Moscow

Photos

2006-07-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

Education

2006-05-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

There are numerous large universities in Moscow, including the renowned Moscow State University housed in the 240m high tower on Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills). The university has over 30,000 undergraduates and 7,000 postgraduate students. Bauman Moscow State Technical University offers a wide range of technical degrees. Moscow State Institute of International Relations [1] is Russia's best known school of international relations and diplomacy.

Business and Trade

2006-05-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

A major part of Russia's profits and development is concentrated in Moscow. Many multi-national corporations have branches and offices in the city. The plush offices and the lifestyles of the typical corporate employee in Moscow are practically indistinguishable from any other Western European city, although the average salary for the Russian is still lower here. After the financial crisis in the late 90s, various business sectors in Moscow have shown exponential rates of growth. However, while the overall stability has improved in the recent years, crime and corruption continue to remain a problem hindering business development. A recent study showed that far from decreasing, corruption in the Putin era has been on the rise, and large businesses can expect to pay an average of over a hundred thousand dollars a year in bribes to officials. The Mafia also runs extortion rackets in most parts of the city, though there are no reliable data to understand how large their influence is.
GUM interriors with walkways, fountains and bridges
According to a July 22, 2004 article in Forbes, Moscow became the city with the most billionaires. It had 33 billionaires, passing New York City by two. The article also estimates that a quarter of Russia's wealth is now concentrated in the hands of just 100 people. The nouveau-riche, also called the "New Russians", often pejoratively, have a reputation for flaunting their wealth; the avenues for doing so, and subtly, have also increased in recent times - a sense of fashion and self-consciousness has instilled itself through the many haute couture and haute-cuisine spots in Moscow.

Culture , Architecture

2006-05-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

The city was once known as 'sorok-sorokov' ('forty-times-forty'), in reference to the many Orthodox onion domes making up the city's skyline. The look of the city was changed drastically during Soviet times, mostly due to Stalin, who oversaw a large scale effort to modernize the city by, on the one hand, introducing very broad avenues and roadways, some of them over ten lanes wide, and on the other, destroying a great number of historically significant architectural works such as the Sukharev Tower and numerous mansions and stores lining the major streets, and various works of religious architecture, such as the Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The latter was demolished to make way for a huge skyscraper that was never built, and reconstructed in the mid to late 90s.
Ostankino Tower - the tallest free-standing structure in Eurasia
Stalin did build seven other skyscrapers however, allegedly inspired by the Municipal Building in New York.[citation needed] They form a series of huge, cathedral-like structures with intricate exteriors, and are given various labels: 'The Seven Sisters', 'Stalinist Gothic', 'wedding cake architecture' and so on. All seven can be seen from most elevations in the city; they are among the tallest constructions in central Moscow apart from the Ostankino Tower which, when it was built in 1967, was the tallest free-standing land structure in the world before the title was taken by the CN Tower.
The Soviet policy of providing mandatory housing for every citizen or their family, and the rapid growth of the huge Moscow population in Soviet times, also led to the construction of large, monotonous housing blocks, which can often be differentiated in age, sturdiness of construction, or 'style' according to the neighbourhood and the materials used. Most of these date from the post-Stalin era and the styles are often named after the leader then in power - Brezhnev, Krushchev, etc, and they are usually ill-maintained. The Stalinist-era constructions, usually in the central city, are massive and usually ornamented with Socialist realism motifs that imitate Classical themes. However, small churches - almost always Orthodox - that hint on the city's past still dot various parts of the city. The Old Arbat, a popular tourist street that was once the heart of a bohemian area, preserves most of its 19th century or older buildings. Many buildings found off the main streets of the inner city (behind the Stalinist facades of Tverskaya Street, for example) are also examples of the bourgeois decadence in Tsarist times. Ostankino, Kuskovo, and other large estates just outside Moscow belonging to nobles from the Tsarist era, and some convents and monasteries both inside and outside the city, are open to Muscovites and tourists.
Attempts are being made to restore many of the city's best-kept examples of pre-Soviet architecture, and these are easily spotted by their bright new colours and spotless facades. There are a few examples of notable, early Soviet avant-garde work too, such as the house of the architect Konstantin Melnikov in the Arbat area. Later examples of interesting Soviet architecture are usually marked by their impressive size and the semi-Modernist styles employed, such as the Novy Arbat project, designed by Mikhail Posokhin.
Like in London, but on a broader scale, plaques on the house exteriors will inform passers-by that a well-known personality once lived there. Frequently the plaques are dedicated to Soviet celebrities not well-known to the outside world. There are also many 'house-museums' of famous Russian writers, composers, and artists in the city.

Moscow

2006-05-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

Moscow is the capital of Russia and the country's principal political, economic, financial, educational and transportation center, located on the river Moskva. The city constitutes about 7% of the Russian population or 10.4 million inhabitants within city boundaries and is the most populous city in Europe.
The city is in the Central Federal District located in the west part of the Russian Federation. Historically, its position was central in the Russian homeland. It was the capital of the former Soviet Union, and of Muscovite Russia, the pre-Imperial Russia. It is the site of the famous Kremlin, which serves as the center of the national government.
Moscow is also well known as the site of the Saint Basil's Cathedral, with its elegant onion domes, as well as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The Patriarch of Moscow, whose residence is the Danilov Monastery, serves as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.