The city where a prince invited a friend to dinner
Moscow first turns up in a chronicle as the setting of a dinner invitation. In the spring of 1147, Yuri Dolgoruky asked his ally, Prince Sviatoslav Olgovich, to meet him here. The chronicler remembered the feast. Thanks to that entry, we know the settlement could already host a prince and his retinue. Moscow counts its age from their meeting.
To picture the early city, look for the water. On Borovitsky Hill, where the Neglinnaya flowed into the Moskva, two rivers guarded the approaches to the fortress. Under Dmitry Donskoy white stone replaced its timber defences. Ivan III later began another rebuilding campaign and invited masters from Italy. When you reach the Spasskaya Tower on day one, look at the brick below and the tall tent roof above the clock. The lower tower dates from the late fifteenth century. The tent roof arrived more than a century later.
Day two takes you across the river. The district’s name preserves the view of someone in the old city. Stand by the Kremlin and Zamoskvorechye really does lie ‘beyond the Moskva River’.