Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

"The red stars, which perch atop the five highest spires of the fortress' turrets, are said to be made of melted rubies--despite the fact that each is ten feet wide, tip to tip. Actually, they are made of a translucent plastic designed to transmit the same intensity of colored glow by sunlight, and by artificial light at night. These stars are said to weigh one ton apiece, which speaks well for those long-gone architects who added the spires to Ivan the Great's XVth-century Kremlin towers. [Moscow, 1956.]" The Kremlin, p. 169.