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# The double-headed eagles soared above the Moscow Kremlin for a very long time: until October 1935
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/dvuglavye-orly-parili-nad-moskovskim-kremlem-ochen-dolgo-do-oktiabria-1935-goda/
- Published: 2026-01-19T06:32:59.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:27:18.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Moscow, Heritage, Society

The double-headed eagles soared above the Moscow Kremlin for a very long time: until October 1935\. It turns out that they witnessed not only the shelling of the Kremlin by artillery, the first parades in honour of the revolution, Lenin's speeches and Party mobilisations, but also the appearance of the necropolis by the Kremlin Wall, the relocation of Minin and Pozharsky, the building of three Lenin mausoleums and the demolition of the Kremlin's churches.

Until that moment, the ancient heraldic symbol on the spires of the Kremlin towers had not particularly troubled the Bolshevik leadership. By 1935, however, it was decided that the eagles were of no special value. Academician Grabar reported that the oldest of the eagles, from the Troitskaya Tower, dated from the 1870s, which at the time was, of course, hardly antiquity. To say nothing of the most recent eagle, installed on the Spasskaya Tower in 1912.

There were four eagles in all. One on the Spasskaya Tower, where it had first appeared in the mid-17th century, and the others on the Nikolskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers. The eagles were made of wood and of metal, and were evidently not very durable, so that they were replaced time and again, with the design refreshed along the way.

The state took no interest in them as historical artefacts, and no special measures were taken to preserve the eagles. In effect, they were not even properly documented or described; for a time they were displayed in Gorky Park, and then they were melted down.

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![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_19409@19-01-2026_09-32-59.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_19410@19-01-2026_09-32-59.jpg)

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