Moscow
Moscow[a] is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million residents within the city limits,[6] over 18.8 million residents in the urban area,[7] and over 21.5 million residents in the metropolitan area.[14] The city covers an area of 2,511 square kilometers (970 sq mi), while the urban area covers 5,891 square kilometers (2,275 sq mi),[7] and the metropolitan area covers over 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 sq mi).[14] Moscow is among the world's largest cities, being the most populous city in its entirety in Europe, the largest urban and metropolitan area in Europe,[7][14] and the largest city by land area on the European continent.[15]
Not to be confused with Moscow Oblast.
Moscow
Москва
1147[1]
2,561.5[4] km2 (989.0 sq mi)
6,154 km2 (2,376 sq mi)
48,360 km2 (18,670 sq mi)
156 m (512 ft)
13,010,112
5,080/km2 (13,200/sq mi)
18,800,000
2,762/km2 (7,150/sq mi)
21,534,777[5]
450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Muscovite
₽1,935,205
US$26,257 (2021)
RU-MOW
77, 177, 777; 97, 197, 797; 99, 199, 799, 977[11]
45000000
First documented in 1147, Moscow grew to serve as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. When the Tsardom of Russia was proclaimed, Moscow remained the political and economic center for most of its history. Under the reign of Peter the Great, the Russian capital was moved to the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg in 1712, decreasing Moscow's influence. Following the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Russian SFSR, the capital was moved back to Moscow in 1918, where it later became the political center of the Soviet Union.[16] In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Moscow remained the capital city of the newly established Russian Federation.
The northernmost and coldest megacity in the world, Moscow is governed as a federal city,[17] where it serves as the political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe. As an alpha world city,[18] Moscow has one of the world's largest urban economies.[19] The city is one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in the world[20] and is one of Europe's most visited cities. Moscow is inhabited by the sixth-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world.[21] The Moscow International Business Center is one of the largest financial centers in Europe and the world and features the majority of Europe's tallest skyscrapers. Moscow was the host city of the 1980 Summer Olympics and one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[22]
Moscow is the home of multiple Russian artists, scientists, and sports figures, along with museums, academic and political institutions, and theaters. The city contains several UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is known for its display of Russian architecture, particularly in areas such as the Red Square and buildings such as the Saint Basil's Cathedral and the Moscow Kremlin, the latter of which is the seat of power of the Government of Russia. Moscow is home to Russian companies in different industries and is served by a comprehensive transit network, which includes four international airports, ten railway terminals, a tram system, a monorail system, and the Moscow Metro, which is the busiest metro system in Europe and one of the largest rapid transit systems in the world. The city has over 40 percent of its territory covered by greenery, making it one of the greenest cities in the world.[15][23]
Paleontology
Moscow is one of the few cities with paleontological monuments of world significance on its territory.[81] One of them is the Gorodnya River with its tributaries, on the banks of which outcrops of the Quaternary and older Cretaceous periods are located. Fossils of the bivalve mollusk Inoceramus kleinii and tubular passages of burrowing animals, described in 2017 as a new ichnospecies Skolithos gorodnensis, were discovered in the Coniacian deposits near the stream bed of the Bolshaya Glinka River.[81] Ichnogenera Diplocraterion, Planolites, Skolithos and possibly Ophiomorpha were found in the Albian deposits. Paleolithic flint tools were discovered in the Quaternary deposits of the Bolshaya Glinka stream bed.[81]
In 1878, paleontologist Hermann Trautschold discovered the left flipper of an ichthyosaur near the village of Mnevniki, which later became part of Moscow. In 2014, the animal was named Undorosaurus trautscholdi, after its discoverer. Trautschold determined the age of the sediments from which the specimen was taken to be Kimmeridgian, but, according to more recent studies, they were formed in the Tithonian age of the Jurassic period.[82]
Albian foraminifera and ammonites also known from the Moscow deposits.[81]
Fossils of various organisms are on display in Moscow museums, including the Orlov Museum of Paleontology and Vernadsky State Geological Museum.
Culture
Museums and galleries
One of the most notable art museums in Moscow is the Tretyakov Gallery, which was founded by Pavel Tretyakov, a wealthy patron of the arts who donated a large private collection to the city.[126] The Tretyakov Gallery is split into two buildings. The Old Tretyakov gallery, the original gallery in the Tretyakovskaya area on the south bank of the Moskva River, houses works in the classic Russian tradition.[127] The works of famous pre-Revolutionary painters, such as Ilya Repin, as well as the works of early Russian icon painters can be found here. Visitors can even see rare originals by early 15th-century iconographer Andrei Rublev.[127] The New Tretyakov gallery, created in Soviet times, mainly contains the works of Soviet artists, as well as of a few contemporary paintings, but there is some overlap with the Old Tretyakov Gallery for early 20th-century art. The new gallery includes a small reconstruction of Vladimir Tatlin's famous Monument to the Third International and a mixture of other avant-garde works by artists like Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. Socialist realism features can also be found within the halls of the New Tretyakov Gallery.
