It's for eight and a half centuries that Moscow has been living. The small settlement that dwelt among woods and rivers has grown into the capital city of a huge country focusing the greatest achievements of material and spiritual culture of Russian people. Residing at the outskirts of Vladimir-Suzdal Russ, Moscow was built on a crossroad of water routes and overland ways. 

From the earliest times, the streets of Moscow were developed as per rings-and-radii system: springing from the city center, they forked into the multiplicity of driveways. An architectural dominant was Kremlin -- from its towers and cathedrals, the main thoroughfares began. A major place in the city's architectural ensemble was occupied by the large monasteries and manors, as well as public buildings and churches. In the XVIII century, the housing was reformed; some peculiarities were corrected, while keeping preserved the urban landscape as a whole. In the mid-XIX century, intensive construction works began, and Moscow acquired the image of a large city of trade and industry; and by the early XX century, became a large center of credit and finances, with a variety of banks and financial institutes. In 1935, dozens of the architectural monuments were demolished. The capital gained a monumental outline, central squares, wide avenues. 

Moscow is an ever-changing city, always offering a new look. The districts of historical downtown with adjacent housing and lanes are subjects to modernization and reconstruction; pedestrian zones in Arbat, in Stoleshnikov Lane are formed. Mass housing construction is being carried out. The residences of President of Russia, Federal Assembly, Russian Federation Government, Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Arbitration Court, Chief Prosecutor's Office are placed here, as well as representations of Russian Federation subjects and diplomatic missions of the foreign countries. 

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