Lecture 7 Moscow: Essential tourist information

Moscow is a multi-ethnic city, people of different cultures and faiths (вероисповедание) have peacefully co-existed here at all times.

The city boasts (гордиться) a history of 870 years, and carefully preserves the heritage (сохранять наследие) of the past. Moscow is also a modern and vibrating megapolis, a major international centre of business and finance.

The city has 5 commercial airports, 9 railway stations and 2 river stations to receive its guests.

Moscow is a city of five ports. The river transport will help you not only see the main sights of Russia‘s capital but also travel to the Russian Golden Ring‘s cities, down the Volga to the Caspian shores, and to St. Petersburg and the Baltic Sea.

Moscow is a hospitable (гостеприимный) city where one can find accommodation (размещение) to suit any taste and budget. It offers 400 accommodation facilities: differently-priced hotels, hostels, mini-hotels and apartments.

Moscow never sleeps: the illumination of Moscow‘s streets and houses will let you enjoy a stroll (прогулка) including after the sunset. In the daytime, over 290 museums and exhibition halls are at your disposal, you may also go for a walk in a park or enjoy a river trip. At night, theatres and concert halls receive their visitors, while night clubs, disco bars and restaurants stay open until the small hours.

Moscow keeps changing, with new buildings and developments completed, and architectural monuments, temples (храм) and museums restored (реставрировать). The Bolshoi Theatre and the Moscow Planetarium have reopened after reconstruction. The capital‘s map now features new sights: the restored palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye; the manor (усадьба) of Grandfather Frost (Russia‘s Santa Clause) in Kuzminki offers encounters (встречи)

with fairy tales throughout the year; a once uncharted shelter (убежище), located 65 m underground is now accommodating the Cold War Museum.

Moscow offers diverse (разнообразный) facilities for kids‘ and educational tourism. The young guests of Moscow have every opportunity not only to have fun but also to learn lots of useful and exciting information.

Moscow in Numbers and Facts

Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation. It is an ancient (древний) city which history dates back to 1147, though people lived in this area from the 7^th century

B.C. (до нашей эры), according to archeologists.

The area of Moscow is 2,550 sq. km, and its population is over 12 million people. The capital is divided into 12 administrative okrugs and 125 districts.

The climate is moderately continental. The average temperature is -6°C in winter, and +18°C in summer.

Russia‘s capital lies on the Moskva River but it also has over 140 smaller rivers and brooks (ручей), 4 lakes and over 400 ponds (пруд), both natural and man-made.

A third of the city is green areas: gardens, parks, mini-parks, manors (усадьбы), reserved areas (заповедники) etc. All of them are fitted for comfortable recreation (отдых) and sports.

Moscow has 260 museums and exhibition halls, 182 theatres, 3 circuses, a zoo, 2 botanical gardens, 116 parks, 118 specially protected natural territories, (особо охраняемая территори я) and 64 monuments of palace and park architecture.

There are over 450 sport facilities in the capital of Russia: stadiums, sports palaces, swimming pools, shooting ranges (тир) and skating rinks intended for trainings and competitions in all types of sports including international competitions. In 2018, Moscow will host (принимать) the World Football Championship.

Moscow is a centre of business accommodating the offices of domestic and foreign companies, banks, business schools, and hosting international fairs and shows.

The city is also home to scientific life: the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences is based in Moscow, and soon the Skolkovo Innovation Centre will join it.