A short walk brought us to the Alexandrovsky Gardens …
and on to the Resurrection Gate with the tiny C18th Chapel of the Iverian Virgin in front …
The original 1680 gateway, together with Kazan Cathedral just the other side were destroyed because Stalin thought them an impediment to the parades and demonstrations held in Red Square but they were rebuilt in 1995. We passed through the entrance to Red Square and expected to be amazed by the size and scale of the place, but they are setting up a temporary arena for an International Tattoo next week so most of it is partitioned off, rather reducing its impact.
Red Square was established in the 15th Century, under the rule of Ivan III, and was originally called Trinity Square after the Trinity Cathedral, which used to stand on the site where St. Basil’s stands now. Sometime later the name ‘Krasnaya Ploschad’ became popular. The word ‘krasnaya’ is ambiguous. Originally meaning beautiful in old Russian, it only came to mean red in more modern times. Commonly-held assumptions then that the ‘Red’ in Red Square referred to Communism, blood spilt – or even the colour of the monuments – are in fact misplaced! Oh, and it isn’t square, but rectangular!
So once inside, Kazan Cathedral is on the left and the huge Russian Revival red building on the right is the State History Museum.
Further into the square and the elaborate GUM facade runs for 240m down the left side. This huge store with three floors of very swanky shops topped with a glass roof is as spectacular now as it was when it was built in 1890. Pronounced goom, the initials GUM stood for the Russian words for State Department Store. When privatised in 2005, it was changed to Main Department Store, which fortunately also starts with a G!
At the end of the square is St Basil’s Cathedral, built by Ivan The Terrible to commemorate the capture of the Tatar stronghold of Kazan in 1558 on the Feast of the Intercession.
It contains 9 main churches, with the Church of the Intercession being the central one … very tall, some 47m, but only small …
and and Church of St Vassily the Blessed (aka Basil) one of the most elaborate. Vassily was a holy fool who personally humiliated himself to the glory of god and was revered by Ivan.
The inside is like a maze with narrow corridors connecting the other chapels which commemorate various victories during the Kazan campaign and are arranged round the outside the central church.
From the back of the Cathedral, there is a view towards the Kotelnicheskaya Apartments, one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters, the foundations of which were laid in 1947 to mark Moscow’s 800th Anniversary. Stalin had decided Russia was falling behind the USA as far as tall buildings go, and ordered the construction of these to jump start the skyline! Their official name in Russian is high-rise as skyscraper was thought too foreign.
We went to GUM and had lunch in Stoylovaya 57 which offers a nostalgic re-creation of dining in post-Stalinist Russia. We had salads and bread and cake and it was all very good for £8.57!
We wandered through the length of the building …
… and out the other side in time for the hourly Changing of the Guard by Tomb of Unknown Soldier, whose soldiers must have trained at the Ministry of Funny Walks!
We passed the entrance to the site of Lenin’s Mausoleum but had no interest in seeing his embalmed body.
Our bus back took us passed what was Lubyanka Prison, the feared destination of thousands of innocent victims of Stalin’s purges, then headquarters of the infamous KGB, and today the Federal Security Service.
I’d strained my calf muscle a couple of days ago and it hadn’t been too bad, but my ankle became a bit swollen and Chris raided the bar for ice and gave strict instructions about elevation and after a couple of hours it felt much better. Nonetheless, we decided to eat in the hotel and had a very nice meal, starting with vodka shots – for medicinal purposes of course! I tried Okroshka, a popular cold summer soup which comes with a neat pile of diced cucumber, potato, boiled egg, ham and herbs in the bowl. You are then offered kvas – fermented rye bread water or kefir – drinking yogurt to be poured round the outside. I find the kefir too creamy and chose kvas, which was very slightly effervescent and tart and very refreshing – a winner.
Off Travelling Together 