"The Third Rome" a Moscow Travel Page by el_ruso

Moscow is the most populous urban area in Europe. The city itself officially has about 10 million, but the realistic figure is close to 15 million.

It was mentioned first in 1047 as a hunting castle of a prince of the Vladimir principality. It survived Mongol conquest, and beginning in the XIV century succeeded in uniting most of the lands of the ancient Kievan state, and even conquering its former rulers, the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates. It became the seat of the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church and served as a capital until it was moved to the newly built Peterburg in early XVIII century. Capital was moved back to Moscow in 1918. In Russian tradition, Moscow is considered "The Third Rome" after collapse of the second capital of Roman Empire, Constantinopolis, to the Turks and marriage of the heiress of the Bysantine throne to the Russian Grand Prince.

The main sites are: (1) Kremlin (castle) which contains palaces, castles and museums; (2) Red Square which adjoins it. It contains the Intercession cathedral, History museum, Kazan cathedral, Lenin mausoleum - all must-see sites. (3) Kitay-Gorod, the area to the East of Red Square also contains beautiful architecture, churces, museums. There are also many excellent museums, monasteries, ancient churches, other sites of interest. Explore my pages for more info.