MOSCOW, RUSSIA

Moscow, the capital of Russia is the largest city and leading economic and social centre. Although the site has been occupied since Neolithic times, the Village of Moscow was first mentioned in the Russian Chronicles in 1147. By the 15^th century, Moscow had become the capital of the Russian national state, and in 1547, Grand Duke Ivan IV became the first tsar. Large-scale growth in manufacturing in Russia created a need for the Russian capital to have an outlet to the sea, and Moscow lost its position as capital of Russia when, in1712, Peter I built the capital at St. Petersburg on the Baltic. The capital was transferred back to Moscow in 1918. Moscow was occupied by Napoleon in 1812, when nearly the entire city except for the great stone churches and palaces were burned down. During World War II, the city was subject to a two-pronged German offensive; however the German forces were stopped some 25 miles from Moscow, and the city escaped virtually unharmed. Moscow is the see of a patriarch, and head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among the many cultural and scientific institutions in the city are the University of Moscow (founded 1755), the Academy of Sciences of the “USSR” (founded in 1725 in St. Petersburg and transferred to Moscow in 1934), a conservatory (1866), the Tretyakov art gallery (opened in the 1880s), the Museum of Oriental Cultures, The State Historical Museum, the Lenin Museum and Lenin Library, the Agricultural Exhibition, and the People’s Friendship University. The Moscow Art Theatre, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the Maly Theatre are headquartered in Moscow.