Moscow

Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Planeta Publishers, 1989. Assumed First Edition . Hard Back. Fine/Very Good. 10" x 13 1/2. Bisti, Dmitry - Design. 189 Pages. Nine pages of text followed by beautifully illustrated full page color photography on the remaining pages. Covering an area of over eight hundred and seventy square kilometres, Moscow is bigger than New York with its population of sixteen million, two and a half times as big as London and eight times bigger than Paris. The city extends for 30 kilometres from West to East and for 40 kilometres from North to South. Its planning is quite distinctive: the Moscow avenues radiate outwards like the spokes of a wheel and are linked by a series of concentric rings. The first ring is formed by the walls of the ancient Kremlin. The main Moscow squares and the remains of the Kitai-Gorod fortifications are arrayed round them like a necklace. The next ring, in a bend of the Moskva River, is formed by the boulevards. The fortress wall fringing Sely Gorod followed this ring in the Middle Ages. The names of the squares-Yauzskiye Gates, Pokrovskiye Gates, Petrovskiye ,Gates and Nikitskiye Gates-testify to ancient times when there really were gates flanked by watch towers in the city walls. The suburbs and fringe settlements of Sely Gorod were ringed with a moat and an earth rampart where the wide Garden Ring (Sadovoye Koltso) now runs. A magnificent collection of photographs vividly illustrating the unique history, architecture and culture of Moscow.