UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND N. IRELAND: Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

  Edinburgh has been the Scottish capital since the 15th century. It has two distinct areas: the Old Town, dominated by a medieval fortress; and the neoclassical New Town, whose development from the 18th century onwards had a far-reaching influence on European urban planning. The harmonious juxtaposition of these two contrasting historic areas, each with many important buildings, is what gives the city its unique character.

AUSTRIA: Historic Centre of Vienna

Received thanx to Edna.

Beginning in the 12th century, the settlement expanded beyond the Roman defences, which were demolished. The medieval town walls surrounded a much larger area; they were rebuilt during the Ottoman conflicts in the 16th and 17th centuries and provided with bastions. This remained the core of Vienna until the walls were demolished in the second half of the 19th century. This inner city contains a number of medieval historic buildings, including the Schottenkloster, the oldest monastery in Austria, the churches of Maria am Gestade (one of the main Gothic structures), Michaelerkirche, Minoritenkirche and Minoritenkloster, from the 13th century. St Stephen's Cathedral dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. The period also saw the construction of civic ensembles, such as initial parts of the Hofburg. Whereas the monastic complexes were generally built from stone, becoming part of the defences of the medieval city, the residential quarters were of timber and suffered frequent fires.

In 1683, Vienna developed rapidly as the capital of the Habsburg Empire, becoming an impressive Baroque city. The Baroque character was expressed particularly in the large palace layouts built under Emperor Charles VI (1711-40) and Maria Theresa (1740-80), such as the Belvedere Palace and garden ensemble. A growing number of new palaces were built by noble families. Many existing medieval buildings, churches and convents were altered and given Baroque features, and additions were made to representative administrative buildings. Several historic buildings are now associated with the important Viennese residence of personalities such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and others, when the city played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century.

A new phase in the history of Vienna took place when the 34 suburbs were incorporated with the city, and the emperor ordered the demolition of the fortifications around the inner city. This opportunity was taken in order to create one of the most significant 19th-century ensembles in the history of urban planning, which greatly influenced the rest of Europe in this crucial period of social and economic development.

In 1874 the Hofburg complex was extended with the Neue Hofburg, an 'imperial forum', and joined with large museum complexes into a single ensemble. The burgtheater, the parliament, the town hall, and the university formed another ensemble linked with these. To this was added the opera house as well as a large number of public and private buildings along the Ringstrasse, on the line of the demolished walls. The late 19th and early 20th centuries testify to further creative contributions by Viennese designers, artists, and architects in the period of Jugendstil, Secession and the early Modern Movement of the 20th century in architecture.

RUSSIA: Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow

Received thanx to Nastya.

From the 13th century to the founding of St Petersburg, the Moscow Kremlin was directly and tangibly associated with every major event in Russian history. The Kremlin contains within its walls a unique series of masterpieces of architecture and the plastic arts - religious monuments of exceptional beauty such as the Church of the Annunciation, Cathedral of the Dormition, Church of the Archangel and the bell tower of Ivan Veliki, and palaces such as the Great Palace of the Kremlin, which comprises within its walls the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin and the Teremnoi Palace. On Red Square is Saint Basil the Blessed, still a major edifice of Orthodox art. Russian architecture was clearly affected many times in its history by influences emanating from the Kremlin. A particular example is the Italian Renaissance.

The Kremlin of Moscow, which according to chronicles dates from 1156, contains an ensemble of monuments of outstanding quality. Ever since the establishment of the Principality of Moscow in 1263 and the transfer to Moscow of the seat of Vladimir's Metropolitan in 1328, this was the centre of both temporal and spiritual power. Some of these original buildings border Cathedral Square, others, such as the Nativity of the Virgin (1393), were incorporated into the Great Palace when it was rebuilt. The nucleus expanded northward with the palace of the Patriarchs and the Church of the Twelve Apostles, erected in the 17th century, and especially with the Arsenal of Peter the Great which fills the north-west angle of the enceinte. The triangular palace of the Senate (today the seat of the Council of Ministers) was built by Kazakov for Empress Catherine II in the north-east sector between the Arsenal and the monasteries of the Miracle and of the Ascension, two splendid structures that were razed in 1932. In the south-east sector Kazakov built another smaller palace for the empress, known as the Nicholas palace, and also destroyed in 1932.

Red Square is closely associated with the Kremlin, lying beneath its east wall. At its south end is the famous Cathedral of St Basil the Blessed, one of the most beautiful monuments of Orthodox art. It was originally one of a pair of churches, the other being the Cathedral of Kazan, erected in 1633 in the vast open area bordering the 'Goum' by Prince Pozarsky to commemorate the victory over the Poles. It disappeared in the early 1930s along with several convents in the neighbouring area (Saviour-behind-the-Images, St Nicholas, Epiphany).

With its triangular enceinte pierced by five gates and reinforced with 29 towers, the Kremlin preserves the memory of the wooden fortifications erected by Yuri Dolgoruki around 1156 on the hill at the confluence of the Moskova and Nieglinnaya rivers (the Alexander Garden now covers the latter). By its layout and its history of transformations (in the 14th century Dimitri Donskoi had an enceinte of logs built, then the first stone wall), it is the prototype of the Kremlin, the citadel at the centre of old Russian towns, such as Pskov, Tula, Kazan or Smolensk.

The influence of the Kremlin style was felt when Rudolfo Fioravanti built the Cathedral of the Dormition (1475-79), and grew stronger with the Granovitaya Palata (Hall of Facets, 1487-91) by Marco Ruffo and Pietro Antonio Solario as well as in the towers of the fortified enceinte, built during the same period by Solario using principles established by Milanese engineers (the Nikolskaya and the Spasskaya both date from 1491). The Renaissance expression was even clearer in the classic capitals and shells of the Church of the Archangel reconstructed from 1505 to 1509 by Alevisio Novi.