Editing Red Square (section)

=== Former government administration ===
[[File:Moscow Red Mint asv2018-09 img1.jpg|thumb|left|The building in 2018]]
The building standing between the Resurrection Gate and the Kazan Cathedral is one of the less conspicuous buildings on Red Square. It was built between 1733 and 1740 and since then has served as the headquarters of the administration of the city of Moscow and the [[Moscow Governorate]] (the latter partially corresponds to today's [[Moscow Oblast]]). The government administration building was not spared from the [[French Invasion of Russia|war against Napoleon in 1812]], in which large parts of Moscow were destroyed. In the 1810s it was then rebuilt, under the direction of the architect [[Joseph Bové]], who was instrumental in the reconstruction of the city at that time. In the course of this reconstruction, a tower was added to the roof of the house, which for a long time served as an observation tower for a fire station. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, this tower was dismantled.

In the courtyard of the former government administration building, the old building of the state [[Mint (facility)|mint]] has been preserved to this day. This was built in 1697 by decree of [[Peter the Great]] and since then has housed a production facility for silver coins for almost a quarter of a century before the money issuing system of the tsarist Empire was essentially relocated to Saint Petersburg. After the end of minting, the lower part of the building, which had no windows, was temporarily used as a [[Debtors' prison]] for insolvent merchants. Today, both the former government building and the old mint belong to the neighbouring historical museum.