What to see in Moscow, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral and Lenin's Mausoleum.
Tourist information
Located on the banks of the Moscova River, a sub-tributary of the Volga from which it takes its name, Moscow was the capital of Russia from the second half of the 1400s until 1712, of the Soviet Union from 1918 until 1991, when it became the capital of the new Russian Federation.
The village of Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the chronicles of the mid-eleventh century.
Subsequently, a wooden citadel was built in place of the village which, although it often burned, was rebuilt in the same place each time, occupying an area of less than a tenth of that of the current Kremlin, a name that means fortress, citadel or castle.
The city gradually expanded, from 1264 it became the residence of the princes of Moscow, between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the first stone churches were built, while in the fifteenth century, when the Turks definitively subdued Byzantium and Moscow, it acquired a new position political and religious, becoming the center of the Orthodox Church, and the Kremlin was rebuilt.
Prince Ivan III, also known as Ivan the Great, invited Italian architects to lend their work to give splendor to the capital.
The fortified structures were rebuilt, designed by the architect Aristotele Fioravanti, and a ditch was dug so that the fortress was surrounded by water on all sides, while the fulcrum of the fortress became the spectacular Piazza delle Cathedrali, where the beautiful Churches that combine the Italian Renaissance with traditional Byzantine patterns and the Russian taste of color and pomp.
What see
Among the main places of interest is the Kremlin, whose ancient name meant a fortified city.
Surrounded by a majestic stone wall, including nineteen towers, it houses representative rooms, once it was the residence of the tsars.
The Congress Palace where the meetings of the Supreme Soviet of the then Soviet Union was also very beautiful.
Of historical importance, the Dormition Cathedral, which was the theater for the coronation of the tsars, the cathedral of the Archangel Michael and the Cathedral of the Annunciation, enriched with frescoes and icons in their respective interiors.
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In Moscow, it is also worth visiting the Red Square, the popular neighborhood where artists and protesters met during the perestroika era, and Novyi Arbat, a neighborhood characterized by many suggestive corners where you can enjoy a coffee.
The Cathedral of San Basilio is renowned for its particular architecture enriched by polychrome domes, while the Mausoleum of Lenin, located under the walls of the Kremlin, is the place where the Tsar is buried.
The Uspensky Basilica, or Dormition Cathedral, built between 1475 and 1479 by the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti, is the main cathedral in Russia, corresponding to the place where the Tsars of Moscow were crowned first and then the Russian emperors.
The Archangel'skij, or Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, built between 1505 and 1508 on a project by the Italian architect Alevisio Lamberti from Montagnano, is the most Italian construction of the Kremlin, which became for a certain period funerary chapel of the tsars, until when Peter the Great chose the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg for this purpose.
Blagovešcenskij Basilica, or Cathedral of the Annunciation, is the private cathedral of the tsars.
Palazzo Granovitij, known as Palazzo delle Faccette, overlooks Piazza delle Cattedrali. The project was entrusted by the Grand Prince Ivan to the Italian architects Marco Ruffo and Pietro Antonio Solari.
The palace was used for solemn receptions of the tsars and various ceremonies.
The name of the building derives from the shape of the eastern facade, decorated with horizontal rows of rusticated stone, which make the surface multi-faceted.
The dominant motif of the square and of the whole Kremlin is the Ivan Velikij bell tower, which took its name from Ivan the Great, or from the one who had it built.
After the completion of the walls, the city expanded outside, surrounding itself with new neighborhoods.
It was during this period that Red Square was created next to the eastern wall of the Kremlin, the main meeting place in Moscow and all Russia.
The Russian adjective red expresses not only color but also the concept of beauty.
The square is overlooked by some historical monuments famous all over the world, including the Cathedral of San Basilio, built between 1555 and 1561, in memory of the victory of the Russian army over the Tatars and consecrated to the Intercession of the Virgin Mary.
His name remained linked to Blessed Basilio, who lived by praying and fasting on the churchyard of the previous wooden church, demolished to make room for the new Cathedral.
Opposite the Cathedral of San Basilio stands the elegant Spasskaja tower, or Savior tower, a masterpiece by Antonio Solari and considered one of the symbols of the city.
It was erected in 1491, while in 1625 the upper part was modified in late Gothic forms, with subsequent installation of the carillon.
Proceeding to the right of the tower you reach Lenin's Mausoleum.
In the nineteenth century, merchant galleries, the current GUM, and the historical museum building were built.
Close to the facade of the GUM is the Kazan Cathedral, demolished in the socialist era and rebuilt, according to the original model, in 1994.
Among the squares surrounding the Kremlin, the harmonious Teatral'naja Square stands out, where the famous Bol'šoj Theater overlooks, while in the beautiful nineteenth-century street "ulitsa Prechistenka", full of neoclassical palaces, there are museums dedicated to two large Russian writers, Pushkin and Tolstoy.
At the end of the street, on the banks of the Moscova, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was rebuilt, which is the tallest Eastern Orthodox Church, demolished during the Soviet regime.
On the Moscova river there is an important river port which, in tune with the other railways, roads and airways, forms the centerpiece of a large international transport network.
Thanks to the many inland waterways, this port is easily accessible to ships that come from the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Azov Sea.
Moscow is also an important varied industrial center and there are four airports.
The entire metropolitan area is connected by capillary railway lines of which the various stations are famous, which are lavishly decorated.
