The article analyzes the ideas about state symbols in the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19–20 centuries, visualization, methods of broadcasting. The transformation of perception of power symbols and their visual images in connection with the events of 1905 in St. Petersburg and Moscow is traced. The study of their functioning in the Moscow space during the period of the First Russian Revolution allows us to focus on the moment of inclusion of alternative (revolutionary) symbols in the phase of active political struggle. As a result, the traditional idea of Pervoprestol’naya (Moscow) as the spiritual, sacred center of the Russian Empire is being destroyed. The revolutionary political culture is further developed.