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The city.
Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva), capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 878.7 sq. km. The city's population is rapidly increasing, with 11.2 million inhabitants counted in 2004.
The city is in the federal district called Central Russia (which is actually in the west of Russia). It was the capital of the former Soviet Union, and of Muscovite Russia, the pre-Imperial Russia.
The first reference to the town of Moscow is from 1147 when it was an obscure town in a small province, with a mostly Finno-Ugric population, the Merya. In 1156, Prince Yury Dolgoruky built a wooden wall and a moat around the city. They were not terribly successful, however, as in 1177 the city was burned to the ground and its population was murdered. After 1237-1238, when the Mongols captured the city, burning the city to the ground and murdering the inhabitants, it recovered and became the capital of an independent principality. In 1300 it was ruled by Daniil Aleksandrovich, the son of Alexander Nevsky, and a member of the Rurik Dynasty. Its favorable position at the headwaters of the Volga river let it slowly expand. Moscow was also stable and prosperous for many years and attracted a large numbers of refugees from across Russia. By 1304 Yury of Moscow contested with Mikhail of Tver for the throne of the principality of Vladimir. Ivan I eventually defeated Tver to become the capitol of Vladimir, and the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. Unlike other principalities, Moscow would not be divided up among his sons, but would be passed intact to his eldest. The Khan of the Golden Horde had long been trying to limit Moscow's power.
But, when the growth of the Lithuanian empire began to threaten all of Russia, the Khan strengthened Moscow to counterbalance Lithuania, allowing it to become one of the most powerful cities in Russia. In 1480, Ivan III is said to have finally broken the Russias free from Tatar control (see Great standing on the Ugra river) and Moscow became the capital of an empire which would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia, and parts of many other lands.
The tyranny of later Tsars, such as Ivan the Terrible, led to a decay of the state, even as the empire was expanding. In 1571 the Crimean Tartars from the Ottoman Empire seized and burned Moscow. From 1605 through 1612 Polish troops occupied Moscow, as Poland got involved in an attempt of the Russian gentry to establish a usurper on the throne, or to form a personal union between the two biggest Slavic states. However, the Polish army had only half-hearted support from the state, and the intervention was strongly criticized in the Polish Sejm. Thus, in 1612, a Russian gentry made an another uprising that this time was directed against the Poles, and in 1613, an assembly of the Empire elected Michael Romanov tsar, establishing the Romanov dynasty.
Moscow ceased to be Russia's capital when in 1703 Peter the Great constructed St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast. When Napoleon invaded in 1812, the Moscovites burned the city on September 14 and departed; Napoleon's troops soon left, defeated by hunger and the cold. In January of 1905, they officially introduced the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, in Moscow, and Aleksandr Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor (current mayor is Yuri Luzhkov). Following the success of the Russian revolution in 1917, Lenin once again made Moscow the capital (moved on March 5, 1918), and it remains so to this day.
Moscow has always been a popular destination for more adventurous tourists. The better known attractions include the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Kremlin, Red Square and the enchanting Church of the Ascension at Kolomenskoye, all dating from between the 14th and 17th centuries. Other popular attractions include the Zoo, expanded in the 1990s. Moscow is also the western end of the 9,300 km Trans-Siberian railway to Vladivostok. The city is best visited in midwinter when the streets are cloaked in powdery snow and the dusky twilight of the far north. In winter the locals face the cold with the warm embrace of hospitality. However, as temperatures can often be below -25C, early summer or early autumn can offer a more comfortable, if less romantic, visit.
The Kremlin and Red Square.
Originally the walls around the Kremlin (fortress) were first elevated in the 10th century and were made of wood. In the 13th century brick walls were added. The modern Kremlin, as it is now, was built in the 16th century and it was the second powerful castle in Europe after the one in Milan. Also, in the 16th century most of the decoration works were made, and the four famous cathedrals inside the Kremlin were built in this period.
There are many cathedrals, some museums, and historical monuments inside. The most interesting museums are the Museum of the Ancient Weapons with a huge collection of mid-century weapons and the Museum of Jewelry Collection with a splendid collection of various gems.
Also, there's a parliament hall built in the 20th century. It was supposed to be a high building, but the architects decided not to spoil the view of the Kremlin, so they built this parliament hall deep underground (like 8 or 10 stores).
Another fact is that there's a secret metro line that leads from the Kremlin to the outskirts of Moscow, to evacuate the president in case there are problems.
Red Square is the famous square in Moscow which used to house huge military parades during the Soviet era. Red Square has several notable buildings within or framing the space. One of these is Lenin's Tomb, where the embalmed body of the founder of the Soviet Union is displayed. Nearby is the elaborate gold-domed building of Saint Basil's Cathedral and also the palaces and cathedrals of the Kremlin. On the eastern side of the square is the GUM department store, and next to it the State Historical Museum. The square itself is around 695 meters long and 130 meters wide. The land that Red Square is situated on was originally covered with buildings, but was cleared in Moscow's great fire of 1493. The newly-opened area (originally known simply as the Pozhar, or "burnt-out place") gradually came to serve as Moscow's primary marketplace. Later, it was also used for various public ceremonies and proclamations, and occasionally as the site of coronation for Russia's tsars. The square has been gradually built up since that point, and has been used for official ceremonies by all Russian governments since it was established. The name of Red Square derives not from the colour of the bricks around it, nor from the link between the colour red and Communism. Rather, the name came about because the Russian word Красная (krasnaya) can mean either "red" or "beautiful". The word was originally applied (with the meaning "beautiful") to Saint Basil's Cathedral, and was subsequently transferred to the nearby square. It is believed that the square acquired its current name (replacing the older Pozhar) in the 17th century.
Tretyakovskaya picture-gallery.
The State Tretyakov Gallery is the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1832-98) acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating à collection, which might later grow into à museum of national art. In 1892, Tretyakov presented his already famous collection to the Russian nation.
The gallery building was designed by the painter Viktor Vasnetsov in the peculiar Russian fairy-tale style. It was built in 1902-04 to the south from the Moscow Kremlin. During the 20th century, the gallery expanded to several neighbouring buildings, including the 17th-century church of St. Nicholas at Tolmachi. A new building, located in the Krymskiy Val, is dedicated to promoting contemporary Russian art.
The collection contains more than 130000 exhibits, ranging from Our Lady of Vladimir and Andrei Rublev's Trinity to the monumental Composition VII by Wassily Kandinsky and the "Black Square" of Kazimir Malevich.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was a very grand Cathedral in Moscow, on the bank of the Moscow River.
When the last of Napoleon's soldiers left Moscow, Tsar Alexander I signed a manifesto, December 25, 1812, declaring his intention to build a Cathedral in honor of Christ the Saviour "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her" and as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people.
It took some time for actual work on the projected cathedral to get started. The first finished architectural project was endorsed in 1817 and work was begun, but the site proved insecure and boggy, so in 1832 a new design was approved and in 1837 a new site was chosen by the Tsar. A convent and church on the site had to be relocated, so that the cornerstone was not laid until 1839. The Cathedral took years to build and didn't emerge from its scaffolding until 1860; elaborate frescos continued in the interior for another twenty years. The Cathedral was consecrated at the very day Alexander III was crowned, May 26, 1883.
After the Revolution, the prominent site of the Cathedral called out for redevelopment by the Soviets, who planned to replace the church with a monument to socialism, known as the Palace of Soviets that would rise in modernistic buttressed tiers to support a gigantic sculpture of Lenin, arm raised in blessing, perched atop a dome. On December 5, 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble.
Funds for the largest building in the world remained unavailable, however. A foundation hole gaped on the site until under Nikita Khrushchev it was transformed into a huge public swimming pool.
With the end of the Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, in February 1990. A temporary cornerstone was laid by the end of the year. A construction fund was opened in 1992 and foundations began to be poured in the fall of 1994. The lower church (Church of the Transfiguration) was consecrated in 1996, and the completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated August 19, 2000.
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