Sigismund von Herberstein, Herberstein (1549) | The Textbook of Architecture

The first full description of Muscovy by a western visitor, written by the imperial envoy who went to Moscow in 1517 and 1526: its geography, its government and its capital: a wooden city of houses set in gardens, round a fortress between two rivers.

Herberstein, a Carniolan diplomat in Habsburg service, learned Slavonic in his youth and used Russian sources as well as his own eyes. His description of Moscow notes that the city is built of wood and looks larger than it is because every house has its own garden and yard; that the fortress stands on the point between the Moskva and the Neglinnaya, with walls and towers of brick, and holds the palaces of the prince and the metropolitan and several churches; that the streets are closed with barriers at night; and that fires are frequent.

The book, part by part

I The description of Moscow

The wooden city in its gardens; the fortress between the rivers.

Rules: The fortress on the point between two rivers · Every house in its own yard

Rules drawn from Herberstein

The fortress on the point between two rivers

Set the kremlin on the high ground where two rivers meet, so that water guards two sides; wall it with towers at the corners and gates, dig a moat along the landward side, and put within it the cathedral, the prince’s palace and the metropolitan’s court.

Every house in its own yard

Lay the posad out in streets radiating from the market square, and give every household a fenced yard with its house, barn, bath-house and garden, so that houses stand apart among gardens rather than in rows.