Big cities and places of interest in Russia

I live in Russia and I love my native country. I'd like to tell a little about its big cities and places of interest.

The biggest city is Moscow, the capital of Russia. This is one of the biggest cities of the world where about 10 million people live. Moscow is located in the middle of the European part of Russia. Moscow was called after the Moskva-river which flows through the city.

The first written mention of Moscow dates back to 1147, this year is considered to be the foundation year of Moscow. At those times Moscow was only a small settlement, but it developed very fast. In the 14th century it was already 10 times bigger than 200 years earlier.

The Russian capital is known all over the world for its architectural monuments, as well as for other places of interest - for example, the Bolschoi-Theater, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum.

Moscow is also the Russian center of science and education. There are lots of universities, libraries, laboratories and schools here. Many young people from all regions of Russia, as well as foreigners study at the Moscow State University.

In 1712 the capital was transferred to St. Petersburg. Only after the revolution in 1917 Moscow became the capital of Russia again, or the USSR. Since that time it was very much enlarged.

St. Petersburg, the so-called second capital of Russia, is one of the nicest cities of the world. Peter the First founded St. Petersburg at the beginning of 18th century as a new capital of the Russian Empire. And since 1712 till 1917 St. Petersburg was really the capital where the Zar's family lived and all State institutions were accommodated.

Straight streets, spacious places and parks, rivers and numerous canals, embankments and bridges create the unique appearance of the second Russian capital. Famous museums and theaters like the Hermitage, the Peterhof, the Russian Museum, the Mariinski-Theater are attractive for millions of tourists from all over the world. Majestic architectural ensembles of the 18-19th centuries are unforgettable: the Peter-und-Paul-Fortress, the Smolny Institute, the Alexander-Nevski-Monastery, the Winter Palace and others.

There are many other big cities and places in Russia that very interesting and worth of visiting.

The Trinity Monastery of Sergiy is the biggest Russian cloister and is situated in the town of Sergiev Possad, not far from Moscow. The cloister was founded by Saint Sergiy of Radonezh in middle of the 14th century. The architectural ensemble consists of beautiful monuments which date back to the 15-19th centuries.

Baikal is of the biggest lakes of our planet. It is the also the oldest (about 25 million years old), and the deepest (1,637 meters) lake in the world. Baikal has the most various flora and fauna, if we speak of fresh-water reservoirs of the Earth. And, in addition, the volume and the quality of the supply of fresh waters are also unique in Baikal: there are about 24 thousand cubic kilometers of waters that amounts more than 20 per cent of the total world supplies.