Illustrated History of Moscow

How did a small frontier town on the banks of the Neglinnaya River become the capital of a vast empire?
Russian historian, publicist, educator, and professor Vladimir Nazarevsky (1851–1919) will guide the reader through eight centuries of Moscow's history – from its first recorded mention in 1147 to the tumultuous early 20th century.
The book, published in 1913, became one of the best popular-scientific works on the history of Moscow. It will help us not only learn the history of the ancient capital but also see it – through the eyes of a Muscovite at the beginning of the 20th century. This is not a dry essay, but a lively journey through streets and eras: bustling markets and Kremlin construction, white-stone monasteries and the fire of 1812, royal processions and merchant feasts, the first theaters and the university, the birth of the Moscow character – unhurried, thorough, hospitable.
Nazarevsky shows Moscow simultaneously as the heart of Russia's spiritual life and as its political center, where the country's fates were decided.
The book is structured like a gallery of vivid portraits – princes and tsars, architects and writers, commanders and saints – people who made Moscow Moscow.
Rare engravings, archival photographs, and documents turn reading into a stroll through vanished streets and squares, allowing us to see how the city grew, and how its silhouette and rhythm of life changed.
“Illustrated History of Moscow” is an exciting guide through time for those who love the city and want to understand why the historical pulse of Russia is best felt in this city.