2020-04-07
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| 1. at the junction of | - на стыке |
| 2. plain | - равнина |
| 3. upland | - возвышенность |
| 4. lowlands | - низменность |
| 5. urban boundaries | - городские границы |
| 6. the ring road | - кольцевая автомагистраль (МКАД) |
Moscow is located in the center of the European part of Russia, between the Volga and the Oka, a t the junction of the Smolensk-Moscow Upland (in the west), the Moskva-Oka plain (in the east) and Meshchera lowlands (in the southeast). The territory of the city after the change of urban boundaries in 2012 is 2550 km². One third (870 km²) is located inside the ring road (MKAD), the rest of 1691.5 square kilometers –outside it.
Moscow is situated on the banks of the Moskva River, which flows for just over 500 km (311 mi) through the East European Plain in central Russia 49 bridges span the river and its canals within the city's limits.
The elevation of Moscow at the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC), where the leading Moscow weather station is situated, is 156 m (512 ft). Teplostanskaya highland is the city's highest point at 255 metres (837 feet). The width of Moscow city (not limiting MKAD) from west to east is 39.7 km (24.7 mi), and the length from north to south is 51.8 km (32.2 mi).
Questions
1. Where is Moscow located?
2. What‘s the territory of modern Moscow?
3. Does the territory of Moscow cover only the city?
1. Москва находится в центре европейской части России, в междуречье Оки и Волги, на стыке Смоленско-Московской возвышенности (на западе), Москворецко-Окской равнины (на востоке) и Мещерской низменности (на юго-востоке).
2. Территория города после изменения городских границ в 2012 году составляет 2550 км².
3. Треть (870 км²) находится внутри кольцевой автомагистрали (МКАД), остальные 1691,5 км² — за ней.
Branches of Power
| 1. branches of power | ветви власти |
| 2. legislative power | законодательная власть |
| 3. executive power | исполнительная власть |
| 4. judicial power | судебная власть |
| 5. commander-in-chief | главнокомандующий |
| 6. to conclude treaties | заключать договора |
| 7. to enforce federal laws | ободрять федеральные законы |
| 8. to determine | определять |
| 9. to ensure | обеспечивать |
| 10.the Supreme Court | Верховный Суд |
| 11.the Arbitration Court | Арбитраж |
| 12.The Constitutional Court | Конституционный суд |
| 13.justice | правосудие |
| 14.people's assessors | присяжные |
| 15.a judge | судья |
| 16.subject to | подвергаться |
| 17.The Federal Assembly | Федеральное Собрание |
Russia is a presidential republic. There are three branches of power: legislative, executive and judicial. Each of them is controlled and balanced by the President. The President is the head of the state. He serves as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He makes and concludes treaties, enforces federal laws, appoints members of the executive departments to be approved by the Federal Assembly.
All power in the Russian Federation belongs to the people. They exercise their power through the Parliament, the representative, elective body. The Federal Assembly (Parliament of Russia) consists of two chambers: the Federal Council and the State Duma.
The highest executive and administrative body of state authority of Russia is
the Government, which is headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and his candidacy must be approved by the State Duma. The Prime Minister forms the Government which determines directions of economic, social and cultural development of the country.
The President of Russia is head of the state, guarantor of the Constitution of Russian Federation. He ensures coordinated functioning and interaction of all bodies of state power.
The judicial branch is represented by the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Arbitration Court, and the Courts of the Subjects of the Russian Federation. Justice is administered exclusively by the Courts. In accordance with the Constitution judges and people's assessors are independent and subject only to the law.
Moscow is the seat of the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the Russian Federation, with the exception of the Constitutional Court, which is located in St. Petersburg.
The Russian government is located in the Government House on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment in central Moscow. The State Duma sits in Hunting Row (Okhotny Ryad). The Federation Council is located in a building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka. Moscow is also the host of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court.
The Moscow Kremlin is the official residence of the President. The President‘s working residence is located in the Kremlin Senate building.
Questions
1. What is the political structure of Russia?
2. What are the three branches of power?
3. Who controls all the three powers?
4. What are the functions of the President of Russia?
5. What chambers does the Federal Assembly consist of?
6. What is the highest executive and administrative body of Russia?
7. Who appoints the Prime Minister? What is the judicial branch represented by?
8. What is justice administered by?
9. What judicial body located in St Petersburg?
10. Where is the Russian Government located? Where does the Duma sit? 11.Where is the Federation Council located?
12.Where is the President‘s working residence located?
1. В соответствии с Конституцией РФ, власть представлена тремя ветвями власти: законодательной, исполнительной, судебной.
2. Законодательная власть в России представлена высшим законодательным органом: Федеральным собранием, состоящим из двух палат: Государственной Думы и Совета Федерации.
3. Исполнительная власть в России представлена Правительством, возглавляемым Премьер-министром, который назначается Президентом страны.
4. Президент России является главой государства, гарантом Конституции России и обеспечивает согласованное функционирование и взаимодействие органов государственной власти.
5. Судебная власть представлена системой судов: Конституционный Суд, Верховный Суд, Арбитражный Суд.
6. Правительство Российской Федерации, исполнительный орган власти, находится в Доме правительства РФ на Краснопресненской набережной в центре Москвы. Государственная дума заседает на Охотном ряду. Совет Федерации располагается в здании на Большой Дмитровке.
7. Кроме того, Московский Кремль является официальной резиденцией Президента Российской Федерации. Рабочая резиденция президента в Кремле располагается в здании Сената.
| 1. Coat of arms | - герб |
| 2. to approve | - одобрять, утверждать |
| 3. The Charter of Moscow | - Устав г. Москвы |
| 4. to adopt | - принимать закон |
| 5. Administrative okrug | - префектура |
Moscow is designated as one of three federal cities of Russia – the others being Saint Petersburg and Sevastopol.
The entire city of Moscow is headed by one mayor (Serget Sobyanin). The city of Moscow is divided into twelve administrative okrugs and 25 districts. All administrative okrugs and districts have their own coats of arms and flags as well as individual heads of the area.
The Mayor of Moscow is the leading official in the executive, leading the Government of Moscow which is the highest organ of executive power.
The Moscow City Duma is the city council or local parliament and local laws must be approved by it.
The basin law of the city is the Charter of Moscow that was adopted in 1995.
Questions
1. Who is the city of Moscow headed by?
2. What is the administration structure of Moscow?
3. What is the basic law of the city?
1. Москва является самостоятельным субъектом, так называемым городом федерального значения.
2. Исполнительную власть в Москве осуществляет Правительство Москвы во главе с Мэром, законодательную — Московская городская дума.
3. Управление на местах осуществляется посредством 12 префектур, объединяющих районы Москвы в административные округа по территориальному признаку, и 125 районных управ.
4. Принципы функционирования органов законодательной и исполнительной власти Москвы, в городе определяются Уставом города Москвы.
| 1. heraldic shield | - геральдический щит |
| 2. armor | - доспехи |
| 3. a spear | - копье |
| 4. serpent | - змий |
| 5. to recant | - отрекаться от веры |
| 6. faith | - вера |
| 7. martyr | - мученик |
| 8. anthem | - гимн |
On February 1, 1995 a law was passed on the flag and coat of arms of the city of Moscow. The Coat of arms of Moscow is a dark red heraldic shield, which depicts a horseman – Saint George on a silver horse wearing armor and a blue cape with a golden spear in his right hand striking the black serpent. According to the legend Saint George, was a Roman soldier and officer in Emperor Diocletian‘s army who ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr Saint George was later canonized by the Church. Yuri Dolgoruky was named after Saint George.
The heraldic emblem of Moscow has been an integral part of the coat of arms of Russia since the 16th century.
Pre-Muscovite Russia
The emblem had its origins in the Byzantine tradition of depicting a patron saint of the ruling monarch on his seal and coins. Yaroslav the Wise was the first
Russian ruler whose patron saint was Saint George. Accordingly, he built several cities and churches in the name of that saint.
Saint George was also the patron saint of his great-grandson, Yury Dolgoruky, who founded the city of Moscow. The name ‗Yury‘ is Russian for ‗George‘. Yury is thought to have honored his patron saint on his coins which represent a standing warrior holding a sword in his right hand. Yury‘s elder brother, Mstislav the Great, also used a seal featuring a horseman slaying a basilisk. A century later, Alexander Nevsky resumed this usage. A lot of his coins depict a horseman slaying a basilisk or dragon, though the latter is not always visible. Alexander's motivation for reverting to Mstislav's emblem is disputed. It is possible that the image referred to his own victories over the Swedish and German crusaders in the Battle of the Neva and Battle of the Ice.
Muscovite Russia
Alexander's great-grandson, Ivan II, was the first ruler of Moscow to employ as his emblem the standing warrior with a sword in his hand. Ivan's son Dmitry Donskoy chose to represent this warrior riding a horse with a spear in his hand.
The symbol of the horseman slaying the dragon passed down through the generations: from Dmitry to his son Vasily I, then to Vasily II and Ivan III. A coin which featured the image became known as kopeck, from kopyo, the Russian word for ―spear‖.
Ivan III used the triumphant horseman as a state emblem of Russia on his seal from 1479. In 1497, it was replaced with the double-headed eagle, popularly interpreted as a symbol of Ivan's marriage into the last ruling dynasty of the East Roman Empire, thus illustrating his claim to the Byzantine political and cultural heritage.
Both emblems had been used on state seals alternatively until 1562, when the first Russian tsar, Ivan IV the Terrible, combined them by placing a heraldic shield with the triumphant horseman to the chest of the double-headed eagle. This layout has
become known as the coat of arms of the Russian Empire and then of the Russian Federation.
Imperial Russia
At first the charging horseman was interpreted as showing the figure of the ruling tsar slaying an enemy intruding into the Russian lands. This attitude was clearly expressed by the Muscovite statesman Grigory Kotoshikhin, among others. On the title page of the 1663 Bible, the heraldic horseman appears to have the face of Tsar Alexis.
The foreigners visiting Muscovy were the first to notice the emblem's resemblance to the traditional iconography of Saint George and the Dragon. Although during Peter I's reign the horseman was still represented with a crown and his face bore some resemblance to Peter's, this Westernizing monarch was the first to identify the heraldic horseman as St. George.
A learned Italian heraldist in Peter's service, Count Santi, associated the horseman with St. George as the patron saint of the prince who founded Moscow. In 1730, Santi prepared the first detailed description of the heraldic emblem of Moscow, which, drawing on the traditions of Western heraldry, named the horseman as St. George. In Santi's version of the emblem, set against the red field appears a white knight riding a silver horse and charging with his spear against a black dragon reminiscent of Zilant, a heraldic symbol of Muslim Kazan. With several minor modifications, this emblem was officially confirmed December 20, 1781, during Catherine II's municipal reform which involved standardization of the municipal heraldry.
In 1883, it was decided to bring the colours of Moscow's emblem in line with the three colours of the flag of Russia. The colour of the dragon was changed from black to white and the horseman's cloak was altered from gold to azure. These colours do not appear to correspond to the colour scheme traditionally used in Russian icons depicting Saint George and the Dragon. In 1903, the ancient colour scheme was
revived by painter Viktor Vasnetsov in his design of the Tretyakov Gallery façade, whose entrance also displays a large effigy of St. George and the Dragon.
Th century
After the Russian Revolution, the heraldic symbols of the Russian Empire were banned. On September 22, 1924, the Moscow Soviet adopted a new emblem of Moscow which featured a red star, sickle and hammer, and the Revolution Monument in Moscow. The Soviet emblem failed to gain popularity, however, and was rarely used. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the heraldic representation of Moscow reverted to the version used between 1883 and 1918, with some minor modifications.
As the Russian Orthodox Church does not allow sculptural representations of saints, no statues of Saint George and the Dragon were erected in Moscow prior to the Revolution. After the emblem was restored on November 23, 1993, a cluster of statues on the subject were unveiled in Poklonnaya Hill, Tsvetnoi Boulevard, Manege Square, and other places in Moscow. Most of these were sculpted by Zurab Tsereteli, who also had other versions of the subject installed in such cities as New York.
―Moya Moskva‖ is the anthem of the city of Moscow since 1995. The music was composed in 1941 by Isaak Dunayevsky and the lyrics were written by Sergey Agranyan and Mark Lisyansky. The original lyrics had four verses, of which the last
pertained to Joseph Stalin. They were replaced by the current lyrics which were introduced during the Leonid Brezhnev era.
Questions
1. What is the Coat of arms of Moscow?
2. What is its origin?
3. What do you know about Saint George?
4. What is Moscow anthem?
1. 1 февраля 1995 г. был принят закон о флаге и гербе города Москвы.
2. Герб Москвы представляет собой темно-красный геральдический щит, на котором изображен всадник – Святой Георгий Победоносец на серебряном коне в серебряных доспехах и голубом плаще, поражающий золотым копьем черного Змия.
3. Согласно древнему преданию, Святой Георгий был римским воином родом из Лидии, который принял христианство в числе первых, а во время гонения на христиан, возглавляемых императором Рима Диоклетианом, Святой Георгий принял мученическую смерть за отказ отречения от веры и был канонизирован церковью как Великомученик и Святой.
4. Именно Святой Георгий был ангелом Юрия Долгорукого – основателя Москвы, т.е. был назван в его честь.
5. Гимном Москвы является песня "Моя Москва". Текст песни написал М. С. Лисянский и С. И. Агранян, автор музыки - И.О. Дунаевский.
Transport
| 1. transportation hub | - транспортный узел |
| 2. landmark | - достопримечательность |
| 3. rail terminal | - ж/д вокзал |
| 4. commuter train | - электричка |
| 5. cargo | - груз, грузовой |
Moscow is a major transportation hub including 5 airports, 9 railway stations and 3 river ports. The Moscow Metro which was opened in 1935 is recognized as one of the city's landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 206 stations.
Railway
Moscow has several train stations serving the city. Moscow's nine rail terminals
are:
