Let me lead you through the streets of Moscow

by Anni Pelmeni

Sorry for the prolonged silence, the RL has been hectic, but now I'm back, hopefully for good.

Have you ever asked why the Red Square is actually called "RED"? Is it because of the abundant use of RED bricks? Or is it because it was the center of the RED Soviet Empire? Could there be another hidden meaning?

It is true that the Red Square is the hallmark of Moscow. All tourists feel obliged to take pictures there. It is the pride and the heart of Russia. However, the Red Square did not exist till the end of the 15th century. The Great Fire of 1493 had destroyed the housed situated next to the Kremlin and after that the Tsar Ivan III prohibited building houses in the close vicinity of the Kremlin. This is how the area around the Kremlin was left unoccupied and soon it was called the Fire square (Pozhar) as to remind of the Great Fire. Notice that the colour of fire is also red.

By the 17th century the square next to the Kremlin was already shaped and decorated they way we know it now. It was then it was called 'the Red Square'. Despite multiple references to RED as colour, it is not the primary meaning here. In old Russian language RED - Krasnyj - had the primary meaning of 'beautiful', therefore in Russian Krasnaya Ploschad' means 'Beautiful Square'. In many old Russian cities the main street used to be called Krasnaya Ulitsa (Red Street), meaning 'Beautiful Street'. Even in the modern Russian an expression krasna devitsa (red girl) means 'pretty girl'.

So RED stays for Beautiful, not for for Soviet when we are talking about a square or a girl. But if it is Red Army? Definitely the reference not to beauty here, but to politics. Tricky Russian language, ha?

Stumbe it!