Ascension Convent

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."

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 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.

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.

The Kremlin Wall Necropolis is the former national cemetery of the Soviet Union, located in Red Square in Moscow beside the Kremlin Wall. Burials there began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolsheviks who died during the Moscow Bolshevik Uprising were buried in mass graves. The improvised burial site gradually transformed into the centerpiece of military and civilian honor during the Second World War. It is centered on Lenin's Mausoleum, initially built in wood in 1924 and rebuilt in granite in 1929–1930. After the last mass burial in Red Square in 1921, funerals there were usually conducted as state ceremonies and reserved as the final honor for highly venerated politicians, military leaders, cosmonauts, and scientists. In 1925–1927, burials in the ground were stopped; funerals were now conducted as burials of cremated ash in the Kremlin wall itself. Burials in the ground resumed with Mikhail Kalinin's funeral in 1946. The Kremlin Wall was the de facto resting place of the Soviet Union's deceased national icons. Burial there was a status symbol among Soviet citizens. The practice of burying dignitaries at Red Square ended with the funeral of General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko in March 1985. The Kremlin Wall Necropolis was designated a protected landmark in 1974. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, citizens of the Russian Federation and satellite states of the USSR continue to pay their respects to the national heroes at the Kremlin Wall.

The Chudov Monastery (Russian: Чу́дов монасты́рь; more formally known as Alexius’ Archangel Michael Monastery) was founded in the Moscow Kremlin in 1358 by Metropolitan Alexius of Moscow. The monastery was dedicated to the miracle (chudo in Russian) of the Archangel Michael at Chonae (feast day: September 19 [O.S. September 6]). The Monastery was closed in 1918, and dismantled in 1929. The construction of the monastery together with its katholikon (cathedral) was finished in 1365. The katholikon was replaced with a new one in 1431 and then once again in 1501–1503. It was traditionally used for baptising the royal children, including future Tsars Feodor I, Aleksey I and Peter the Great. The monastery’s hegumen (abbot) was considered the first among the hegumens of all the Russian monasteries until 1561. Alongside Simonov Monastery and Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, the Chudov Monastery was the biggest center of the Muscovite book culture and learning. Prominent monks of the monastery, who dedicated their lives to translating and correcting ecclesiastic books, include Maximus the Greek, Yepifany Slavinetsky and Karion Istomin. Gennady, who as Archbishop of Novgorod, patronized the first complete codex of the Bible in Slavic in 1499, was hegumen of the monastery prior to his archiepiscopate. Patriarch Hermogenes was starved to death by the Poles in the monastery vaults in 1612. The Time of Troubles over, they opened the Greek-Latin School with support from Patriarch Filaret. In 1744–1833, the cloister accommodated the Moscow Ecclesiastic Consistory. As time went by, new churches were added to the monastery complex. These included the Church of St Alexius the Metropolitan and the Church of the Annunciation (both built in 1680) and the Church of Saint Andrew (1887). During the French invasion of Russia (1812), the French Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout commandeered the monastery for his own use. A painting by Vasili Vereshchagin shows Davout desecrating the cathedral, using the sanctuary itself as his office. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, the Chudov Monastery was closed down in 1918. All of its structures were dismantled in 1929, as part of the Soviet Union's ongoing policy of state atheism. On the spot of the Chudov Monastery and the nearby Ascension Convent the Soviets built the Red Commanders School. All of the monastery’s manuscripts of the 11th-18th centuries were transferred to the State Historical Museum. The relics of Metropolitan Alexius were first moved from the Church of St. Alexius (which he had built) to the Cathedral of the Dormition and then to another church in Moscow. Of the hundred or so other interments in the monastery (including Archbishop Gennady), their remains were lost and their whereabouts are still unknown.A scene in Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov is set at the monastery.

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.

Ivanovskaya Square (Russian: Ивановская площадь) is the largest Kremlin square. Its name comes from the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. In the 16th and 17th centuries, many government bodies were situated in the Ivanovskaya Square. It was the site of the Prikazy, the equivalent of today's Ministries. Yamskoi Prikaz, one of the offices, handled the delivery of private letters. Thus, it became the first postal address in Moscow. Court services and chanceries of various departments were also situated here. At the end of the 1920s and early 1930s, the square was enlarged after the demolition of the Lesser Nicholas Palace and the Ascension Convent. Today, the square is cobbled like most of the territory of the Kremlin. It offers a view of one of the three corners of the Kremlin Senate.

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.

Taynitsky Garden (Russian: Тайницкий сад) is an urban park located within the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, in Russia. The park is named after the Taynitskaya Tower in the Kremlin Wall, and is part of the portion of the Kremlin which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Monument to Minin and Pozharsky (Russian: Па́мятник Ми́нину и Пожа́рскому) is a bronze statue designed by Ivan Martos and located on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. The statue commemorates Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who gathered an all-Russian volunteer army and expelled the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under the command of King Sigismund III of Poland from Moscow, thus putting an end to the Time of Troubles in 1612. The monument was conceived by the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Science, and the Arts to commemorate the 200th anniversary of those events. Construction was funded by public conscription in Nizhny Novgorod, the city from where Minin and Pozharsky came to save Moscow. Tsar Alexander I, however, decided the monument should be installed on Red Square next to the Moscow Kremlin rather than in Nizhny Novgorod. The competition for the best design was won by the celebrated sculptor Ivan Martos in 1808. Martos completed a model, which was approved by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and the Russian Academy of Fine Arts in 1813. Casting work using 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of copper was carried out in 1816 in St Petersburg. The base, made of three massive blocks of granite from Finland, was also carved at St Petersburg. Moving the statue and base to Moscow presented logistical challenges and was accomplished in winter by using the frozen waterways. However, in the wake of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the monument could not be unveiled until 1818. The front of the base carries a bronze plaque depicting a scene of patriotic citizens sacrificing their property for the benefit of the motherland. On the left is an image of the sculptor Martos giving away his two sons (one of whom was killed in 1813). The plaque reads "Гражданину Минину и Князю Пожарскому благодарная Россія. Лѣта 1818", or in English, "In memory of citizens Minin and Grand Duke Pozharsky, in 1818 by grateful Russians". Originally, the statue stood in the centre of Red Square, with Minin extending his hand towards the Moscow Kremlin. However, after the 1917 Revolution, the Communist authorities found the monument was obstructing parades on the square and discussed its demolition or transfer to some indoor museum. In 1936, the statue was moved closer to the cathedral where it remains to the present day. On the first celebration of the Unity Day (November 4, 2005) an almost exact copy of this monument by Zurab Tsereteli was erected in Nizhny Novgorod. The copy is 5 cm shorter than the Moscow original. As it was originally conceived by the sculptor Martos, Prince Pozharsky and Minin were standing side by side. But nobility opposed the concept. It wasn't appropriate for people of different classes to be portrayed on equal terms. Martos redesigned the concept. He has turned the 17th-century heroes of the resistance into ancient history characters. Inequality is highlighted by clothing. Noble prince is in a toga, Minin is in a shirt and trousers.In 2021-22 the monument underwent an extensive restoration, which was performed without displacing or moving the monument.