The Big Village

World Adventurer (November 7, 2003 Chautauqua)

    Moscow is the capital of Russia, and has a population of about 9 million people. The centre of government is the Kremlin, a red-brick walled fortress where the city has its beginnings.

   The area was probably first settled during the 10th or 11th centuries. In the following years it was the site of many battles between the natives and the Tatars, descendants of Genghis Khan's Mongol Horde. Eventually, Moscow became the centre of power, and began to expand into the surrounding areas. It was not until the 15th century, however, under a prince known as Ivan III (the Great) that they were able to free themselves of the Horde's influence. Ivan rebuilt the Kremlin, bringing in Italian architects to design new cathedrals.

   Ivan IV (the Terrible) greatly expanded Moscow's power east into Siberia and south to the Volga. By 1571, the population was about 100,000, one of the largest in the world. There followed a "Time of Troubles:" false tsars, civil wars, invasions, and Moscow being occupied by the Poles, before 16-year-old Prince Mikhail Romanov was elected Tsar. He founded a dynasty that ruled for over 300 years.

   Peter the Great built a new capital, St. Petersburg, on the Baltic to open up Russia to new ideas from the west. He disliked Moscow, as do most St. Petersburgers, who think of it as "just a big village, not a real city."

   It was important enough to be Napoleon's main goal in 1812. After his troops began their occupation, though, a fire broke out that burnt most of the city, including the food. The French had to pull out after only one month. Moscow rebuilt itself, and replaced the defensive works with tree-lined boulevards and parks.

   Fearing the occupation of St. Petersburg by the Germans, the revolutionary government moved the capital back to Moscow in 1918. Stalin began a comprehensive rehabilitation campaign, building many broad thoroughfares, demolishing half of the city's artistic and historical landmarks, and erecting seven great, grey neo-Gothic skyscrapers called, the "Seven Sisters."

One of the "Seven Sisters"

   The Nazis came close to Moscow during World War II, and a huge monument marks the spot, just outside the international airport Sheremetevo-2.

   After the war, huge housing projects were built. Planners shifted to building high rises in an attempt to keep the area of the city within its outer ring road.

   Since the fall of communism, these housing and state businesses have been sold off, and the old system of street names has been restored. There has been a great influx of luxury goods, advertising, bright lights, casinos, restaurants, and night life. It is an interesting mix of "new Russians," enjoying the spoils of capitalism in one of the most expensive cities in the world while the majority remain among the lowest paid. This is where I woke up on the grey and rainy morning of May 5th.

   Before I could enjoy the sights of the city, I had to worry about getting out before my visa expired. I went to a travel agency recommended by the "Lonely Planet" guide, called "Infinity Travel." They were very helpful, and got me some cheap flights to Poland, and then from Poland to Canada.

   After that, I headed to the centre of town to take in what I thought were the most important sites to see.

   I traveled around Moscow via the subway, which is a something to see in itself. The first station opened in 1935, and much of the early work was overseen by Nikita Khrushchev, who drove the workers as hard as possible, and more. Nowadays, as many as nine million people ride every day, more than London and New York combined. The first stations were dug very deep, so that they could double as bomb shelters. After someone realized you couldn't dig deep enough to escape a rain of American missiles, stations were built closer to the surface.

   Some of the deepest are quite an experience to get to, riding an escalator that goes down five stories. Once on the platform, riders can enjoy great artwork before their trains arrive. The Komsomolskaya station has mosaics of Russian military heroes (as well as the heroic metro workers).  There are chandeliers to light the way. The Mayakovskaya has a central hall that is all stainless steel and marble (it won a prize at the 1938 World's Fair). The Novokuznetskaya has military bas-reliefs and ceiling mosaics, and the Ploshchad Revolyutsii features life-size bronze statues that illustrate the idealized roles of common men and women.

   My first stop was Lubanskaya Ploshchad ("ploshchad" means "square").

The Lubyanka

   This is where the Lubyanka Prison is situated. The Lubyanka was formerly the headquarters of the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security), or KGB. This is where enemies of the  Soviets met their fate. From 1926 to 1990, this square was known as the ploshchad Dzerzhinskogo, after Felix Dzerzhinsky, the KGB's founder. A statue of him dominated the square until it was removed by a mob in 1991.  There is now a humbler "Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarianism" in a little garden in the south-eastern corner.

   I left this area by a street called "Nikolskaya ulitsa," which passes through a neighbourhood called "Kitay-Gorod" (Chinatown). There is nothing Chinese about it. "Kita" refers to the wattling, or palisades, that reinforced the earthen ramp that used to surround the area. This is one of the oldest parts of Moscow, settled since the 13th century, and long a trade and financial centre. It ends by passing between the GUM and the Kazan Cathedral.

Kazan Cathedral

   The GUM, or Gosudarstvennoy Universalny Magazin (State Department Store) was to my left (southwards). It was built in the 19th century to house over 1,000 shops. GUM once symbolized all that was bad about Soviet shopping - long queues to look at empty shelves. It is now bustling with all manner of consumer goods.

The GUM store, with VE Day posters

   The Kazan Cathedral was originally erected in 1636 in thanks for the expulsion of the Polish invaders. It was a highly popular symbol of Russia's survival until Stalin had it torn down so that it would no longer impede the parades that were held in celebration of the workers and the revolution. It was rebuilt in 1993.

   The day was still quite grey, windy, and wet as I stood at the entrance of a 400 by 150 metre area so central to Russian history, Krasnaya ploshchad - Red Square.