. It is very interesting to see how vast Moscow has grown since the capital shifted back there. The Soviets were very clever building a fake Kremlin made of wood and disguising the real Kremlin during world war two. The fake Kremlin was bombed many times, the real Kremlin left largely untouched.
