The Kremlin Armory is one of the oldest museums of Moscow, established in 1808. Until the transfer of the court to St Petersburg, the Armory was in charge of producing, purchasing and storing weapons, jewelry and various household articles of the tsars. In 1711, Peter the Great had the majority of masters transferred to his new capital, St.Petersburg. Alexander I of Russia nominated the Armory as the first public museum in Moscow in 1806, but the collections were not opened to the public until 7 years later. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Armory collection was enriched with treasures taken from the Patriarch sacristy, Kremlin cathedrals, monasteries and private collections. In 1960, the Armory became the official museum of the Kremlin. Nowadays, the Kremlin Armoury is home to the Russian Diamond Fund. It boasts unique collections of the Russian, Western European and Eastern applied arts spanning the period from the 5th to the 20th centuries.
