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Where It's At
Red Square, that familiar bricked expanse in the heart of
Moscow is located just outside the Kremlin, along its
Eastern Wall.
The word 'red' doesn't refer to the colour of the bricks or
to Communism. In Russian, the square is called 'Krasnaya Ploschad.'
The word Krasnaya means both 'red' & 'beautiful,' and
the latter, referring to St. Basil's Cathedral at the
southern end of the square. The cathedral is also the place
where the 20th Century Red Army paraded its tanks and missiles
to impress its leaders and frighten the world. |
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When the great fire of 1493 laid bare a vast area
between the Kremlin and the city Torg (Mart), the square was
left vacant and was turned into a market centre. At first,
the site of the future square was called the Pozhar
(Burnt-Out Place).
The Red Square of today is more than 500,000 square feet
of open land. It's a place where people gather to celebrate
official state events, to be photographed in front of favourite
sites, or just to drink in the historic splendour.
Meeting Lenin
On the western edge of Red Square, nestled up against the
exterior of the Kremlin wall, stands a monument to the founder
of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin's Mausoleum. Following
his death, in 1924, Lenin's embalmed body was placed in a
temporary wooden mausoleum after government offices were flooded
with telegrams requesting the construction of a shrine to
the illustrious revolutionary. Although Lenin had clearly
indicated his desire not to be immortalised, the temporary
structure was replaced in 1929 with the granite and black
labradorite version seen today. Each year, thousands of people
line up for the opportunity to view Lenin on his glass-enclosed
bier and to watch the hourly ritual of the changing of the
guard.
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