Red Square
From Moscowiki
Krasnaya Ploschad, commonly known as the Red Square, is the main square in Russia.
The name of this symbol of Moscow suits it perfectly: "krasny" in Old Russian meant "beautiful". Once the Red Square was a centre of trade spangled with motley stalls whose boisterous owners offered bliny, kvas, candles, cloth and other goods. But shops and wooden churches in the Red Square were of great fire hazard so they were destroyed and a trading square turned into a place for open-air merrymaking.
Wooden buildings haven’t preserved, but some architectural masterpieces are still seen to the delight of Muscovites and tourists. Probably the most famous Russian church stands here is St.Basil's Cathedral. Monument to Minin and Pozharsky stands in front of the cathedral reminding every Russian about difficult moments in its history. In 1612, the country was devastated and Kremlin was occupied by Poles. But thanks to Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky Russia was saved.
Not far from this monument there is a stony area surrounded by a low barrier of white stone with a cast-iron fence known as Lobnoe mesto. In 1786 this construction replaced the ramshackle brick erection with a hipped roof, which was built in the first half of the XVI century.
Across the Square it is the last haven of the first Soviet leader – Lenin Mausoleum. After his death in 1924 it was decided to preserve the body and to construct a special building to keep it. Designed by Schusev, a pyramid of cubes cut from red granite decorated with marble and black labradorite replaced experimental wooden mausoleum.
In the middle of the Red Square one of the biggest shops of the country attracts millions of visitors every year - Main Universal Store (GUM). This place, known before the Revolution as Upper Trade Rows, has been "a shopping center" of Moscow for ages. Built in pseudo-Russian style, it consists of three passages, each three-storied, now called lines. A unique round glass roof 14 meters (43 feet) in diameter, designed by V. Shuhov, and the front decorated with dummy joint makes GUM one of the symbols of the Red Square, now easy recognizable for every Russian.
