The tower was built in 1493-1495 on the southwestern side of the Kremlin’s wall, stretching along the Alexandrov Gardens. It was erected instead of the old white-stone corner tower of the epoch of Dmitry Donskoi. In the XV-XVIth centuries, the Neglinnaya River was dammed up near the tower. In 1680-s, an open four-faceted stone marquee with a watch-turret was added to it.

The tower was given its present-day name in the early XVIIIth century, during the construction of the Kremlin’s Arsenal. Earlier it had been named Grannyonnaya (Faceted) because of its faceted facade. In 1821, while the Alexandrov Gardens was being set up, a decorative grotto designed by Ossip Bove was built at the tower’s base.

The tower’s height is 38,9 m.