This is an open brick-paved courtyard area that seems to be intended for pedestrians only but also unfortunately supports a small amount of auto traffic. The occasional car tends to send pedestrians scattering.
Red Square looking east, close to sunset.
St. Basil's Cathedral,
usually considered the symbol of Moscow, is
at center.
The Kremlin is off to the right behind a big brick wall.
The two towers on the right are among
the Kremlin towers.
Lenin's tomb is the reddish lump on the right in front
of the towers.
The long building on the left contains a shopping mall these
days.
I'm not sure what the markings on the ground are for.
Russians tend to pay little attention to lane markings,
anyway.
Towards the end of the Communist era, a German flyer
landed a small plane in the square.
The people in the square rushed to welcome him.
However, the government (in the building on the right)
took immediate notice and had him arrested.
He was eventually returned to Germany.
However, in the end, he came back to Russia and married
a Russian woman.
This church is on the side of Red Square away
from St. Basil's.
This is another view of the large shopping mall on
one side of Red Square.
It was nearly dusk, and the strange lighting is the
result.
Some dumb-looking goober in front of Lenin's Tomb.
I never got to go in, because it was closed every
time I went by.
Lenin is in a glass coffin inside.
I wanted to go in so that I could see him spinning, as
they say.
This is one side of a roughly circular enclosure in
front of St. Basil's.
The enclosure was the site of many public beheadings
in bygone (I hope) days.
I'm at stage center looking stupid as usual.
The shopping mall is in the background.
St. Basil's Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church at
one end of Red Square.
The weird lighting and coloration are courtesy the
sunset.
St. Basil's was built for Ivan the Terrible.
Ivan was proud of the ornate architecture and didn't
want its architect to build another church to rival
it, so he had the architect's eyes put out.
I can't remember what the dramatic scene on the
statue out front was supposed to represent.
Another view of St. Basil's after the sun had gone
down a little more.
Every time I see one of these fancy churches, I wonder
how it handles lightning.
Would you PLEASE get out of the way!?
One of the several towers surrounding the Kremlin.
"Big Ivan" springs to mind.
Another Kremlin tower.
Author: Porter Clark <jpc@suespammers.org>
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Last update: December 31, 2001
