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Moscow
Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: [mʌ'skva] listen (help·info)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. The urban area constitutes about 1/10 of the Russian population, thus making it the most populous city in Europe.
The city is in the Central Federal District located in the west of the Russian Federation. Historically, its position was central in the Russian homeland. It was the capital of the former Soviet Union, and of Muscovite Russia, the pre-Imperial Russia. It is the site of the famous Kremlin, which serves as the center of the national government.
Moscow is also well known as the site of the Saint Basil's Cathedral, with its elegant onion domes. The Patriarch of Moscow, whose residence is the Danilov Monastery, serves as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

History
The first reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when it was an obscure town in a small province inhabited mostly by Merya, speakers of a now extinct Finnic language. In 1156, Prince Yury Dolgoruky built a wooden wall and a moat around the city. After the sacking of 1237-1238, when the Mongols burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants, Moscow recovered and became the capital of an independent principality. Its favorable position on the headwaters of the Volga river contributed to steady expansion. Moscow was also stable and prosperous for many years and attracted a large numbers of refugees from across Russia.
Under Ivan I the city replaced Tver as capital of Vladimir-Suzdal and became the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. Unlike other principalities, Moscow was not divided among his sons but was passed intact to his eldest. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo. After that, Moscow took the leading role in liberating Russia from Mongol domination. In 1480, Ivan III had finally broken the Russians free from Tatar control and Moscow became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia, and parts of many other lands.
Moscow ceased to be Russia's capital when in 1703 Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast. When Napoleon invaded in 1812, the Moscovites burned the city and evacuated, as Napoleon's forces were approaching September 14. Napoleon's army, plagued by hunger, cold, and poor supply lines, was forced to retreat. In January of 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, was officially introduced in Moscow, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor. Following the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Lenin, fearing possible foreign invasion, moved the capital from St. Petersburg back to Moscow on March 5, 1918. During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet State Committee of Defence and the General Staff of the Red Army were located in Moscow. In 1941 16 divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), 25 battalions (18,000 people) and 4 engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. In November 1941, German Army Group Centre was stopped at the outskirts of the city and then driven off in the course of the Battle of Moscow. Many factories were evacuated, together with much of the government, and from October 20 the city was declared to be in a state of siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. On May 1, 1944 a medal "For the defence of Moscow" and in 1947 another medal "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" were instituted. On May 8, 1965 in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the victory in World War II Moscow was awarded a title of the Hero City. In 1980 it hosted the summer Olympic Games.
In 1991 Moscow was the scene of a coup attempt by the government members opposed to the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev. When the USSR was dissolved in the same year, Moscow continued to be the capital of the Russian Federation. Since then, the emergence of a market economy in Moscow has produced an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles.

Achitecture
The city was once known as 'sorok-sorokov' ('forty-times-forty'), in reference to the many Orthodox onion domes making up the city's skyline. The look of the city was changed drastically during Soviet times, mostly due to Stalin, who oversaw a large scale effort to modernize the city by, on the one hand, introducing very broad avenues and roadways, some of them over ten lanes wide, and on the other, destroying a great number of historically significant architectural works such as the Sukharev Tower and numerous mansions and stores lining the major streets, and various works of religious architecture, such as the Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The latter was demolished to make way for a huge skyscraper that was never built, and reconstructed in the mid to late 90s.
Ostankino Tower - the tallest free-standing structure in EurasiaStalin did build seven other skyscrapers however, allegedly inspired by the Municipal Building in New York.[citation needed] They form a series of huge, cathedral-like structures with intricate exteriors, and are given various labels: 'The Seven Sisters', 'Stalinist Gothic', 'wedding cake architecture' and so on. All seven can be seen from most elevations in the city; they are among the tallest constructions in central Moscow apart from the Ostankino Tower which, when it was built in 1967, was the tallest free-standing land structure in the world, before the title was taken by the CN Tower.
The Soviet policy of providing mandatory housing for every citizen or their family, and the rapid growth of the huge Moscow population in Soviet times, also led to the construction of large, monotonous housing blocks, which can often be differentiated in age, sturdiness of construction, or 'style' according to the neighbourhood and the materials used. Most of these date from the post-Stalin era and the styles are often named after the leader then in power - Brezhnev, Krushchev, etc, and they are usually ill-maintained. The Stalinist-era constructions, usually in the central city, are massive and usually ornamented with Socialist realism motifs that imitate Classical themes. However, small churches - almost always Orthodox - that hint on the city's past still dot various parts of the city. The Old Arbat, a popular tourist street that was once the heart of a bohemian area, preserves most of its 19th century or older buildings. Many buildings found off the main streets of the inner city (behind the Stalinist facades of Tverskaya Street, for example) are also examples of the bourgeois decadence in Tsarist times. Ostankino, Kuskovo, and other large estates just outside Moscow belonging to nobles from the Tsarist era, and some convents and monasteries both inside and outside the city, are open to Muscovites and tourists.
Attempts are being made to restore many of the city's best-kept examples of pre-Soviet architecture, and these are easily spotted by their bright new colours and spotless facades. There are a few examples of notable, early Soviet avant-garde work too, such as the house of the architect Konstantin Melnikov in the Arbat area. Later examples of interesting Soviet architecture are usually marked by their impressive size and the semi-Modernist styles employed, such as the Novy Arbat project, designed by Mikhail Posokhin.
Like in London, but on a broader scale, plaques on the house exteriors will inform passers-by that a well-known personality once lived there. Frequently the plaques are dedicated to Soviet celebrities not well-known to the outside world. There are also many 'house-museums' of famous Russian writers, composers, and artists in the city.

Visual, Performing and Other Arts
There are many museums and galleries in Moscow with collections that can be compared to those of the best museums in the West. Frequent art exhibitions thrive on both the new and the classic, as they once did in pre-Revolutionary times, and from their diversity in every branch of the arts - painting, photography, sculpture and so on - it would appear that the Muscovite art world is steeped in many traditions: Russian, Western, Oriental, both old and new. Two of the most notable art museums in Moscow are the Tretyakov Gallery, founded by Paul Tretyakov, a wealthy and generous patron of the arts who accumulated a very large private collection before donating it to the city, and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, which was founded, among others, by Marina Tsvetaeva's father. Currently there are two Tretyakovs. The Old Tretyakov, the original gallery in the Tretyakovskaya area on the south bank of the Moskva, houses the works of the classic Russian tradition, with famous pre-revolutionary painters such as Ilya Repin, going all the way back to early Russian icon painting with exhibits of rare originals by Andrei Rublev. The New Tretyakov, created in Soviet times, mostly houses the work of Soviet and a few contemporary artists, but there is some overlap between the two for early 20th century art. The latter includes a small reconstruction of Vladimir Tatlin's famous Monument to the Third International and a mixture of other avant-garde works by artists like Kazimir Malevich or Wassily Kandinsky, and Soviet propaganda. The Pushkin Museum is like The British Museum in that its halls are a cross-section of world civilizations, with many plaster casts of ancient sculptures, but it also hosts famous paintings from every major Western era of art - the work of Monet, Cezanne, Picasso and so on can all be sampled there.
Moscow is also the heart of Russian performing arts, including ballet. Theatres and ballet studios are very common in Moscow. The most famous of these are the Bolshoi (Big) and Malyy (Small) theatres, a centerpiece of Moscow; the Bolshoi is usually closed during the summer, but in 2005 it closed semi-permanently for reconstruction work. Ticket prices were as low as $1 in the Soviet era, but have increased dramatically since. The repertories in a typical Moscow season are exhaustive and modern interpretations of classic works, whether operatic or theatrical, are quite common.
Soviet films are integral to film history, and the Mosfilm studio was at the heart of many classics, both artistic and more mainstream productions. However, despite the continued presence and reputation of internationally renowned Russian filmmakers, the once prolific native studios are much quieter, and there are fewer independent cinema theatres in Moscow than there were around the end of the Soviet Union, having given way to multiplexes and recent Hollywood productions. The overall maintenance and condition of theatres has improved, though ticket prices are much higher and increase every year.

Transport
Moscow has five airports, Sheremetyevo International Airport, Domodedovo International Airport, Bykovo Airport, Ostafievo International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. The city is also the main rail hub for Russia, with daily trains to diverse destinations such as Vladivostok (~9,000 km) and Brussels (2,000 km) [1].
Local transport includes the Moscow Metro, an excellent metro (subway) system famous for its art, murals, mosaics, and ornate chandeliers. Begun in 1935, the system has 11 lines and more than 171 stations. The system is the world's busiest, with nine million passengers every day and trains every 90 seconds at peak times.
As Metro stations outside the city centre are far apart in comparison to other cities, up to four km, an extensive bus network radiates from each station to the surrounding residential zones. Suburbs and several city areas also connected with electric train (elektrichka) network. The buses are very frequent, often more than one a minute. Every large street in the city is served by at least one bus route and none of the city's 13,000 apartment blocks are more than a few minutes walk from a stop. There are also tram and trolleybus networks.
There are over 2.5 million cars in the city on a daily basis (as of 2004). Recent years have seen explosive growth in the number of cars, which have caused traffic jams and the lack of parking space to become major problems.
The road system is structured with sequences of radial and ring roads. The first and innermost, Bulvarnoye Koltso (Boulevard Ring), built at the former location of the 16th century city wall around what used to be called Bely Gorod (White Town). Boulevard Ring is technically not a ring—it is not connected and has a horseshoe-like shape. The second ring, Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring), follows the line of another 16th century wall—the Earth Wall encircling historic Earth Town. After the war of 1812, the Earth Wall was demolished and replaced by streets and gardens. During the reconstruction of the 1930s the Garden Ring took its current shape—the streets were widened, and the gardens were gone. The Third Transport Ring was completed in 2003, and the Fourth Transport Ring is being constructed to reduce traffic congestion. The outer ring, a large road called MKAD, forms the approximate boundary of the city. MKAD, along with Third and future Fourth Transport Rings are the only freeways within city limits.

Tourism
There are over 2.5 million cars in the city on a daily basis (as of 2004). Recent years have seen explosive growth in the number of cars, which have caused traffic jams and the lack of parking space to become major problems.
The road system is structured with sequences of radial and ring roads. The first and innermost, Bulvarnoye Koltso (Boulevard Ring), built at the former location of the 16th century city wall around what used to be called Bely Gorod (White Town). Boulevard Ring is technically not a ring—it is not connected and has a horseshoe-like shape. The second ring, Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring), follows the line of another 16th century wall—the Earth Wall encircling historic Earth Town. After the war of 1812, the Earth Wall was demolished and replaced by streets and gardens. During the reconstruction of the 1930s the Garden Ring took its current shape—the streets were widened, and the gardens were gone. The Third Transport Ring was completed in 2003, and the Fourth Transport Ring is being constructed to reduce traffic congestion. The outer ring, a large road called MKAD, forms the approximate boundary of the city. MKAD, along with Third and future Fourth Transport Rings are the only freeways within city limits.
Everyone is also required to carry their passport for identification and so that the registration can be checked by local militia, who also pose a problem. They are found all over the city but especially in and around Metro stations. Being underpaid, they frequently attempt to supplement their income by stopping people arbitrarily, checking their passports, and demanding bribes to prevent arrest over trivial reasons. Also, with the recent terrorist actions being associated with the darker-skinned Caucasian population, official police racism against all dark-skinned people is rife and the latter are likely to be stopped much more often, sometimes as much as thrice a week. Violent crime, especially but not only directed against foreigners, is also a frequent occurrence in Moscow.
However, the average tourist making a brief visit on a package tour is not likely to encounter any of these problems. The educated section of the populace are open-minded and can be very helpful; and expatriates who like making Russian friends find their curiosity and enthusiasm reciprocated and usually have fond memories of their stay, once they understand the system. While customer service is still something new to many Russian vendors, burgeoning Westernization means that high-profile and tourist stores all over Moscow may give you special attention if you are a foreigner.


Wikipedia.org