The building of the Great Manezh was built by order of Alexander I within eight months in 1817 on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the victory in the war of 1812. The construction was carried out according to the project of engineer Augustine Betancourt by a special staff of engineers and architects subordinate to the chief inspector of hydraulic and earthworks in Moscow, Major General Lev Carbonier. The building was then called "exercirgauz" (house for military exercises).
It cannot be said that the construction work went smoothly. The idea proposed by Bettencourt and implemented by Carbonnier implied a unique technological principle: a one-of-a-kind wooden rafter structure that covered a space of 44.86 m without intermediate supports. However, with the onset of heat at the end of July 1818, two of the Manege trusses cracked. They were corrected, but a year later, in the heat, damage to the rafters again occurred. By the highest order of Alexander I, from September 1823 to May 1824, the farms were rebuilt, and their number increased from 30 to 45. In August 1824, a ceiling was sewn to the roof of the Manege. The miracle of Empire technology is the result of the joint action of many architects. The ideas of A. Betancourt and L. Carbonier were brought to mind by honest and modest professionals, about whom history is almost silent: Colonel R.R. Bausa, lieutenant engineer A.Ya. Kashperov and others. Main architector In 1825, the famous Moscow architect Osip Bove decorated the Manege with stucco and stucco decorations for the commissions for buildings. Since 1831, concerts and festivities have been regularly held in the Manege. After the revolution, there was a government garage in the Manezh, and during the time of Nikita Khrushchev (since 1957), the Central showroom. Interesting fact said the researcher Sergei Petrov, who studied the design of the Manege for many years in the position of head of the Main Directorate for the Protection of Monuments of the USSR. It turns out that in order to preserve wooden structures, in the time of Beauvais, the entire attic was covered with shag. For half a metre. All kinds of rodents and insects do not like this smell. Despite the fact that the shag itself was smoked out during the war of 1941-1945, all the structures were as good as new in the seventies of the XX century. But even then there was still a thick smell of tobacco in the attic.
It is interesting that the incident with the shag in the Manezh draws a beautiful trail of cultural associations. Associations concern, first of all, the history of domestic architecture. That's after all - shag! Saying this, today almost exotic, word, how can one not recall the symbol of the transformations of modern Moscow - the Maxim Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture, on the territory of which in 1923 the first All-Union Agricultural Exhibition - the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition was located. And its symbol for future generations was the Makhorka pavilion, built by the young architect Konstantin Melnikov, one of the first examples of avant-garde form creation.
Sergei Khachaturov
How Moscow streets were namedThen the square was filled with small shops, and they disappeared only by 1937. And in 1938, the area between the cathedral and the Kremlin wall was officially included in the structure. So she lost her own name.
When cultural and sporting events began to be held here, it was necessary to give this place a name. It is not known who came up with this name, but it was spread by TV and radio presenters who reported on the events taking place here.
One of the scandalous events of the Soviet era is connected with Vasilyevsky Spusk. In May 1987, here, on Vasilyevsky Spusk, and not on Red Square, a plane landed.
Landed 19-year-old German amateur pilot Matthias Rust. On a Cessna-172B Skyhawk light aircraft, he took off from Hamburg and made an intermediate landing in Helsinki for refueling. The pilot told the dispatch service that he was flying to Stockholm, but soon headed for Moscow. Rust crossed the state border, all air defense lines and landed next to - in the very center of the capital.
The scandal was unheard of! The party leadership was confused: the USSR had just recovered from the Chernobyl disaster and could not make another mistake. The generals claimed they could shoot down Rust's plane, but preferred to let him land. However, an urgent meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU and 74 people removed from their posts say that Rust was not expected. There is also a version that this episode was Gorbachev's provocation in order to clean up the generals and put people loyal to him there.
Matthias Rust himself called his flight a gesture of peace. But the Soviet authorities regarded it as hooliganism and illegal crossing of the state border. The pilot was sentenced to 4 years and pardoned after 15 months.
They say that...... after Rust's landing, Red Square was dubbed Sheremetyevo-3, and a joke went around the country that a police post was set up near the fountain in case an American submarine surfaced.
Among the servicemen of the aviation fighter regiments of the air defense troops there was an anecdote about two lieutenant pilots on Red Square, one of whom asked the other for a cigarette. The other replied: “What are you? No smoking at the airport!
There was also this joke:
- Mikhail Sergeevich, Matthias Rust sat down on Red Square!
- So I should go meet?
And Rust was also called the “Sokolov fighter”, because after his flight, Sokolov was removed from the post of Minister of Defense.
...who came to Vasilyevsky Spusk the curious were told that the plane was standing on the square because they were filming a movie.
... on Vasilyevsky Spusk they planned to stretch the first
The modern Vasilyevsky Spusk Square, where many residents of the Russian capital love to stroll, runs along almost the entire Kremlin, connecting the Kremlin Embankment with the main square of Moscow.
On the map of the capital, this territory appeared after a large-scale fire that engulfed Moscow in 1812. Before that, the most ordinary residential buildings were located on the site of Vasilyevsky Spusk. After the work, during which the diversion archer of the Constantine-Eleninsky Kremlin gate was demolished and the moat was filled up, the descent, named after St. Basil's Cathedral, was cleared here. At the same time, the plan assumed the complete preservation of the buildings stretching from the banks of the Moscow River to the Church of the Intercession. By 1909, along the Vasilievsky Spusk square, tracks were laid along which the tram traveled. However, a few decades later, the vast majority of the old buildings were destroyed as a result of the construction of the Moskvoretsky Bridge.
At present, Vasilievsky Spusk Square, which is a little less than three hundred meters long, is one of the most popular places for organizing all kinds of rallies, concert shows, sports competitions, as well as solemn and festive events held in the open air.
How to get there
You can get to Vasilyevsky Spusk Square from the Kitai-Gorod metro station along Ilyinka or Varvarka streets, or from the Okhotny Ryad metro station through Red Square.
Big Moskvoretsky bridge. Photo of 1930-1935 from the TsIGI fund
Today Vasilevsky Spusk is known for hosting all sorts of shows and concerts. It is hard to believe, but free space appeared here not so long ago, in 1936, when the buildings standing on this slope were demolished to make room for the passage of demonstrations and traffic along the new Moskvoretsky Bridge, built by academician Shchusev a little to the left of the place where the old bridge stood.
Vasilievskaya Square. Photos from 1900-1910
And before, the space between Moskvoretskaya Street and Vasilyevskaya Square was occupied by a long block, and life was in full swing in each of its houses. It was especially interesting in the 19th century in one ancient building, called for old memory "yamsky order". It was inhabited by shoemakers, for the most part single handicraftsmen, sometimes united in artels of 2-3 people, which did not have much use for joint work, but helped to fool the authorities. When an official came from a craft or city government to check trade certificates, all the “stowaways” hid in all directions, and the inspector spoke his teeth and averted his eyes from the owner of a legal piece of paper, skillfully pretending that he was the only one working here on three workbenches at once.
But when the buyer entered the “Yamskaya Prikaz”, literally a lot of people crawled out of all the cracks, and everyone grabbed the breadwinner by the sleeve and dragged them to show their goods, the cheapest in the city. They really came here in search of cheapness, at the risk of running into a completely worthless product, but hoping for their own buying experience and good luck. Not everyone was lucky: a new thing could easily part with a heel or a sole halfway to the house.
The female part of the population also took an active part in business.
“Cheap warm goods were traded even near the Kremlin wall - down from the Spassky Gate to the Moscow River there was a row of tents with stockings, mittens, scarves, hand-knitted jerseys. The merchants of this product immediately made it, sitting knitting at their tents. Some traders sold their goods by hand and walked around hung with stockings, scarves, and kerchiefs.
(I. Belousov, "Gone Moscow")
Moskvoretskaya street. Postcard from 1900-1910
More respectable merchants were located closer to Zaryadye.
“There are shops selling spices along Moskvoretskaya Street; there is always a strong smell. They sell wax and church candles, as well as soap and the famous Murom tallow candles at that time. They were so strong that merchants in the winter in the cold knocked them one against the other, and they did not crack or break. They gave little soot and burned brightly.
On the opposite side they sold ropes, matting, various papers, and on the very corner near the bridge there were live-fish shops with cages on the river, from where Moscow was supplied with arshin live sterlets.
(P. I. Bogatyrev, “Moscow antiquity. Kitay-Gorod”)
Moskvoretskaya embankment. Chromolithograph from the collection of the US Library of Congress (1890)
The section of the wall of Kitay-Gorod with the Moskvoretsky Gates, dismantled in 1819, adjoined the wall of the Kremlin near the Moskvoretskaya Tower, which was also called Beklemishevskaya in another way - behind it, in the corner of the Tainitsky Garden, stood the chambers of the boyar Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev in the 16th century. In the basement of this tower, a secret well has been preserved, which, in the event of a siege of the Kremlin, was supposed to supply water to the defenders of the fortress.
The next tower, Konstantin-Eleninskaya, got its name from the church of Saints Constantine and Helena, built in the middle of the 14th century and destroyed in 1928. In the tower you can see the contour of the gate, bricked up in the 18th century and almost hidden by the lawn. From the gates of the tower, which stood on this site in 1380, Dmitry Donskoy left the Kremlin with his soldiers, heading for the Kulikovo field. Then in front of the tower there was a bridge across the moat and a diversion archer like the one we saw next to the Manezh, only wooden, like the whole Kremlin in those days. During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, Spassky became the main gate, and in the Konstantin-Eleninskaya tower, having laid the passage, they placed a robbery order, and since then the tower was nicknamed Torture.
Kremlin wall. Postcard 1914-1917
The next tower is Nabatnaya. The sound of a bell hanging on it notified the inhabitants of Moscow about a fire or an enemy attack. The instigators of the plague riot also sounded the alarm, and the townspeople who fled to Red Square captured the Kremlin. The next day, the riots were suppressed, and severe punishment was suffered by all who fell into the hands of the authorities. Even got the bell. The enraged Catherine II ordered him to pull out his tongue. The bell, deprived of its voice, was removed from the tower in 1817 and transported to the Arsenal. Today it is stored in the Armory, and no one knows where the language is located.
Due to the subsidence of the ground, the Nabatnaya Tower deviated quite noticeably from the vertical - in the upper part by almost a meter - but after the foundation was strengthened, the angle of inclination ceased to increase.
The smallest of the towers, resembling a teremok, is called Tsarskaya. They say
that from her Ivan the Terrible liked to watch fistfights when they were staged on Red Square. But this is nothing more than a legend - the Tsarskaya Tower was already built under Alexei Mikhailovich, and fistfights were usually held on the ice of the Moscow River.
In fact, the Tsar’s is not even a tower, but just a small tent on the wall, which is needed exclusively for entourage: during special celebrations, the tsar showed himself to the assembled people, standing under this canopy and enjoying the general rejoicing. With the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg, this and another custom of these places ceased - they stopped taking out a box from the gates of the Spasskaya Tower, into which it was allowed to lower petitions to the sovereign.
Unknown artist of the 19th century. "View from the Spassky Gate".
Until 1648, these gates, like the tower, were called Frolovsky, after the churches of Frol and Lavra nearest to them, and the new name was established by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, when the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands was transferred from the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin to the Novospassky Monastery in a solemn procession. On the Frolovsky Gate, through which the procession moved, an image of the Savior in a golden robe was placed, and it was ordered to call the gate Spassky, and to walk with it only with an uncovered head. It was also forbidden to pass through the gate on horseback, and if someone dared to ride on horseback or go through without removing their headgear, the guard archers were supposed to stop him and force him, regardless of rank and rank, to put up to 50 prostrations before the icon, “and if anyone opposes, punish that batogami.
Alexei Mikhailovich himself, returning from the Lithuanian campaign in 1655, entered the Kremlin with his head uncovered; but the emperor Napoleon, according to legend, almost fell off his horse in front of the gates, when a gust of wind blew off the cocked hat from the Corsican.
Spassky Tower. Photo from the 1900s
The Spasskaya Tower is most famous for the fact that it houses the Kremlin chimes. There was even such a play, if you remember, about how the wise Lenin in 1918 ordered not only to repair this clock, which was hit by a shell during the shelling of the Kremlin, but also to teach how to perform the Internationale. This historical fact. But if we talk about the facts, then the first mechanical clock in the Kremlin appeared in 1404 on the tower of the palace of Grand Duke Vasily I. They were installed by the Athos monk Lazar Serbin, and for this work the prince granted the master 30 pounds of silver. Every hour, a metal man struck the bell with a hammer, striking everyone who saw that curiosity.
And the clock appeared on the tower in 1624, when in its tent, specially built for this purpose by the architect Bazhen Ogurtsov, the Englishman Christopher Galovey and Russian craftsmen Zhdan and Shumilo assembled a mechanism made in England.
The clock was not completely mechanical and even looked rather strange from a modern point of view. The current hour was indicated by a single and motionless hand, under which a huge wooden dial covered with blue paint and studded with gold and silver stars rotated. The divisions in it were indicated not by numbers, but by the letters of the Slavic alphabet, so it would not be easy for you and me to find out the time from this watch, especially since there were not 12, but 17 divisions (after all, in our latitudes, the July day and December night last 17 hours)
The watch keeper climbed the tower twice a day - at dawn and at sunset, that is, when the sun crossed the horizon line - and manually set the dial to zero, only after that the mechanism began to automatically count the hours of the day or night.
Illustration from the book by S. P. Bartenev "Moscow, the Kremlin in the old days and now." M., 1912
The clockmaker of the Spasskaya Tower, when appointed to a position, gave an oath guarantee “at the business on the Spasskaya Tower in the watchmakers, do not drink and do not gossip with the mob, do not play cards and do not sell wine and tobacco, and I will become a thieves' people and not keep the arrival, and with thieves' people not a connoisseur, and to lead the clock with all fear without a hindrance and those clocks that there are buildings on that tower, which should be protected and not ruined.
Peter the Great, when introducing the Gregorian calendar, at the same time switched the country to a single daily countdown, so I had to order a new model watch in Holland - with two hands and a dial marked with the usual 12 divisions. When in 1706 the clock was brought to Moscow on 30 carts, the blacksmith Nikifor Yakovlev installed and started the mechanism, and soon chimes appeared on the tower - a device that plays a melody with the help of bells.
Shaft for chimes and part of the clockwork
The main detail of the chimes is a drum with a set of pins (pegs), as in a music box. When the drum rotates, each peg at a certain moment sets in motion the corresponding lever, which pulls the wire stretched to one of the bells, which bends down and, hitting the tongue, makes a ringing sound. Everything is simple. There are, in fact, only two difficulties: Russian church bells have a fairly wide spectrum of sound, and therefore it is difficult to use them where a sound that exactly corresponds to a certain note is required. In addition, “the wires by which the bell hammers are to be set in motion, being too long, swing; and in winter, from the influence of frost, they are reduced; from which the expression of musical sounds is not pure and wrong. Nevertheless, in the time of Peter the Great, the craftsmen managed to make the watch perform the march of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.
Clock mechanism of the Spasskaya Tower
S. P. Bartenev described the design of the clock as it was in the 19th century as follows: “The mechanism consists of four winding shafts. The 1st shaft is used for the movement of the hands, the 2nd for the striking of the clock, the 3rd for the striking of quarters and the 4th for playing the chimes. The shafts are set in motion by weights from typesetting circles, weighing 1/3, 1 and 2 pounds each. For each shaft, a weight of 7 pounds is collected, and in winter, when friction in the mechanism increases, up to 11 pounds.
Clock mechanisms from long operation fell into disrepair and died in fires, they were repaired or replaced completely, the chimes sang either the German song “Ah, my dear Augustine”, then Bortnyansky’s melody “How glorious is our Lord in Zion”, or even a funeral march “You fell a victim in the fatal struggle ...” - but be that as it may, it is now impossible to imagine Red Square without the Spasskaya Tower with its clock and chimes chiming every quarter of every hour.
Metro
If you are going to visit Red Square, then the first question you will have is the nearest metro stations to Red Square.
These are the stations Okhotny Ryad (1 red), Teatralnaya (2nd green line), Revolution Square (3rd blue).
The nearest metro stations for tourist walks are near - metro station "Library named after V.I. Lenin", subway station "Alexander Garden", subway station "Arbatskaya"(dark blue line, east exit) or subway station "Borovitskaya"- closest to the Borovitsky gates of the Kremlin and the exit to the Kremlin embankment.
For an overview of the remaining walls of the Kremlin near Red Square - stations: "Okhotny Ryad", "Theatrical" and "Revolution square"- for walks at the northern end of the Kremlin, and subsequent walks in the Alexander Garden or through Red Square.
The nearest exit of the metro station "Teatralnaya" to Red Square and the Bolshoi Theater,photo: © website
360° panorama of Red Square: St. Basil's Cathedral (direction: southeast), the Kremlin with Lenin's Mausoleum (1930) in front, the State Historical Museum (northwest) and GUM. The barely visible Resurrection Gate is to the right of the museum, the Kazan Cathedral is to the left of GUM, and the monument to Minin and Pozharsky is opposite St. Basil's Cathedral (originally stood opposite GUM). Photo: A.Savin,
Vasilievsky Spusk
Vasilievsky Spusk- nearest subway China town and Okhotny Ryad, with a short walk along the picturesque Varvarka street.
Square Vasilievsky Spusk- an area located from Red Square to the Kremlin embankment along the Kremlin wall. Solemn, festive and sporting events are often held on the square.
Until the 1930s, Vasilyevsky Spusk was still built up with the old district, which was finally liquidated with the construction of a new bridge.
Initially, on the site of the current square in the 18th century, houses were located up to the very moat that surrounded the Kremlin. The square was formed as a result of reconstruction carried out at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1909, trams began to run through the square. In 1936 the buildings on the square were demolished. Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge connects the square with Bolshaya Ordynka Street (through the Small Moskvoretsky Bridge). The current bridge was built in 1938.
Red Square is the city square of Moscow, the capital of Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal fortress and currently official residence President of Russia, from the historic shopping district known as Kitay-gorod. Red Square is often considered as central square Moscow and all of Russia, since the main streets of Moscow, which are connected to the main roads of Russia, originate in the square.
origin of name
The name Red Square does not come from the color of the surrounding bricks (which, in fact, were whitewashed at some point in history), nor from the connection between the color red and communism. Rather, it appeared, because the Russian word "red" can mean both "red" and "beautiful" (the latter is rather archaic). This word, meaning "beautiful", was originally applied to St. Basil's Cathedral, and later transferred to the nearby square. It is assumed that it acquired its current name (instead of the old "Fire", or "burnt place") in the 17th century. Several ancient Russian cities, such as Suzdal, Yelets and Pereslavl-Zalessky, call their main squares Red Square.
Story
The rich history of Red Square is reflected in many paintings by Vasily Surikov, Konstantin Yuon and others. It was intended to serve as Moscow's main market. The square was also the site of various public ceremonies and official announcements, and sometimes the coronations of Russian Tsars. The square was built gradually, as it has been used for official ceremonies by all Russian governments since its inception.
Red Square in the painting Vasnetsov V. M.
Red Square before the 18th century
The eastern side of the Kremlin triangle, which lies next to Red Square and is located between the rivers Moskva and now underground river Neglinnaya is recognized as the most vulnerable side to attack, since it is not protected by rivers or any other physical barriers, like other sides. In this way, Kremlin wall built for greatest height on this side, and the Italian architects involved in the construction of these fortifications persuaded Ivan the Great to clear the area outside the walls to create a shooting field. Corresponding decrees were issued in 1493 and 1495. They called for the demolition of all buildings within 110 fathoms (234 meters) of the wall.
From 1508 to 1516 Italian architect Aleviz Novy organized the construction of a moat in front of the Eastern Wall, which connected with the Moscow River and the Neglinnaya, and was filled with water from the Neglinnaya. This ditch, known as the Alevizov ditch, is 541 meters long, 36 meters wide and 9.5-13 meters deep, built of stone. In 1533, it was fenced on both sides with low, 4 meters thick crenellated brick walls. On this side of the wall there are three gates of the square, which in the 17th century were referred to as: Constantine-Elensky, Spassky, Nikolsky (they owe their names to the icons of Constantine and Helen, the Savior and St. Nicholas, which hung over them). The last two are located directly opposite the Red Square, while the Constantine-Elensky - behind St. Basil's Cathedral. At the beginning of the 19th century, the arch of the Constantino-Helena Gate was paved with brick. The Spassky Gate was the main gate of the Kremlin and was used as a royal entrance. From these gates, wooden and (and after improvements in the 17th century) stone bridges were stretched across the moat. Books were sold on them, and stone platforms for cannons were built nearby - “peals”. The Tsar Cannon was located on the platform near the Execution Ground.
The area was called the Great Bargaining or simply Bargaining, and then Trinity after the small Trinity Church, which burned down in a big fire during the invasion of the Tatars in 1571. After that, the area was named Pozhar. It was only in 1661–1662 that it was first mentioned in its modern name Krasnaya.
Bookshops on the Spassky bridge, near the main gates of the Kremlin.
Red Square was a marina and shopping center Moscow. Ivan the Great decreed that trade should be carried out only from person to person, but over time, this rule softened and permanent trading facilities began to appear on the square. After a fire in 1547, Ivan the Terrible reorganized the wooden shops on the eastern side into shopping arcades. Ilyinka and Varvarka streets were divided into Upper (now GUM), Middle and Lower rows, although the latter were already in Zaryadye.
After several years, the Cathedral of the Intercession Holy Mother of God, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral, was built on the moat during the reign of Ivan IV. It was the first building that gave the square its characteristic modern silhouette (the pyramidal roofs on the Kremlin towers had not yet been built). In 1595, the wooden stalls were replaced with stone ones. By this time, a brick platform was also built for the proclamation of royal decrees, known as the Execution Ground.
Red Square was considered sacred place. Various festive processions were held on it, and on Palm Sunday the famous “procession on a donkey” was organized, in which the Patriarch, sitting on a donkey, accompanied by the tsar and the people, left St. Basil’s Cathedral in the Kremlin.
During the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow in 1612, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky entered the Kremlin through the square. In memory of this event, he built the Kazan Cathedral, in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which accompanied his army on a campaign.
At the same time (1624-1625), the Spasskaya Tower received modern shop roofs. This was done at the suggestion and drawing of Christopher Galloway of England, who was called in to design the new tower clock. He also proposed a plan for a tent over the clock. In the middle of the century, a gilded double-headed eagle was installed at the top of the tower. After that, the area became known as Beautiful.
At the end of the 17th century (1679–1680), the area was cleared of all wooden structures. Then all the towers of the Kremlin received tents, with the exception of Nikolskaya. One was erected on the wall above Red Square (the so-called Tsar's Tower, so the king could observe the ceremony on the square from this place). Also, tents were built over the Resurrection Gates, which are part of the Kitaigorod wall. It was a fortified gate to the Voskresensky Bridge across the Neglinnaya River.
In 1697 and 1699, the gates on both sides of the Resurrection Bridge were rebuilt into large stone buildings: the Mint and Zemsky Prikaz (the body responsible for city affairs and law and order). Zemsky Prikaz (on the site of the current Historical Museum) was known as the Main Pharmacy, founded by order of Peter the Great. In 1755, the first Russian university was initially housed in the Zemsky Prikaz building before moving to a better-known building on Mokhovaya Street across from Manezhnaya Square. At the same time, the (by that time already dried up) Alevizov moat was used as a garden of the state pharmacy for growing medicinal plants.
Painting by Fyodor Yakovlevich Alekseev. Red Square with St. Basil's Cathedral and the Moscow Kremlin in the background. 1801.
In 1702, the first public theater in Russia was built near the Nikolsky Gates. It stood until 1737, when it was destroyed by fire. In the 1730s, a new mint building, called the Provincial Administration, was built in front of the old one.
During the reign of Catherine the Great, it was decided to improve the square. In 1786, the upper row of the trading rows of the lines was built of stone. This row was located on the opposite side of the square, near the moat between the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers. Later, the architect Matvey Kazakov erected (in the old forms) a new Execution Place of hewn stone, slightly to the west of the place where it used to be.
Red Square 19th century and early 20th century
In 1804, at the request of the merchants, the square was paved with stone. In 1806, the Nikolskaya Tower was reconstructed in the Gothic style; it also received a hipped roof. A new stage in the improvement of the square began after the invasion of Napoleon and the fire in 1812. The moat was filled in in 1813, and rows of trees were planted in its place. The trading rows along the moat collapsed after the fire and were demolished, and on the eastern side, Osip Bove built new buildings for the rows in the Empire style. In 1818, a monument to Minin and Pozharsky was erected, which symbolized the growth of patriotic consciousness during the war.
Time series on Red Square, early 20th century
In 1874, the historic building of the Zemsky Prikaz was demolished. In its place, the Imperial Historical Museum was built in the pseudo-Russian style. After the rows of Beauvais were demolished, new ones were erected in their place from 1888 to 1893 big buildings also in pseudo-Russian style: Upper (GUM) and Middle rows. The upper ones were intended for retail trade and together they actually entered the first department store in Moscow. The middle rows were intended for wholesale trade. At the same time (in 1892) the square was lit up with electric lamps. In 1909, a tram appeared on the square for the first time.
Modern stage
V Soviet time, Red Square retained its significance, becoming the center for the new state. In addition to being the official address of the Soviet government, the square has been known as a military parade ground since 1919. The Lenin Mausoleum has been part of the square complex since 1924, and also as a tribune for dignitaries at all national celebrations. In the 1930s, the Kazan Cathedral and the Iverskaya Chapel with the Resurrection Gates were demolished to make way for heavy military equipment passable through the square (later both structures were restored after the fall of the Soviet Union). There were plans to demolish Moscow's most recognized building, St. Basil's Cathedral, and to make room for the expansion of Red Square, including the State Historical Museum. Legend has it that Lazar Kaganovich, Stalin's associate and director of the Moscow reconstruction plan, prepared a special model of Red Square in which the cathedral could be removed and brought it to Stalin to show how the cathedral obstructed parades and traffic. But when he pulled the cathedral out of the model, Stalin retorted with a rather famous quote: “Lazar! Put it back!"
Two of the most significant military parades on Red Square on November 7, 1941, when the city was besieged by the Germans and troops left Red Square for the front line, and the Victory Parade in 1945, when the banners of the defeated fascist army were thrown to the foot of the Lenin Mausoleum. The Soviet Union held many parades on Red Square in honor of May Day, Victory Day and the anniversary of the October Revolution, which consisted of propaganda, flags, a demonstration of workers, a march of troops, and a display of tanks and a missile system. Military marches and parades were also held on Victory Day in 1945, 1965, 1985 and 1990.
On May 28, 1987, West German pilot Matthias Rust landed a Cessna 172 light aircraft on Red Square after flying to St. Basil's Cathedral, causing a big scandal in the Soviet air defense forces.
In 1990, the Kremlin and Red Square became the first sites in the USSR to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Red Square also served as a venue for high-profile concerts. Linkin Park, The Prodigy, t.A.T.u., Shakira, Scorpions, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Red Hot Chili Peppers and other celebrities performed there. It also hosted New Year's celebrations in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and created an ice rink. Paul McCartney's performance was a historic moment for many, as the Beatles were banned in the Soviet Union, preventing any of them from performing live there. The Soviet Union also banned sales of Beatles records. While McCartney's performance was historic, he was not the first Beatle to perform in Russia. Former Beatle Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band performed at the Rossiya Hall in Moscow in August 1998.
In January 2008, Russia announced that it would resume the parade of military equipment across Red Square, although the latest restoration of the Iberian Gates is complicated by the closure of one of the existing passages along the Historical Museum to heavy vehicles.
In May 2008, Russia held its annual Victory Parade, marking the 63rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. For the first time since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the Russian military vehicles marched across the square. On December 4, 2008, the KHL announced that they would play their first All-Star Game on January 10 at an outdoor venue on Red Square.
On May 9, 2010, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Germany's surrender in 1945, the armed forces of France, Britain and the United States of America marched in the Victory Day parade in Moscow for the first time in history.
On November 10, 2013, Pyotr Pavlensky, a Russian performance artist, reportedly sat naked in the square for an hour and a half with a nail driven through his scrotum into the ground before police took him away. According to him, the action was a metaphor for "apathy, apathy and fatalism in modern Russian society."
Main attractions
The buildings surrounding the square all have meaning in one way or another. The Lenin Mausoleum, for example, contains the embalmed body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union. Not far from the south side is the intricately bright domed St. Basil's Cathedral, as well as the palaces and cathedrals of the Kremlin.
On the eastern side of the square is GUM and next to it is the restored Kazan Cathedral. The north side is occupied by the State historical museum, whose outlines repeat the outlines of the Kremlin towers. The Resurrection Gate and the chapel were restored in the northwest.
The only sculptural monument on the square is a bronze statue of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, who helped clear Moscow of Polish invaders in 1612, during the Time of Troubles. Nearby is the so-called Execution Ground, a round platform where public ceremonies used to take place. The statue of Minin and Pozharsky and Lobnoye Mesto were once located closer to the center of Red Square, but have been moved to their current locations to facilitate large Soviet-era military parades. The square itself is about 330 meters (1,080 feet) long and 70 meters (230 feet) wide.
World Heritage List
The Kremlin and Red Square were recognized as places World Heritage UNESCO in 1990, because of their inseparable connection with Russian history since the 13th century.
On Red Square there are interesting beautiful buildings, but, for my taste, they are not very compatible with each other, although each separately deserves attention. And its ancient views are much more attractive. The brick color of the Kremlin's walls adds to its significance, makes it more visible, while white gives it some solidity and restraint. St. Basil's Cathedral is perhaps the most striking element of the square, next to which only fairly modest buildings can harmonize, but this is Red Square, and there are none here. As for the nearest metro stations, if you are staying relatively in the city center and have free time I advise you to take a walk to the square. For example, it is quite possible to walk to the square of 3 stations, and besides, this is the only way to really get to know the city, to feel it. |
