6 Things You Didn’t Know About Moscow

This weekend Moscow turns 868 years old. For average folks in the West, the Russian capital is known for the Kremlin, the Red Square, Lenin’s mausoleum and “that beautiful church,” also known as the St. Basil’s Cathedral. On this special day, Russian Accent decided to share with you six commonly unknown facts about our beautiful capital.

By Afanasiy Pervomaisky

1. Moscow is big. Like really big. According to government data, 12,184,015 people lived in Moscow as of January 2015. Being Russia’s political, economic and cultural center, Moscow attracts hundreds of thousands of Russians from other parts of the country, as well as foreigners from all over the world. And no, there were no bears registered among 12-million+ Moscow residents.

2. The minimum cost of living is 14,300 rubles ($260) a month. Well, at least that’s what the official government data says, but the city is expensive don’t let the figures pool the wool over your eyes. In fact, Forbes Magazine ranked Moscow as the 9^th most expensive city in the world in 2013. There you go.

3. Moscow’s public transportation is one of the best in the world. The city is served by 196 metro stations across 12 underground [mostly] lines. The Moscow Metro’s overall route length is 327 km, which makes it the 6^th longest metro system in the world. The metro is open between 5:30 AM and 1:30 AM. Over 40 metro stations are considered as cultural heritage sites. The station Ploshchad Revolyutsii is arguably one of the most beautiful ones, known for its bronze sculptures. One of them is the statue of a cute dog that is believed to bring good luck to everyone who rubs its nose.

4. Moscow has a great variety of places of interest and known for its unique architecture. The city is home to the tallest free-standing building in Europe – the Ostankino Tower (540 meters), and the second tallest skyscraper in Europe – the Mercury City Tower (339 meters). Muscovites hardly ever get bored with a great variety of museums, theaters, cultural monuments, parks and entertainments centers in the city.

5. The Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge that connects the Red Square with Bolshaya Ordynka across the Moskva River was built in the 17^th Century and was the first bridge in Moscow supported by stone abutments. In the 1930s, the bridge was rebuilt using concrete, but architect Alexei Shchusev decided to finish the bridge using pink granite slabs, creating an illusion that the bridge is actually built out of stone. The bridge is also known as the Boris Nemtsov assassination place.

6. Moscow was the pioneer of women education in Russia. Vladimir Guerrier, a Russian historian and professor at Moscow State University, started higher education courses for Russian women back in 1872. For the record, American women didn’t start attending universities way after the World War II.

#Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge#Cost of Living#Moscow#Moscow Metro#Ostankino Tower#Russia