Novy Arbat...but why?
by angelochka
i dont think i need to put any photo of Novy Arbat street, sure there are many on vt, besides i dont like that much this street and honestly i'm very surprised every time when i hear from people coming to Moscow that they would like to visit it..to my opinion it's just a very busy street, the architecture is soviet times, but not "stalin times like" buildings, which have it's own style standing apart, on New Arbat you will find only lookalike box type buildings, not best shops and casinos..one of my friends has an appartment in some close street and i was bit amazed when i discovered that it has view from children room to casinos, and the lightening coming from it is so intense day and night. now they are slowly destroying old ugly buildings and trying to build new "old moscow style", but i think we will get the results in couple of years
Internet Cafè
by Rick2001
In case U need to get in touch with the rest of the world there are many internet cafes around the historical center of Moscow:
One is in the Commercial centre Manezhnaja Ploshchad,north of Alexander's gardens, next to Mc Donald.
Another is at the beginning of Rozhdestvenka Ulitsa (4th floor) of the first building.
A third is in a pedestrian street crossing Tverskaja Ulitsa after Hotel National (maybe the street is the Kamergerskij Pereulok but I'm not sure)
The prices for one hour of surfing is 60 R.
The Kremlin, The Ivan the Great Bell Tower complex
by kris-t
The Ivan the Great Bell-Tower complex is the key of the Moscow Kremlin's composition. It separates Cathedral Square from Ivanov Square. The ensemble had been constructed for over than three centuries - from 1505 till 1815. It includes three objects of different time: the pillar of the Ivan the Great Bell-Tower, the Uspenskaya (Assumption) Belfry and the Filaret's Annex.
Moscow Churches
by kris-t
Anyone who witnesses an Orthodox liturgy for the first time will be struck by its frank appeal to the senses. The central actions of the Liturgy are, to be sure, the consecration and distribution of the bread and wine that constitute the Lord's Body and Blood.
The Orthodox church building is nothing more (or less) than the architectural setting for the Liturgy. Originally, converted houses served the purpose. The history of the church as a conspicuous structure begins with the official toleration of Christianity by Constantine the Great in 313, although there is evidence that sizeable churches existed before his time in some large cities. In the fourth and fifth centuries, buildings were erected to facilitate baptism (baptistries) and burial (mausolea) and to commemorate important events in the lives of Christ and the saints (martyria); but it was the building designed primarily to accommodate the celebration of the Eucharist that became the typical Christian structure - the church as we think of it today. The Basilica
As early as the fifth century, church plans varied from one part of the Empire to another. But most were basilicas, long rectangular structures divided into three or five aisles by rows of columns running parallel to the main axis, with a semi-cylindrical extension - an apse - at one end (usually the eastern) of the nave, or central aisle. The altar stood in front of the apse. The flat walls and aligned columns of a basilica define spatial volumes that are simple and mainly rectangular (except for the apse); they also are rationally interrelated and in proportion to each other, with a horizontal "pull" toward the bema, where the clergy would be seen framed by the outline of the apse.
Beyond the Empire, Byzantine plans were taken over with few changes or used as a point of departure for indigenous designs.In Russia the familiar "onion" dome was developed by the thirteenth century, perhaps in response to weather conditions (it sheds snow easily, preventing it from accumulating at the seam between the dome and the drum). Also in Russia, alongside churches of domed cubical shape, are "tent" churches, developed most energetically in the sixteenth century from native traditions of timber architecture. A tower with a huge steeple, its silhouette contrasting with the flat landscape, rises over the monocameral body of the church and is topped with a tiny lantern or dome: St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow's Red Square (actually not one church but a cluster of nine) has the best-known example.
Elokhovskaya Orthodox Church - 4 -
by MrBill
This is not the inside of the church, but in a separate area where they perform the baptisms. Normally, you should not take pictures in the church. However, it is up to the priest. In this case, he allowed pictures during the baptism. As a matter of fact, it was a like a press scrum in the room as parents and on-lookers tried to get the best view of their nieces and nephews. Never the less, proper decorum dictates that you respect the altar and ask for permission before you start snapping pictures or taking videos. Women should wear a headscarf or something to cover their heads while in the church.
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The Archangel's Cathedral, 2004
The triumphal arch
Tsaritsyno Palace: Great Bridge over the ravine
Sergiyev Posad: Church of the Holy Spirit
