Stand Where Moscow Has Always Gathered
Step out from under the Resurrection Gate and the square opens in front of you: a long, almost rectangular expanse running northwest to southeast along the eastern wall of the Kremlin, with Saint Basil's Cathedral closing the far end. The ground beneath your feet was once a moat—the Alevizov moat, dug in the early sixteenth century to link the Moskva and Neglinnaya rivers and paved over in 1812. Before that, and for centuries after, this was Moscow's main marketplace, the site of public ceremonies and proclamations, of executions, demonstrations, riots, parades and speeches. Its old name was Pozhar, "burnt-out place," for the buildings that had stood here and burned; the name Krasnaya originally meant "beautiful," and only later came to mean "red." It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, inscribed together with the Kremlin.
Saint Basil's, the Mausoleum and the Long Kremlin Wall
Almost every building that frames the square is a landmark in its own right, and you can see them all on foot—the square is a pedestrian zone, apart from the access road running through it to the Savior Gate of the Kremlin.
- Saint Basil's Cathedral (the Cathedral of Intercession of the Virgin), at the southeast end, built between 1555 and 1560 to commemorate Ivan the Terrible's victory over the Kazan Khanate. It gave the square its characteristic silhouette; its domes and paintings took their present form in the seventeenth century.
- Lenin's Mausoleum, designed by A.V. Shchusev and finished in 1929—the prime example of Soviet symbolic monumental architecture. Along the Kremlin wall between the Nikolskaya and Spasskaya towers are the funerary urns of heroes of the revolution.
- The State Historical Museum, at the northwest end beside the Resurrection Gate, and GUM, the former Upper Trading Rows, along the northeast side. Together with the Middle Trading Rows, these buildings completed the square's enclosure by the late nineteenth century.
- The Kremlin wall itself, on the southwest side—built to its greatest height along this stretch, the side most vulnerable to attack. Look up for the Tsarskaya Tower, a small tent-roofed structure on the wall from which the tsar could watch ceremonies in the square.
- Lobnoye Mesto, the brick platform for proclaiming the tsar's edicts, constructed by the end of the sixteenth century.
Two old streets branch off to the northeast: Nikolskaya Street, named for the Kremlin tower directly opposite, and Ilyinka—both in use since the fourteenth century. To the southeast, the Basilius slope leads down to the Moskva River and over a bridge into the Zamoskvorechye District.
How to Walk It, and When
Give the square an unhurried hour at least, and more if you plan to go inside the Historical Museum or GUM. Start at the northwest end by the Resurrection Gate and the Historical Museum, so the square unrolls ahead of you with Saint Basil's as the destination—the walk the square has always invited. The single sight not to miss is the view back along the Kremlin wall toward the cathedral, with the mausoleum and the wall's towers in between; it is the ensemble, not any one building, that earned the World Heritage listing.
Come in the morning if you want the paving more or less to yourself, and remember that this is a working ceremonial space: it has hosted official ceremonies under every Russian government since it was established, so check ahead and expect closures or crowds if something is on. In winter, snow on the cobbles and the onion domes is its own reward; in summer, the long northern evenings make a second pass after dinner worthwhile. Either way, dress for standing around outdoors—there is little shelter on the square itself.
What to Eat Nearby, and Where to Wander Next
GUM, the department store on the northeast side, is the obvious place to eat and shop without leaving the square. When you have had your fill, the historic centre is stacked around you: the Kremlin's own Cathedral Square, with the Cathedral of the Dormition where Russian tsars and emperors were crowned, the Church of the Archangel with the tombs of Moscow's princes and tsars, and the bell tower of Ivan Veliki; the Alexander Garden, laid over the covered Neglinnaya River; and the old district of Kitay-gorod, which bounds the square on the northeast. Tverskaya Street begins just behind the State Historical Museum, and the Basilius slope drops to the river and across to Zamoskvorechye.
Start With the Gate, End With the Cathedral
Red Square rewards the traveller who treats it as a walk rather than a checklist: enter where Muscovites have always entered, past the Resurrection Gate, keep the Kremlin wall on your right, and let Saint Basil's pull you the length of the square. Plan your day around the morning light and the season, leave time for the museum and the stores along the northeast side, and you will have seen the centre of Moscow the way it was meant to be seen—on foot, slowly, and from the paving of a moat that became a square.