Just off the square stands the splendid, soaring white bell tower of Ivan III; built in the sixteenth century and damaged in 1812, it was restored a few years later. At its foot is the enormous Tsar Bell, cast in 1733-5 bur never rung. Nearby is the Tsar Cannon, cast in 1586. Beside the gun are located the mid-seventeenth-century Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles and the adjoining Patriarchal Palace.
On the west of Cathedral Square is a group of palaces of various periods. The Palace of Facets - so called from the exterior finish of faceted, white stone squares - was built in 1487-91. Behind it is the Terem Palace of 1635-6, which incorporates several older churches, including that of the Resurrection of Lazarus, dating from 1393. Both became part of the Great Kremlin Palace, built as a royal residence in 183849 and formerly used for sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; its long, yellow-washed facade dominates the river front. It is connected to the Armoury Palace, built in 184451 and now housing the Armoury Museum, with a large collection of treasures of the tsars. Along the north-east wall of the Kremlin are the Arsenal (1702-36), the former Senate building (1776-88), and the School for Red Commanders (1932-4), The only other Soviet-period building within the
Kremlin is the Palace of Congresses (1960-1), with a vast auditorium used for political gatherings and as a theatre.
The Kitay-gorod is a historic quarter of Moscow and a major tourist site. Within the Kitay-gorod, along the east wall of the Kremlin, lies Red Square, the ceremonial centre of the capital and the scene of holiday parades. The austere Lenin Mausoleum blends into the wall, which itself contains the graves of most of the Soviet leadership. At the southern end of Red Square is the Church of the Intercession, better known as the Cathedral of St Basil the Blessed. Built in 1554-60 to commemorate the defeat of the Tatars of Kazan and Astrakhan by Ivan IV (the Terrible), it is a unique and magnificent architectural display, each of its ten domes differing in design and colour. Along Red Square facing the Kremlin is the late nineteenth-century former State Department Store - usually called by its Russian acronym, GUM (Glavny Universality Magazin) - now a privatized shopping mall, with its long aisles, iron bridges linking the upper floors, and vast skylights. The slightly earlier State Historical Museum (1875-83) closes off the northern end of the square. In 1990 the Kremlin and Red Square areas were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Many old churches survive in the Kitay-gorod. Of particular note is the Church of the Trinity of Nikitniki (1628-34), built for the merchant Grigory Nikitnikov. Other notable churches in this quarter are the fifteenth-century Church of St Anne of the Conception and the Epiphany Cathedral (1693-6). The Kitay-gorod was for centuries the commercial centre of Moscow, and its narrow, crowded streets still contain former banks, the stock-exchange building, and warehouses. Many of the old buildings near the river, however, were demolished in the 1960s to make room for the massive Rossiya Hotel (completed in 1967; torn down in 2006); nevertheless, a row of buildings, including the sixteenth-century house of the Romanov boyars, the Old English Embassy, and the seventeenth-century Monastery of the Sign, remains.
Moscow is also home to the country's national library, the Russian State Library, formerly the V. I. Lenin Library. It is notable for its extensive collection of early printed books and a collection of manuscripts that includes ancient Slavonic codices. Originally founded in 1862 as the library of the Rumyantsev Museum, it was reorganized after the Russian Revolution of 1917 under the leadership of Lenin, who had studied libraries in Russia and western Europe. Its initial collection incorporated the contents of confiscated private libraries and the Rumyantsev Museum collection. One of the largest libraries in the world, the Russian State Library contains more than 38 million printed books, periodicals, and serials and is the national book depository of Russia.
Cultural Life
Moscow has dozens of theatres. One of the most renowned is the Bolshoi Theatre, which was founded in 1825, though its present splendid building facing Theatre (formerly Sverdlov) Square dates from 1856. Also on Theatre Square is the Maly (Little) Theatre for drama. Another prestigious theatre, the Moscow Academic Art Theatre, founded as the Moscow Academic Theatre in 1898 by the actor, director, and producer Konstantin Stanislavsky and the playwright-producer Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, was especially noted in its early days for its performances of the plays of Anton Chekhov. In the late 1980s the Moscow Academic Art Theatre split into two companies, one of which is named after Chekhov and the other after Maksim Gorky. Also of worldwide fame are the Obraztsov Puppet Theatre (formerly the State Central Puppet Theatre) and the Great Moscow State Circus, which in 1971 acquired new quarters on the Vorobyovy Hills. The repertory companies of the theatrical groups tour frequently both in Russia and abroad. There are several concert halls, notably the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the two halls of the conservatory. Moscow's orchestras have won international repute, as have a number of Moscow-based folk dance and choral ensembles.
The museums and art galleries in the capital include several of international rank. Foremost among these are the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, with a fine international collection, and the Tretyakov Gallery. The latter, which began in 1856 as the private collection of a connoisseur, Pavel Tretyakov, is noteworthy for its superb collection of icons, including several by Andrey Rublyov. Other notable museums are the Armoury Museum in the Kremlin and the State Historical Museum on Red Square. The Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War (the Second World War) is part of the sprawling memorial site at Poklonnaya Hill that opened in 1995.
Beginning in the late 1980s with the Soviet policy of glasnost and continuing with the Russian successor government in the early 1990s, religious repression gave way to policies endorsing religious freedom, and houses of worship in Moscow underwent massive and pervasive renovation and returned to use. The Russian Orthodox Church reopened its network of museums for the first time since the early 1900s, and pedestrian routes created around Moscow's greatest sites are intended to increase tourism.