The city is known to many as the "big village" - especially to the inhabitants of St Petersburg, who, proud of their own, Western-style, urbanisation, have long regarded Moscow as their great rival.
Even if some corners of Moscow do appear to have preserved something of the Russian countryside, the centre of the one-time Soviet Empire was a huge urban conurbation even before the great changes that took place a decade ago.
Ten million inhabitants living in an area of more than 1000 square kilometres, an excellent 250 kilometre-long underground network with more than 150 stations - these are just some of the basic numbers that make up Moscow and just some of the many features that characterise it as a true metropolis. Its firs skyscrapers - monstrosities built in a spirit of Stalin's megalomania, muddling several architectural styles and concepts, massively over-decorated and completely at odds with their environment - have traditionally become known as the Seven Sisters. The most monumental of them stands on Moscow's eighty-metre-high "Sparrow Hill" and belongs to the famous Lomonosov University.
Since the changes, the city of Moscow, now the capital of the Russian Federation, has been remoulded into a modern, bright and sparkling city. Now real skyscrapers are reaching towards the sky on every side. The change of style is most spectacular in Tverskaya Road, where, according to the West, "the heart of the new Moscow beats". The forty-metre-wide avenue, once named after Gorky, is today full of light and luxury. World-famous companies and elegant stores compete to sell their products here. Eye-catching advertisement greet you turn, and many Western-style restaurants, cafés and night clubs have sprung up. Apart from the inevitable presence of McDonalds, there are several signs of the spreading consumer society and increasing Americanisation, including the Sheraton Palace luxury hotel and the popular "Night Flight Club" that attracts the lat-night crowds.
Only the traditional Russian-style façade of the famous GUM department store that faces onto Red Square has remained unchanged. While its name may be short for "State Universal Store", inside there is nothing left to remind you of socialist times. Previously the place where one could never get what one wanted, even by accident, the GUM department store was the butt of several jokes and the target of many a satirical pamphlet even in Hungary. Yet today it stocks just about everything and the various shops under its roof offer the most fashionable of goods and the most modern of technical appliances.
In this rebirth of Moscow, everywhere the new stands side by side with the old. A good example of this is the recently rebuilt Christ the Saviour Cathedral, which stands on its original site south of the Kremlin, near the right bank of the Moscow River, in Kropotkinskaya Square. In 1812 Tsar Alexander I gave orders for the building of the world's largest Russian Orthodox cathedral. It was only completed in 1883. Less than half a century later, in 1932 Stalin had it blown up. His intention was to use the site for the construction of the Palace of the Republic, which, at 412 metres, was to be taller than the Eiffel Tower. Although plans for the gigantic building were drawn up they were never executed, since the foundations would not have been able to support the enormous weight. Following the dissolution of the USSR the first action of the Russian Orthodox Church was to rebuild the cathedral on its former site. In September 1997, on the 850th anniversary of the city of Moscow, the new Christ the Saviour Cathedral, a faithful reproduction of the original in every respect, was consecrated amid great celebrations.
The 75 000-square-metre Red Square was, and still is, one of the treasures of Moscow. Its name dates back to tsarist times, since the word "krasnaja" originally also meant "beautiful". It is indeed beautiful, featuring the richly ornate and brightly painted St. Basil's Cathedral, which is a real architectural masterpiece uniting nine churches of various sizes under one roof.
No trip to Moscow would be complete without a visit to the Kremlin - even if it would take several weeks to take in everything worth seeing in the twenty-eight hectares. It is a good idea to decide on priorities in advance, whether this means heading for the towers, the thronging onion domes, the churches, the Great Kremlin Palace built as a congress hall, or the treasures in the Arsenal. Even so, there are one or two things that should definitely not be missed, such as the Tsar Bell and the Tsar Cannon. The bell is six metres wide and weights 210 tons, while the forty-ton gun was cast from bronze in 1586 and, although fully functional, has never fired a single shot.
From the many churches, I recommend visitors to explore two of the relatively smaller ones. The first choice is the Annunciation Cathedral, With its nine onion-shaped domes, which served as the private chapel of the fifteenth- an sixteenth-century tsars. The floor is made of jasper, the walls are covered in frescoes, and in the iconostasis one can admire the works of the brilliant Adrei Rubilov. The second is the Archangel Cathedral. The forty-six sarcophaguses in the crypt of this church contain the remains of fifty-four tsars and princes - among them Ivan IV and his son, who were murdered by Ivan the Terrible.
Boasting more than fifty theatres, Moscow is a great cultural centre. If you have the opportunity, do not miss an evening at the Bolshoi, the "Great Theatre". Although it can be difficult to get hold of tickets, the change to a "market" economy has its positive side here because ticket touts regularly stand outside the theatre a few minutes before the beginning of performances, and for a somewhat higher price than you would have paid otherwise you will be able to get what you want.
It is certainly worth taking a stroll through the streets of Moscow without having a definite programme in mind. The changes are easy to see. People in general, but especially the women, now dress much better, while the increasing number of mobile phones are another sign of the changing times. However, some old fashion do prevail - you can still buy "pirog" pies with various fillings on every street corner. In summer people still quench their thirst with "kvas", a sour drink made from fermented bread, although now Cola is more popular, particularly with the younger generation. And still, somewhat amazingly, the commendable habit of reading is also still doing strong: people read just about everywhere, whatever they are doing. Travellers on the underground, the buses and the trolley-buses, and even people standing in queues, are all to be found with a book in their hand, and very often it is a volume of poetry. Compared with the past, the big difference now is that the choice is free. There is no censorship these days to keep back titles from the book-hungry Muscovites.
János Nemes