Susan's Shanghai Blog - Week 50

This basically is a random set of other pictures that I took while I was in Moscow.

According to the tour guide, this is the Kremlin Armory building. It is one of the oldest museums of Moscow. It started out as the royal arsenal in 1508, which produced, purchased, and stored weapons, jewelry, and other household articles for the Tsars. Alexander I of Russia nominated the Armoury as the first public museum in Moscow in 1806, but the collections were not opened to the public until seven years later. This is the current Armoury building, which was built between in 1844-1851.

All around town, I saw interesting little statues and decorations, like this, which reminds me of a music box ballerina. This is the Princess Turandot Fountain on Old Arbat Street, which was near where I stayed.

The walls of the Kremlin, near Alexander square along with an old entry gate with an eagle overhead.

This is a lovely fountain with horses in Alexander Garden, right next door to the Kremlin.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in in the Upper Garden of the Alexander Garden.

This is a statue of General Zhukov on Manezhnaya Square. He is shown on horseback as he appeared at the 1945 victory parade.

More pictures around the Kremlin and Red Square.

In front of ... there is this little tiny church. Then a few close-up pictures of the beautiful icons on the walls of the building/gate going into Red Square from Alexander Garden.

This is the Kazan Cathedral, also known as the "Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan". It is a Russian Orthodox church on the northeast corner of Red Square. In 1936, when Red Square was being prepared for holding the military parades of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin ordered the square cleared of churches and the building was destroyed. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kazan Cathedral was the first church to be completely rebuilt after having been destroyed by the Communists. The reconstruction was based on the detailed measurements and photographs of the original church.

The Monument to Minin and Pozharsky is a bronze statue in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. The statue commemorates Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who gathered an all-Russian volunteer army and expelled the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Moscow, thus putting an end to the Time of Troubles in 1612. Originally, the statue stood in the centre of Red Square, with Minin extending his hand towards the Moscow Kremlin. However, after the 1917 Revolution, the Communist authorities found the monument was obstructing parades on the square and discussed its demolition or transfer to some indoor museum. In 1936, the statue was moved closer to the cathedral to it's current location.

Obviously, St. Basil's Cathedral, which is the only church on Red Square that was not destroyed by Stalin. It goes by a couple names in addition to St. Basils Cathedral: The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, Pokrovsky Cathedral, and Cathedral of St. Vasily the Blessed. It was built between 1555 and 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and it commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. The original building, known as "Trinity Church" and later "Trinity Cathedral", contained eight side churches arranged around the ninth, central church of Intercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local saint Vasily (Basil).

One of my colleagues from Raleigh, Tom, in front of St. Basil's.

These are all pictures inside of St. Basil's Cathedral. I took tons of pictures (some better than others).