Moscow's first ever international military tattoo reached its climax on Sunday with a spectacular concert in Red Square. The four-day Kremlin Zorya was a big hit among Muscovites, who flocked to events across the city to hear the finest military bands fr

The event brought together 1,500 uniformed musicians from 47 countries for a festival of military music that celebrated both the historical and the modern. 

From Scotland, Australia, South Africa, and Canada there came hundreds of kilted bagpipers, draped in every kind of tartan imaginable. From Russia, there was the Kremlin band wearing pre-revolutionary uniforms. From Italy, there were flag carriers in medieval outfits. 

The festival's name comes from the Russian word ‘zorya’, which means the sound made by a traditional bugle used to wake up soldiers in the tsarist army.

The goal of the event is to breathe new life into some of  Russia’s ancient military traditions.

Organisers say the time was right to bring such an event to Russia.

“Red Square used to be the place to show off totalitarian power, but it is different now, the country is different, the people are different,” said Andrey Nosanovsky,  producer of the Kremlin Zorya.

Over the four days of the festival, the bands performed in the rain and the cold. They've played for top officials, for charity and for crowds of more than 7,000 people. 

They've turned heads while marching through Moscow’s main shopping street, Tverskaya, and on the final day they performed in city parks across town.

And while the Russian military is renowned for its ability to impress, it's not used to hosting internatinoal military tattoos. How did they do it? They just played off each other.

“We’ve seen bagpipers live for the first time ever. We’ve already made friends and even exchanged gifts,” Artyom Cherpatov, Russian military student, said.

There were full houses every night on Red Square.  Muscovites said they never expected to see anything  like it, least of all in that symbolic location. 

The audience on the last night said it was the best event hosted on Red Square in a very long time.  They also said they'd like to see it repeated for many years to come.