Moscow is something special for every Russian person and means a lot to them. It is not only the capital of Russia (and before that of the entire Soviet Union), but the heart of Russia.

The name 'Moscow' was first mentioned in the chronicle of 1147. Yury Dolgoruky is considered to be a founder of Moscow — a monument to him was put at Moscow's Tverskaya street in 1947 to celebrate the city's 800th anniversary.

Moscow is a wonderful city. It is both an old city with unique monuments of old Russian architecture, and a young, modern and rapidly developing city with contemporary buildings. Moscow is a city with big beautiful squares, large avenues, and small cozy streets and side streets. There are a lot of green spaces, parks, public gardens, and tree-lined walks in all the city's various regions.

The city occupies an enormous territory and keeps expanding every year. Upon first coming to Moscow, all foreigners note that it is a very beautiful and interesting city, and people coming for the second or third time notice that it changes very quickly. Lately, Moscow has become similar to many modern European cities, but after all it maintains its distinctive Russian quality.

To get to know Moscow one needs plenty of time, and to gain a true sense of it you need to live in it. There are so many interesting places in Moscow that it is impos¬sible to speak about all of them, so we will focus only on its main sights.