Modern era
During the Soviet era, Red Square maintained its significance, becoming a focal point for the new state. Besides being the official address of the Soviet government, it was renowned as a showcase for military parades from 1919 onward. Lenin's Mausoleum would from 1924 onward be a part of the square complex, and also as the grandstand for important dignitaries in all national celebrations. In the 1930s, Kazan Cathedral and Iverskaya Chapel with the Resurrection Gates were demolished to make room for heavy military vehicles driving through the square (both were later rebuilt after the fall of the Soviet Union). There were plans to demolish Moscow's most recognized building, Saint Basil's Cathedral, as well to make way for a larger Red Square, as well as the State Historical Museum. The legend is that Lazar Kaganovich, Stalin's associate and director of the Moscow reconstruction plan, prepared a special model of Red Square, in which the cathedral could be removed, and brought it to Stalin to show how the cathedral was an obstacle for parades and traffic. But when he jerked the cathedral out of the model, Stalin objected with his rather famous quote: "Lazar! Put it back!".
Lenin's mausoleum.
2008 Military parade marking the sixty-third anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Two of the most significant military parades on Red Square were November 7, 1941, when the city was besieged by Germans and troops were leaving Red Square straight to the front lines, and the Victory Parade in 1945, when the banners of defeated Nazi armies were thrown at the foot of Lenin's Mausoleum. The Soviet Union held many parades in Red Square for May Day, Victory Day, and the October Revolution, which consisted of propaganda, flags, a labor demonstration, and a troops march and show off of tanks and missiles. On Victory Day in 1945, 1965, 1985, and 1990 there were military marches and parades as well.
In 1963 a group of African students organized a protest on Red Square in response to the alleged murder of a medical student Edmund Assare-Addo. This was the first recorded political protest on Red Square since the late 1920s.[1]
On May 28, 1987, a West German pilot named Mathias Rust landed a Cessna 172 light aircraft at St. Basil next to Red Square, causing a major scandal in the Soviet Air Defense Forces.
In 1990 the Kremlin and Red Square were among the very first sites in the USSR added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Red Square has also served as a venue for high-profile concerts. Linkin Park, The Prodigy, t.A.T.u., Shakira, Scorpions, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other celebrities performed there. For the New Year 2006, 2007, and 2008 celebrations, a skating rink was set up on Red Square. Paul McCartney's performance there was a historic moment for many, as The Beatles were banned in the Soviet Union, preventing any live performances there of any of The Beatles. The Soviet Union also banned the sales of Beatles records. While McCartney's performance was historic, he was not the first Beatle to perform in Russia. Former Beatle Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band performed at Moscow's Russia Hall in August 1998.
In January 2008, Russia announced it would resume parading military vehicles through Red Square,[2] although recent restoration of Iverski Gate complicated this, by closing one of existing passages along Historical Museum for the heavy vehicles.
In May 2008, Russia held its annual Victory day parade, marking the 63rd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. For the first time since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russian military vehicles paraded through the square. On December 4, 2008, The KHL announced they would be holding their first all-star game outdoors on January 10 at Red Square.[3]
On May 9, 2010, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the capitulation of Germany in 1945, the armed forces of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States marched in the Moscow Victory Day parade for the first time in history.[4]
On 10 November 2013, Pyotr Pavlensky, a Russian performance artist, reportedly sat naked for an hour and a half on the square with a nail driven through his scrotum into the ground before he was removed by police. He said the stunt was a metaphor for "apathy, political indifference and fatalism in modern Russian society".[5][6]