Entering Red Square via Resurrection Gate, Moscow, Russia, at night

            Voskresenskie Vorota, 'Resurrection Gate', stands at the northern corner of Red Square, in the gap between the grand buildings of the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 (built as Moscow City Hall in the 1890s) and the State Historical Museum (visible through the gate, on the right), and linking the end of Tverskaya Street to Red Square. As such, it is described as the 'front gate' of the modern city and the Russian 'Kilometer Zero': all distances in the country are relative to a plaque in the pavement just behind the camera.

The double-arched gate was first incorporated to the wall around the mercantile settlement of Kitai-gorod in 1535, though the chambers above the arches and twin towers date from 1680, when an  icon of the Resurrection was also added; hence the name of the gate.

Another name in current use is 'Iverskie Vorota' ('Iberian Gate').  Since 1669, a chapel between the gate's arches (at the extreme left of this photo) has held 'Vratarnitsa' ('gatekeeper'), a replica of the miraculous Iverskaya Ikona Bozhey Materi ('Iveron Icon of the Mother of God') from the Georgian ('Iveron') monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. [As I understand it, 'Iberia' is the Greek name for Georgia. Nothing to do with the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal!]
Originally wooden, the chapel was rebuilt in brick by Matvey Kazakov in 1781 for the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery.

This combination of chapel and gate survived until the turn of the 1930s: the former was demolished by Soviet secularism in 1929, with the latter following in 1931 to widen access to Red Square, most prominently facilitating the circulation of heavy vehicles during military parades.

By 1988 there was will to rebuild the Gate, but the fall of the USSR in 1991 delayed construction and reopening until 1995, when a fresh replica of the Iveron Icon was brought from Mount Athos.

Red Square was almost as busy rather late at night as during the day. This view looks down the length of the (rectangular!) Square to St. Basil's Cathedral ~370 m away; from there the Square slopes down towards the Moskva River for a further ~130 m.

Now the hub of all Moscow's main streets (radial and concentric), the Square was created by Ivan III ("the Great") at the turn of the 16th Century to clear an area outside the Kremlin of small buildings, which would assist potential attackers. The space was occupied by a market and was initially known simply as 'Torg' ('Market'); the current name was only used from c1661.  It comes from 'красивая' ('beautiful'), which gradually became 'красная' ('red'). The association with Communism's signature colour is coincidental.

The 'Cathedral of Vasily (Basil) the Blessed', or, 'Pokrovsky Cathedral' is officially the 'Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat' – but it's universally known as 'St Basil's Cathedral'.
Built 1555–1561, after 1917 the cathedral became a museum, though there was pressure to demolish it in the same 1930s urban planning as destroyed the Resurrection Gate. Post-1991, it remains partly a museum, with occasional church services restored.

Taken in: Russia / Moscow / Moscow (show map)

Taken on: October 20, 2012

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resurrection

gate

ворота

voskresenskie

vorota

red square

tverskoy

moscow

russia

москва

россия

basil

cathedral

vasily

iberian

иверские

krásnaya plóshchaď

кра́сная

пло́щадь

kilometre zero

нулевого километр

иверская икона божией матери

собо́р

васи́лия

блаже́нного

cобо́р покрова́ пресвято́й богоро́дицы что на рву

покро́вский собо́р

onion

dome

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Sets appears in: • Moscow: Red Square

Groups appears in: • Night Images • Russia more » • MOSCOW / МОСКВА • MOCKBA • Moscow at Night • Russia in Photographs • Geotagging: Russia • Moscow moments « less

Camera: Canon EOS 450D, f/3.5, 1/15 sec, 16mm, ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 450D
Lens:	EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Aperture:	f/3.5
Exposure Time:	0.067 sec (1/15)
Focal Length:	16mm
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Shutter speed priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Partial
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5 (Windows)
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