Moscow Guide
The Kitay-gorod
To the east of Red Square lies the Kitay-gorod quarter, whose mix of churches and palaces, banks, workshops and offices reflects its 800-year-old history. Although Kitay-gorod means "China Town" in modern Russian, there's no evidence that Chinese merchants ever resided here, and most scholars believe that the name derives from kita, an old word meaning "wattle", after the palisades that reinforced the earthen wall erected around this early Kremlin suburb. In the fifteenth century nobles began to settle here in preference to the Kremlin, displacing the original population of artisans and traders, but the nobility later moved further out to escape the risk of fires and plagues, leaving the quarter to rich merchants. Finally, the merchants too relocated to more salubrious areas, and the Kitay-gorod became what it still is today, predominantly commercial, with new banks and emporiums replacing the older shops and dwellings.
Aside from the busy street life on thoroughfares like Nikolskaya ulitsa, the main attractions are the quarter's churches, particularly the Church of the Trinity; the interior of the Palace of the Romanov Boyars and the Old English Court in the Zaryade area shouldn't be missed either. The Archeological Museum and two sections of the fortified walls that once ran for 2.6km around the Kitay-gorod attest to its ancient history, while the former Lenin Museum and Communist Party headquarters are reminders of the not-so-distant Soviet era.
Being just off Red Square, ploshchad Revolyutsii is a good place to start, with access from Ploshchad Revolyutsii or Okhotniy Ryad metro stations; or you can approach the quarter from its periphery instead, starting from the Kitay-gorod or Lubyanka stations. As the Kitay-gorod is small and contained, you can walk around the whole quarter in an hour or so.