The Entrance of Red Square

We enter Red Square from the north. It sits at the bottom of a hill from our hotel, and serves as a corridor of power alongside the huge walls of the Kremlin. All the buildings are framed against the river, and the whole complex serves as a strategic location that dominates the entire area. Everything is built in concentric circles around this seat of power. Here's a nice post from someone at Moscow-life.com:
"...Located on the site of the city’s old market place, over the years Red Square has acted as Moscow's equivalent to ancient Rome's Forum - a vast meeting place for the people. It has been a place for celebrating religious festivals, for public gatherings, for listening to Government announcements or Tsars’ addresses, and even watching executions (various political dissidents were publicly butchered here by Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great). The square has also been the scene of more than one display of Russian military might – the most notable of which was in 1941 when lines of Russian tanks rolled through on their way to a front-line confrontation with the Germans. It provided a much needed boost to Russians’ morale in their greatest hour of danger. More recently the square hosted the Russian Live 8 concert, supporting the fight against world poverty..."