MOSCOW
Moscow, the capital of Russia, is the largest city of the country. The history of Moscow is connected with the history of Russia. It was first mentioned in the records dated back to the year 1147.
The pattern of rings and radials marks the historical stages of Moscow's growth. The Boulevard Ring and the Garden Ring both trace the lines of former fortifications.
Nowadays, it is a political, administrative, economic, educational, and cultural centre of the country. The centre of the city and the historical heart of Moscow is the Kremlin. Within the walls of the Kremlin are located the meeting places of the government of Russia. Among these are the former Senate building, the Kremlin Great Palace, and the modern Palace of Congresses.
Along the east wall of the Kremlin lies Red Square, the ceremonial centre of the capital. The Lenin Mausoleum stands beneath the Kremlin walls, and the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed is at the southern end of the square. GUM, one of the largest department stores of the city, faces the Kremlin, and the State Historical Museum closes off the northern end of the square.
Moscow has a large concentration of educational institutions. Moscow State University is the leading one. Among the specialised educational centres are the Moscow Timiryasev Academy of Agriculture and the Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory.
Theatre, music, and art are important in the city's life. The State Academic Bolshoi Theatre, Maly Theatre, and Moscow Art Theatre are world famous.
There are many places of interest in Moscow. The city is famous for its historical monuments, museums, art galleries and theatres. The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and the State Tretyakov Picture Gallery are a source of nation-wide pride.
Moscow is the country's largest sports centre. It often becomes a scene of international sports festivals.
RUSSIA'S ANCIENT CAPITAL
Moscow, with a population of nearly nine million, is spread over a vast area of a thousand square kilometres. Originally, however, it was nothing but as small fortress lost amid woods and marshes.
Founded in 1147 by prince Yuri Dolgoruky, Moscow was named after the Moskva River on the bank of which it was built. In the course of time Moscow grew into a real city which became the centre of a principality.
In the 13th century ancient Rus, which included the Moscow Principality, fell under the yoke of the Tatar-Mongol invaders for two hundred years. They plundered and sacked Moscow in 1238.
It was only in 1480 - a hundred years later after the historic battle of Kulikovo field - in the reign of Grand Duke Ivan III, that the foreign yoke was finally thrown off. By that time, Rus had grown into a big powerful state capable of repulsing any enemy. By the end of Ivan's reign, the prince of Moscow was, in fact, the ruler of Russia.
In the 15th century, Moscow became the capital of the Russian state and the largest economic and cultural centre in the country. Crafts, trade, foundry work and construction began to develop rapidly in the city. It attracted master builders and artists from all over Rus. Many famous architects from Italy were invited.
Everybody can see the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, a unique example of the 16th century Russian architecture.
In the early 17th century the capital was occupied by Polish and Lithuanian invaders, who sacked and devastated the city. It was only in 1612 that a people's volunteer army, headed by merchant Kuzma Minin and the Voevoda Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, drove the invaders out of the city.
There then followed two centuries of peace in the life of Moscow. In the late 18th century, a number of outstanding architects such as Vassili Bazhenov, Matvei Kazakov and Giacomo Quarenghi created their masterpieces in Moscow.
Then came the year 1812. The invasion of the French Army began. After the famous Battle of Borodino Moscow surrendered to the enemy. Once again the city was plundered and destroyed by fires and once again it rose from ashes.
Now it became more beautiful. The city centre was replanned. The city was enriched by a number of remarkable structures such as Bolshoi and Maly Theatres, the Manege, etc.
Moscow also continued its development as a major cultural centre. It was the home city of the oldest Russian university, which was founded in 1755, and numerous museums, theatres, and publishing houses.
In the early 20th century, the Moscow proletariat played a major part in the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907 years. The general political strike started by Moscow workers in October 1905 developed into a nation-wide one. Numerous names in the city reflect the events of those days. Among them are Krasnaya Presnya, the district of Moscow, where there was bitter fighting in December 1905, Ulitsa 1905 Goda (Year 1905 Street), Barricadnaya Ulitsa (Barricade Street).
In March 1918, the Soviet government headed by Lenin, moved from Petrograd to Moscow, and the city once again became the capital.
The rapid growth of the city and the expansion of its boundaries have been accompanied by reconstruction of the central part of Moscow.
The development of the city was sporadic at times, particularly in the early days. That is why we can often see buildings of different periods and styles which sometimes even seem incomparable - from Baroque to Constructivism - standing side by side. And this is exactly what creates the unique character of the city and gives it a particular fascination.
THE KREMLIN
I
Many people initially associate Moscow with the Kremlin and Red Square as the heart of the city. It is the oldest historical and architectural centre of Moscow.
First it was a wooden fortress. The time was passing and the face of the fortress was changing. Moscow Kremlin was the first fortress constructed according to a new system of fortification. The towers were built in equal distances along the length of the wall so that the enemy could be seen from any viewpoint. The distance between the towers was equal to the distance the arrow could cover. Each tower was a perfect fortification itself. There were crenels to pour boiling tar and there were merlons along the length of the walls which looked like swallows’ tails, they were as high as warriors. Transit towers had bastions to protect the gateway. The gates were closed by huge metal shields and had metal falling bars.
The Kremlin as a medieval castle was surrounded by water from all sides. There was a river on the southern side, there was a rather narrow river (Neglinka) on the western side and there was a moat on the side of present-day Red Square. There were bridges there, some of them were regular, the others were drawbridges which went up and down on rusty chains.
The circular towers, the Moskva-river, the Water and the Corner Arsenal Towers, played a special role. The width of their walls was 3 metres. Some of them had cache-wells with very pure water.
Under Dmitry Donskoy the Kremlin was built of white stone. But a century later owing to fires and wars it became dilapidated. Foreign messengers were very much surprised at the sight of this "white-stone city". It actually looked wooden for the huge holes in the white-stone walls fixed with wooden logs.
Of course, the fortress of that kind didn't meet the high requirements of the Great Prince who got to the throne in the 1470's. His name was Ivan III. During his reign the walls of white stone were replaced by new redbrick walls and towers. The tsar invited Italian architects to construct the cathedrals.
II
The Cathedral of Assumption (Успенский Собор) was built by Aristotile Fioravante, one of the most skilful architects of his time specially invited from Italy. The cathedral, which was completed in 1479, became the main cathedral in Russia. For four centuries it served as the place of coronation of Russia's tsars.
The Cathedral of Annunciation (Благовещенский Собор), erected by master builders from the city of Pskov, is ten years younger than the Cathedral of Assumption. This cathedral, quite small, was used as the private chapel of the royal family.
The Cathedral of Michael and Archangel was built in the early 16th century. It was the burial place of the princes of Muscovy and the Russian tsars.
Nowadays, the Moscow Kremlin with all the beauty of the palaces and cathedrals is a stunning sight. Not all names of their creators have come down to us. Konstantin Thon built the Grand Kremlin Palace and Matvey Kazakov - the former Senate building.
Today, all these cathedrals have been converted into museums. Ivan the Great Bell Tower, one of the most remarkable structures of the 16-th century, rises in the centre of the Kremlin. It unites all the Kremlin Cathedrals into a majestic ensemble.
On the stone pedestal at the foot of the Bell Tower stands a Tsar-Bell, the largest bell in the world. Not far from it one can see a Tsar-Cannon.
Another fine example of Russian architecture is the Palace of Facets (Грановитая Палата). It was built in 1487-91. Russian tsars received foreign ambassadors and high commissioners there.
One of the well-known Kremlin museums is the Armoury Chamber. It was built in 1851. The famous golden cap of Monomach, the first Russian imperial crown of Catherine II made of gilt silver, and many other precious historical items are exhibited there.
Nowadays, the Kremlin is a mecca for visitors drawn by its historic associations, architecture, and art.
RED SQUARE
This square is the central square of Moscow. Since the time of Ivan III (15th century) this square has been the scene of great public events, mainly political - rallies, demonstrations, processions.
In earlier times, Red Square was also a place of execution. Its name does not, however, come from the blood which has been split here: in old Slavonic "krasny" = "red", also meant "beautiful", since red was regarded as a particularly beautiful colour.
But up to the end of the XIX century, this so called "Beautiful" square wasn't particularly beautiful. What is really was -just the scene of markets, trading rows, fairs and religious festivals, like so called Palm (Pussy-Willow) Sunday procession when Patriarch, mounted on an ass and the Tsar with their retinues drove out on to the square. The procession started at the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin and through the Saviour's Gate moved along round the St. Basil's Cathedral.
So really it was the scene of the most important state events. And when at the end of the 19Ih century the buildings of the Historical Museum and GUM Department Store marked its border, Red Square indeed became "Beautiful Square".
ST. BASIL'S CATHEDRAL
Many would think that St. Basil's Cathedral alone would justify a visit to Moscow. Since the year of 1561 when it was erected to commemorate the capture of Kazan, the capital of Khanate of Kazan, it has always aroused admiration.
The legend runs that when Napoleon entered Moscow in 1812 and this miracle stood before his eyes he exclaimed: "Oh, what's this? Such a huge and abnormal confectionery!"
Indeed, one of the English travellers described St. Basil's like this: "It consists of eleven small dark chapels arranged into stories and combined in a most extraordinary agglomeration. The building is surmounted by a dozen domes and spires painted in all the colours of the rainbow and of the most varied forms. Some of them are shaped like bulbs or pineapples, some are twisted in strange spirals, some are serrated, some are covered with facets or scales. All of them bulge out over their supporting drums and are crowned by massive crosses. The decoration is of the most exuberant character. The whole effect is quaint and fantastic in the extreme."
The history of St. Basil's is covered with legends. The best-known is the one running that when the masters who built this cathedral (and their names were Postnik and Barma) completed their work they were brought to Ivan the Terrible. The severe Tsar asked them: "You've worked a miracle. Can you create anything similar once more?"
"Sure, Your Majesty", was the answer, "We can build even a more beautiful cathedral".
And by these words the masters sentenced themselves to death, for the Tsar got into fury and ordered his men to blind them.
The other version runs that it was the English Queen who having heard about the Moscow miracle asked the Moscow Sovereign to send those miracle-workers to England to create something similar. And the masters set off on their long journey to England. But when they once stayed in an inn for the night they were blinded by some robbers, as it was claimed.
But anyway, neither of the versions is likely to be true. For Postnik and Barma are known to have added the chapel at the north-eastern corner of the cathedral housing the tomb of the holy fool Basil, by whose name the cathedral is now known.
The point of the matter is that the original name of the famous St. Basil's is the Cathedral of Intercession for the date of the capture of Kazan coincided with the church feast of Intercession. This church feast is known from the XII century; it is actually glorifying the Holy Virgin as a defender, an intercessor for the Russians.
So, why St. Basil's? Obviously, because of the tomb of the holy fool Basil, that is in the north-eastern chapel.
The holy fools, or fools in Christ, were itinerant ascetics who enjoyed great popularity among the ordinary people of Russia; many of them were revered as saints. The holy fool Basil the Blessed died in 1552, the year of the capture of Kazan. He was well known for his fearless denunciation of Ivan the Terrible's cruelties. And when, after Ivan the Terrible's death, his chapel was built on to the cathedral the name of the chapel gradually came to be applied to the whole cathedral. That's how it happened.
THE BOLSHOI THEATRE
The building of the Bolshoi Theatre dominates one of the most beautiful squares of the Moscow Centre -the Theatre Square. This building is a masterpiece of Russian Classicism in architecture. The eight column portal is surmounted by a chariot driven by Apollo, Patron of the Arts. The theatre built in 1824 and designed by Russian architect Joseph Bove was rebuilt and enlarged by architect Kavoss after the fire of 1853.
The performance of the 'Giselle' ballet by Adan in 1843, two years after its opening night in Paris, became a major event in the theatre life of Russia. From that moment on, 'Giselle' has never left the stage.
The Russian ballet is indebted to the French choreographer Marius Petipa for his Classical school style. M.Petipa lived and worked in Russia, and many classical ballets produced by him remained on stage for many years.
The Bolshoi Theatre has gained world fame thanks to its first-rate school of Ballet. Among the greats are Olga Lepeshinskaya, Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Ekaterina Maksimova, who danced there. The timeless ballets: 'Sleeping Beauty', 'Swan Lake', 'The Nutcracker' have become the Golden Fund of the Bolshoi Theatre. Indeed, they have gained universal popularity.
For more than two centuries the Bolshoi Theatre has been attracting new music and ballet lovers.
MOSCOW ACADEMIC ART THEATRE
The theatre, whose abbreviation is MKHAT, is outstanding Russian theatre founded in 1898 by two teachers of dramatic art Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Sharing similar theatrical experience and interests, the cofounders met and it was agreed that Stanislavsky was to have absolute control over stage direction while Nemirovich-Danchenko was assigned literary and administrative duties. Stanislavsky began to develop a system of training for actors that would enable them to perform realistically in any sort of role and situation.
After some 70 rehearsals, the Moscow Art Theatre opened with Aleksey Tolstoy's 'Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich' in October 1898. Then it staged Anton Chekhov's 'The Seagull'. With this play the Art Theatre achieved its first major success. In 'The Seagull', as in all of Chekhov's plays, the Art Theatre emphasised the subtext, the underlying meaning of playwright's thought.
Artistically, the Art Theatre tried all that was new. Its repertoire included works of Maksim Gorky, Leonid Andreev, Leo Tolstoy, and it staged works of political and social significance, as well as satires, fantasies, and comedies.
The Art Theatre has exercised a tremendous influence on theatres all over the world: it fostered a number of experimental studios, for example Vakhtangov Theatre, Musical Studio of Nemirovich-Danchenko, and today virtually all professional training in acting uses some aspects of Konstantin Stanislavsky's method.
THE HOLY TRINITY - ST. SERGIUS LAURA
Sergiev Posad emerged as a settlement round the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. For a long time, between the late 14th and 18th centuries, the Monastery of the Holy Trinity was a major religious and political centre in the country as a whole. In the 15th century, the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery was the largest landowner among Russian Monasteries. Besides this, it also became a major fortress with an important place in the system of Russian defensive fortifications as an outpost of Moscow.
In 1744 the monastery was given the honorary title of Laura. That meant that it became a major monastery under the direct authority of head of the Russian Church.
The monastery was not only a fortress, but also the centre of Russian culture.
In the 14th century, folk handicrafts such as making of toys, painted wooden tableware, and miniature wood and bone carvings began to develop at the monastery and surrounding area. The monastery bought and received as donations a large number of fine samples of folk art. So its storerooms were filled with paintings, icons, works of graphic art, pieces of artistic embroidery, carved wood, and furniture. Now, the best of them are on display at the museum.
Some of the best educated men of their age lived and worked in the monastery: in the 15th century, Epiphany the Wise, a writer who travelled to the East; in the 16th century, Maxim the Greek, a learned monk who was invited from Balkan Peninsula by Grand Duke Vassili III to translate liturgical books from Greek into Russian.
The oldest building in the Laura is the Holy Trinity Cathedral (1422-1423). It was built over the grave of Sergiy of Radonezh. It is one of the few early Moscow churches to have survived to the present day. The cathedral was adorned with frescoes by Andrey Rublev and Daniil Chorny. Unfortunately, the frescoes have not survived: they were scraped off in 17th century when the walls were repainted. Only some icons painted by the great Rublev and his pupils remained.
Today, the Laura, one of the major centres of the Russian Orthodox Church, is the seat of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.
MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
M. V. Lomonosov University is a state-controlled institution of higher learning in Moscow. It is the oldest, largest, and the most prestigious university in Russia. It was founded in 1755 by the linguist M. V. Lomonosov and was modelled on German universities.
In the second half of the 19th century, Moscow State University became the most important centre of scientific research and scholarship in Russia. It presently has more than 350 laboratories, a number of research institutes, several observatories, and also several affiliated museums.
The University's A. M. Gorky Research Library is one of the largest libraries in Russia.
Among Moscow State University's better-known students were the writers Mikhail Lermontov, Anton Chekhov, and Ivan Turgenev, and the radical intellectuals Aleksandr Herzen, and Vissarion Belinsky.
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