Contributor(s): Professor Catherine Merridale | The extraordinary story of one of the most significant, mysterious and emblematic buildings in Russian history – the Kremlin. Part citadel, part holy shrine, the Kremlin has been Russia’s heart for centuries, a metaphor for the eternal state. Catherine Merridale explores its story and the secret world behind the myths. As she discovers, the Kremlin still stars in official fables about government in Russia, and though the stories are romantic - even seductive - we will only understand the true nature of politics when we see them for what they are. Catherine Merridale is the author of Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Russia, which won the Heinemann Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, as well as Moscow Politics and the Rise of Stalin and Ivan’s War: The Red Army, 1939-1945. Her latest book is Red Fortress: The Secret Heart of Russia’s History.