No list of world cities is considered complete without the mention of Moscow. Immaterial of whether it was in the Middle Ages or now in the 21st Century. Irrespective of whether it is in times of peace. Or conflict.
Spread over seven hills like Rome, Moscow was determined from the outset to outdo Kyiv. Kyiv was the historical capital of Kievan-Rus as Russia was called till the 13th Century Mongol raid. A higher cathedral, longer city-walls, taller city-gates. Moscow had to be better, and grander than its precursor.
What started off as a wooden Kremlin [fortress] built by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1156, went on to become the citadel of the Tsars, headquarters of the USSR, and now the office and residence of the world’s largest country’s Head of State.
Moscow has remnants from everyone who ruled Russia from its crenelated walls. The Tsars gave it its grand cathedrals, Red [in Russian is another word for ‘beautiful’] Square, and a fortified stone Kremlin. They then burnt their own city to the ground in 1812 to drive Napoleon’s army out, and rebuilt it in an Empire [Baroque and Neoclassical] style. The Soviets after them gave the city its enormous streets, palatial metro system, and Stalin’s ‘Seven Sisters.’ Modern Moscow threw in the Moscow International Business Centre’s futuristic steel and glass skyscrapers into the mix.
It is a massive city in which an eclectic past and present jostle side-by-side, never far from a Christian Orthodox church or the performing and fine arts.
Here are Moscow’s top 11 cultural highlights from its very many eras. Wishing you travels which widen and deepen our intellect, hearts, and souls. Always. 🙂
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