Monument to Minin and Pozharsky

Lobnoye mesto (Russian: Лобное место) is a 13-meter-long stone platform situated on Red Square in Moscow in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. Its name is derived from the Russian words for 'forehead' (lob) and 'place' (Mesto). In Old Russian lob meant 'a steep river bank'. The platform, believed to have been constructed in brick in the 1530s, was first mentioned in 1547, when Ivan the Terrible addressed the Muscovites from there. Subsequently, it was primarily used for announcing the tsar's ukazes and for religious ceremonies. Despite a common misconception, the circular platform itself was never a place for executions. Sometimes scaffolds were placed by it, but usually public executions were carried out at Vasilevsky Spusk behind St. Basil's Cathedral. In the Russian Empire, during Holy Week, the Palm Sunday procession called "donkey walk" would end at the Lobnoye Mesto where a depiction of Calvary had been erected. The Tsar himself, on foot to show humility, would lead the Patriarch of Moscow, who was seated on a donkey, in a procession from the city gates to Red Square. The nearby Monument to Minin and Pozharsky commemorates the events of 1612, when Prince Pozharsky ascended the Lobnoye Mesto to pronounce Moscow free from Polish occupation. In 1786, the architect Matvei Kazakov had the Lobnoye Mesto rebuilt in white stone while keeping its original location and proportions.

The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (Russian: Собо́р Васи́лия Блаже́нного, tr. Sobór Vasíliya Blazhénnogo), commonly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is an Orthodox church in Red Square of Moscow, and is one of the most popular cultural symbols of Russia. The building, now a museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, or Pokrovsky Cathedral. It was built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. It was the city's tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.The original building, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral, contained eight chapels arranged around a ninth, central chapel dedicated to the Intercession; a tenth chapel was erected in 1588 over the grave of the venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church, perceived (as with all churches in Byzantine Christianity) as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City, was popularly known as the "Jerusalem" and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar.The cathedral has nine domes (each one corresponding to a different church) and is shaped like the flame of a bonfire rising into the sky. Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in his book Russian Architecture and the West, states that "it is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to the fifteenth century ... a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design." The cathedral foreshadowed the climax of Russian national architecture in the 17th century.As part of the program of state atheism, the church was confiscated from the Russian Orthodox community as part of the Soviet Union's antireligious campaigns and has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. It was completely secularized in 1929, and remains a federal property of the Russian Federation. The church has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, weekly Orthodox Christian services with prayer to St. Basil have been restored since 1997.

The Spasskaya Tower (Russian: Спасская башня, tr. Spasskaya Bashnya), translated as 'Saviour Tower', is the main tower on the eastern wall of the Moscow Kremlin which overlooks Red Square.

The Kremlin stars (Russian: Кремлёвские звёзды, tr. Kremlyovskiye zvyozdyy) are pentagonal luminescent ruby stars, installed in the 1930s on five towers of the Moscow Kremlin, replacing gilded eagles that had symbolized Imperial Russia. In 1937, these stars were replaced with new ones made of ruby glass, in time for the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution. One more star was also installed on the Vodovzvodnaya tower. The symbols become a part of the state and the ruling ideology of the former USSR, complementing the official coat of arms, which is complex in its image. The designing of the Red star was commissioned by Fyodor Fedorovsky.

The Narkomtiazhprom Building (NKTP, Russian: Наркомтяжпром) is a portmanteau for the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry that was conducting a 1934 architectural design contest for the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, constructed in Red Square, Moscow. Notable entrants included Ivan Leonidov, Konstantin Melnikov, Vesnin brothers and Ivan Fomin.

The Red Square Christmas Market (Russian: Рождественская ярмарка на Красной площади), officially the GUM-Fair (Russian: ГУМ-ярмарка), is an annually held Christmas market at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, run by the Russian GUM department store that operates every day from December 11th to March 1st. It's the most popular place to visit and buy New Year's gifts from in the winter in Russia and also the largest fair, with up to 63 stands attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

GUM (Russian: ГУМ, pronounced [ˈɡum], an abbreviation of Russian: Главный универсальный магазин, romanized: Glavnyy Universalnyy Magazin, lit. 'Main Universal Store') is the main department store in many cities of the former Soviet Union, known as State Department Store (Russian: Государственный универсальный магазин, romanized: Gosudarstvennyy Universalnyy Magazin) during the Soviet era (until 1991). Similarly-named stores operated in some Soviet republics and in post-Soviet states. The most famous GUM is the large store facing Red Square in the Kitai-gorod area – itself traditionally a trading center of Moscow. As of 2021, the building functions as a shopping mall. Before the 1920s the location was known as the Upper Trading Rows (Russian: Верхние торговые ряды, romanized: Verkhniye Torgovyye Ryady). As of 2021, GUM carries over 100 different brands, and has cafes and restaurants inside the mall.

Ascension Convent, known as the Starodevichy Convent or Old Maidens' Convent until 1817 (Russian: Вознесенский монастырь, Voznesensky monastyr'), was an Orthodox nunnery in the Moscow Kremlin which contained the burials of grand princesses, tsarinas, and other noble ladies from the Muscovite royal court. It is believed that Ascension Convent was founded in 1389 next to the Saviour Gates of the Kremlin by Dmitry Donskoy's widow, Eudoxia Dmitriyevna, who would take the veil there. The foundation stone for the cathedral was laid in 1407, just before her death. Eight years later, the cathedral was gutted by fire and then rebuilt in 1467 by princess Maria of Borovsk, wife of Vasili II of Russia. Sixteen years later the convent was again damaged by fire and then restored in 1518–1519 to a design by Aloisio the New. This church was completely rebuilt in 1587–1588, when a new five-domed structure, mirroring the nearby Archangel Cathedral, was erected. It was a major monument to embody the conservative architectural approach of Boris Godunov's circle (illustrated, to the right). Among those buried in the cathedral vault were Sophia Vitovtovna (wife of Vasili I), Sophia Paleologue (wife of Ivan III), several wives of Ivan the Terrible, Grand Duchess Eudoxia Alexeyevna (daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich), and tsarina Maria Vladimirovna (first wife of Mikhail Feodorovich). The convent was also used as a residence for royal fiancees prior to the wedding. It was there that Ivan IV's widow, Maria Nagaya, greeted Marina Mnishek, who would spend there a few days before her wedding with Nagaya's purported son, False Dmitry I. In 1634, Michael I of Russia commissioned a new convent church to be built and dedicated to his patron saint, Michael Maleinos. A belltower next to this church was constructed in the late 17th century. The Church of Michael Maleinos used to be home to a rare sculpture of St George, made by Vasili Yermolin and installed there in 1808. In 1721, the convent was renovated on behest of Peter the Great. In 1737, it was damaged by fire and again renovated by the order of Anna Ioannovna. During the Patriotic War of 1812, the sacristy of Ascension Convent, with the Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria, painted by Dionisius in 1482, was moved to Vologda. A two-storey almshouse was added in 1823. But the most important 19th-century addition was the Church of Saint Catherine, built to a fanciful Neo-Gothic design by Carlo Rossi (illustrated, to the right). By 1907, the monastery had a mother superior, 62 nuns and 45 lay sisters. Ten years later, the ancient buildings were damaged by artillery fire during the October Revolution. In 1929, the convent complex - including the majestic 16th-century cathedral - was dismantled by the Soviets in order to make room for the Red Commanders School, named after the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Some of the icons of Ascension Convent were made over to the State Tretyakov Gallery and State museums of the Moscow Kremlin. The iconostasis of the Ascension Cathedral was moved into the Cathedral of Twelve Apostles (also in the Kremlin), while the tombs of the Muscovite royalty were transferred into an annex of the Archangel Cathedral, where they reside to this day.

The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (Russian: Президиум Верховного Совета, romanized: Prezidium Verkhovnogo Soveta) was a body of state power in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The presidium was elected by joint session of both houses of the Supreme Soviet to act on its behalf while the Supreme Soviet was not in session. By the 1936 and 1977 Soviet Constitution, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet served as the collective head of state of the USSR. In all its activities, the Presidium was accountable to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.Beside the all-Union body they were also in all union republics (eg: Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, Presidium of the Ukrainian SSR, etc.) and other regions including autonomous republics. Structure and functions of the presidiums in these republics were virtually identical.During discussions in regard to adaptation of the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union, on proposition to elect the chairman of the Presidium in a nationwide election, Stalin argued: According to the system of our Constitution, there must not be an individual President in the U.S.S.R., elected by the whole population on a par with the Supreme Soviet and able to put himself in opposition to the Supreme Soviet. The President of the U.S.S.R. is a collegium, it is the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, including the President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, elected, not by the whole population but by the Supreme Soviet and accountable to the Supreme Soviet. Historical experience shows that such a structure of the supreme bodies is the most democratic and safeguards the country against undesirable contingencies."

Red Square (Russian: Красная площадь, tr. Krasnaya ploshchad', IPA: [ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ]) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical buildings, it is regarded as one of the most famous squares in Europe and the world. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, in the eastern walls of the Kremlin. It is the city landmark of Moscow, with iconic buildings such as Saint Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's Mausoleum and the GUM. In addition, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.

On 10 November 1982, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, the third General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the fifth leader of the Soviet Union, died at the age of 75, a month before his 76th birthday, after suffering a heart attack following years of serious ailments. His death was officially acknowledged on 11 November simultaneously by Soviet radio and television. Brezhnev was given a state funeral after three full days of national mourning, then buried in an individual tomb on Red Square at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Yuri Andropov, Brezhnev's eventual successor as general secretary, was chairman of the committee in charge of managing Brezhnev's funeral, held on 15 November 1982, five days after his death. The funeral was attended by forty‑seven current and former heads or deputy heads of state, twenty‑three current and former heads or deputy heads of government, twenty heads of foreign, justice, defense, or other government ministries, six leaders of foreign legislatures, and four princes. Most of the world's Communist party-led nations in 1982 were represented at the funeral; thirty‑one Communist parties from countries where the party was not in power also sent representatives. United States President Ronald Reagan sent Vice President George H. W. Bush. Eulogies were given by Yuri Andropov, Dmitry Ustinov, Anatoly Alexandrov, Viktor Pushkarev, and Alexei Gordienko.

Lenin's Mausoleum (from 1953 to 1961 Lenin's & Stalin's Mausoleum) (Russian: Мавзолей Ленина, tr. Mavzoley Lenina, IPA: [məvzɐˈlʲej ˈlʲenʲɪnə]), also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated on Red Square in the centre of Moscow, is a mausoleum that serves as the resting place of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. His preserved body has been on public display there since shortly after his death in 1924, with rare exceptions in wartime. Alexey Shchusev's granite structure incorporates some elements from ancient mausoleums, such as the Step Pyramid, the Tomb of Cyrus the Great and, to some degree, the Temple of the Inscriptions.