The collection of manuscripts of Moscow Kremlin Museums numbers a bit more than 1600 exhibits and includes documentary materials from the late XV to the early XX century.

The fund itself is rather young. In the whole, it was formed in 1920-s. Before that time the main collection of the Armoury Chamber possessed only such manuscript rarities that together with imperial treasures were of admitted state value. The documents of this kind are “The approved charter of the 1613 Zemsky Council (elective district council) on the election of Tsar Michael Fyodorovich Romanov to the Royal Throne” and “The charter on setting the Patriarch’s Throne in Russia in 1589”.

A small group of the pre-revolutionary collection are memorial items that used to be owned by individuals. These are some things of Alexander I: “Notes on Moscow memorabilities” by N.M. Karamzin (1817) and two manuscript books, so called “Sheet on guards and posts”(1820) and (1823), also a charter conferred upon Boyar B.M. Khitrovo saved in a fragment and brought to the Armoury Chamber from K.A. Naryshkin in 1881.

The fund of archaeology numbers about a thousand exhibits. The things found on the Kremlin’s territory belong to various historical epochs - from the late III millenary b.c. to the early XIX century. The oldest ones are stone military axes. The early Iron Age is presented by embossed cancellation ceramics typical for settlements of Dyakovo culture.

The largest collection is the one containing objects from various fields of material culture of the medieval settlement on the Borovitsky Hill.

The majority of medieval finds belong to the XII-XIII centuries. These are adornments and fragments of earthenware presenting slipware produced in Russia, Golden Horde, Central Asia, Persia and China. Just like it should be in the developed medieval town, a large percent of finds are articles of smithcraft. These are various instruments, housewares, military equipment. The last segment should be mentioned particularly as it is rather large in the archaeological collection. No other medieval town has an occupation layer so rich with finds of this kind.

The majority of the rest exhibits can be joint in a large section of everyday life objects. Exhibits forming the look of a Moscow house are an interesting part of the collection. Items which are indicative of local crafts, first of all rejects and waste, are of special value.

More than a half of archaeological finds of the XII-XIX centuries are articles brought to Moscow. Nearly all of them were created in other Russian towns, only some of them were delivered from abroad. The facts of this kind indicate good trade relations between Moscow and other towns. Most of the articles belong to the XII-XV centuries. Only few items date back to the XVII-XVIII centuries.

The collection includes seven archaeological complexes - hoards found while archaeological research in the Kremlin. Three of them were hidden during the tragic events of 1238.

Except everything marked above, the collection has a series of exhibits transferred from other funds. First of all, jars and cultic objects from burials of Tsarinas and Great Princesses in the Ascension Nunnery and jars from burials of Ivan the Terrible and his sons.