MOSCOW, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Red Square and the Kremlin

Visiting Moscow is best in late spring or autumn when the weather is warm and sunny, and there is simply no better place to begin your exploring than its historic heart: the Red Square (Krasnaia Ploshchad'). Much of Russia's turbulent history has played out either in public on the Red Square itself or in private behind the walls of the Kremlin (Kreml'). The Kremlin is a powerful mix of church and state, of European and Russian styles, and of historic and modern-day Russia. The Red square is an impressive and famous city square separating the Kremlin from the city's merchant center. Entering from the north end past the State Historical Museum, you will instantly recognize the multi-colored onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral (Sobor Vasiliia Blazhennogo) looming on the far side of the square. To the left of the square is the vast edifice that is GUM department store and down on the right are the towering walls of the Kremlin. Beneath the walls sits Lenin's Mausoleum, a step-pyramid structure housing the embalmed remains of Bolshevik leader Vladimir ... more