Adjacent to the State Historical Museum is St. Nicholas Tower protecting the northernmost corner of the Kremlin Wall. The 230 foot Nikolskaya Tower was designed by Pietro Antonio Solari and finished in 1492. In 1612, a militia led by Dmitry Pozharsky burst through this tower to recapture the Kremlin from the occupying Polish-Lithuanian invaders. Two hundred years later, St. Nicholas Tower was partially destroyed during the six-month Patriotic War of 1812 when Napoleon’s troops stormed Moscow. After the French army was defeated, the tower was rebuilt in 1819.
