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Mr Putin opened the celebrations by congratulating Muscovites and all Russians on this important event. The President expressed special thanks to war and labour veterans, who not only defended the capital but built it anew and developed its economy and the life of its people.

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov also addressed his greetings to Muscovites.

A theatrical performance, “Moscow Time”, representing scenes from the city’s history then took place on the capital’s Tverskaya Ploshchad.

Accompanied by Mr Luzhkov, Mr Putin went for a walk in the Tsaritsyno Estate.

The President began his tour of the estate, several hundred hectares in area, by visiting the Horseshoe Island in the Middle Tsaritsyno Pond, which contains a fountain that plays colour and music.

Mr Putin and Mr Luzhkov then followed the avenue to the park complex’s main building, the Grand Palace. The President visited some of the rooms of the restored palace, including the halls of Catherine and Paul, and looked at their design and decoration. Mr Putin was shown fragments of the walls inside the palace building erected during the time of Catherine the Great.

Mr Putin and Mr Luzhkov then went through an underpass to the Khlebny Dom, which got its name from the welcoming symbol of the bread and salt cellar on its façade. The President and Mr Luzhkov spoke with journalists in the building’s atrium.

The Tsaritsyno Estate was one of the main sites for the celebrations of the 860th anniversary of Moscow’s founding. The restoration of the Grand Palace, the three Cavaliers’ Corps buildings, the large and small grotesque-style bridges and the Tri-cameral grotto was completed in time for the event, as was the reconstruction of the Shipilovsky dam, the greenhouse complex, and the rehabilitation of the Lower Tsaritsyno and Borisovsky Ponds.

A fountain playing colour and music was opened on the Azhurny pedestrian bridge at Tsaritsyno on the eve of the celebrations.