Kitai-gorod
Kitai-gorod is a business district within the city of Moscow, formerly encircled with medieval walls. It is separated from the Moscow Kremlin by the celebrated Red Square.
Name
Etymology of the name is problematic. "Gorod" is the Russian for town, whereas "Kitai" is the Russian for Cathay (i.e., China). Accordingly the vulgar translation would be "Chinatown", just like "Krasnaya Ploschad" is mistranslated as Red Square. Most scholars, however, tend to derive "Kitai" from an old word for wooden stakes used in construction of the quarter's walls.Walls
These walls were erected in 1536-39 by an Italian architect known under the Russified name Petrok Maly and originally featured 13 towers and 6 gates. They were as thick as tall, the average height (and width) being 6 meters. The last of the towers were demolished in the 1930s, but small portions of the wall still stand. Recently the Moscow mayor announced plans for a full-scale restoration of the wall. They also plan to close Kitai-gorod to automobile traffic.Squares
Apart from Red Square, the quarter is surrounded by Manege Square (in front of Moscow Manege), Theatre Square (in front of Bolshoi Theatre), Lubyanka Square (in front of the KGB headquarters), as well as the Old and New Squares in the east. Bourse Square is the only square located entirely within Kitai-gorod.Architecture
Kitai-gorod has been known as the most prestigious business area of Moscow. Its three main streets - Varvarka, Ilyinka, and Nikolskaya - are lined with maginificent banks, shops, and storehouses, many of them built in the Art Nouveau style. The most important of these are the Upper Trading Rows, the Middle Trading Rows, the Printing Yard, and the Merchant Court, built to a Neoclassical design by Giacomo Quarenghi in 1789-1830 and now used primarily for balls and exhibitions. The Tretyakov Drive is said to house some of the most luxurious boutiques in Europe.
Kitai-gorod contains four abbeys, notably Bogoyavlensky and Zaikonospassky, which remind about the area's medieval roots. Two of the most beautiful churches in Moscow, [ St Nicholas at Nikitniki] (1653) and St Nicholas the Great Cross (1689, blown up in 1933) used to dominate the district's skyline.