Cathedral Square or Sobornaya Square (, or ''Sobornaya ploshchad'') is the central square of the

Moscow Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (R ...

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 (russian: Успенский собор , translit = Uspensky sobor), also known as the Assumption Cathedral or Cathedral of the Assumption, is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos. ...

Cathedral of the Archangel The Cathedral of the Archangel (russian: Архангельский собор, Arkhangel'skiy sobor) is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia between the Gr ...

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

Palace of Facets The Palace of the Facets (russian: Грановитая Палата, ''Granovitaya Palata'') is a building in the Moscow Kremlin, Russia, which contains what used to be the main banquet reception hall of the Muscovite Tsars. It is the oldest p ...

, the

Church of the Deposition of the Robe The Church of the Deposition of the Robe (russian: Церковь Ризоположения) 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 archit ...

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. Now it ...

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 (russian: Колокольня Иван Великий, ''Kolokol'nya Ivan Velikiy'') is a church tower inside the Moscow Kremlin complex. With a total height of , it is the tallest tower and structure of the Kreml ...

, which also separates Sobornaya Square from Ivanovskaya Square. 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 the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federa ...

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 (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, 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 is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

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

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

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

Archangel Cathedral The Cathedral of the Archangel (russian: Архангельский собор, Arkhangel'skiy sobor) is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia between the G ...

. 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