 | Panoramic City Tour. This tour is a great start to your trip and the best way to get acquainted with many of the city’s major highlights. Our professional guide will escort you on a route that includes Vorobyevi Hills where you will get an incredible view of the city from an observation point, you will proceed to Moscow State University which is an example of architecture from the time of Stalin, then on to Novodevichiy Convent, the Diplomatic Village, Victory Park, the Triumphal Arch, Kutuzovsky Prospect, the Arbat and much more. You will then proceed to Red Square and visit the famous St. Basil´s Cathedral and walk around the territory of the Kremlin.
At the very centre of Moscow, beneath the walls of the Kremlin, lies Red Square. Its history dates back to the distant past. Over the centuries, the square has changed its name many times. It was first mentioned in the chronicles of 1434 as the Trade Square, then, after the devastating fire of 1493, it was renamed Fire. In the 16th century they called it Trinity (after the church which formerly stood on the site of St Basil’s Cathedral) and in the 1660s it was given the name “Krasnaya”, which at the time meant “beautiful”, “best” or “main”.
Among the sights visitors will see are the statue of Minin and Pozharsky (the leaders of the People’s Volunteer Corps in 1612), the Mausoleum of Lenin, the Upper Trading Rows (including the State Department Store (GUM)), the clock at the Savior (Spasskaya) Tower – showing the most correct Moscow time, the History Museum, the beautiful Cathedral of the Intercession (the Church of St Basil the Blessed), Kazansky Cathedral and many other outstanding pieces of Russian architecture.
Many would think that St.Basil´s Cathedral alone would justify a visit to Moscow. This extraordinary building - the supreme achievement of 16th century architecture in Moscow - is now a branch of the State Historical Museum. With its ground plan in the form of an eight-pointed star, its nine churches and its bizarre domes, its vivid colours and its assortment of architectural elements, the church was originally built by Ivan the Terrible in 1555-61. It was called the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin (Pokrovsky Sobor) to commemorate the capture of Kazan, capital of the khanate of Kazan, on the festival of the Intercession of the Virgin in 1552. According to the chronicler, the architects of the cathedral, Postnik and Barma, were sent by God to Ivan the Terrible. There is a story that Ivan had them blinded after the building was completed; however, this is no more than a legend, for in 1588 - four years after Ivan´s death - Postnik and Barma added the chapel located at the northeast corner of the cathedral housing the tomb of the holy fool Basil (Vasily) by whose name the cathedral is known. |