Check out my YouTube video about Moscow:
It is commonly believed that Moscow was Founded in 1147 by the Grand Prince of Kiev Yurii Dolgorugii. Yourii fortified Moscow with wooden walls and a moat. Everything inside the wooden Kremlin was known as the principality of Moscow, But later the city began to grow to what we know now and it continues to grow. The word Kremlin literally means a "fortress inside a city" and it is the oldest part of Moscow.
In the 15th century, Moscow became the capital of All Rus during the rule of Ivan the Great (grandfather of the famous Ivan the Terrible). Ivan united the territories that surrounded Moscow and restored the Russian independence from the Tatar´s Golden Horde, He also married a Byzantine princess making Moscow seen as a Byzantine empire successor or the third Rome, and he made the double-headed eagle Russia's coat of arms. Ivan also had Moscow's Kremlin renovated by Italian masters who built the brick walls and towers and painted them white. They also put iron two-headed eagles on top of the towers.
Today the Kremlin is one of the largest Medieval fortresses in Europe. And it looks a bit different, It is mostly red like the Soviet Union flag and the towers are topped with red five-pointed stars that light up at night. ***If you like to visit inside of the Kremlin you gotta get a ticket. I visited it back when I was in middle school. There you can see the biggest cannon in the world, the biggest bell in the world, the gardens, the churches, the concert hall etc.***
Outside of the Kremlin there is the River Moskva which the city was named after. Moskva is how Russian speakers call Moscow. There is also the famous Red Square. In old Russian the word red was also used for beautiful. So here there is a double meaning in the name of this square.
On the Red Square you can see the most iconic Moscow buildings: Saint Basil's cathedral, A famous golden clock tower called Spasskaya , Moscow's oldest and super cool shopping center called GuM, the State Historical Museum (there used to be the first Russian university), Lenin's Mausoleum and the Forehead place (lobnoye mesto).
One of the symbols of Russia is Saint Basil's cathedral. It was built in 1561. During the rule of Ivan the Terrible. Legend has it that after the cathedral was completed the tzar had the eyes of the masters removed, so they wouldn't recreate anything alike.
In 1812 Moscow was burned during the war against Napoleon. It took more than 20 years to fully restore the city and in the honor of the victory the tzar Alexander ordered the building of the Church of Christ the Savior and the Kremlin Gardens for the public use, now we call them Alexander´s Gardens. In the entrance of the Alexander Gardens there is The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the eternal flame that burns in the honor of the soldiers that died for the motherland in World War II.
Because the Soviet regime banned practices of any religion. The Church of Christ the Savior was destroyed in 1931 by Stalin's orders and converted into an open air swimming pool. However, in 1995 the church was reconstructed again during the wild 90s period.
Not too far from the Church of Christ the savior, there is a monument to the first emperor of Russia, Peter the Great. He led the cultural revolution in Russia and in 1703 founded the city called Saint Petersburg, which remained the capital of Russia until the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. Then Moscow once again became the capital of Russia and the newly established Soviet Union.
Not too far from the Kremlin there is a Bolshoi Theatre or Big Theater, it was founded during the rule of Catherine the Great. It holds ballet and opera performances. And it is the biggest ballet and opera company in the world. Super respected in Russia and the entire world.
While driving around Moscow you can notice seven kinda interesting looking tall buildings. These buildings were built by Stalin´s orders, they are known as The Seven Sisters (or 'Stalin's high-rises') At the time of construction, they were the tallest buildings in Europe, and the tallest of them, the main building of Moscow State University, remained the tallest building in Europe until 1997.
Their names are: gostinitsa Ukraina (now called Radisson Collection Hotel), the gostinitsa Leningradskaya (that now joined the Hilton Hotel´s chain), the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main building of Moscow State University, and three Apartments buildings. There were two more skyscrapers in the same style planned but never built due to the German invasion in 1941.
One of the oldest streets of Moscow is called Arbat. This street used to be the suburbs of Moscow. Now, it is a super nice promenade in the center of Moscow. Many artists have lived and worked in the street, Pushkin, Рахманинов, Чехов, Гоголь, Блок, and Цветаева. Now this street is a popular tourist sight, very reminiscent of La Rambla in Barcelona. It’s the street with historical buildings and statues where the street artists show off their works and it's always fun to hang out in this area.
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