The Capital of Our Country - Moscow

Moscow is situated in the European part of Russia. The area of Moscow is almost 900 square kilometer, if we talk only about the area inside the “Moscow Circular Road”, which was constructed in 1961 and marked the borders of Moscow of those days. But there are already many Moscow districts outside this border.

Moscow was called after the Moskva-river which flows round the city. Now a channel connects the Moskva-river with the largest river in Russia – Volga. There are also many small rivers and ponds in the city with quiet and cozy parks on their banks.

The beauty, the hugeness and the importance of our capital is a theme of numerous folk and modern poems and songs. And this is easy to explain, because Moscow has been playing the leading role in the life of our large country for many centuries.

There are many cities in the world which by the will of fate became the capitals of modern states, the megapolises, gigantic urban areas with millions of people living there. Moscow is one of them.

The year of 1147 is considered to be the date of the foundation of Moscow, because an ancient document, where Moscow is mentioned for the first time, dates back to this year. A small settlement grew very fast and in the middle of the 14th century it occupied the area seven times bigger than two centuries before.

During many wars and attacks of Tatar hordes Moscow was destroyed and burnt to ashes together with the city. But every time it was reconstructed and surrounded by walls, first wooden, later they were made of stone. In the 14th century the first stone cathedrals were erected here.

From the very beginning Moscow developed according to the radical-circular pattern. And later, when Moscow enlarged its borders further and further, another walls appeared, which were built on the same principle – with towers and gates on the crossings with the most important roads. And this structure is represented now by the main thoroughfares of the city – the Boulevard Ring and the Garden Ring as well as the Ring Line in the Moscow underground.

In 1712 the capital was transferred to St. Petersburg, and life in Moscow became very quiet without any important events. No big construction happened here up to the 20th century. Only after the Revolution Moscow got back the title of the capital of Russia (or of the USSR). Since that time it was very much enlarged and surrounded by new rings, which were more important for traffic. They are the so-called “third transport ring” (is being consructed now, ca 40 km) and the “Moscow Circular Road”.

Now Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world. About ten million people live in the city. The Russian capital is well-known all over the world for its historical and architectural monuments. There is also a lot of cinemas, clubs, concert halls, drama and musical theatres there. The Bolshoi Theatre is a world-famous opera and ballet house. Citizens of Moscow are proud of their museums and galleries. For examle at the Tretyakov Gallery you can admire a lot of masterpieces painted by famous Russian artists, as well as beautiful ancient Russian icons. And in the Museum of Fine Arts (or Pushkin Museum) there are the enormous collection of the Western European sculpture and painting.

Moscow is a scientific and educational centre of Russia. There are lots of institutes, universities, libraries, laboratories and schools. Moscow State University is attented by many young people from different parts of our country and abroad. It was founded in 1755. Russian scientist Lomonosov is considered to be the founder of the university. Today it is the biggest university in Russia.

People who live in Moscow are fond of going in for sports, and they also enjoy spending their week-ends in parks, forests and gardens. There are lots of stadiums, swimming-pools, sport-grounds and courts. The biggest stadium Luzhniki is a green park with many sports facilities. In 1980, when Moscow was the host of the 22nd Summer Olympic Games the Olympic Village, a lot of hotels and sport-grounds had been built.

Moscow is a very beautiful and interesting city. And I would advised everybody to visit our capital.