Reaching a height of two-hundred thirty feet, the so-called "Saviour Tower" is by far the most impressive structure of its kind in the Kremlin. It was built in 1491 according to plans drawn up by Italian architect Pietro Antonio Solari, but did not receive its present name until 1658, when an icon of Christ was placed over the entrance. The first clock mechanism was installed by the sixteenth century, and in the following century it was provided with an English carillon. The extant bells (1851-1852) occupy three storeys.
Until the October Revolution, the carillon played the tsar's national anthem. From 1917 until 1941, the "Internationale" was substituted, but today the instrument only sounds the hour.
