Red Square

Red Square is the main square of Moscow, lying between the Moscow Kremlin and the Kitai-gorod district right in the city centre. It runs along the Kremlin's north-eastern wall from the Resurrection Gate to Vasilyevsky Spusk, about 330 metres long and 75 metres wide. The nearest metro station is Okhotny Ryad. Since 1990 the Kremlin and Red Square ensemble has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

The square is first mentioned in a 1434 chronicle recording the death of a holy fool named Maxim. Until the early 17th century it was called the Torg (marketplace), and earlier the Pozhar (burnt place). Its current name first appears in documents from 1661, drawn up for a reception of foreign ambassadors; one theory holds that in Old Russian the word "krasnaya" meant "beautiful" rather than "red". The square was paved with stone in 1804, and in 1930 the old cobblestones were replaced with paving blocks of Karelian gabbro-diabase — about five million stones were used. It has hosted events central to Russian history: the parade of 7 November 1941, after which soldiers marched straight to the front, and the Victory Parade of 24 June 1945. In 1968 the square witnessed the "demonstration of the seven", a protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia staged near the Lobnoye Mesto platform.

Buildings and monuments

Along the western side stands Lenin's Mausoleum, built in 1930 to a design by architect Alexei Shchusev; Vladimir Lenin's embalmed body has lain there since 1924. Next to it, by the Kremlin wall, is a necropolis where more than 400 people are buried, including foreign revolutionaries and Soviet cosmonauts. On the south side stands the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, better known as Saint Basil's Cathedral (Khram Vasiliya Blazhennogo), built in 1555–1561 on the orders of Ivan the Terrible by the architects Barma and Postnik. Facing it is the Lobnoye Mesto, a round 16th-century stone platform 13 metres across. The northern end of the square is occupied by the State Historical Museum and the Kazan Cathedral. The eastern side is formed by the facade of GUM, the former Upper Trading Rows built in 1893 to a design by architect Alexander Pomerantsev. In front of Saint Basil's stands the monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky by sculptor Ivan Martos, erected in 1818 — Moscow's first major sculptural monument.

Legends

Several legends surround Saint Basil's Cathedral. One claims Ivan the Terrible had the architects Barma and Postnik blinded so they could never build anything like it elsewhere. Another says Napoleon, who occupied Moscow in 1812, intended to blow up the cathedral, but rain put out the fuses. There are also stories about the holy fool Basil the Blessed, after whom the cathedral's popular name is taken: according to legend, he collected money for the church by throwing coins over his right shoulder on Red Square.

Getting there

The square lies in the very centre of Moscow and has been closed to traffic since 1963. The nearest metro station is Okhotny Ryad on the Sokolnicheskaya line; Ploshchad Revolyutsii and Teatralnaya stations are also nearby.