Moscow

Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia. It sits on the Moskva River in the western part of the country. More than 12 million people live there, making it the biggest city in Europe. Moscow is the center of Russia's government, business, and culture.

The city was founded in 1147 by a prince named Yuri Dolgoruky. For its first 100 years, Moscow was a small wooden town. Then in the 1200s, Mongol armies invaded and burned much of it down. Moscow slowly rebuilt and grew into the capital of a powerful Russian kingdom by the 1400s.

At the heart of Moscow stands the Kremlin. The word "kremlin" simply means "fortress" in Russian. This kremlin is a walled area with tall red-brick towers, four cathedrals, and several palaces. Russian rulers have worked inside these walls for over 500 years. Today the Russian president's offices are still there.

Right next to the Kremlin is Red Square. The name does not come from the color of the bricks. It comes from an old Russian word that meant both "red" and "beautiful." At one end of Red Square stands Saint Basil's Cathedral, a church with nine colorful onion-shaped domes. It was finished in 1561 for Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Each dome is painted a different swirl of colors, and no two are alike.

Moscow has been the capital of three very different countries. It was the capital of the Russian Empire under tsars like Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. From 1918 to 1991, it was the capital of the Soviet Union, a communist country that stretched across 11 time zones. Since 1991, it has been the capital of modern Russia.

Winters in Moscow are long and very cold. Temperatures often drop below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and snow covers the ground for months. In 1812, the French emperor Napoleon captured Moscow, but the Russian winter helped destroy his army before he could hold the city. The same thing happened to Hitler's army in 1941.

Underground, Moscow hides one of the most beautiful subway systems in the world. Many of its stations look like palaces, with marble floors, chandeliers, statues, and painted ceilings. Soviet leaders built them this way on purpose, as "palaces for the people."

Moscow is also home to the Bolshoi Theatre, one of the most famous ballet companies on Earth. Its dancers have performed Russian ballets like Swan Lake and The Nutcracker for almost 250 years.