Moscow is an old city that has reach history. It was founded in 1147by the Prince of Suzdal Jury Dolgoruky.In 1147 Moscow was first mentioned in the written records. Moscow's early architecture was simple but expressive. Such city's structures as fortress walls, bridges, churches and cathedrals were made of brick and white stone decorated with ceramic. Several first-class foreign architects were invited to build a number of architectural monuments in Western style.Which have survived to our days and are carefully preserved by the city authorities.But in 1812 during Napoleon's invasion a terrible fire raged in the city for several days and more than 70 buildings were destroyed. Standard projects had to be usedto facilitate rapid restoration of the city and preserve the city's architecturaluniformity. This task was successfully carried out.As a result a greatnumber of stone houses with much better facilities appeared in the city.
A major feature of Moscow's present development it is theestablishment of the industries requiring highly -skilled labour, and thebranches producing high-quality apparatus, as well as the development ofnew technologies and know-how.
In recent years the population of Moscow reached 10 million and isstill growing and this has led to some problems with transport and movement. The most convenient means of transport in Moscow is, of course, the Metro. Besides it there are buses, trolley- buses and trams. Roads constitute another aspect of the transport problem. Having reconstructed many of the existing streets and roads the city authorities started to build new roads which are to link several city districts between the Moscow Circular Highway and the Sadovoye Ring Road. Moscow today is a big megapolis with first-rate hotels, restaurants, theatres, exhibition balls, shops and gigantic transport arteries. Anв today Moscow can proudly be called the heart of Russia.