The name comes from the color of its defensive wall, which was erected in 1585–1593 at the behest of tsar Feodor I and Boris Godunov by architect Fyodor Kon. The wall is 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) in length, and its width ranges up to 4.5 meters (15 ft) at its widest.
Bely Gorod had 28 towers and 11 gates, the names of some of which are still preserved in the names of squares, namely: Trehsvyatsky, Chertolsky (Prechistensky), Arbatsky, Nikitsky, Tversky, Petrovsky, Sretensky, Myasnitsky, Pokrovsky, Yauzskiy, Vasilievsky. The walls were cogged, like the Kremlin walls, with loopholes that allowed keeping a continuous fire.
