Cathedral Square or Sobornaya Square () is the central square of the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

where all of its streets used to converge in the 15th century. The square owes its name to the three cathedrals facing it –

Cathedral of the Dormition The Cathedral of the Dormition (), also known as the Assumption Cathedral or Cathedral of the Assumption, is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos. It is located on the north side of Cathedral Square of the Mosco ...

Cathedral of the Archangel The Cathedral of the Archangel () is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia between the Great Kremlin Palace and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. It was the m ...

, and Cathedral of the Annunciation. Apart from these, the

Palace of Facets The Palace of the Facets () is a building in the Moscow Kremlin, Russia, which contains what used to be the main banquet reception hall of the Russian tsars. It is the oldest preserved secular building in Moscow. Located on Kremlin Cathedral S ...

, the

Church of the Deposition of the Robe The Church of the Deposition of the Robe () is a church which stands on Cathedral Square in the Moscow Kremlin. It was begun in 1484 by masters from Pskov, most likely by the same group of architects who built the adjacent Cathedral of the Annun ...

and the

Church of the Twelve Apostles The Patriarchal Chambers and the Church of the Twelve Apostles () is a minor cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, commissioned by Patriarch Nikon as part of his stately residence in 1653 and dedicated to Philip the Apostle three years later. Today, ...

are placed there. The tallest structure on the square (and formerly in all of Russia) is

Ivan the Great Bell Tower The Ivan the Great Bell Tower () is a church tower inside the Moscow Kremlin complex. With a total height of , it is the tallest tower and structure of the Kremlin. It was built in 1508 on Cathedral Square for the three Russian Orthodox cathed ...

, which also separates Sobornaya Square from

Ivanovskaya Square Ivanovskaya Square () is the largest Kremlin square. Its name comes from the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. In the 16th and 17th centuries, many government bodies were situated in the Ivanovskaya Square. It was the site of the Prikazy, the equivale ...

. Cathedral Square is famous as the site of solemn coronation and funeral processions of all the Russian tsars, patriarchs, and Grand Dukes of Moscow. Even today, the square is used in the inauguration ceremony of the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

Archaeological excavations

The

, where the square is located, is a closed object for archaeologists because the state authorities are located there. The Kremlin cannot be called a sufficiently studied monument: before the revolution, no one was engaged in archaeological excavations because the territory was built up and monasteries were in operation. After the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

, the Kremlin continued to be a closed territory. The main source of archaeological materials was not excavations with the full opening of ancient structures, but observations and fixation of the cultural layer during economic and engineering works. Nevertheless, archaeologists have managed to discover the first settlements on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin belonging to the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

(II millennium BC). A Finno-Ugric settlement of the early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

(second half of the first millennium B.C.) was found near the modern

Archangel Cathedral The Cathedral of the Archangel () is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia between the Great Kremlin Palace and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. It was the m ...

. At that time the population occupied the area of the modern Sobornaya Square.

References

{{Coord, 55.7505555656, N, 37.61750001, E, source:ruwiki_region:RU_scale:1000_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Squares in Moscow Moscow Kremlin