#848 Krasnaya Ploshchad, Red Square, Moscow, Russia

The most iconic place in Russia symbolizing all that was hated about the Tsars, all that was controlling about the Communists and all that is powerful about Putin and modern Russia: Red Square. With St. Basil's fairy-tale church at the bottom end by the Moskva River, the Kremlin palace and government halls to the right side, the Gum department store on the left side and the imposing gates leading in, it would be an impressive place, but all of that does not encompass its enormous size. 

As you can probably tell from these photos, Red Square is large and imposing -- used in films about the USSR and Russia, paintings and art, and it is symbolic, iconic and memorable. I especially remember the line to see Lenin's embalmed body snakes down one whole side, although we didn't join it! The name Red comes neither from the red bricks nor from red communism, but from krasnaya, which can mean red or beautiful, an improvement from Pozhar 'burnt-out place' which is what it was until the 17th century.

Photos from 1997.