Moscow - Red Square

Monday, 17 September 2018

Red Square is as impressive in real life as it looks in movies. The length of the "square" (really a rectangle) has the Kremlin on the southwest side and the GUM structure on the northeast side. The northwest side is occupied by the State Historical Museum, and the southeast side by St. Basil's Cathedral.

The Resurrection Gate lies between the Historical Museum and Kazan Cathedral.

The State Historical Museum occupies most of the northeast end of Red Square. Despite the presence of many red-brick buildings, the centuries-old Red Square is called "red" because the words "red" (krasnii) and "beautiful" (krasivii) are closely tied in Russian.

The wall of the Kremlin makes up one of the long sides of Red Square. "Kremlin" means "fortress" in Russian, and most cities and towns have their own kremlin, although many of the protective walls have been taken down. The Moscow Kremlin contains many of the most important government buildings, and the fortress walls are still largely intact.

The obligatory Red Square shot with St. Basil's in the background.

A closer look at the vivid colors of St. Basil's onion domes.

The other long side of Red Square, opposite the Kremlin, is the GUM ("goom"). Built in the late 1890s, it was originally a "main universal store" or "government universal store" (both words start with "G"). Since the collapse of communism, it has been renovated and converted into an up-scale mall.

Inside GUM are three levels of luxury shops. Name any luxury brand in the world, and you can find a shop for it in GUM.