Editing Red Square (section)

=== Lobnoye Mesto ===
[[File:Place of Skulls (Лобное Место) - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Lobnoye Mesto at the center]]
The Lobnoye Mesto (Russian: Лобное место) is a round, grandstand-like structure made of white stone in the southeastern part of the square, in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. At the same time, it is one of the oldest buildings on the square that has been documented to this day. Lobnoye Mesto was first mentioned in 1549, when the then 19 year old [[tsar]] [[Ivan The Terrible]] gave a speech there. Thus, it must have been conceived from the beginning as a platform from which, above all, tsar decrees were announced to the people. The name ''Lobnoye Mesto'' could literally mean 'forehead' or 'skull' (and thus a literal translation of [[Golgotha]]), however, according to other hypotheses, it has nothing to do with a forehead, but with its location near the praise, as a steep river bank was called in medieval Russia.

According to tradition, the grandstand on Red Square was originally made of wood, and the current stone building with a gate made of iron grating dates from the late 1590s. In the course of time, the Lobnoye Mesto was not only used as a platform for state announcements and announcements, but also as the centre of solemn events; the [[patriarch]]s of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] gave speeches to the crowd here, at solemn services on Red Square. At the same time, the Lobnoye Mesto became notorious as the scene of executions, such as the one of [[Stenka Rasin]] in 1671, and many others. Although, these executions were not carried out directly in the stand, but a few meters away.

After Saint Petersburg became Imperial Russia's capital, the Lobnoye Mesto lost its function as the tsar's tribune and has been a monument ever since. In 1786, it was rebuilt according to a design by the architect [[Matvey Kazakov]], and moved a few meters to the east.