Moscow’s history lasts less than a thousand years- very little compared to some European capitals.  But it has a rich history preserved in the most accessible of all formats: visual public displays, or monuments.  These monuments can be found everywhere in the city; it’s practically impossible to miss them.  Most usually the monuments appear in a place associated with the memory of the individual depicted, such as this monument of Peter I standing next to a relocated wooden residence at the site of Komolenskoe, a former residence of Ivan the Terrible.  Slightly (but only slightly) larger than life, this monument captures his heroic stance and all-confident nature.  Although relocated, this monument commemorates association of a related historical figure.

Here, a monument remembers St. Alexius, a 14^th Century Metropolitan Bishop of Moscow.  He founded several of Moscow’s most famed monasteries and is said to have performed a variety of miraculous healings.  His role in shaping Moscow as a holy city earned this monument, stationed  before Zachatevsky Women’s Monastery to recall his impact on the city.

Finally, some monuments appear with their former homes, such as the monument below.  Based on Repin’s famed portrait of Tretyakov, the monument stands outside his former home and location of his impressive collection of Russian art.  As a collected and thus as a patron of Russian art, his cultural impact earned this monument for the memory of future generations.

Monuments are everywhere in Moscow, preserving its political, religious, and cultural heritage so that just being the city and walking around it provides a detailed education of its past.
Information provided mostly by the monuments themselves, with GoogleMaps helping to locate St. Alexius.