Kremlin

President of Russia

| A WORD TO VISITORS |
| SEND A LETTER |
| PHOTO ALBUM |
| DISCOVERING THE KREMLIN |
| SUBSCRIPTION |
| RUSSIAN |

National Priorities:
| Resolving the Housing Problem
| Russia in the CIS
| Economic Growth

RED SQUARE |

| Moscow Kremlin

Administrative buildings | The Kremlin Towers | The Kremlin Cathedrals | Squares and Gardens

Red Square

Ivanovskaya Square

Cathedral Square

Tainitsky Gardens

The Grand Kremlin Public Garden

The Alexandrovsky Gardens

Red Square

Red Square is the main square of Russia’s capital. Its history is inseparably linked with the history of the Kremlin. According to chronicles, the square took shape in the late 15th century, when Ivan III ordered that all wooden structures around the Kremlin, which were potential fire hazards, be pulled down and a marketplace be made instead. Thus appeared the first name of the site: Torg, or the Mart. Since then, it has always been a center of trade, unlike the grand Cathedral Square of the Kremlin.

In the 16th century, the square began to be called Troitskaya, after the Church of the Holy Trinity, which stood where the Cathedral of St. Basil was later constructed. According to documents from the 17th century, the square was then called Pozhar (Fire), and only afterward received its current name, whose first meaning is not red, but beautiful, fair, the best.

Red Square witnessed many historical events of major importance. In 1612, its bells rang out to meet the voluntary militia rallied by Minin and Pozharsky; two centuries later, they greeted Kutuzov’s army, which liberated Moscow from Napoleon’s troops. It witnessed the somber parade of 1941, when soldiers marched across the square and went from there straight to the front lines, and the unforgettable victory parade of 1945 with Nazi flags cast on the ground before the Kremlin walls.

|  | TITLE | SITE MAP | ABOUT THE SITE | RUS | | |