 Facts at a Glance
Area: 1035 sq km (405 sq mi)
Population: 10 million
Country: Russia
Time Zone: GMT/UTC plus 3 hours from October-March; plus 4 hours April-September
Telephone area code: 095
 History
The Kremlin and its surrounds were probably settled by the 11th century, but the founding of Moscow is traditionally ascribed to Yury Dolgoruky, Prince of Suzdal, who is recorded as giving a feast here in 1147. In 1237-38 Moscow was sacked along with the rest of the Vladimir-Suzdal realm by Tatars led by Batu, Genghis Khan's grandson. These Tatars set up a capital at Saray on the southern Volga and became known as the Golden Horde. Moscow, near river trade routes, became a princedom in its own right, and emerged as the Golden Horde's chief northern tribute collector. It wasn't until the late 15th century, under Prince Ivan III, called the Great, could Moscow cease paying tribute to the horde. By the end of Ivan's reign, Moscow's control stretched from Novgorod in the west to Tula in the south, towards the Urals in the east and to the Barents Sea in the north. Ivan brought Italian architects to build cathedrals in the Kremlin and styled himself ruler 'of all Russia'.
Ivan IV ('the Terrible') expanded Muscovite territory by launching the conquest of Siberia and winning control of the Volga. By 1571 the city had over 100,000 people and was one of the biggest in the world. Tsar Boris Godunov faced both famine and a Polish-backed invasion. The seven years after his death were the Time of Troubles - characterised by civil war, invasions and Moscow being occupied by Poland. The Poles were driven out and 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov was elected tsar by a council of nobles, launching the 300-year Romanov dynasty and a period of consolidation during which Moscow's territory spread southwards.
Peter the Great toured Europe in 1697-98. He built a new capital, St Petersburg, on the Baltic to open Russia up to Western trade and ideas and to consolidate military victories over Sweden. He disliked Moscow, where as a boy he had seen his uncle and his mother's advisers killed in a palace coup, and forced the nobility to move to St Petersburg and wear Western-style clothes, slapping a tax on beards, symbol of the old, inward-looking Russia. However, Moscow remained important enough to be Napoleon's main goal when his troops marched on Russia in 1812. After the bloody Battle of Borodino 130km (81mi) west of the city, the Russians abandoned Moscow and allowed Napoleon to march in and install himself in the Kremlin. The night he arrived a great fire broke out which burnt most of the city, including the stores. With winter coming, the French had to pull out little more than a month after they had arrived.
Moscow was feverishly rebuilt and the city's population grew from 350,000 in the 1840s to 1.4 million in 1914. October 1917 saw more savage street fighting in Moscow than in St Petersburg. The Bolsheviks occupied, lost and retook the Kremlin over an eight-day period. In 1918 the government moved back to Moscow after two centuries' absence, fearing that St Petersburg (Petrograd back then) might come under German attack. Moscow became the epicentre of the country's total reorganisation. Under Stalin, one of the world's first comprehensive urban plans was devised for Moscow. The first line of the metro was completed in 1935. German troops came within 40km (25mi) of the Kremlin in December 1941. After WWII huge housing estates grew up round the outskirts.
Moscow had been in the forefront of political change, and a thorn in the flesh of the national leaders, since the first whispers of glasnost in the mid-1980s. Boris Yeltsin, made the city's new Communist Party chief in 1985, became hugely popular as he sacked hundreds of corrupt commercial managers, set up new food markets and permitted demonstrations to be held in the city. This last was too much for the communist old guard and led to Yeltsin's resignation in 1987.
It was the rallying of Muscovites behind Yeltsin at Moscow's 'White House', seat of the parliament of the Russian Republic, that foiled the old-guard coup in 1991 and precipitated the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. By the mid-1990s Moscow was very much the vanguard of the 'new Russia', filling up with all the things Russians had expected capitalism to bring but which had barely begun to percolate down to the provinces: banks, stock exchanges, casinos, advertising, BMWs, new shops, hotels, restaurants and nightlife - money. And, of course, one thing no one had wanted - crime. The Mafia has its fingers in just about everything, and no one seems able to do a thing about it. The crime wave has been overshadowing the benefits of economic change in most Muscovites' minds.
July and August are the warmest months in Moscow and the main holiday season for both foreigners and Russians. Summer days are long and can be wet. By the end of November Moscow is frozen most of the time and serious snow arrives in December and stays until April. Spring arrives fast and with a great thaw, a month or so long, and people go a touch crazy.
 Orientation
Moscow lies in the center of what is known as European Russia. The border between Europe and Asia runs down the west side of the Ural Mountains, 1300km (805mi) east of Moscow. East from the city, then south, flows the Volga River, one of Russia's historic highways.
The Kremlin, a north-pointing triangle with sides 750m (2460ft) long, is at the heart of Moscow in every way - symbolically, historically and strategically. Red Square lies along its east side, the Moscow River flows past its south side. From here, Moscow spreads out in four distinctive rings of development, each area having its own collection of monasteries, museums and elegant buildings. Most of the city's sights are within the first circle - an area which can easily be covered on foot. Otherwise, Moscow is flat, flat, flat and has few useful landmarks for getting your bearings from a distance: probably the most prominent buildings are Stalin's ugly 'Seven Sisters'.
Moscow's five airports are all beyond the outer ring road, 30 to 40km (19 to 25mi) from the city centre. Sheremetevo-2, where you'll arrive if you fly in from outside the former Soviet Union, is to the north-west.
The Kremlin
The Kremlin is the place to which all Russian roads lead and from which most Russian power emanates. Here Ivan the Terrible and Stalin orchestrated their terrors; Napoleon watched Moscow burn; Lenin fashioned the dictatorship of the proletariat; Khrushchev led communism in the Cold War; Gorbachev unleashed perestroika; and Yeltsin struggled to keep reform afloat. The Kremlin occupies a roughly triangular plot of land covering little Borovitsky Hill on the north bank of the Moscow River, probably first settled in the 11th century. Today it's enclosed by high walls. Red Square lies outside the east wall. The Kutafya Tower, which forms the main visitors' entrance, stands away from the Kremlin's west wall.
Most vistors are surprised to see so many churches in what was, for decades, a den of militant atheism, but the Kremlin was once the centre of Russia's Church as well as its state. Start with Archangel Cathedral (the royal burial church), Assumption Cathedral (the burial church of religious leaders) and Annunciation Cathedral (icons, icons everywhere). Ivan the Great Bell Tower is a famous Moscow landmark, visible from 30km (20mi) away, with the cracked Tsar Bell at its foot. The towers lining the Kremlin include the Tower of Secrets (the oldest) and Gothic and Renaissance Saviour's Tower.
 Onion domes of Assumption Cathedral (16K)
Assumption Cathedral (11K)
 Come and keep your comrade warm
A visiting 19th-century French aristocrat, the Marquis de Custine, described the exterior of St Basil's Cathedral as `a sort of irregular fruit bristling with excrescences, a cantaloupe melon with embroidered edges'. The exterior is so magical that the interior is a bit of an anticlimax. Nearby, you can still pay your respects at Lenin's tomb. Bordering Red Square, the magnificent GUM (State Department Store) was built in the 19th century to house 1000 shops. The hefty building north of Red Square is the stuff of nightmares and airport novels. It housed the KGB and the notorious Lubyanka prison.
St Basil's multicoloured domes (14K)
A walk up the city's most famous thoroughfare, Tverskaya Ulitsa, reveals 19th-century palaces, 1930s apartment blocks and glimmers of colour bouncing off the domes of half-obscured churches. The Arbat, once the quarter of court artisans, is also a good place for a stroll, passing elegant buildings, Stalinist eyesores and a pedestrian precinct complete with buskers and souvenir-sellers. As much a fabulous museum as it is an underground transport system, Moscow's famous metro survives in all its Constructivist glory, with more chandeliers than Buckingham Palace and enough marble to fit out the kitchens of the world. Forty-four of its stations have been designated as architectural landmarks.
Kievskaya metro (12K)
Museums
The Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum, in the south-west of the inner city, boasts a broad selection of European works from the Renaissance onward - mostly confiscated from private collections after the revolution. The Tretayakov Gallery, near Gorky Park, has the world's best collection of Russian icons and a fine collection of pre-revolutionary Russian art. The Central Artists' House, next to the new Tretyakov Gallery building, is one of the places you're most likely to find good contemporary art. Past shows have ranged from 19th-century sacred art to the works of Gilbert & George. There are also numerous literary museums, usually situated in the houses of famous writers, such as Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and Lermontov.
Gorky Park
The most famous of Moscow's parks and gardens is Gorky Park, etched into Western consciousness thanks to a best-selling novel, a blockbuster movie and William Hurt's furry hat. The park stretches almost 3km (1mi) along the river and is a combination of ornamental garden, funfair and entertainment zone, hosting everything from science lectures to rock concerts in its auditoria. In summer, boats leave from the pier on river excursions, and in winter the ponds are flooded to transform the park into a huge ice-skating rink.
Novodevichy Convent
The Novodevichy Convent (New Convent of the Maidens), a cluster of 16 sparkling domes behind turreted walls in the south-western loop of the Moscow River, is perhaps the most beautiful of the city's convents. The convent was popular with noblewomen, who would often retire here, but it was also used as a prison for rebellious royals, including Peter the Great's half-sister and his first wife. The convent's cemetery is Moscow's most prestigious resting place after the Kremlin wall. Sleeping peacefully are Chekhov, Eisenstein, Gogol, Khrushchev, Kropotkin, Mayakovsky, Prokofiev, Stanislavsky and Shostakovich.
 Off the Beaten Track
Sanjunovskaya Baths
The Sanjunovskaya Baths, in the narrow winding streets of the city's north, is Moscow's most famous bathhouse. These fading but grand 19th-century baths are a mixture of sauna and social club, with the sexes strictly segregated. For hours you can move between steam rooms and pools, interspersed with massages and birch-twig whippings. Traditionally men have a few beers with their mates while they steam themselves silly.
VDNKh
The vast propaganda park known universally as VDNKh (USSR Economic Achievements Exhibition), in the north-east of the city, was an early casualty when those in power finally admitted that the Soviet economy was a disaster. Funds were cut off in 1990 and it remains a frightening and decaying monument to Soviet dogma. Avenues stretch into eternity beside grandiose pavilions, glorifying every aspect of Socialist construction, and fountains embellished with lurid gold Socialist Realist statues. It's a bit of an embarrassment these days, so the exhibits are gradually being replaced with private advertising displays.
Street market (14K)
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre, in the inner north, gave the world Chekhov, revolutionised Russian drama and heavily influenced Western theatre. Founded by actor-director Konstantin Stanislavsky, the Art Theatre adopted a realist approach and stressed the importance of team-work by the cast, believing every player had something to contribute. There is also a Stanislavsky museum in the mansion where he lived.
 Activities
Moscow's a snowy place, and its sports are appropriately snow-centred. There
are a number of parks in the city where you can do a little cross-country
skiing, or if you're keen for speed there's a couple of downhill runs just outside the city. You'll feel like a real Muscovite if you strap on your skates and hit the ice on one of the city's many outdoor skating rinks - you might have to bring your own skates, as rentals are a bit hard to come by.
 Events
Moscow's festivals have shaken off their joyous-workers'-march past image and
are now shaking booty with the best of them. A great many festivals are derived from Orthodox church tradition. Orthodox Christmas begins with midnight mass on 7 January. Orthodox Easter, known as Pashka falls some time in March or April - it begins with a midnight church service, after which people eat special dome-shape cakes and curd cakes and swap painted wooden eggs. In odd-numbered years, the Moscow Film Festival hits the city's screens in Autumn. The Russian Winter Festival is pretty much a tourist affair, with troyka rides, folklore shows, games and vodka, and is celebrated between 25 December and 5 January. Sylvestr is the Russian new year celebration, and is the main gift-giving festival of the year, with presents placed under the traditional fir tree. Muscovites see out the old year with vodka and welcome the new one with champagne.
 Getting There & Away
Sheremetevo-2 airpot, 30km (20mi) north-west of the city centre, handles flights to and from places outside the former Soviet Union. There are daily flights by numerous airlines to and from nearly all European and many other world capitals, and many provincial cities, too. A flight from London or Paris takes about three hours, from New York about 10 hours. Four Moscow airports are devoted to flights to and from places within Russia and the other ex-Soviet states. Check-in for flights within the ex-USSR is supposed to close 40 minutes before take-off, but be sure to reach the airport well before that.
Buses run to a number of towns and cities within about 700km (435mi) of Moscow. Buses are reasonably comfortable but to most places they're a bit slower than trains, and less frequent.
Moscow has rail links to most parts of Russia, most former Soviet states, numerous countries in Eastern and Western Europe, and China and Mongolia. Moscow has nine main train stations, all with metro stations on the spot.
If you want to travel by car or motorbike, 10 major highways, numbered M1 to M10, fan out from Moscow to all points of the compass. Most are in fairly good condition at first but some get scraggy further out.
You can get between all five airports and the city centre cheaply by a
combination of bus and metro or suburban train. If you want to do it easily and smoothly, get your travel agent to book you a transfer, which means you'll be picked up and driven to your hotel for little more than the cost of a taxi.
The central area around the Kremlin, the Kitay-gorod and the Bolshoy Theatre are best seen on foot. To almost anywhere else the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to get around is on the metro and on foot. There are more than 150 metro stations, they're coin-operated and they're easy to use, with plenty of signage and maps. You'll rarely wait more than two minutes for a train. Buses,
trolleybuses and trams run almost everywhere the metro doesn't go, and are good for radial travel or for getting outside the centre. You'll need a ticket which punch inside the vehicle - tickets work on all three forms of transport.
The simplest way to get a taxi is to stick your arm out. Many private car
drivers cruise around as unofficial taxis. You should be able to get across town for US$5 or so. No driver uses a meter, so it's probably best to negotiate your fare before you get in. For long trips it may be better to pre-book a cab.
- Sir Fitzroy Maclean, a Scot whose lifetime affair with Russia goes back to his days as a diplomat in Moscow in the 1930s, has written several entertaining, intelligent books. His Holy Russia is a good short Russian history by a great storyteller, plus a walk through Moscow.
- One of the best books on any single strand of pre-Soviet history is Peter the Great - His Life and World by Robert K Massie - a good read about one of Russia's most famous and influential rulers.
- Lenin's Tomb by David Remnick, the Washington Post's Moscow correspondent from 1988 to 1992, won a Pulitzer Prize for its flowing account of the Gorbachev era and its end, combining analytic history with interviews of hundreds of people of all kinds.
- Discovering Moscow by Helen Boldyreff Semler is a lovingly compiled guide to just about every pre-1917 building of interest in the capital, full of detail about their inhabitants that brings the past alive.
- Blue Guide Moscow and Leningrad by Evan Mawdsley does a fine-tooth comb job on the architecture and history of both cities, dense with detail about every doorway you pass - an excellent reference book.
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