Do you know how old Moscow is?

Have you ever wondered how many years Moscow? But the truth is, when was our capital founded, have there ever been times when Moscow simply did not exist?

It turns out that yes ...

How old is Moscow? The name of our capital
Scientists believe that the name of the city arose long before he appeared. However, from the point of view of history, this is not surprising, because the settlements are often called the names of geographical objects located in the area.

It is known that Moscow received its name in honor of the river of the same name. However, who invented it, what it originally meant, it was not possible to find out finally.

To date, there are three main versions: Finno-Ugric, Slavic and Baltic.

If we arm ourselves with the last two and dig deeper into the etymology of the word, taking into account the ancient languages, then literally we can immediately conclude that the name of the current capital is quite in tune with the words "swamp" or "swamp."

According to linguists, the root "mosk" was once used as the basis for the words "viscous", "sticky" and "marshy," and the derived noun, although it had several meanings, predominantly meant "liquid", "damp", "moisture," " Swamp. " Such a name of the area, as historians believe, could have been given either by the representatives of the tribe golad, or by the inhabitants of these territories, Vyatichi.

According to the Finno-Ugric version, the word "Moscow" could well have come from a certain Volga-Finnish language. In it there was a similar word, which in modern language can be translated as "the river Medveditsa" or "The cow's river".

Of course, there are other versions, but they look less convincing.

How old is Moscow? Why was it built in this place? Moscow ... How old is the great city? Strange as it may seem, an unequivocal answer to this question is unlikely to be found. The fact is that the exact age of the capital still remains unknown.

Some legends tell us that it was laid down in ancient times. For example, the main Moscow archaeologist Alexander Veksler believes that it may well be more than a thousand years since This is exactly what the coins and personal belongings of local residents found during archeological excavations testify to.

To date, the generally accepted story is that initially the capital of the Russian Federation was founded just above Yauza, in a place where two rivers merge: Moscow and Neglinnaya.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the first settlements in this territory were noted in the second millennium BC. And this area was not chosen at all by chance: it is very favorable for life in terms of hunting and fishing, and therefore it is here that both hunters and fishermen have settled since ancient times.

How many years the city of Moscow, you can approximately calculate, if you start from the annals. Some historians insist that the capital was laid down in the time of Prince Oleg, and therefore in the 9th century.

However, if you believe the surviving material documents, the first mention of the city occurs in the annals only in the 12th century, i.е. Then, when the period of Kievan Rus was already coming to an end, and the whole state was on the verge of breaking up into small specific principalities.

How old is Moscow? The oldest buildings of the city
Once again, enjoying walks in the beloved capital, I suddenly found myself thinking that I, for example, do not know what kind of building is considered the oldest in the city.

• Turning to historians, I learned that the oldest can safely be considered the Spassky Cathedral of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. His five-year construction was completed in 1425. Now this temple is a fortification fortress, founded in 1357 and almost completely restored after the fire in 1368. However, the familiar white-stone view of the building is getting closer to the middle of the 15th century.
• Faceted Chamber, located on the territory of the Kremlin, adopts the palm tree of the championship. The masters took four years, since 1487, to build a building, and to this day attracting huge crowds of tourists from all over the world.
• And in third place is the English court in Zaryadye. This important historical monument was saved by a miracle. The thing is that, constantly changing from one source to another, the building has gradually changed beyond recognition. It can be said that approximately to the middle of the XX century, all the chambers of the Old English Court, located on the bar, have completely lost their original appearance. In the 1960s, the Charge was demolished. And so would have forgotten about its existence, if not restorer Peter Baranovsky. Over late strata, he managed to find majestic chambers, and he insisted on preserving the monument, although it was already decided to build an automobile ramp in that place.