Moscow (Moskva) city (state capital), metropolitan area - - Pictures
Moscow is laid out in a series of concentric rings that center on the original medieval fortress, the Kremlin. The encircling wide boulevards—the Boulevard Ring, Garden Ring, and Outer Ring Road—delineate the historic expansion of the city's fortifications. Like spokes of a wheel, 14 main transportation axes radiate from the center. The Moscow River winds its way from northwest to southeast through the city, reaching a width of 244 m (800 ft) in some places. The central and eastern parts of the city lie in the river valley, and in the southwest the Sparrow Hills (formerly the Lenin Hills) rise to more than 200 m (656 ft).
The area of Moscow expanded to 885 sq km (342 sq mi) in 1960, when the city limits were extended to coincide with the Outer Ring Road. The city expanded slightly through suburban annexation in the 1980s, reaching 994 sq km (384 sq mi) for the city proper and 1062 sq km (410 sq mi) for the metropolitan area. In many places, development has encroached upon and extended beyond the Green Belt, a ring of protected parks and mostly undeveloped land that encircles the city just outside the Outer Ring Road.
