Sights in Moscow



The first place we were taken to see in Moscow was Red Square, which was truly awesome. In the picture here, you see the white building complex on the left is the G.U.M. department store (pronounced GOOM). It's not actually one store, but a collection of individual vendors. At one time the merchants set up stall on Red Square but then the G.U.M. buildings were created. Straight accross from G.U.M. is Lenin's tomb with reviewing stands on either side of it. Sadly, we did not get to see Lenin.

Behind him is The Kremlin which is not a building but a 'fortress'. These days the huge red brick wall with its 20+ towers contains the former palace, the Armory which is a tsarist treasure museum, and a host of cathedrals. More on that in a bit.

At the far end of the square in the picture, you see the 16th century St. Basil's Cathedral. With its 9 unique domes (cupolas) it must be the most photographed cathedral on earth.

The picture to the right here shows a closer view of St. Basil's. The statues in front of it are dedicated to war heroes from pre-Romanov days.

Because each of the domes is different and each is at differing heights from the others, there are photographs taken from all sides and angles. The inside consists of small rooms under each dome. The room in the tall central dome goes right up to the top of the dome; it's spectacular to look up in it because of course it's highly decorated inside as well as out.

The following picture shows St. Basil's from the opposite side, looking back towards Red Square and the Kremlin.




The big clock tower is one of the many towers in the Kremlin wall. The lower yellow building behind the tower contains the Armory (as I said, more on that in a bit).

Also inside the Kremlin are spectacular cathedrals with seemingly hundreds of dazzling gold cupolas.


To the right is yet another view of St. Basil's, this time taken more from the side and from an elevated position so you can see some of the glorious gold cupolas.

When you see a gold cupola in Russia, rest assured that it truly is - not solid of course, but gold plated.
Here are a couple of aerial views to show some of the cupolas.



Now, finally, here's the scoop on the Armory.




We also got taken sightseeing in other areas of Moscow outside of Red Square and the Kremlin. One of the most spectacular buildings we saw the the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This building is actually a reconstruction, just finished this year, of a building built in 1812 to commemorate the defeat of Napolean. It was stunning both inside and out. The inside had massive chandeliers and marble absolutely everywhere it seemed. The men in the bell tower were playing the bells as we were leaving. It was a wonderful experience.




Around the Kremlin were many many lovely old 19th century buildings such as the Bolshoi Theatre in the picture on the right here.

Our stay in Moscow was a visit to a world all its own.