Marco Ruffo as known as Marco Fryazin (Марк Фрязин, Марко Фрязин and Марко Руффо in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

) was an Italian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

active in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in the 15th century. The Fryazin title originates from the old Russian word ''фрязь'' (fryaz), derived from ''frank'', that was used to denote people from Northern Italy. Beside Marco Ruffo, at least three contemporary Italians had this nickname in Russia: Antonio Fryazin (Antonio Gislardi), Bon Fryazin (Marco Bon), Aleviz Fryazin (Aloisio da Milano). One of the chronicles says that Marco Ruffo worked in Moscow in 1485–1495 at the invitation of

Ivan III Ivan III Vasilyevich (russian: Иван III Васильевич; 22 January 1440 – 27 October 1505), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his bl ...

. He built a number of the

Kremlin towers The following is a list of towers of the Moscow Kremlin. The Kremlin Wall is a defensive wall that surrounds the Moscow Kremlin, recognizable by the characteristic notches and its towers. The original walls were likely a simple wooden fence ...

, including the Beklemishevskaya, Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers. In 1491, together with Pietro Antonio Solari, Marco Ruffo finished the construction of the

Palace of Facets The Palace of the Facets (russian: Грановитая Палата, ''Granovitaya Palata'') is a building in the Moscow Kremlin, Russia, which contains what used to be the main banquet reception hall of the Muscovite Tsars. It is the oldest p ...

. In December 1991, in Moscow,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

celebrated Palace of Facets' 500th jubilee.

References

*Moscow Academy of Architecture, РУССКОЕ ГРАДОСТРОИТЕЛЬНОЕ ИСКУСТВО, Strojizdat, 1993 15th-century Italian architects Architects from Moscow Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown {{Italy-architect-stub