Tourists on Red Square and the Kremlin

Im going to cheat yet again! Thanks so much to my daughter Elsas weekly articles for the paper, I can drop a few pictures on a page and copy her article here and 'voila' we have a blog entry!

The first article I am going to insert is her Red Square, St. Basils and Kremlin article:

From Russia with: A Visit To The Heart

Red Square, the geographic center of the capital of Russia, is one of the most famous and important tourist attractions of Moscow.   I think Red Square itself is incredibly beautiful.  The architecture is amazing, a mix of modern shops in old buildings.  There is a large fountain that drains into a man-made stream filled with stone statues depicting Russian fairy tales. The fountain is surrounded by gorgeous gardens. 

 

 

The eternal flame constantly burns to remind Russians of their great losses in ‘The Great Patriotic War’ (WWII) . 

There is a golden circle on the Red Square that marks the spiritual and literal place were all roads start.   It is a Russian tradition for newly wed brides to come to this circle (in wedding gowns and all) and throw coins over their shoulder in hope of starting a new, fresh road in life.

St. Basils Cathedral sits on the edge of the Red Square and was built, not by coincidence, in the literal center of one of Russia's most beautiful cities.  St. Basils cathedral is a Russian Orthodox church.  Although it is mainly used as a museum, it still holds one service a year.  St. Basil’s was built by order of Ivan the terrible in the year 1560 by Barma and Postnik Yakovlev. Nothing else is known about the builders excepting a notorious legend saying that after the Cathedral was finished Ivan had them blinded so that they could not create anything that could ever compare to the thing of beauty they had created for him.  Later Stalin, during his reign of power, ordered that the historical Cathedral should be torn down because it presented a burier to the grand parades he wished to have in the square

 

 

 

The architect, who was ordered to destroy the Cathedral, bluntly refused and sent an angry telegram to the Kremlin.  He did save the Cathedral but he spent the next five years of his life in jail.

           Finally, the Kremlin an ancient walled fortress with many old cathedrals, modern government buildings, gardens and souvenir kiosks, is next door neighbors with Red Square and St. Basils.   The Kremlin is home to Moscow head of government and has been around to see some amazing things.  About 100 people are buried in the walls, their ages vary and so does their “rank in society”.  The one thing they all have in common is that they died for a good cause in the opinion of their fellows.  It was built by Ivan the third, the grand prince of Russia in 1485 and was finished in 1495.   The Kremlin's architecture and engineering are said to be some of the best in the world.

 

I think that Red Square and the surrounding pieces of architecture and history are worthy of all the pride and patriotism bestowed upon them by the people.

 

 

 

That ends Elsas Article.. She says it pretty well, so Ill stop at that!!!