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Moscow has borne witness to the staggering upheavals that defined major shifts in Russian history and continues to nourish the growth of a new era. Known as the Mother City of Russia, Moscow is rooted in 850 years of tradition and revolution. No other city in Russia can match the depth and magnitude that Moscow holds in the Russian psyche. Capital city of Russia, and home to more than 8 million Muscovites, Moscow has regained and retained her status as the cultural and spiritual center of the country.
The Kremlin is inextricable from Russia's passionate, sometimes ruthless history. A practically impenetrable fortress, the Kremlin was the stronghold of rulers such as Ivan the Great, Czar Nicholas, Lenin, and Joseph Stalin. Inside the Kremlin walls, is a rich complex of gilded Cathedrals, bell towers, and Imperial palaces. The gold-domed Orthodox churches include the Archangel Cathedral and the Assumption Cathedral used as burial churches for Russia's religious and imperial leaders, and the Cathedral of the Annunciation with its nine gilded domes and extensive iconography. Majestic in its scope, the Kremlin is a worthy monument to the wealth and power of the Russian Empire.
Outside the walls of the Kremlin to the east lies Red Square. Due to the presence of three top Moscow attractions - St. Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's tomb, and GUM department store -- Red Square is often the first stop for visitors to Moscow. St. Basil's Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of the Intercession, is popularly named for the prophet Basil, who foretold of the fire that engulfed Moscow in 1547. Constructed in the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible, the cathedral is remarkable for its spectacular exterior - a textured profusion of patterns and shapes, colors and spired domes. Facing Red Square is the Lenin Mausoleum. Composed of red granite for Communism and black labradorite for mourning, Lenin's tomb is open to visitors who wish to pay respects to the embalmed Soviet leader. Opposite the mausoleum is the GUM department store (pronounced Goom). Originally designed in the 19th century to house a thousand shops, the official State Department Store changed into private ownership in the 1990's.
Moscow occupies over 380 square miles and outside the attractions of Central Moscow, one must take the Metro. Marble platforms and crystal chandeliers lend the Moscow subway system an elegance that makes waiting for the train feel more like being in a museum than public transportation. Take the train to Gorky Park and strap on some ice skates -- the footpaths are flooded in winter. Moscow, once home to such greats as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Gogol, has witnessed great changes over the last decades. The city is again finding its feet after the fall of Communism and adjusting to the effects of recent Capitalism that reverberate within the heart of a centuries old Moscow.
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