Continuation of the walk along the Boulevard Ring of Moscow, from Trubnaya Square to Yauz Gate Square. Start of article:

Located at the intersection of the Boulevard Ring with Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Neglinnaya and Trubnaya streets. Unlike other squares, which inherited the names of the White City gates that stood in their place, Trubnaya Square has a different history. From 1590 to 1770 there stood the Belgorod Wall with a blank tower, next to which there was a hole covered with a lattice; The Neglinnaya River flowed into the city through it. The people called this hole “Pipe”, and the market located nearby - “Pipe”. After Neglinnaya was enclosed in an underground reservoir, a large area was formed in this place and it was called Trubnaya.

At the corner of Neglinnaya Street and Petrovsky Boulevard there is the School of Modern Play theater (house no. 29/14). Nearby, at the very beginning of Tsvetnoy Boulevard, there is an exit from the Trubnaya metro station, opened in 2007. There is also a monument to the Fallen Policemen located here. But let's return to the Boulevard Ring, cross the square and find ourselves on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard.

Rozhdestvensky Boulevard - the sixth in a row - is very short, it stretches between Trubnaya Square and Sretensky Gate Square for only 300 meters, and is quite narrow, its width ranges from 20 to 15 meters. The boulevard was built later than the others in the Boulevard Ring, only in 1820. On March 6, 1953, a terrible stampede occurred on the boulevard and Trubnaya Square when a crowd of people passed here to say goodbye to Stalin. On Rozhdestvensky Boulevard there is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pechatniki (house no. 25), the Mother of God Nativity Monastery (house no. 8/20); State Committee Russian Federation for fisheries (house No. 12/8). At the end of the boulevard there is the Sretensky Boulevard metro station.

From Trubnaya Square, Rozhdestvensky Boulevard rises steeply uphill, so from some places here you can see beautiful views towards Moscow, towards Trubnaya Square. Thanks to the views that open from here, the boulevard has been featured in Soviet films more than once; for example, it can be seen in the film “Pokrovsky Gate”. There is one wide dirt alley along the boulevard, there are benches. In the central part, opposite house number 12, there is a monument - a worship cross of the Venerable Euphrosyne (in the world of the Grand Duchess of Moscow Evdokia Dmitrievna). At the end, the boulevard ends at the building of the Gallery Hotel (Sretenka Street, 1). We pass by it and go out to Sretensky Gate Square.

The square is located at the intersection of the Boulevard Ring with Sretenka and Bolshaya Lubyanka streets. It arose in the 19th century on the site of the Sretensky Gate of the Belgorod Wall. Formally, houses are not listed by area, and the only house located on the square belongs to Sretenka Street (house 1, building 1). In the film “Beware of the Car,” the owner of the Volga, Dima Semitsvetov, played by Andrei Mironov, comes to this house. He arrives at the thrift store where he works. Now this house houses the Gifts store. To the north of the square is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pechatniki (Sretenka, 3).

From Sretenskaya Square we move to the seventh and shortest in the Boulevard Ring, Sretensky Boulevard; it stretches between Sretensky Gate Square and Turgenevskaya Square for 214 meters. The outer side of the boulevard is slightly raised above the roadway; this slope is the remnant of the White City rampart. At the end of the boulevard, on the outer side, there is the building of the Lukoil company. The Sretensky Boulevard metro station, opened in 2007, is also located here.

At the beginning of Sretensky Boulevard in 1976, a monument to N.K. Krupskaya was erected, surrounded by a flowerbed. Along the wide alley there are benches and lanterns, and flower beds. There is a children's playroom in the central part of the boulevard playground. Along the inner side of the boulevard stretches a complex of buildings of the former Rossiya insurance company. At the end of the alley there is a monument to engineer V. G. Shukhov, surrounded by bronze benches, which are also equipped with various bronze elements of engineering parts and tools.

Located at the end of Sretensky Boulevard, at the intersection of the Boulevard Ring with Myasnitskaya Street and Academician Sakharov Avenue. The Turgenevskaya metro station is located here.

At this point on the Boulevard Ring, two squares are adjacent and Turgenevskaya Square turns into Myasnitskie Vorota Square, separated by Myasnitskaya Street. The Chistye Prudy metro station is located on the square.

We passed the squares and we again found ourselves on the boulevard, now on Chistoprudny. It stretches for 822 meters from Myasnitskie Gate Square to Pokrovskie Gate Square. At the beginning of the boulevard its width is about 40 meters, and at the end - about 100. It is the eighth in the Boulevard Ring, the largest in area and the only boulevard with a pond on its territory.

Along the boulevard there are two alleys covered with paving stones, benches are installed, and flower beds are laid out in places. At the beginning of the boulevard there is a monument to the diplomat, poet and playwright A.S. Griboyedov, in the central part there is another monument - to the Kazakh poet and thinker Abay Kunanbayev. Next to the monument there is the “Singing Crane” fountain: in an irregularly shaped reservoir, among boulders, seven jets of water shoot up and there is a sculpture of a crane.

At the end of the boulevard there is Chisty Pond. Ducks swim in it and are fed by passers-by. In summer you can ride on a catamaran on the pond, and in winter there is an ice skating rink.

The “Annushka” restaurant, equipped in a tram car, follows the boulevard. In general, there are many places where you can eat - from fast food cafes, including McDonald's near the metro, to restaurants. There is also a floating cafe "Shater" on Chistye Pond.

On the boulevard and nearby there are several popular theaters, for example: Sovremennik, O. Tabakov Theater, Et Cetera, as well as the Rolan cinema (named after Rolan Bykov). Thematic photo exhibitions are regularly held here; in the summer, Chistoprudny Boulevard turns into a platform for street musicians.

On both sides of Chistoprudny Boulevard there are many interesting buildings of different architectural styles, different years the buildings. The Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan is located in one of the old mansions.

In house No. 14 (building 3) on Chistoprudny Boulevard there is a Marine Aquarium store, where a permanent exhibition is held sea ​​creatures"Coral Garden". This house attracts attention with its most interesting bas-relief with images of fairy-tale animals. The author of the bas-relief is the artist Vashkov, who is called Vasnetsov’s student. Part of this house appears on the screen of the movie “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed” when Vasya Vekshin comes to meet with the bandits; here he walks along the shore of Chistye Pond and sits on a bench.

Chistoprudny Boulevard ends at Pokrovsky Gate Square. Actually, there is no square as such, and there are no houses listed on it. This is a city block, whose perimeter is surrounded by two-story stone buildings from the early 19th century. All these houses are listed on Pokrovka Street.

Here again, on the Boulevard Ring, two squares are located next to each other, one goes into the other. Khokhlovskaya Square stretches from Pokrovsky Gate Square to Khokhlovsky Lane and is actually part of Pokrovsky Boulevard, sharing the same house numbering with it. On the square there is an open fragment of the White City wall, a kind of open-air museum. The fragment represents part of the surviving stonework with an area of ​​336 square meters.

Pokrovsky Boulevard stretches 600 meters from Khokhlovskaya Square to Vorontsovo Pole Street (Yauzsky Boulevard), its width ranges from 20 to 30 meters. This is the ninth, penultimate boulevard in the ring. There is one alley with a dirt surface running along it; in places where alleys open onto the boulevard ring, benches have been installed and flower beds have been laid out.

It is worth paying attention to some buildings on Pokrovsky Boulevard: building No. 3 - the classic Pokrovsky barracks; No. 5 - constructivist telephone exchange; No. 7 - classic mansion of the Iranian Embassy; No. 11 - Durasov's estate; No. 18 - Teleshov-Karzinkin house of the 18th century. Opposite the Pokrovsky Barracks is the Milyutinsky Garden.

After crossing the Boulevard Ring with Vorontsovo Pole Street and Pokolokolny Lane, Pokrovsky Boulevard turns into Yauzsky. This is the only place on the Boulevard Ring where the boulevards are not separated by a square. Yauzsky Boulevard is the tenth and last in the Boulevard Ring. It descends steeply to the embankment of the Yauza River. Some places on Yauzsky Boulevard (and Pokrovsky, too, by the way) offer views of the famous high-rise building on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. From the boulevard you can clearly see the Church of Peter and Paul at the Yauz Gate.

The outer side of the boulevard is raised above the roadway, being the remnant of the rampart of the White City fortress wall.

Yauzsky Boulevard stretches from Vorontsovo Pole Street to Yauzsky Gate Square for 400 meters, its width is only about 20 meters. There is one alley along which maples, lindens, poplars and acacias grow. Benches and lanterns are installed along the dirt road. Opposite Maly Nikolovorobinsky Lane there is a monument to the Dagestan poet Rasul Gamzatov, erected in 2013.

Finally we went down to the embankment of the Yauza River and approached the Yauza Gate Square. It is located between Yauzsky Boulevard, Yauzskaya Street, Ustinsky Proezd and Solyanka Street. This square closes the Boulevard Ring, being its last link.

Here are the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul at the Yauzsky Gate (along Solyanka) and the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Kulishki (along Yauzsky Boulevard).

Ustinsky Square was laid out on the square; in 1997, an obelisk “To the Border Guards of the Fatherland” was installed there. The obelisk is surrounded by benches and lanterns, the area around it is covered with paving stones, and paths covered with paving slabs diverge in different directions of the square. The square is planted with a wide variety of trees and shrubs and rather resembles a small park. The square offers views of the Ustinskaya embankment and the high-rise building on the Kotelnicheskaya embankment rising on the opposite bank of the Yauza. Here our walk along the Boulevard Ring ends.

There will be more further, up to the Fourth Transport, but the most famous and beloved remain the two most important city arteries - the Garden and Boulevard Rings. This is not just a collection of historical streets and squares, but something like the circulation circles of the “real” Moscow. Although the true Moscow antiquity of both the Garden Ring and the Boulevard Ring has been preserved mainly in the names.

Boulevard Ring

Even without knowing the history, you can look at a map of the capital and guess that the ring system of streets comes from ancient defensive structures, walls and ramparts. In the center is the Kremlin, and around it the city gradually grew in circles. First Bely - with boyar and noble estates, then Derevyanny - for simpler people. The boulevard ring was laid in the 18th century on the site of the dismantled stone walls of the White City, erected under Tsar Theodore Ioannovich. Hence the “gates” in the names of the squares - once these were the real gates of the White City: Prechistensky, Arbatsky, Nikitsky, Petrovsky, Myasnitsky, Sretensky, Pokrovsky and Yauzsky.

Moscow. Tverskoy Boulevard. Photo: Anton Agarkov / website

The ring, of course, did not form spontaneously, but was laid out according to the first general plan of the old capital - the “Projected Plan of Moscow” of 1775, developed under Catherine II by the French architect Nicolas Legrand. The first boulevard, that is, a wide street with a walking area in the middle, was Tverskaya. True, the historical appearance of Tverskoy Boulevard, like the entire Boulevard Ring, took shape already in the 19th century, after the great fire of Moscow (by the way, the general plan of 1775 was also developed after another big fire). In 1812, even the trees planted on the boulevard died.

Both the trees and the appearance of the boulevards changed many times, as the ring was updated in accordance with architectural trends and periodically fell into the epicenter of historical cataclysms. Nothing stood still, not even monuments. The most significant “relocation” on the boulevards can be considered the movement of the monument to Pushkin. Now it’s hard to imagine that before 1950 it stood on Tverskoy Boulevard. But now the beginning of Tverskoy Boulevard and the Nikitsky Gate Square are “decorated” by one of the strangest new monuments to the poet - the rotunda fountain “Alexander and Natalya”.

Unlike the Garden Ring, the Boulevard Ring remained open. It is a horseshoe in shape, encircling the historical center and bounded in the south by the Moscow River. If clockwise, the Boulevard Ring begins with the Prechistensky Gate, behind which Gogolevsky Boulevard begins. Behind it are the Arbat Gate, Nikitsky Boulevard and Nikitsky Gate Square, Tverskoy Boulevard and Pushkinskaya Square, Strastnoy Boulevard, Petrovsky Gate Square and Petrovsky Boulevard, Trubnaya Square, Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, Sretensky Gate and Sretensky Boulevard, Turgenevskaya Square and Myasnitsky Gate, Chistoprudny Boulevard, Pokrovsky Gate and Pokrovsky Boulevard, Yauzsky Boulevard and Yauzsky Gate. There are two more passages connecting the boulevards with the Moscow River - Soimonovsky in front of the Prechistensky Gate and Ustinsky between the Pokrovsky Gate and the Ustinsky Bridge.

Moscow. Gogolevsky Boulevard and the monument to Gogol. Photo: Pavel Pelevin / Moscow website. Monument to Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard. Photo: Maria Myasnikova / website

The length of the Boulevard Ring is about 9 kilometers, and this is a route that is quite possible and enjoyable to walk. This will be an ideal Moscow excursion: in addition to the many historical monuments and buildings of all eras, you feel the rhythm of Moscow, its metamorphoses, and its very ancient, uneven, hilly soil.

Moscow. Monument to Vladimir Vysotsky on Strastnoy Boulevard. Photo: Igor Stomakhin / website

There are many monuments on the boulevards, old and new, including, perhaps, the most “Moscow” monuments. Firstly, the already mentioned monument to Pushkin. Secondly, there are two of them - an alarming mystic in crisis of the work of Nikolai Andreev on Nikitsky Boulevard and a cheerful classic “from the Soviet government” on Gogolevsky Boulevard. At the beginning of Chistoprudny Boulevard there is, again, a Soviet ceremonial monument to Alexander Griboedov, the author of the great Moscow play “Woe from Wit.” On Tverskoy Boulevard stands the “Moscow mischievous reveler” Sergei Yesenin. On Strastnoy - Moscow bard. And if you return to Gogolevsky Boulevard, an unusual monument to Mikhail Sholokhov attracts attention: the author of “Quiet Don” is depicted in a boat, and behind the boat the heads of swimming horses poke out of the granite “water”. Sometimes it looks quite creepy, and sometimes Muscovites themselves add optimism to the dramatic picture - for example, by placing snow hares in the writer’s boat.

Garden Ring road

After the fire of 1812, under Emperor Alexander I, a commission led by the architect Osip Bove developed a new “Projected Plan for the Capital City.” This plan helped complete the final transformation of the former fortifications of the White City into a ring of squares and boulevards, and also prescribed the creation of a ring road on the site of another obsolete necessary fortification - the Zemlyanoy Val of the Wooden City, which had grown beyond the stone walls of the White City. The fortifications were dismantled at the end of the 18th century, but the space remained undeveloped, and even burned down during the French invasion.

Moscow. White City at the end of the 18th century. J. Delabart. (State Historical Museum)

According to the new plan, it was forbidden to build buildings on the line of the former Zemlyanoy Val. There, wide roads and streets were paved with cobblestones, which became part of a new orderly network of city blocks. Moscow was divided into quarters for the first time precisely according to this plan. In areas adjacent to the ring artery, it was prescribed to lay out gardens, vegetable gardens and front gardens. So the ring became Sadovo. Today those gardens have been preserved only as a prefix to the names of the streets: Sadovaya-Triumfalnaya, Sadovaya-Spasskaya, Sadovaya-Samotechnaya, etc.

The defensive past of the Garden Ring echoed in the mid-20th century: in 1941, the Garden Ring, like the Boulevard, became part of the Moscow fortified area, designed to turn Moscow into an impregnable fortress. The heart of the fortress was, of course, the Kremlin, and anti-tank ditches, barricades and firing points were located around the ring. In 1944, even before the Victory, the so-called “Parade of the Vanquished” was held on the Garden Ring: a march of captured 57 thousand Germans from the Center Army, among whom were 19 generals. They walked, of course, only along the entire ring, but in two parties along two sections of it: from Mayakovsky Square to Kursky Station and from the same Mayakovsky Square to Krymskaya Square and further to Kanatchikovo station.

Moscow. Crimean Bridge. Photo: Igor Stomakhin / website

Even before the war, in the 1930s, the Garden Ring was closed by throwing two bridges into Zamoskvorechye - Krymsky and Krasnokholmsky. At the same time, all the remains of the old gardens were destroyed, and for a fantastic reason: they were afraid of a chemical attack by enemies on the capital and that toxic substances would settle on the trees. The creation and design of the highway was completed after the war, when high-rise buildings important for its appearance appeared on Sadovoy. This is the Foreign Ministry building on Smolenskaya Square, a high-rise complex at the Red Gate and a residential skyscraper for the Soviet elite on Kudrinskaya Square. The latter is familiar to everyone from the film “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears.”

A ring that is not a ring at all. A dotted line of boulevards and squares. An ideal place for dates and photo exhibitions, leisure walks and topical meetings. A green pedestrian zone, which was once a powerful defensive structure. All this is the Boulevard Ring.

History with geography

Strictly speaking, the ribbon of boulevards in the center of the capital is not a ring at all, but a horseshoe, which in the south rests on the bend of the Moscow River. But the main thing is not the shape, but the location of the torn ring. Since ancient times, there have been defensive structures here: first, earthen ramparts were erected, then wooden walls were installed on them, and at the end of the 16th century they were replaced with stone ones.

Fortification became the third line of defense after the walls of the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. According to one version, it was precisely because of the color of the stone or lime covering the brick that the fenced area was called the White City. According to another, the “white” land, inhabited by boyars and nobles, was not subject to taxes, unlike the “black” land, where merchants and artisans lived. This version is supported by the second name of the area - Tsar-grad, or Tsarev city.

In the 18th century, Moscow expanded greatly, and the Belgorod Wall lost its defensive significance. In 1774, Catherine II, who attached great importance to the planning of cities, created the Stone Order, which supervised the dismantling of walls and towers. The released building materials were used for the construction of government buildings, for example, the Orphanage on Moskvoretskaya Embankment (today the Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces named after Peter the Great is located here).

On the site of the former fortress wall, the Empress ordered to plant trees and lay alleys, and instead of road towers, create squares. But soon the decree is written, but not soon executed. The first boulevard - Tverskoy - appeared only in 1796, already under Paul I. The youngest section of the ring is Pokrovsky Boulevard: it was finally formed in 1954, after the liquidation of the spacious parade ground of the Pokrovsky barracks that was here. Catherine the Great looked far away...

However, the main work took about half a century: in 1845, critic Vissarion Belinsky wrote that Moscow boulevards are the best city decoration that St. Petersburg “has every right envy". Officially, this “right” was secured in 1978, when the Boulevard Ring was declared a monument of landscape gardening art.

Ring A

For quite a long time, the “green belt” managed without public transport - there were enough cab drivers. And so, in 1887, a horse-drawn horse tram clattered along the boulevards. (horse-drawn railway), and a quarter of a century later, in 1911, the wheels of the tram began to jingle. Route A, which people affectionately dubbed “Annushka,” was indeed a circular route—rails were also laid along the embankments of the Moscow River. Therefore, the Boulevard Ring received a second name - Ring A.

For various reasons, over the past century, the Annushka route has changed several times, and today it runs from Kaluzhskaya Square (Oktyabrskaya metro station) to Turgenevskaya Square (Chistye Prudy metro station). However, it affects only three boulevards: Yauzsky, Pokrovsky and Chistoprudny. Perhaps this is not the last trajectory of the famous tram...

It is noteworthy that the current route A runs along the only tram line that has been preserved inside the Garden Ring (trams No. 3 and No. 39 also run along it). Moreover, on weekends “Annushka” rests, apparently due to her advanced age. But on weekdays, among the regular passenger trains, the tram-tavern “Annushka” also runs on the rails. Its interior takes visitors one and a half hundred years ago, and the names of the dishes on the menu refer to the pages of “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Both Bulat Okudzhava and Konstantin Paustovsky, who once worked as a conductor, wrote about tram A. The poet Sergei Ostrovoy dedicated a song to “Annushka”, which hardly anyone remembers now. So the famous boulevard route, which was once called the theatrical route (the tram passed by many theaters and cinemas), can deservedly be called literary.

Hard everyday life of the boulevards

In its lifetime, the Boulevard Ring has seen everything, and sometimes it has had a hard time: irresponsible Muscovites trampled lawns, broke fences, and cut down trees for firewood. In the middle of the 19th century, the Moscow governor-general took strict measures: it was forbidden to walk dogs on the boulevards, ride bicycles, carry carts and even... walk with suitcases! They also sent special caretakers to keep order.

During the Great Patriotic War, the boulevards had to remember their historical purpose. In 1941, military exercises were conducted here for militias, anti-aircraft guns were installed for air defense units, and even barrage balloons were placed here.

Elimination of the consequences of bombing and defensive actions began immediately after the end of the war, and a major reconstruction was carried out for the 800th anniversary of Moscow. Many trees and shrubs were planted on the boulevards, benches were updated, the mesh fence was replaced with cast iron (and each boulevard received an individual pattern), new lanterns and elegant flowerpots were installed. The author and project manager was architect Vitaly Dolganov.

The Green Belt continues to spruce up today. In 2015, the Strelka design bureau developed a new large-scale plan for the reconstruction of the Boulevard Ring. As part of the city project “My Street,” it is proposed to limit transit traffic by redirecting traffic to the Garden and Third Transport Rings, and giving priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. To do this, it is necessary, in particular, to install new paths and traffic islands at crossings.

Toponymy of the Boulevard Ring

The names of the squares of the Boulevard Ring are reminiscent of the fortress past: Arbat Gates, Nikitskie Gates, Myasnitskie Gates... And the current Pushkin Square used to be called first Tverskaya Gates, then Strastnaya (after the monastery standing nearby) and even December Revolution Square. Only in 1931 did the great poet give his name to the square.

Trubnaya Square is the successor of “Truba”: that is the popular name of the opening made in the Belgorod wall for the Neglinnaya River. Khokhlovskaya Square, like the adjacent Khokhlovsky Lane, received its name from the surrounding Khokhly district - mainly Ukrainians settled here. In addition, nearby, on Maroseyka, there was a Little Russian, that is, Ukrainian, courtyard.

But the term “boulevard,” like the very idea of ​​urban landscaping, was borrowed from Europe: the French boulevard comes from the Dutch bolwerk, that is, “fortification, rampart.” It turns out that the Boulevard Ring inherited not only the geography, but also the toponymy of its predecessor. However, ordinary Russian people quickly changed the incomprehensible foreign word into “gulvar”, indicating the main purpose of the new wide streets.

Most of the names of the boulevards - Nikitsky, Petrovsky, Pokrovsky, Rozhdestvensky, Strastnoy, Sretensky - come from nearby monasteries or churches. Gogol Boulevard became such in 1924, during the celebration of the 115th anniversary of Nikolai Gogol. Before that, it was called Prechistensky - after the Church of the Most Pure Mother of God in the Novodevichy Monastery.

Tverskoy Boulevard is, of course, the successor to Tverskaya Street. Yauzsky Boulevard, like Yauzsky Gate Square, is named after the White City tower. But Chistoprudny Boulevard can be classified as one of the smiles of the Boulevard Ring - there’s a special conversation about them.

"Tricks" and curiosities of the Boulevard Ring

The reservoir that gave its name to Chistoprudny Boulevard began to be called Chisty only in 1703. This happened thanks to the efforts of Alexander Menshikov, who acquired land on Myasnitskaya Street. His Serene Highness, as a conscientious owner, ordered the pond to be cleared of scraps and waste from the nearby meat market. It is not surprising that the pond has long been called Pogany...

It’s just a stone’s throw from Chistye Prudy to another curiosity of the Boulevard Ring. Not only guests of the capital, but also many Muscovites are surprised: there is a Turgenev Library next to the square of the same name, but there is no monument to Turgenev! But on the sides of the square there are other monuments: at the beginning of Chistoprudny Boulevard - to Alexander Griboedov, and at the end of Sretensky - to Vladimir Shukhov, the author of the famous tower. Urban planners justify themselves by saying that both the writer and the engineer lived on Myasnitskaya for a long time, and Turgenev often changed apartments, and it is difficult to choose a location for his monument.

Another “antithesis” is the monument to Vladimir Vysotsky at the end of Strastnoy Boulevard, erected in defiance of the quote from the song “I had forty surnames”:

They won’t erect a monument to me in the park

Somewhere at Petrovsky Gate...

But monuments not only appear in unexpected places, but they can also walk! Surely not everyone knows that the monument to Pushkin has stood in its current location, in the park on the square of the same name, since 1948 - it was moved by Stalin’s personal order. Initially, in 1880, the monument was located on the opposite side, at the end of Tverskoy Boulevard. The author of “The Stone Guest” would certainly appreciate such a move...

Another transfer has already affected Gogol. The first monument, erected in 1909, on the centenary of the writer’s birth, then on Prechistensky Boulevard, caused a mixed reaction. The bent figure, as if crushed by bitter thoughts and mental illness, seemed too gloomy to many. At the end of the 1940s, a competition was organized, and in 1952, on the centenary of the death of the prose writer, a completely different, proud and ceremonial monument appeared on Gogolevsky Boulevard.

The “gloomy” Gogol was first sent into “exile” - to the Museum of Architecture on the territory of the Donskoy Monastery, and only in 1959 was he moved to the courtyard of A.P.’s estate. Tolstoy at the beginning of Nikitsky Boulevard, where the writer lived his last years. (Later, the Gogol House Museum was organized in this house.) A unique situation arose: two monuments to the same person are located very close to each other: in a straight line, the distance between them is less than 400 meters! Subsequently, a proposal to perform a reverse “castling” repeatedly arose, but the idea did not come to fruition.

These and other interesting and funny facts involuntarily suggest that not only a horseshoe is hidden in the shape of the Boulevard Ring, but also the sly smile of the Cheshire Cat. Smile too while walking along the boulevards. Theoretically, you can walk them at a brisk pace in a couple of hours. But it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do this so quickly: you’ll probably want to sit on a bench, explore another open-air photo exhibition, take a selfie with some monument, admire ancient buildings, or drink a cup of coffee in a nearby cafe. Have a nice walk!

Boulevard Ring in numbers

— The Boulevard Ring includes 10 boulevards And 13 squares.

— The total length of the Boulevard Ring is slightly more nine kilometers.

— The longest boulevard is Tverskoy, its length is 857 meters.

— The shortest boulevard is Sretensky, its length is 214 meters.

— The widest boulevard is Strastnoy, its width is 123 meters.

— In 1945-1947, they landed on the Boulevard Ring more than four thousand trees And over 13 thousand shrubs.

— Located on the Boulevard Ring nine metro stations: “Kropotkinskaya”, “Arbatskaya”, “Pushkinskaya”, “Tverskaya”, “Chekhovskaya”, “Trubnaya”, “Turgenevskaya”, “Sretensky Boulevard” and “Chistye Prudy”.

The Boulevard Ring is ten Moscow boulevards created on the site of the fortress walls of the White City. The formation of the Boulevard Ring was completed at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, and currently these are wonderful recreation areas for Muscovites and guests of the capital.

The boulevard ring, stretching for 9 km, has the shape of a horseshoe and is more like a semi-circle, facing the Moscow River on both sides.

The first boulevard appeared in the center of Paris on the site of the destroyed fortifications built by King CharlesVand the word "boulevard", according to one version, comes from the Dutch bolewerk, which means "fortification".

According to another version, when an alley with trees and bushes appeared on the site of the fortifications in the center of Paris, along which Parisians walked, the new resting place began to be called “boules vertes,” that is, a green rampart or ball. Later, the same word began to be used to refer to many parks and coastlines decorated with green spaces.

And in Russia, the squares where the sophisticated public walked were called gulvars (from the word to walk).

The Boulevard Ring is sung by many poets and composers, and wonderful songs have been written about it. The most famous of them is “Chistye Prudy” performed by Igor Talkov, the words of which “One day you will pass the Boulevard Ring and in your memory we will probably meet” will not leave anyone indifferent.

From the history

By the end of the 16th century, the construction of the White City was completed - the third defensive belt of Moscow after the Kremlin and China City, which reliably protected the capital from enemy invasions.

At the same time, during the events of the Time of Troubles (late 16th - early 17th centuries), the fortress walls were badly damaged, and by the middle of the 18th century they completely lost their significance. The gates were no longer guarded and locked at night, and the bricks of the walls were slowly taken away by Moscow residents; they were also used to construct city buildings. In particular, one of the buildings erected using this stone is the City Hall building on Tverskaya.

In July 1774, it was decided to completely dismantle the walls of the White City and plant trees and shrubs in their place. The work was carried out under the leadership of the architect Pyotr Nikitich Kozhin, and the construction was supervised by the Governor General of Moscow Mikhail Nikitich Volkonsky.

Thus, on the site of the fortress walls of the White City, the Boulevard Ring appeared - a chain of ten park areas - beloved by Muscovites and guests of the capital, starting with Gogolevsky and ending with Yauzsky Boulevard. Moreover, before the revolution, the numbering of houses on the Boulevard Ring was continuous.

Excursion along the boulevards of Moscow

It is best to start a walk along the Boulevard Ring from the Kropotkinskaya metro station.

• Starts here Gogolevsky, formerly Prechistensky Boulevard, along which the writer loved to walk, here, in house No. 7, is the apartment where he lived until his death. Monument to N.V. Gogol, created by the sculptor Nikolai Andreev, was installed at the beginning of the 20th century, but in Soviet time it was replaced by a monumental figure of the writer, and the old sculpture was moved to the Gogol Museum on Nikitsky Boulevard.

  One of the modern monuments is a sculptural composition depicting Mikhail Sholokhov sitting in a boat and swimming horses. It should be noted that the work of sculptor Iulian Rukavishnikov evokes mixed reviews from Muscovites and guests of the capital; the heads of horses look especially strange when the fountain is not working.

  We all remember Gogolevsky Boulevard from the film “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears”, here the main character Katya meets cameraman Rudolf twice, with a difference of 20 years

• The next boulevard is Nikitsky, one of the attractions of which is the famous Lunin estate, which currently houses the Museum of Oriental Art. At the Nikitsky Gate, in the temple of St. Theodore the Studite, A.S. Pushkin married Natalya Goncharova, and in 1999, in honor of this event, a rotunda fountain was installed on the square
• Next is the oldest and longest boulevard - Tverskaya, its length is 857 meters. Among its attractions are monuments to Sergei Yesenin and Timiryazev, as well as the Romanov House, built at the beginning of the 19th century, often called Romanovka. Initially, the building belonged to the merchant Golitsyn, who became famous for the fact that he built multi-colored lanterns on both sides of Tverskoy Boulevard with his own money. Later this building belonged to engineer-colonel Dmitry Ivanovich Romanov. At the end of the 19th century, there were furnished rooms in the house, and the musical figure Semyon Kruglikov settled in one of them. Here he organized a private music salon, which was attended by Fyodor Chaliapin, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov and Mikhail Vrubel, and also gathered a private Russian opera, which included its conductor Sergei Mamontov

• The widest boulevard Passionate, its width is 123 meters. There are three monuments here - to Alexander Pushkin, Sergei Rachmaninov and Vladimir Vysotsky. Until 1937, Pushkin Square was called Strastnaya, named after the Passionate Women's Monastery, located in the place where the monument to the poet is currently erected.
• At the end of Strastnoy Boulevard there is Petrovsky Gate Square and beyond Petrovsky Boulevard, stretching to Trubnaya Square. In this place, the Neglinnaya River is “hidden” in an underground pipe. In the old days, there was a market on this square and there was a tradition - to buy a bird in a cage at the market and release it. Trubnaya Square also became famous for the fact that the Hermitage restaurant was located here, the owner of which, Lucien Olivier, treated his guests to the new Olivier salad he invented.
• Rozhdestvensky Boulevard- one of the most beautiful, it got its name from the Nativity Convent, built under Catherine II
• Through Sretensky Gate Square you can go to the shortest Sretensky Boulevard, its length is only 214 meters. Here is a monumental monument to Nadezhda Krupskaya, erected in 1975 for Children's Day
• Having passed through Turgenevskaya Square and Myasnitskie Gate Square, we will go out to Chistoprudny Boulevard. Previously, there was a slaughterhouse in this area, the waste from which was dumped into a pond called Poganym. When Alexander Menshikov bought this land, he cleared the pond and since then this place began to be called Chistye Prudy, although there is only one pond. Now this is a popular recreation area for Muscovites and guests of the capital. In summer it is a great place for walking, and in winter for ice skating.
• Pokrovsky Boulevard- the youngest, it appeared in the 1820s and until 1891 it was a huge parade ground with no greenery at all. Later, part of the parade ground was occupied by a small narrow alley, and only in 1954 a wide boulevard was built
• Yauzsky Boulevard got its name from the Yauza Gate of the White City, located near the Yauza River. One of the attractions of the boulevard is a two-story house resembling a knight's castle with a turret, created at the beginning of the 20th century by architect Andrei Krasilnikov in a romantic style.

The boulevards of Moscow, like a green necklace, surround the city center. This is a unique monument of landscape art, including 13 squares, parks and alleys, churches and monasteries, monuments and ancient estates, telling about the history of Russia and its outstanding personalities.

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The boulevard ring stretches from Prechistinsky Square to the Yauz Gate. The boulevards were laid out along the line where the fortress wall of the White City used to be, which Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich ordered to build back in 1586. In seven years, the architect Fyodor Kon surrounded Moscow with a new defensive line, and the territory inside the ring was called the White City, after the color of the fortress wall. Where Moscow streets intersected with the walls of the White City, gates were made, which began to be called by the names of the streets: Nikitsky, Petrovsky, Sretensky. By decree of Catherine II, the dilapidated wall was demolished. It was ordered to plant trees in place of the wall, and already in 1796 the first Moscow boulevard, Tverskoy, appeared.

The shape of the Boulevard Ring is more like a horseshoe, with both ends facing the embankments of the Moscow River. The boulevard ring is formed by: Gogolevsky Boulevard, Nikitsky Boulevard, Petrovsky Boulevard, Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, Sretensky Boulevard, Strastnoy Boulevard, Tverskoy Boulevard and Chistoprudny Boulevard.

Gogolevsky Boulevard

Gogolevsky Boulevard (metro station "Kropotkinskaya") was laid out after 1812. The boulevard originates from the Prechistinsky Gate Square, so it was called Prechistinsky and was only renamed in 1924. At the end of the boulevard, surrounded by ancient lanterns with magnificent lions, there is a monument to N.V. Gogol (sculptor N. Tomsky), erected in 1952 in place of the pre-revolutionary monument to the writer.

Nikitsky Boulevard

Nikitsky Boulevard (in Soviet times - Suvorovsky Boulevard) (Arbatskaya metro station) appeared in Moscow shortly after the fire of 1812. The boulevard got its name due to the fact that it faces the Nikitsky Gate. In house No. 7 on the left side of the boulevard was the last apartment of N.V. Gogol, in which he lived until his death in 1852. Now the City Library is located here. Gogol, and in two rooms where the writer lived there is a memorial museum. In the courtyard there is an old monument to Gogol by sculptor Nikolai Andreev. Opposite house No. 7 there is a building (No. 8a) that is more than two hundred years old. The house acquired its modern appearance in the second half of the 19th century, when it was rebuilt by the architect A. I. Vivien. Now the House of Journalists is located here. On the same side of Nikitsky Boulevard there is a magnificent mansion in the style of Moscow classicism (house no. 12a). It was built in 1818-1921 by D. Gilardi for the Moscow rich man P. M. Lunin. Currently, the building houses the Museum of Oriental Arts.

Petrovsky Boulevard

Petrovsky Boulevard (metro station "Tsvetnoy Boulevard") is named after the Petrovsky Monastery. The boulevard smoothly descends to Trubnaya Square, where a barred opening was made in the wall of the White City - a “pipe” through which Neglinka flowed; hence the square, which appeared in the 20s of the last century, began to be called Trubnaya, or in common parlance the Pipe. Here was the first Moscow bird market, called the bird trade. In the spring, on the feast of the Annunciation, goldfinches, siskins, and finches were released here. In the last century, the Hermitage restaurant, famous throughout Moscow, was located on the square, which belonged to the Moscow merchant Yakov Pegov and the French culinary specialist Lucien Olivier, the inventor of the famous salad named after him. This restaurant was popular among the Moscow intelligentsia and artists.

The longest boulevard is Tverskoy, the second longest is Chistoprudny.

Rozhdestvensky Boulevard

The steep climb at the beginning of Rozhdestvensky Boulevard (Tsvetnoy Boulevard metro station) is a memory of the shore of the ancient Neglinka. Rozhdestvenka, named after the ancient Nativity Monastery, goes to the right. It was founded in the 14th century. Princess Maria Keistutovna, mother of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, Prince Vladimir Serpukhovsky. On the corner of Sretenka there is the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Pechatniki (17th century). Here was the settlement of the masters of the Printing House, preserved in the name of the area.

Sretensky Boulevard

Sretensky Boulevard (metro stations Chistye Prudy, Turgenevskaya) is the shortest boulevard in Moscow, only 214 meters long. Its name comes from the Sretensky Gate of the White City wall. On the left side rises the quaint house No. 6/1, built by the architect N. M. Proskurin. French architect Le Corbusier considered it the most beautiful building in Moscow. After the revolution, at one time the People's Commissariat of Education was located here, where N.K. Krupskaya worked, so in 1976 a monument was erected to her on the boulevard. In the same house there was the Literary Department (Lito), where M. A. Bulgakov worked.

Strastnoy Boulevard

In the 1820s, Strastnoy Boulevard (metro stations “Pushkinskaya”, “Chekhovskaya”) was the name of a small alley running from the Strastnoy Monastery to the Petrovsky Gate. The rest of the current boulevard was occupied by Sennaya Square. During the day they traded hay here, and in the evenings they robbed passers-by. At the end of the 19th century, the owner of house No. 9, E. A. Naryshkina, used her own funds to create a large park on the square. Out of respect for the generous noblewoman, the City Duma gave the new square the name Naryshkinsky. Only in 1937 Naryshkinsky Square was renamed Strastnoy Boulevard.

Tverskoy Boulevard

Tverskoy Boulevard (metro stations "Tverskaya", "Pushkinskaya") was laid out in 1796 under the leadership of the architect S. Karin. Initially, birch trees were planted here, but they did not take root, and for almost two centuries now, mighty linden trees rustle with their thick foliage on the boulevard. From the very first days, the picturesque boulevard became a favorite place for walks of Moscow high society.

Chistoprudny Boulevard

Chistoprudny Boulevard (metro stations “Chistye Prudy”, “Turgenevskaya”). This boulevard is the second longest after Tverskoy. Here are the famous Chistye Ponds, formed from the dam of the Rachka River, which once flowed along the wall of the White City. In the old days, butchers lived in this area, and there was a slaughterhouse nearby. Waste from butchery flowed into small ponds nearby, which is why they were called the Nasty Puddle, or the Nasty Ponds. At the beginning of the 18th century, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov settled in Myasniki. The Most Serene Prince did not want to live next to the Poganye Ponds and ordered them to be cleaned out. Since then they began to be called Chistye Prudy. Arkhangelsky Lane (in Soviet times - Telegrafny Lane) leaves the boulevard to the right; here is the Church of the Archangel Gabriel, which Prince Menshikov built for himself at the beginning of the 18th century.

The boulevard ring is closed by Pokrovsky and Yauzsky boulevards.