Moscow – the capital of our country

Moscow was founded in 1147 by the prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Moscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the capital of Moscow region. It stands on the banks of the Moskva River. More than nine million people live in the city. Moscow is the economic, political and cultural centre of Russia. Railways and numerous airlines link the city with all parts of Russia. Moscow Canal, Moskva River, and Volga-Don Canal link Moscow with the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Moscow covers the area of about 880 square kilometres. Concentric boulevards divide the city into several sections. At the centre of the concentric circles are the fortress Kremlin and the Red Square.

The Kremlin has the shape of a triangle with one side along the north bank of the Moskva River. A stone wall, up to 21 m in height with 19 towers, surrounds this triangular complex of former palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments. The Great Kremlin Palace, completed in 1849, is the most impressive structure inside the Kremlin. Other famous Kremlin palaces are the Granovitaya Palace (built in 1491) and the Terem (built in 1636).

Among many cathedrals, now used mainly as museums, are the Cathedral of the Assumption [e´sΛmp∫n] (Успения) and the Archangel [ֽa:k´eindჳel] Cathedral [ke´si:drel], each with five gilded domes, and the Cathedral of the Annunciation [eֽnΛnsi´ ei∫en] (Благовещения) (built in 13th-14th century), with nine gilded domes. The bell tower of Ivan the Great has the height of 98 metres. On a nearby pedestal there is the Tsar Bell (nearly 200 tons), one of the largest in the world. A recent addition to the Kremlin is the Palace of Congresses, completed in 1961.

St Basil’s Cathedral, a masterpiece of Russian architecture with coloured domes, stands at one end of Red Square and at the other end there is Historical Museum.

Other points of interest in Moscow include the Central Lenin Stadium, comprising about 130 buildings for various sports and the tall Ostankino TV tower, which contains a revolving restaurant and an observation platform. Moscow has a modern railway underground system (Metro) famous for its marble-walled stations.

Moscow is a scientific and cultural center with a lot of institutes, universities, libraries and museums. The cit} leads a vast cultural life. It has a lot of cinemas, clubs, concert halls, more than 40 drama and musical theatres, including the Bolshoi Theatre, the Art Theatre, the Mai} Theatre, the Vakhtangov Theatre.

Muscovites are proud of their museums: the Tretyakov Art Gallery, the A.S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and the State Historical Museum. Crowds of people visit Tretyakov Gallery admiring beautiful pictures of Russian painters.

There are a lot of big plants and factories in Moscow. Among the products are aircraft, high-quality steel, ball bearings, cars and other motor vehicles, machine tools, electrical equipment, precision instruments, radios, chemicals, textiles, shoes, paper, furniture. Food processing, printing, and the repair of rail equipment are important industries.

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