Методическая разработка с заданиями к уроку английского языка на тему: "Москва. Красная площадь".
методическая разработка

    Методическая разработка с заданиями к теме урока         «Москва.  Красная площадь»                                

                                 RED SQUARE

  Each Moscow street and square has its own passport. Passport №1 was issued to Red Square. It is classified as the 1st grade square. It is 690 m long and 130 m wide. The thickness of the artificial ground layer is 4,6 m. This is the size of the layer left by history.

  On the side of the square was the Kremlin where the Prince, the Metropolitan and Boyars and their servants lived, on the other side was a settlement which appeared later; craftsmen of all trades inhabited it: potters, leather-dresses, blacksmiths, shoemakers, jewelers and merchants.

  Two rivers were flowing below, under the hill: the Moskva and the Neglinnaya, a tributary of the Moskva. There was a pier at the bank of the river Moskva where ships with goods from faraway cities and countries anchored. The goods were sold in the market square near the Kremlin walls. The Kremlin stood close to the rivers, which served as additional defense barriers. The mote dug at the approaches to the Kremlin, on the eastern side, was filled with water. When at the end of the 15th century new brick walls and towers of the Kremlin were erected, all buildings in the market square were destroyed: houses, yards, shops and churches. Thus, in front of the Kremlin there appeared a space, which was clearly visible and could be shot through from the fortress walls. There was nothing that could catch fire which was also very important. Since that time the site in front of the Kremlin has been a square.

  The square was called Great Mart. As it often happened in those times there was a fire in 1571 and all shops in the square were burnt down. After that the square was called Fire. Stone trading arcades were built in the end of 16th century, which would withstand the fire.

  The square was gradually expanding and became more beautiful. People gave it a new name – Krasnaya (Red) that in old Russian meant «beautiful». Under this name it is known all over the world.

  The oldest structures in the square are the walls and towers of the Kremlin: the Savior and the St. Nicholas Towers built in 1491 by Pietro-Antonio Solari. The first one is the tallest. It was the main gate of the Kremlin. It acquired its present appearance in the 16th century. Then it was topped with a multi-level spire. In those days ceremonial processions of the clergy passed through the gate. It was forbidden to drive or walk through the gate with having a hat on a head. Even the tsars had to remove their hats. In the mid 19th century the Kremlin chimes consisting of 10 bells were installed. This chime mechanism occupied 3 floors. And now the clock on the Savior Tower chimes every 15 min and the melody of the national anthem is played every hour on the hour.

  The other tower, St. Nicholas (Nikolskaya), with its small Gothic turrets and arrow-shaped arches was unlucky: it has been many times rebuilt and twice restored after destruction, first in 1812 by French soldiers and then it revolutionary battles in October 1917. The tower was named so because Nikolskaya Street starts from it (the name of the street, in its turn, is associated with an old Monastery of St.Nicholas).

  The southern side of Red Square is closed by the CHURCH OF THE PROTECTING VEIL OF THE MOTHER OF GOD ON THE MOAT, better known as the Cathedral of St.Basil the Blessed. It was built between 1555 and 1561 on the orders of Ivan the Terrible in memory of the Russian army over the Kazan Khanate (1552). Originally it was planned to put up 8 chapels. Each of them was to be devoted to the saint whose day coincided with the day of a given episode in the military action at Kazan.  The fall of Kazan coincided with the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God. That feast was greatly venerated in Russia, and that was why the central chapel was dedicated to that feast. The architects Barma and Postnik, for the sake of symmetry, built 9 chapels – the central one and eight around it. Later on two more chapels were added – over the graves of Basil the Blessed and St. John. Most attended was the chapel of St. Basil the Blessed, that was the reason why the cathedral began to be called by the name of that chapel – the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed. To this day the cathedral remains as unsurpassed example of unique fairy-tale architecture and is regarded as a symbol of Old Russia across the world.

  On the other side of St. Basil cathedral is the Monument to Minin and Pazharsky. The idea of erecting that monument appeared in connection with the coming 200 anniversary of victory over Polish-Lithuanian and Swedish invaders. The sculpture group represents the military leader, prince Dmitry Pozharsky who headed the Voluntary Guards against the invaders, and the merchant Kuzma Minin who initiated the money subscription for the army.

  In 1620s on the initiative of Prince Pozharsky the Church of Our lady of Kazan was built. The pride of the cathedral was the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Kazan. The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God traveled together with the troops of the 1st and the 2nd levies to Moscow during the Polish occupation of 1611 and 1612 and helped to oust the occupants form the city. In early 30s Stalin ordered to blow it up. It was restored in early 90s according to the original design of the 18th century.

  Next to the monument of Minin and Pozharsky is a gray cylindrical structure on a «rise» (the Lobnoe mesto, derived from lob, meaning «forehead»). It was the place for reading the state pronouncements. Executions took place on wooden scaffoldings erected nearby. A court architect Michael Kazakov designed the present version of this place in 1780.

  The eastern and northern parts of Red Square got their present look only at the end of the last century. At first sight they look like the old structures. It is the so-called Russian style (old Russian revival) that was widespread first in wooden then in late 19th century stone architecture. The elements of the Old Russian architecture are: hipped roofs, kokoshniks, barrel-shaped columns, etc. But back in the late 19th century the buildings mentioned above looked ultra-modern – large trading centers and the History Museum in the north. One of the trading centers later became GUM (the initials stand for «State Department Store»). The great building originally contained over 1000 individual shops along 3 parallel glass-roof passages.

  The site occupied by History Museum was originally  the location of Moscow University established in 1755.

  To the right of it is the passageway with two identical towers. The gate’s name is the Resurrection Gate and it was also exploded by the order of Stalin in early 30s. The reason was that it stood on the way of the military parades hold twice a year on Red Square. The gate was restored in early 90s.

  The Soviet period changed the look of Red Square. The main necropolis grew up at the Kremlin wall. After two mass graves of Red Guards who were killed in October 1917 fights, all leaders of the Soviet state and the Communist Party were buried there, with the exception of Nikita Khrushchev. The Lenin’s Tomb is the compositional center of the memorial. Initially it was wooden and built in a few days to receive the body of the leader who died on 21 January 1924. The present building of the Mausoleum was erected in 1930 by the design of Tshusev. It is decorated with the Ural stones and the black stripe symbolizes the band of mourning.

  VOCABULARY

was issued – был выдан                         a pier - пирс

a potter – гончар                                      pride - гордость

leather – кожа                                           miraculous - чудотворный

a blacksmith – кузнец                            the 1st and the 2nd levies - Первое

a shoemaker – сапожник                        и Второе ополение

a jeweler – ювелир                                   to oust – выгонять, вытеснять

a merchant – купец, лавочник               scaffolding – эшафот, плаха

a mart – рынок, торговый центр           stripe - полоса

a tributary – приток                              mourning – скорбь, печаль, траур

  ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

1.  When was Red Square laid out?

2.  What did the name «krasnaya» originally mean?

3.  What historical events did Red Square keep the memory of?

4.  When was St. Basil’s Cathedral created?

5.  In memory of which historical event was it built?

6.  What is the official name of St. Basil’s Cathedral?

7.  Where does its usual name come from?

8.  Whose monument stands in front of the Cathedral?

9.  When was the Kazan Cathedral in Red Square founded?

10. What historical event was it dedicated to?

11. Why did the Kazan Cathedral have a great historical importance?

12. What was the pride of the Kazan cathedral?

13. What happened to this cathedral in Soviet times?

14. What can you tell about the Lobnoe mesto?

15. What do you know about GUM?

16. What is the History Museum in Red Square known for?

17. What gate and chapel were at the entrance to Red Square before the Bolshevik revolution?

18. When were the Resurrection Gate and the chapel of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God restored?

19. Who is the architect of the Lenin Mausoleum?

20. When was the Mausoleum built?

  TRANSLATE INTO ENGLISH:

1. Красная площадь была главным рынком города. 2. На Красной площади начались первые театральные представления. 3. На Лобном месте совершались казни и некоторые церковные обряды. 4. Так как Казань пала 1 октября, в праздник Покрова Богородицы, то и новый собор был назван Покровским. 5. На углу Никольской улицы и Красной площади до постройки Казанского собора находились торговые ряды. 6. Гордостью храма была чудотворная икона Казанской Божьей Матери, принадлежавшая прежде князю Пожарскому. 7. Царь обычно проезжал в Кремль через ворота Фроловской (Спасской) башни, а патриарх через Троицкие ворота. 8. В 1658 г. Фроловская башня была переименована в Спасскую: над ее воротами со стороны Красной площади был написан образ спасителя. 9. Главные ворота Кремля считались в народе святыми.