Red Square

Welcome to Red Square, in the middle of Moscow. The Russian for "Red Square" is Красная площадь. Look at the noun/adjective combination — what gender is the noun площадь? It's actually feminine — yet another of those tricky feminine nouns that end in a soft consonant (not introduced in the textbooks until Book 2!). But because here we have an adjective modifying this otherwise ambiguous noun, we can tell that it is feminine without consulting a dictionary — the feminine adjectival ending gives it away.One of the most distinctive landmarks on Red Square is the Savior Tower - one of many towers that make up the Kremlin wall. In Russian, it's called the Спасская башня. It's known for the famous descending chimes with which its bells mark the hour. Take a listen here.

You probably didn't know that the "Basil" after whom the cathedral was named was a so-called Holy Fool - a very important type in Russian history. In Russian, he is called Василий  — or, to be more precise, Василий Блаженный  - "Basil the Blessed." Here's an early example of how cases are used in Russian: the form we just gave is in the nominative case, used to simply "name" things. Where English can use the preposition "of" to express possession, as in "The Cathedral of Basil the Blessed," Russian will change the case endings of both Василий and Блаженный to genitive case endings. This gives us the full Russian term for St. Basil's Cathedral: Храм Василия Блаженного.

It's easy to assume that Red Square's name has something to do with Communism, but its name long predates the Bolshevik Revolution! The explanation is quite simple: in Russian, what today means "red" (красная) once meant "beautiful," so the original sense of the name was "Beautiful Square." Meanwhile, the modern Russian term for "beautiful" would be "красивая”).

The Moscow Kremlin is just one of many in Russia. Most old Russian cities have a "kremlin" at their center; in medieval times, the entire city (or at least its most important structures) was contained within fortified walls. This helps explain the literal meaning of the Russian word for "city" — "город": the city is thought of as something that is "walled." In fact, this Russian word is cognate with the English word "yard" and "garden!" This example reminds us that Russian is indeed an Indo-European language, like English; so, while cognates may not always be obvious, they do exist!

Lenin's Mausoleum - in Russian, Мавзолей Ленина. Lenin's preserved body (or what's left of it) is still on display here, in a glass sarcophagus.

Behind Lenin's mausoleum, at the foot of the Kremlin wall, many other famous Soviet-era figures are buried, including Yuri Gagarin (Юрий Гагарин), the first human being in outer space. Here too, somewhat inconspicuously, stands the grave of Joseph Stalin (Иосиф Сталин), the Soviet dictator who will figure prominently in much of the propaganda we'll see during our studies.

Opposite the Kremlin and Lenin's Mausoleum is a gargantuan shopping complex called the GUM (pronouced "GOOM") — in Russian, ГУМ. We'll step inside it some other time — including for some Soviet-style ice cream.

Resurrection Gate (Воскресенские воротa), leading to Red Square. The gates we see today are replicas, built in the 1990's — the originals were demolished in 1931 to make way for large military vehicles to enter Red Square for parades. Take a look at the word воротa — compare how it's written in Russian, and how it's actually pronounced. In short, because of vowel reduction, the Russian "a" isn't always pronounced "ah," nor is Russian "o" always pronounced "oh." While not quite as noticeable, the same is true of Russian "e." HOw these vowels are actually pronounced depends on their position relative to the word's stressed syllable.

This impressive monument to General Zhukov is found in front of the State Historical Museum, on the side opposite that facing Red Square.

By the way, many Russian last names are derived from other nouns — nouns for professions, for example, or even animals. The name Жуков derives from the noun жук, which means "beetle!" Many Bolshevik revolutionaries invented new last names for themselves. You may know that the name Сталин was formed from сталь, meaning "steel" (and, by the way, this is another example of a noun ending in a soft consonant that is actually feminine in gender — again, we'll avoid such confusing nouns in the textbook until Book 2).

The symbolism of the monument is not difficult to guess: Zhukov's horse is trampling a shattered Nazi eagle under its front hoof. Zhukov famously pranced around on a white horse during the Victory Parade on Red Square following the war's end.

The inscription reads: Павшим за родину (To those who fell in defense of their homeland). For the Soviet Union, the war began on June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany launched a surprise invasion, despite a 1939 non-aggression pact (the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) that resulted in the division of Poland between the two countries; it ended officially on May 8, 1945 with the Germans' surrender, after the Soviets had pushed all the way into Berlin. When Russians think of World War II (more specifically, what they call the Великая отечественная война, they typically mean their struggle against Fascist Germany. The broader war, including the War in the Pacific, etc., would fall under the category of World War II specifically (Вторая мировая война).

The memorial is at the foot of the Kremlin Wall, and is constantly watched over by two guards; tourists often gather to watch the changing of the guard. Though not visible from afar, there is an inscription just beside the flame, which reads: Имя твоё неизвестно, подвиг твой бессмертен (Your name is unknown, your feat immortal) Note the short forms of the adjectives used here with the predicate adjectives — we'll discuss this topic in detail before long.

This is the Soviet equivalent of the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" in Washington. In fact, its Russian name is the exact equivalent of the English phrase: Могила Неизвестного Солдата. Its centerpiece is an eternal flame, or вечный огонь. It contains unidentified remains of soldiers who died defending Moscow in 1941, but memorializes all those who lost their lives in combat during WWII.

Stretching alongside the monument are individual tributes to the the "Hero Cities" of WWII. The term "город-герой" refers to a city honored for its collective heroism during the war. These include Leningrad (Ленинград), seen above. In Book 2, we will learn about the Siege of Leningrade in more detail. Of course, today, the city the Soviets had renamed "Leningrad" has reverted to its original, Imperial-era name: St. Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург).

Another particularly important город-герой is Stalingrad (Сталинград), the scene of a horrendous battle which the Soviets eventually won, and which proved to be the turning point in the war. As with many things once renamed in Stalin's honor, the city has since been renamed again; it is now known as Волгоград.