Why did Catherine II order half of the Moscow Kremlin to be demolished?

Catherine II, however, treated the white-stone city with a certain pragmatism. She was crowned here in 1762. But, the city, having lost its capital status, did not look very attractive. The empress saw this and noted: “This ancient city is like a theater church: pomp and gold dazzle the eyes, but, behind the scenes, there is dust and dirt.”

Having ascended the throne, Catherine II decided to restore order in Moscow. The most significant project, of course, concerned the Kremlin – by the middle of the 18th century, it had fallen into disrepair. Architect Vasily Bazhenov was commissioned to rebuild it. According to his plan, the main building was to be the new Kremlin Palace, built in the image of the Vatican's St. Peter's Cathedral. 

The four-storey palace, with a length of 600 meters, was to occupy the entire Borovitsky Hill. In front of it, it was planned to arrange a square with a triumphal arch, from which three beams diverge, pointing to St. Petersburg, Kiev and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. 

The huge palace was to become the largest in Europe. It was called a new wonder of the world in absentia. The work was in full swing: first, they demolished the Zhitny and Denezhny courtyards, the Zapasnoy Palace, the Armory Gallery, the towers and part of the Kremlin wall. 

But, circumstances intervened: the Russian Empire went to war with Turkey and the Plague Riots began. Construction, which began in 1773, froze a year later – there was simply no money for it.

And the empress had more important things to do than a new palace.   

Catherine ordered the restoration of the towers and walls and only a model remained of Bazhenov's large-scale project.