Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tower were not realised. Residential life continued to move further away from the city
centre, which was increasingly occupied by the governing elite. Shoddy high-rise apart-
ments went up on the periphery and metro lines were extended outward.
The attraction for Russians to relocate to Moscow in these years was, and continues to be,
very strong. City officials tried desperately to enforce the residency permit system, but to no
avail. In 1960 the population topped six million, and by 1980 it surpassed eight million. The
spillover led to the rapid growth of Moscow's suburbs. While industry, especially the milit-
ary industry, provided the city's economic foundation, many new jobs were created in scien-
ce, education and public administration. The city became a little more ethnically diverse,
particularly with the arrival of petty-market traders from Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Many of Moscow's 'historic' sights are new buildings modelled after structures that were
destroyed in the past. Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour were built
in the 1990s, while the Great Wooden Palace at Kolomenskoe and the Great Palace at
Tsaritsyno are both 21st-century constructions.
