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Capital: Moscow
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I was pleased to be Moscow again for I had good memories of my previous visit on business in 1965. |
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The congress was held in the modern 6000 room Rossia Hotel that was much more comfortable than the older Metropol, Intourist and Savoy hotels where tourists were usually sent.
This is looking south down Red Square with St-Basil's Cathedral, the Saviour Gatetower with the clock on it and Lenin's mausoleum in front of the Senate Tower.
This is looking north from the other side of St-Basil's Cathedral with the Saviour Gatetower on the left.
Below, two more views of St Basil's Cathedral, from the south on the left and from the north on the right.
This photo, looking north from in front of St-Basl's Cathedral, shows Lenin's Mausoleum, the Nikolskaya and Arsenal Corner towers and the big red brick history museum (specialised in the history of the communist party).
The slender 21 bell Ivan the Great Bell Tower dates back to 1508. It rises to a height of 81 meters and nothing could be built higher in Moscow until the 20th century . The central domed tower with a 65 tonne bell was built around 1540 and the smaller steepled tower is a 19th century addition..
The Assumption Cathedral, built around 1477, is the oldest and largest in cathedral square. All of the Russian Grand Princes and Czars were crowned here and many Russian Orthodox Church leaders were buried here.
Below, a closer view of the Assumption Cathedral and me chatting with Joseph D. from Ottawa who also attended the congress.
The 40 ton Tzar Cannon is another classic tourist attraction of the Kremlin. Cast in 1586 for Ivan the Terrible's mad son Fyodor, it was probably never fired.
The Armoury museum housed in this building is definitely worth a visit to gape at the treasures accumulated over centuries by Tzars and the Orthodox Church.
This building, The Bolshoi Theatre offers another kind of visual plesure if you like ballet.
Russian hydrofoil boats like this one on the Moscow river were the most advanced of the world in 1971. This picture shows the Bolshoi Moscovoretsky bridge and the Beklemishevskaya Tower on the south-eastern corner of the Kremlin.
In this picture, taken further upstream, you can see the huge Stalinist style Ministry of Foreign affairs near the Smolenskaya metro station.
This is the ornate Nikolaya church in Moscow's Hamovniky district.
After the formal congress meetings my collegue Jim and I went to Uzbekistan for a few days. We came back here and went on a short visit to Leningrad before heading for home via Paris.
Here is still another photo of the beautiful church of the Resurection of Christ on the Griboedova canal. I really like this view, I have photographed it in each of my '65, '71 and '77 visits.
Here is a picture of me on the northern end of Troitsky bridge near the Peter and Paul Fortress with the Hermitage Museum, the Winter Palace and the Admiralty lined up behind me on the southern shore of the Neva river. You can also see the dome of St-Isaac's Cathedral behind my head. That's four of Leningrad's major tourist attractions all on the same photo!
Below, my Soquip collegue Jim H. in front of the entrance of the Peter and Paul Fortress on the left and in front of the St-Isaac Cathedral on the Right.
After this bit of sightseeing, we went back to Moscow and home via Paris.
