No. 1, 2008

Moscow… This hoary colossus crowned with the towers of the Kremlin and with a golden crown of church domes, has been towering over the river of the same name for over nine centuries. It is the heart and the microcosm of the whole nation. Moscow has many faces: there is Moscow of smart and brightly-illuminated downtown and Moscow of gloomy and monotonous suburbs, Moscow of idyllic old-world merchant mansions and Moscow of gleaming glass-and-steel skyscrapers…

It is easy to travel in time and space here. Moscow’s cozy atmosphere-laden bystreets, its historic squares and green boulevards breathe century-old traditions and keep the memories of its famous residents – the icon-painter Andrey Rublev; the invincible Field-Marshal Alexander Suvorov; the great writers Alexander Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy; the composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky; many prominent architects, poets, artists and musicians whose names have gone down in the history of Moscow and Russia.

As you stroll across downtown Moscow, past the crenellated walls of the Kremlin and ancient Russian Orthodox churches and as you worm your way through the maze of quiet old-town streets, you may not realize that much of what you see goes way back to pre-Columbian times. Moscow was first mentioned in medieval chronicles of 1147, believed to be its emergent year, and its presumed founder, Prince Yury Dolgoruky of Vladimir, whose monument stands in the very center of the city, had no way of knowing what would become of a small settlement at the edge of his principality.

Over the centuries, Moscow gradually turned from a border fort into a major trading center. Its strategic position at the intersection of land and river routes gave it an advantage over the other towns of what later came to be known as Russia. In spite of frequent enemy raids which left it burnt down to the ground, Moscow would rise from the ashes again and again and, with the passage of time, became one of the world’s largest cities. As early as in the 15th century, Moscow already surpassed London, Prague and many other European cities in size and population by far.

Today’s Moscow is a dynamic modern megapolis, the economic and political nerve center of Russia. Moscow is the seat of the Federal Government, Federal ministries and departments, of the leading Russian banks and business companies.

Moscow is an age-old center of national culture. The city abounds in priceless monuments which are part of the world’s historical and architectural heritage: the Kremlin, the Novodevichy Convent, the restored Christ the Savior Cathedral, a garland of out-of-town manor houses which have survived to this day. Moscow’s theaters – the Bolshoi, Maly, Art – are world-famous. The Tretyakov Picture Gallery, the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum are in a class with the world’s richest collections of cultural treasures.

A sightseeing tour of Moscow will give you a world of new exciting impressions, introduce you to a modern multifarious Moscow and afford an insight into its dramatic past. Anyone who has visited our capital once will certainly wish to come back. It is not for nothing that Moscow by right ranks among the world’s most beautiful cities.