Place of Execution

Lobnoye Mesto is a round stone platform on Moscow's Red Square, directly in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. First mentioned in 1549, the present white limestone structure with its closed parapet dates from 1597. Despite the often-repeated nickname Place of Skulls, very few executions took place here. The platform served above all as the tsars' proclamation pulpit, from which edicts, accessions and the return of armies were announced to the people. Patriarchs blessed the faithful from here on Palm Sunday, leading the tsar through the city on a donkey. Today the structure stands unused and easily overlooked among the tourist crowds, an almost forgotten stage of Russian history. Small and low, but symbolically central.