Manege and Manege Square

Moscow Manege is a large oblong building which gives its name to the vast Manege Square. Designed by Spanish engineer Agustín de Betancourt with a unique roof without internal support for 45 m, it was erected from 1817 to 1825 by the Russian architect Joseph Bové, who clothed it in its Neoclassical exterior, an order of Roman Doric columns enclosing bays of arch-headed windows in a blind arcade, painted white and cream yellow. The roof, with its internal rafters and beams exposed, rests on external columns of the Manege.

Manege Square is a large pedestrian open space at the very centre of Moscow bound by the Hotel Moskva (to the east), the State Historical Museum and the Alexander Garden (to the south), the Moscow Manege (to the west), and the 18th-century headquarters of the Moscow State University (to the north).
The square forms a vital part of downtown Moscow, connecting Red Square (which sprawls behind the Iberian Gate immediately to the south) with a major traffic artery, Tverskaya Street, which starts here and runs northward in the direction of Saint Petersburg. It is served by three metro stations: Okhotny Ryad, Ploshchad Revolyutsii and Teatralnaya.

The centrepiece of the renovated square is a modern trade centre, with four underground storeys and parking lot capped with a rotating glass cupola, which forms a world clock of the Northern hemisphere with major cities marked and a scheme of lights below each panel to show the progression of the hour. Another innovation is the feign river-bed of the Neglinnaya River, which has become a popular attraction for the Muscovites and tourists. The river’s course is imitated by a rivulet dotted with fountains and statues of Russian fairy-tale characters, as sculpted by Zurab Tsereteli.