Abstract: In this article, the authors attempt to comprehend the modern city and, in particular, the metropolis from the perspective of a semiotic approach, as well as conceptualize it as a space of human cultural existence. Thus, the subject of the article is the social and cultural space of a modern city. The authors of the article rely on the idea that the "cultural centers" in the city and the metropolis for a long time, according to three cultural objects centering urban life: this is a castle, a temple and a market, which traditionally embodied the dichotomy of the sacred and profane in the socio-cultural space of the city. The temple was a place not only of religious worship, but also of human formation. In turn, in the market (market square), the citizen was formed as an autonomous individual competing with others.   A special contribution of the authors to the study of the topic is that the authors come to the following conclusion:in the absence of value-based moral supports and the transformation of the "sacred", such a category as interesting, considered and analyzed in the article, became a reflection of the indefatigable thirst for the new as new, the pursuit of the illusion of happiness and the elusive fullness of life. In this regard, according to the authors of the article, the question becomes legitimate in this sense: is the harmonization of tradition and innovation, the dialectics of the dichotomies of the sacred-profane and innovative-provocative able to become a condition for preserving the metaphysics of the city, which develops if not for centuries, then for sure not for one decade and is measured by the life of more than one generation of citizens?