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The Alexander Gardens were laid out in 1819?22, after the Neglina River that ran beside the Kremlin's western wall was channelled into an underground pipe. On the far side of the gardens, statues based on Russian fairytales such as the Prince and the Frog and the Fox and the Stork, spotlit amid mosaic-encrusted basins and balustraded walkways linked to a mall beneath Manezhnaya ploshchad, evince Mayor Luzhkov's desire to transform Moscow's image from that of a drab metropolis into a prosperous fun city. Midway along the ramparts, a brick ramp with swallow-tailed crenellations descends to the white Kutafya Tower, the last survivor of several outlying bastions that once protected the bridges leading to the Kremlin, whose decorative parapet was added in the seventeenth century. Moscow Manege (to the right on the photo) is a large oblong building which gives its name to the vast Manege Square, which was cleared in the 1930s, adjacent to the more famous Red Square. A manège is an indoor riding academy. 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, The structure was used first as a traditional manège, to house parades of horsemen and a training school for officers. The Manege was large enough to hold an entire infantry regiment?over two thousand soldiers? as well as an invited audience. Since 1831 it has been an exhibition place. In 1867, Hector Berlioz and Nikolai Rubinstein performed at the Manege before a crowd of 12, 000. During the Soviet years, the building was used as an art gallery. It was there that Nikita Khrushchev (in)famously chided avant-garde artists for promoting degenerate art. On 14 March 2004 the building caught fire and burnt out, killing two firefighters. The wooden beams and rafters collapsed, leaving the walls remaining on site. The official investigation concluded that a short-circuit caused the fire. On 18 February 2005 the restored Manege resumed its activity as an exhibition hall by mounting the same exposition that had been scheduled on the day of its fire