City Info

Moscow is an excellent example of a centrally planned city. The city originated around the Kremlin, which was originally a walled fortress from the 12th century. It has been expanded in rings over the years, with three distinct boundaries where walls once were. In the 1960s, highways were built creating a fourth ring, which has been filled in with low-rise buildings and housing blocks during the communist period.

Moscow is an industrial city, with main industries being machinery, metalworking, oil refining, publishing and brewing.

In spite of problems with Russian economic hardships, there are more billionaires living in Moscow than any other city in the world. In 2000 there were 33 billion aries calling Moscow home, second place New York had 31.

Moscow has a wide variety of churches, including over 500 Russian Orthodox and around 100 Christian churches, as well as 5 Synagogues and 6 Mosques.

Moscow is the cultural hotspot of Russia, featuring more than 100 each of theatres, cinemas, and museums. Being the capitol city, it has embassies from 130 countries and 150 major hotels. Millions of people visit Moscow for business and pleasure every year.

Moscow is considered one of the most colorful cities. With the concrete housing blocks from the communist era excepted, the buildings have a rainbow of reds, grays, blues. The large amount of green spaces add plenty of green in the summer months.

It is very easy to get around in Moscow. It supports the busiest and best subway system in the world, as well as an extensive network of buses and trains. Moscow, though it is very old, was updated for the automobile in the 1960s by Stalin, who cut room for highways through the city.