Gogolevsky Boulevard in Moscow is one of the most beautiful and historically valuable places in the capital of Russia. This boulevard is part of the famous Moscow Boulevard Ring, which consists of 10 boulevards. The squares, also part of the Boulevard Ring, whose names contain the word "gate", are a kind of reminder of the defensive wall White city, in the place of which the Boulevard Ring was laid. It was the ideas of the architect V. Dolganov, which were successfully implemented, that gave individuality to each boulevard of the Moscow Boulevard Ring. In 1978, the Boulevard Ring was declared a monument gardening art.
Gogolevsky Boulevard starts from the Prechistenskiye Vorota square and reaches the Arbatskiye Vorota square. The Boulevard Ring of Moscow begins from the Prechistenskie Vorota square and from the Gogolevsky boulevard. From the side of the boulevard, the Kropotkinskaya metro station, named after Prince Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin, who was an ardent revolutionary, theorist of anarchism, and a famous scientist who devoted his life to the study of East Asia, opens onto Prechistenskie Vorota Square.
The history of Gogolevsky Boulevard is very interesting. Until 1924 it was called Prechistensky because of the very carefully plastered wall of the White City, which then stood on the site of the boulevard. The city itself was located on the steep bank of the Chertoroy stream, which was later taken into an underground pipe. You can get from Arbat Square to Kropotkinskaya Square by trolleybus. It should also be noted that where Gogolevsky Boulevard and Sivtsev Vrazhek Lane intersect today, the Sivets Creek, its tributary, used to flow into the Chertoroy Stream. Chertoy himself was distinguished by the fact that one bank was high, the other low. In the last century, many famous personalities loved to visit here: Gogol, Herzen, Turgenev.
The famous fire of 1812 did not pass by Prechistensky Boulevard. Many buildings were destroyed, so the boulevard lost its original appearance, but soon it was almost completely restored. In 1880, a horse-drawn railway was built here, which passed through the entire Boulevard Ring. In 1911, on the site of this road, tram "A" was put into operation, i.e. Annushka, who for a long time was the only mode of transport on the Boulevard Ring. The boulevard metro station opened in 1935. At that time, it was called the Palace of the Soviets and only since 1957 it began to be called Kropotkinskaya.
The boulevard received its current name in 1924 during the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of the famous Russian writer N.V. Gogol. If we compare Gogolevsky Boulevard with all the other boulevards in Moscow, it turns out that it ranks second in length. No less remarkable is the fact that Gogolevsky Boulevard is three-staged, since its inner passage is on the upper step, the boulevard itself is on the middle one, and the outer passage is on the lower one. Such a relief of the boulevard was formed due to the fact that the Chertoroy stream had banks of unequal height.
Gogolevsky Boulevard itself is fraught with many secrets, in particular with regard to architecture. Each side of the boulevard has its own aesthetics, its own character, its own individuality. The old mansion # 5, erected for the state councilor Sekretarev, attracts the eye. Later, the house was occupied by the architect Ton, who led the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In the 40s of the 20th century, the family of Vasily Stalin lived in this house. House No. 23 is very remarkable; it attracts tourists with stained glass blades located between the windows of the fifth floor. In summer, on a clear fine day, one cannot help but notice how the color of the ceramic inserts is close to the color of the sky. A little further off in one of the courtyards you can see the small church of the Apostle Philip, built in the 17th century.
The even side of Gogolevsky Boulevard is famous for the fact that in almost every house famous people either lived or stayed here. So, in house no. 2, AS often spent time. Pushkin, and house no. 6 was built specially for the mayor S.M. Tretyakov, brother of the famous philanthropist P.M. Tretyakov. In 1929-1930, the House of Artists was erected here, on the project of which a group of architects worked, including I. Leonidov, V. Vladimirov, M. Barshch and others. Mansion No. 10 on Gogolevsky Boulevard is a striking example of Moscow classicism. Initially, the famous Decembrist M. Naryshkin lived in it and was subsequently arrested. Today, walking along Gogolevsky Boulevard, on this house you can see a marble plaque with the image of shackles intertwined with a laurel branch, which was installed in memory of the Decembrists who gathered here. Having passed a little further, we find ourselves near house number 14, where the Central Chess Club is now located. And in the 19th century, this building was a kind of center of the musical life of Moscow. Chaliapin, Rachmaninov, Glazunov visited the house.
The symbol of Gogolevsky Boulevard is the monument to N.V. Gogol, who has a long and controversial history.
Almost at the end of Gogolevsky Boulevard there is a monument to M. Sholokhov, the project of which was developed by the sculptor A. Rukavishnikov. So far, the author's main idea is not fully visible, since the monument is being installed. Crossing the road from Gogolevsky Boulevard, we find ourselves in a quiet, calm place. Here is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, built as a kind of gratitude to the Lord God for intercession in the fight against the Napoleonic invasion of 1812. If you walk along Gogolevsky Boulevard back to the Prechistenskiye Gates, then another surprise awaits you: when you approach the arch at the entrance to the boulevard, you will be surprised to find that the sky begins right behind it.
Gogolevsky Boulevard is featured in both literature and cinema. It is described in Moscow by the future Kira Bulychev; it is here that two scenes of the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" directed by Vladimir Menshov take place. Gogolevsky Boulevard itself is a symbol of the fusion of nature and civilization, since roads run alongside wooded areas where you can even pick mushrooms. It is safe to say that tourists will be satisfied with a walk along Gogolevsky Boulevard, because the spirit of history, reflected in ancient architecture, is maximally concentrated here.
Our walking tour will begin from the pavilion of the Kropotkinskaya metro station.
The route was prepared based on the project materialsBoulevard ring - the main city promenade, a continuous sequence of 10 boulevards and 13 squares encircling historical Center cities. Being one of the traditional rings of Moscow, in reality the Boulevard Ring is not closed and has a horseshoe shape, starting and ending near the embankments of the Moskva River.
The total length of the Boulevard Ring is about 9 kilometers, and every meter of it has literally been elevated to a cult: a walk along the boulevards, which are equipped with cozy green squares, is considered a high-quality cultural leisure for the townspeople and one of the mandatory points tourist program guests of the capital. The urban environment boasts quality historical surroundings with old mansions, tenements and churches, and the length of the trail is ideal for long walks. In addition, exhibitions and city festivals are often held there, which makes the leisure of the townspeople even more interesting.
History of the Boulevard Ring
The Boulevard Ring owes its origin to the Belgorod Wall, which surrounded Moscow's White City in the 16-18 centuries. Initially, the fortress wall was built for protection and had an important defensive value, but at the end of the 18th century, when the city grew, it completely lost its relevance, and it was decided to dismantle it.
In the 1770s-1780s, the walls and towers of the White City were dismantled, and in their place were subsequently laid boulevards and organized squares, many of which retained the names of the fortress gates in their names: Prechistenskie Vorota Square, Nikitskiye Vorota, Petrovskie Vorota and others. However, the Boulevard Ring was not formed immediately: the first boulevard - Tverskoy - was equipped in 1796; the last was Pokrovsky Boulevard, part of which was occupied by the parade ground of the Pokrovsky barracks, which was finally liquidated only in 1954. In general, the ring of boulevards was formed after 1812.
In 1887, a show jumping was launched along the Boulevard Ring, and in 1911 - an electric tram. The circular route passed along all the boulevards and closed on the Kremlin embankment, but has not survived to this day - tram traffic remained only on Chistoprudny, Pokrovsky and Yauzsky boulevards.
Interestingly, under Soviet rule, the Boulevard Ring almost became a ring physically: the General Plan for the reconstruction of Moscow in 1935 assumed that it would be extended to Zamoskvorechye and closed, but later the plan was abandoned due to lack of need. In 1947, in honor of the 800th anniversary of Moscow, the boulevards were greened and reconstructed according to the project of the architect Vitaly Dolganov: instead of the old mesh fence, patterned cast-iron fences appeared, new benches were installed and more than 4 thousand trees and 13 thousand shrubs were planted.
Since 1978, the Boulevard Ring has been recognized as a monument of garden and park art.
Boulevards and squares of the Boulevard Ring
The Boulevard Ring includes 10 boulevards and 13 squares, most of which have squares (on all boulevards and in some squares).
Gogolevsky Boulevard has a length of about 750 meters and runs from the Prechistenskiye Vorota square to the Arbatskiye Vorota square. The boulevard is qualitatively landscaped and landscaped, along it there are a number of city estates and apartment buildings, as well as various administrative buildings, including a massive one.
Nikitsky Boulevard about 500 meters long, it is located between the Arbatskiye Vorota and Nikitskiye Vorota squares The boulevard owes its name to the Nikitsky Gate of the Belgorod Wall.
Tverskoy Boulevard has a length of 875 meters and runs from Nikitskiye Vorota square to . This is the oldest and longest of the boulevards of the Boulevard Ring and, probably, the most fashionable boulevard in the capital: since the time of Pushkin, who has been here many times, Tverskoy Boulevard has become a favorite place for walking the townspeople - and nowadays city festivals often gather whole crowds on it people. In the past, buildings along Tverskoy Boulevard consisted of noble mansions in the classicism style, today you can see apartment buildings and a number of city estates, residential buildings of pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet times, as well as various administrative and office buildings, including an unusual one near Nikitsky Square Goal.
Strastnoy Boulevard about 550 meters long, it runs from Pushkin Square to Petrovskie Vorota Square. While not the longest, it is the widest on the Boulevard Ring: the boulevard is 123 meters wide. It got its name from the Passion Monastery demolished in 1938.
Petrovsky Boulevard has a length of 449 meters and runs from Petrovskie Vorota square to Trubnaya square. Along the boulevard, high-quality historical buildings have been preserved, including tenement houses and a number of city estates, as well as the building of the Hermitage restaurant by Lucien Olivier - the very one who invented the famous salad - and some remake.
Rozhdestvensky Boulevard about 400 meters long, it runs from Trubnaya Square to Sretenskie Vorota Square. A powerful wall of the Rozhdestvensky Monastery faces the boulevard, and along it, historical buildings have been preserved, including mainly apartment buildings and a number of mansions and city estates, slightly diluted with a modern remake.
Sretensky Boulevard only 214 meters long, it runs from Sretenskie Vorota square to Turgenevskaya square, this is the shortest boulevard of the ring. A significant part of the boulevard is occupied by a huge monument to Nadezhda Krupskaya, installed at its beginning. Development includes a number of residential and tenement buildings, as well as office buildings; facades overlook the boulevard and . It is curious that on the outside of the boulevard there is a remnant of the rampart.
Chistoprudny Boulevard 822 meters long, it runs from the Myasnitskiye Vorota square to the Pokrovskie Vorota square. This is the largest in area and the second longest (after Tverskoy) boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, as well as the only one with a pond. In summer, musicians play here and various exhibitions are held - and although it is not as fashionable as Tverskoy, Chistoprudny Boulevard has become one of the centers cultural life Moscow. In winter, a skating rink is poured onto the pond. The all-season appeal of the boulevard and its recreational qualities - one might say it's a small park - made it a cult spot on the map of Moscow.
Pokrovsky Boulevard has a length of about 600 meters and is located between Khokhlovskaya Square and Yauzsky Boulevard. At the beginning of the boulevard there is an open fragment of the White City wall found during excavations; the surrounding buildings consist mainly of tenement houses and a number of city estates; one of the most notable buildings is the building of the Intercession Barracks.
Yauzsky Boulevard about 400 meters long, it is located between Pokrovsky Boulevard and Yauzskie Vorota Square - this is the last link of the Boulevard Ring. The development of the boulevard includes pre-revolutionary and Soviet residential buildings, as well as a number of apartment buildings and town estates.
If we take into account all the boulevards and squares that are usually attributed to the Boulevard Ring (in this case, the squares are considered part of the boulevards), then the full list of its constituent parts will look like this (clockwise):
1.Prechistenskiye Vorota square;
2. Gogolevsky Boulevard;
3. Arbat Square;
4. Arbat Gate square;
5. Nikitsky Boulevard;
6. Nikitskiye Vorota square;
7. Tverskoy Boulevard;
8. Pushkin Square;
9. Passionate Boulevard;
10. Petrovskie Vorota square;
11. Petrovsky Boulevard;
12. Pipe area;
13. Rozhdestvensky Boulevard;
14. Sretensky Gate square;
15. Sretensky Boulevard;
16. Turgenevskaya square;
17. Square Myasnitskiye Vorota;
18. Chistoprudny Boulevard;
19. Pokrovskie Vorota square;
20. Khokhlovskaya Square;
21. Pokrovsky Boulevard;
22. Yauzsky Boulevard;
23. Yauzskie Vorota square.
Also, Soymonovsky and Ustinsky passages, which complete the chain of boulevards and squares near the banks of the Moskva River, are sometimes referred to the Boulevard Ring, however, strictly speaking, they do not belong to the Boulevard Ring.
Chistoprudny Boulevard:
Alexander Griboyedov;
Abai Kunanbayev.
Yauzsky Boulevard:
Rasul Gamzatov.
Among other things, a veneration cross was erected on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard in memory of the patroness of Moscow, Reverend Euphrosyne, in the world - the Grand Duchess of Moscow Evdokia Dmitrievna, and on Gogolevsky Boulevard there are several small concrete sculptures depicting animals from Russian fairy tales.
In fact, the Boulevard Ring has not so much recreational as cultural significance for the city. Due to the large number of cars on both sides of each boulevard, busy intersections and even tunnels in the squares between them, and other nuances that residents of the metropolis have to put up with, not everyone may like a walk along the modern Boulevard Ring.
But, being one of the historical rings of Moscow, it still evokes special feelings and preserves the atmosphere of Moscow antiquity - and at least for that it is worth loving.
This post belongs to the section where Ivan da Marya shares with readers stories about past excursions in Moscow.
On November 20, our next Sunday walk from a cycle of walking tours in old Moscow took place. As well as on, we again walked along the boulevards: the second walk went from Trubnaya Square to the Yauzskie gates. The participants of the excursion learned a lot of new and unexpected things about how old Moscow lived, how houses and estates were built earlier, and what people set the pace of life on Moscow boulevards. You haven't been on this Moscow tour, but are you curious what you missed? - We invite you to read our report.
Our boulevard tour starts from the underground boulevard - Trubnaya metro station, from where we get to the surface. Trubnaya is one of the newest stations of the Moscow metro, but in its four years of operation it has already earned the attention of Muscovites who are not indifferent to details and trifles. Zurab Tsereteli, who created stained glass windows with many churches for the station, forgot about the crosses on church domes. More than a hundred domes at the station - and not a single cross. Muscovites, in order to correct the mistake of the famous sculptor, supplemented the compositions with homemade crosses - made of plaques, tin cans and even pectoral crosses. We talk about this in more detail on our. 
Trubnaya Square is one of the most diverse on the Boulevard Ring. Here you can find old merchant mansions, office hulks-new buildings, and two monastery bell towers, closing the perspective of boulevards. The most notable building on the "Pipe" is the building of the theater "School of the modern play". Before the revolution, it housed the Hermitage, one of the best and most fashionable Moscow restaurants. It was here that the owner and chef of the establishment, Lucien Olivier, invented a dish that made him famous all over the world - Russian salad, as foreigners call it, or, in our opinion, Olivier salad. 
From the "small homeland" of Olivier lettuce, low buildings rise by steps. A staircase of houses leads to Rozhdestvensky Boulevard - the steepest street of the Boulevard Ring. Trolleybuses and buses do not run here - only motorized tram cars with a powerful electric motor could master the steep climb to Christmas Hill. There were no trams in 71st, when the silver line "A" was shortened to Chistye Prudy. And before that, the cars turned around on this patch. 
The boulevard on the hillside was laid out immediately after the liberation of Moscow from Napoleon. The street inherited its name from the Rozhdestvensky Monastery - one of the most ancient cloisters of the capital, founded in the era of Dmitry Donskoy. To our participants northern trips it was curious to know that it was here that the Monk Cyril of Belozersky lived before the beginning of his ascetic activity in the Russian North. It is also interesting that in the Rozhdestvensky Monastery one of the most ancient churches in Moscow has survived - the stone cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary built in 1501-1505.
We walk up the boulevard. On our right hand are the ceremonial mansions and city estates of the most eminent citizens of Moscow of their time. Here is the possession of the princes Golitsyn, which later passed on to the names of the Fonvizins. In 1821, Mikhail Alexandrovich Fonvizin, together with his brother Ivan, turned his father's estate into the headquarters of the Decembrist "Union of Welfare" and at secret meetings discussed how to establish constitutional rule in Russia and get rid of serfdom. As a result, after a few years they got rid of Mikhail Fonvizin himself and sent him on a long journey to the sights of Siberia - to Chita, Krasnoyarsk and Tobolsk. 
If Fonvizin had lived a hundred years later, his neighbor on the boulevard would have been Demyan Bedny, who, according to Stalin, "proclaimed to the whole world that Russia in the past was a vessel of abomination and desolation." Perhaps Demyan and the Decembrists could have found a common topic for a political conversation. The orange mansion on the right is also not the last building on the boulevard. Literary "Pavlovsky Thursdays" were held here, gathering all the creative intelligentsia of Moscow. From here Lermontov was escorted to the Caucasus. 
Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, which preserves the 19th century buildings untouched by the would-be "restorers", continues to be one of the most beautiful in Moscow. 
The prospect of the boulevard is closed by a three-storey apartment building, the main facade facing the Sretenskie Vorota square. There, from the side of the square, there was a commission shop, where the hero of Andrei Mironov was selling from under the floor to Galina Volchek a "foreign tape recorder" "Grundig". Four tracks, stereo, elegant appearance - remember? Meanwhile, from the corner of the boulevard, Yuri Detochkin drove his "Volga". 
At the end of the 19th century, the merchant Ivan Malyutin owned the yellow building obliquely from the commission shop. In his apartment building, he rented furnished apartments on the upper floors, and premises for an inn and a second-hand bookstore in the lower. There were a lot of similar houses in pre-revolutionary Moscow. 
On the other side of the square is the Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos in Pechatniki, returned to believers in the last decade. During the Soviet years, there were museums of the Arctic and the Navy here. Little-known fact: the sacristy of the church contains a shrine - a coin of the era of Jesus Christ. According to legend, this is one of the pieces of silver that Judas received for the Savior. 
Having examined the square from all sides, we enter Sretensky Boulevard. Here we are welcomed by the young Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, the wife and ally of Vladimir Ilyich. The place for the monument was not chosen by chance: Krupskaya worked in the People's Commissariat of Education (off-screen right). 
The People's Commissariat for Education was housed in the premises of the house of the insurance company "Russia", one of the largest pre-revolutionary buildings in Moscow. The famous architect Le Corbusier, not without reason, considered this house the most beautiful in Moscow. For more than a hundred years, two residential buildings have completely occupied two city blocks. Previously, this place was occupied by the houses of the Moscow Post Office (until it moved to the Myasnitsky Gate), then they were replaced by the building of the panorama "Capture of Plevna", where the Skomorokh theater worked. Leo Tolstoy came here as a spectator to the premiere of one of his plays. 
At the end of the boulevard, opposite the LUKoil building, there is another monument - one of the youngest in Moscow. The famous Russian engineer Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov, the author of the famous TV tower on Shabolovka, is captured in bronze. But if everyone knows about the tower, then few know about Shukhov's contribution to the development of the oil industry. But it was under the leadership of Vladimir Shukhov that the first Russian oil pipelines and refineries with oil cracking units were created. Thus, the proximity of the monument to the headquarters of one of the leading oil companies in Russia is not accidental: LUKoil sponsored the construction of the monument. And a very subtle detail: Vladimir Grigorievich is looking directly at the building of the Moscow Post Office, for which he developed a project for the ceiling of the main hall. 
After crossing the square, we find ourselves at the simply decorated, elegant lobby of the Kirovskaya metro station - a monument of the history of the Stalin era. The cubic lobby of one of the very first metro stations was built in 1934-35 on the site of the hotel of the times of Paul I, which “locked” the perspective of the Kirov Gate Square. Since Comrade Kirov had nothing to do with the gates of the White City, in the nineties the name was changed to the historical one - Myasnitsky Gate. And the station itself became known as "Chistye Prudy". And only the carefully preserved bust of Sergei Mironovich in the metro passage still reminds of the Soviet name. 
At the beginning of Chistoprudny Boulevard is the monument to Griboyedov, beloved by Muscovites: the famous playwright lived nearby, on Myasnitskaya Street. But in place of Griboyedov there could have been a completely different monument - to the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin. They even managed to put it on the boulevard in 1919, but still surrounded by scaffolding, the monument began to cause persistent hostility among Muscovites: the abstract-futuristic manner of the sculptor turned out to be too incomprehensible for the townspeople. It got to the point that the anarchists themselves staged a protest rally against the “sculptural mockery” of their leader in front of the still unopened monument. The Moscow City Council did not test the strength of the nerves of angry Muscovites, and the unopened monument was soon removed. 
We enter Chistoprudny Boulevard, the favorite boulevard of Muscovites, and we are immediately surrounded by old mansions and preserved houses of city estates. Not a single guide to Moscow will be able to count the names of all the great people who lived and worked on Chistye. The participants and I recall at least some of the names of artists, writers, poets. In the blue mansion in the photograph was the apartment of the brilliant Glyceria Nikolaevna Fedotova, an actress of the Maly Theater. No one could surpass her in the skill of performing female roles in the comedies of Shakespeare in her youth and Ostrovsky in old age. 
Without exaggeration, every house on Chistoprudny could be a museum. Each building could have more than one or two memorial plaques. Instead, tourists see signs for the sale or lease of houses for offices and pubs. 
Here is a noble estate of the 18th century, to the creation of which Matvey Kazakov himself, the best architect of Moscow of his time, had a hand. The neat wing is clearly not decorated with air conditioners of different sizes. 
The apotheosis of the Moscow authorities' deafness to the history of the city is the installation on the front Chistoprudny Boulevard of a monument to Abai Kunanbayev, a Kazakh poet, whom practically no one in Moscow knows except the Kazakhs themselves. The absurdity of the situation is aggravated by the fact that in Moscow there is not a single monument to the truly great Zhukovsky, Tyutchev, Fet, Pasternak - any of them would become a much more appropriate decoration of Chistye Prudy than the politically pleasing Abai. The situation is saved only by the fact that Kunanbaev translated the works of Pushkin and Lermontov into Kazakh. 
Behind Abai's back is a house rare for Moscow, decorated with the "sgraffito" technique - applying one or several layers of plaster on the wall, differing in color from the base. Such decoration of buildings is not surprising in Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland - but for Russia it is a real rarity. 
We have almost reached Chistye Pond and decided to remember how its name appeared. They began, as usual, from the times of Peter the Great and on the way to the twenty-first century passed through the entire history of the region. 
The center of life in Chistye Prudy of the 1930s is the Colosseum cinema. Here were the most best films and played the best jazz of Varlamov, about which Ilya Ilf wrote: "Old man Varlamov was good, who sang into a trumpet from a folder." In 1970, the "Colosseum" was gone. It was replaced by the Sovremennik Theater, a source of personnel for many prominent Moscow actors. Lia Akhedzhakova and Valentin Gaft, Olga Drozdova and Evgeny Evstigneev, Marina Neyolova and Oleg Tabakov revealed their acting talent on the stage of Sovremennik. 
The Chisty Pond itself begins with Sovremennik. Taking a photo for memory. 
“My friends, the whole world is a desert for us,
Fatherland to us Chistye Prudy. " - Yuri Nagibin. 
The last two houses on odd side boulevard - the possession of the writer and poet Nikolai Dmitrievich Teleshov. His "Teleshov media" gathered all the color of literary Moscow at the beginning of the 20th century - Chekhov and Gorky, Kuprin and Mamin-Sibiryak, Balmont and Bunin. Fyodor Chaliapin sang at Teleshov's apartment to the accompaniment of Sergei Rachmaninoff. 
On the other side of the boulevard is the apartment building of the Trinity Church on Gryazekh, famous for its terracotta bas-reliefs. Fantastic animals, birds and trees are grotesque, so characteristic of the new style of architecture. 
We find another grotesque on the neighboring Khokhlovskaya Square: the remains of the White City wall built in the 16th century rest surrounded by building materials and debris. 
Pokrovsky Boulevard, the youngest on the Boulevard Ring, begins behind Khokhlovskaya Square. The alley in the center of the road here was broken only in 1891 - almost a hundred years later than the first boulevard (Tverskoy). Previously, there was a parade ground in front of the ceremonial classicist building of the Pokrovsky barracks, which we see in the photo. Muscovites themselves asked to build barracks in order to free themselves from military posts in their homes. Emperor Paul I fulfilled the townspeople's dream by building two barracks buildings - here and in Lefortovo. 
Opposite the Pokrovsky barracks is the possession of the Medyntsevs. Since the time when Lyudmila Medyntseva was married to the itinerant artist Alexei Stepanov in 1895, the Medyntsevs' mansion began to be visited by prominent masters of the artistic genre - Nesterov, Korovin, Levitan. 
Down the boulevard is the building of the Taganskaya telephone exchange, which is adjacent to the possessions of the Moscow wealthy factory owners Krestovnikovs. At least the fact that the owner of the estate, Grigory Alexandrovich, headed the council of the Moscow Merchant Bank, speaks of the consistency of the Krestovnikov family. 
At some point, the Krestovnikovs resold the estate to the Naydenov millionaires, but the coming revolution put an end to the free life of the masters. Now the Iranian embassy is located in the buildings of the estate. 
Pokrovsky Boulevard goes down to the Yauza - a little more than half a kilometer of walk is left in front. 
On the right, Trekhsvyatitelskie lanes lead to Khitrovka - the Moscow "bottom" described by Gorky and Gilyarovsky. The yellow brick building of the High Council rises on the corner by the alley. national economy (VSNKh). Apartment 62 in this building is Marina Tsvetaeva's last Moscow address. In August 1941, the poetess left here for Yelabuga, where she committed suicide. 
Almost opposite Tsvetaeva's house is another city manor. Its owners were the richest noblemen Durasovs, who built a real palace on the boulevard in the 1790s. Before that, they had already managed to buy a second estate in Lublin near Moscow - it has survived to this day and works as a museum. 
At the junction of Pokrovsky and Yauzsky boulevards, at the corner of Vorontsov Pole, we see another possession of Nikolai Teleshov. This house is notable for the fact that it is here that Maxim Gorky reads his play At the Bottom for the first time. The very "bottom" - the criminal Khitrovka, lies just one block down the Podkolokolniy lane. This photo even shows the "iron house", which we are talking about at. 
Podkolokolny could become one of the major streets of the newly rebuilt Stalinist Moscow: in the General Plan of 1935, a "new highway" runs along its line, leading to Izmailovsky Park culture and recreation. The Boulevard Ring was also supposed to expand. The intersection of future highways was pre-arranged with the construction of a constructivist residential building intended for the commanding staff of the Red Army. In 1936, half-columns, rustication and other features of the Stalinist Empire style were added to Constructivism. To top it off, a worker with a jackhammer and a collective farmer with a rifle and a sheaf were hoisted on the pedestals on the sides of the large arch. It turned out what happened. 
Yauzsky Boulevard ends our excursion, passing along which, we find ourselves at the Yauzsky Gate - away from the crowds of tourists, surrounded by cars and rare trolleybuses going along Solyanka. Three hours of walking, as always, flew by quickly, but it was time to say goodbye. 
According to the participants, they managed to learn a lot of new things - the excursion left everyone in excellent location spirit, and even almost no one had time to freeze! We're glad you like it.
Do you also want to discover new things about Moscow? to our friendly teams of travelers and sightseers! Follow the announcements of travels in Russia and excursions in Moscow with Ivan da Marya and come to the next walking tours ! You can find out how to enroll in the number of participants.
Always yours
Ivan da Marya
31.12.2018
The year 2018, the year of the yellow dog, is coming to an end and the year of the yellow pig 2019 is coming. A playful and cheerful dog transfers the reins to a well-fed and calm pig.
31.12.2017
Dear friends, on the last day of 2017 of the fire rooster, we want to congratulate you on the coming of the New 2018, the year of the yellow dog.
31.12.2016
In the upcoming new year 2017, we wish that the fiery rooster will bring you good luck, happiness and vivid and positive impressions while traveling.
31.12.2015
On the last day of the outgoing, we want to congratulate you on the onset of 2016, the year of an energetic and cheerful monkey.
16.10.2015
On October 16, 2015, the monument to Yevgeny Leonov, People's Artist of the Soviet Union, was stolen.
A country: Russia
Town: Moscow
Nearest metro: Kropotkinskaya
What could be easier than this walking route. But admit, did you walk along the Boulevard Ring from start to finish? And now, with the advent of bicycle rental stations along its entire length, a walk along the Boulevard Ring will not exceed an hour. However, to enjoy the walk, you should not rush headlong and then ten boulevards of the Boulevard Ring will open up from their best side.
Let us recall that the Boulevard Ring consists of ten boulevards: Gogolevsky, Nikitsky, Tverskoy, Strastnoy, Petrovsky, Rozhdestvensky, Sretensky, Chistoprudny, Pokrovsky and Yauzsky. But as you can see on the map, the Boulevard Ring is not a ring, since it is not closed on the southern side, but rests on the Moscow River. Although, to close the circle of the route, you can walk along the embankment, which will add pleasant impressions to your walk and will logically end it.
And we will start our walk from the Kropotkinskaya metro station and walk clockwise. The first thing that catches your eye is the Kropotkinskaya metro station itself, made non-standard, in the form of an arch. Here begins Gogolevsky Boulevard, the symbolic beginning of the Boulevard Ring, and there is a bicycle rental station a stone's throw from the metro, and if you don't want to walk, you can easily and inexpensively take a bicycle and hit the road. The boulevard stretches from Prechistenskiye Vorota Square to Arbatskiye Vorota Square. A notable feature of the boulevard is that it is three-level, that is, the outer, central and inner parts are at different heights.
On Gogolevsky Boulevard there are a large number of houses and mansions of the late nineteenth century. Almost in the center of the boulevard there is a monument to Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov. Also on Gogolevsky Boulevard there are two branches of the Museum of Contemporary Art. And at the end of the boulevard there is a monument to Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.
After passing Arbat Square, we find ourselves on Nikitsky Boulevard. At the beginning of the boulevard in the courtyard of Gogol's house - the memorial museum of the scientific library, you can find another monument to Nikolai Vasilyevich, which stood on the site of the present monument to Gogol at the end of Gogolevsky boulevard.
And in the house number 9 at one time lived famous researcher Arctic Mikhail Prokofievich Belousov and People's Artist Vitaly Solomin. And also on Nikitinsky Boulevard is the estate of Count Alexander Tolstoy. Niktitsky Boulevard ends with Nikitsky Gate Square. Passing it, pay attention to the fountain-rotunda "Natalya and Alexander" installed in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
On Pushkinskaya Square in front of the theater Russia you will be greeted by a monument to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Strastnoy Boulevard, the widest boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, begins immediately behind the cinema. Here you will find a monument to the composer Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov and a monument to the actor, poet Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky.
Strastnoy Boulevard ends with Petrovsky Gate Square and Petrovsky Boulevard begins. On Petrovsky Boulevard you will not find a single monument to famous personalities, but like on all boulevards of the Boulevard Ring along the boulevard there are architectural monuments. After Trubnaya Square, against which Petrovsky Boulevard abuts, Rozhdestvensky Boulevard begins. The history of the boulevard began with the emergence of the Rozhdestvensky female and Sretensky male monasteries on this site. And in 2012, a veneration cross was erected on the boulevard in honor of the patroness of Moscow, Reverend Euphrosyne.
The shortest boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, Sretensky Boulevard, begins behind Rozhdestvensky Boulevard from Sretensky Gate Square. At the beginning of the boulevard there is a monument to Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya. On the side of Turgenevskaya Square, at the exit from Sretensky Boulevard, there is a monument to the engineer V.G. Shukhov. The boulevard is currently under reconstruction.
At the entrance to Chistoprudny Boulevard, you will be greeted by a monument to Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov. In the depths of the boulevard you will be greeted by a monument to the Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev. Chistoprudny Boulevard is the only boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, on the territory of which there is a pond, "Chistye Prudy".
After passing the square, Pokrovskie gates and Khokhlovskaya square, we find ourselves in the penultimate boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, Pokrovsky Boulevard. Pokrovsky Boulevard can be combined with Yauzsky Boulevard, since one imperceptibly flows into the other and are not as well-known as Tverskoy or Chistoprudny Boulevards, but they are also full-fledged members of the Moscow Boulevard Ring.
Well, the Boulevard Ring ends not with a boulevard, but the last link of the Moscow Boulevard Ring is Ustyinsky passage. In the square of the Yauzskie Vorota square you will find a monument to the Fatherland's Border Guards.
We may not have told you everything that you can find and see on the Boulevard Ring, but we give you an excuse / clue to go for a walk along the unpreserved border of the White City, which, if you noticed, resembles most of the squares connecting the boulevards. The squares are named after the places in the White City wall enclosing Moscow, where the gates were. Enjoy your walk!
The boulevard ring is ten boulevards of Moscow, 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 now it is a wonderful recreation area for Muscovites and guests of the capital.
The boulevard ring, which stretches for 9 km, has the shape of a horseshoe and looks more like a half-ring, facing the Moskva River on both sides.
The first boulevard appeared in the center of Paris on the site of the destroyed fortifications built by King CharlesV and 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 shrubs appeared on the site of fortifications in the center of Paris, along which the Parisians strolled, the new resting place was called “boules vertes, that is, a green rampart or ball. Later, many parks and coastlines decorated with green spaces began to be called the same word.
And in Russia, the squares where the exquisite audience walked were called gulvars (from the word to walk).
The boulevard ring is sung by many poets and composers, wonderful songs have been composed about it. The most famous of them is "Chistye Prudy" performed by Igor Talkov, whose words "One day you will pass the Boulevard Ring and in your memory we will meet, probably" 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, a city that reliably protected the capital from enemy invasions.
At the same time, during the events in the Time of Troubles (late 16th - early 17th centuries), the fortress walls were badly damaged, and by the middle of the 18th century they had completely lost their significance. The gates were no longer guarded and locked at night, and the bricks of the walls were slowly pulled apart by the residents of Moscow, and they were also used for the construction of city buildings. In particular, one of the buildings erected using this stone is the building of the City Hall on Tverskaya.
In July 1774, it was decided to completely dismantle the walls of the White City, and plant trees and bushes in their place. The work was carried out under the direction of the architect Pyotr Nikitich Kozhin, and the construction was supervised by the Governor-General of Moscow Mikhail Nikitich Volkonsky.
So, in place of the fortress walls of the White City, the Boulevard Ring appeared - a chain of ten park zones - beloved by Muscovites and guests of the capital, starting from 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.
- Here begins Gogolevsky, formerly Prechistensky Boulevard, along which the writer liked to walk, here, in house No. 7, there is an 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 times 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 the 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 movie "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears", here the main character Katya twice, with a difference of 20 years, meets with the cameraman Rudolph
- The next boulevard is Nikitsky, one of the attractions of which is the famous Lunins' estate, which currently houses the Museum of the East. At the Nikitsky Gate, in the church of the Monk Theodore the Studite, A.S. Pushkin got married to Natalia Goncharova, and in 1999, in honor of this event, a rotunda fountain was installed on the square
- Next is the oldest and longest boulevard - Tverskoy, its length is 857 meters. Among its attractions are the monuments to Sergei Yesenin and Timiryazev, as well as the Romanov House, built in the early 19th century, often called Romanovka. Initially, the building belonged to the merchant Golitsyn, famous for the fact that he used his own money to build colorful lanterns on both sides of Tverskoy Boulevard. Later, this building belonged to the engineer-colonel Dmitry Ivanovich Romanov. At the end of the 19th century, the house housed furnished rooms, one of which was occupied by the musical figure Semyon Kruglikov. Here he set up a private music salon, which was visited by Fyodor Chaliapin, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov and Mikhail Vrubel, as well as 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. Pushkinskaya Square until 1937 was called Strastnaya, after the Passion Convent, located in the place where the monument to the poet is currently erected
- At the end of Strastnoy Boulevard is the Petrovsky Gate Square and further Petrovsky Boulevard, stretching to Trubnaya Square. At this point, 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 on 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 a new salad Olivier invented by him.
- Rozhdestvensky Boulevard - one of the most beautiful, it got its name from the Rozhdestvensky convent, built during the reign of Catherine II
- Through the 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
- Passing through Turgenevskaya Square and Myasnitskiye Vorota Square, we will go to Chistoprudny Boulevard... There used to be a slaughterhouse in this area, the waste from which was dumped into a pond called Pogany. When Alexander Menshikov bought this land, he cleared the pond and since then this place has been called Chistye Prudy, although there is only one pond. Now it is a popular recreation area for Muscovites and guests of the capital, in the summer - beautiful 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, on which there was absolutely no greenery. Later, part of the parade ground was occupied by a small narrow alley and only in 1954 a wide boulevard was arranged
- 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-storey house, reminiscent of a knight's castle with a turret, created in the early 20th century by architect Andrey Krasilnikov in a romantic style.
Moscow boulevards, like a green necklace, surround the city center. This is a unique monument of gardening art, including 13 squares, parks and alleys, churches and monasteries, monuments and old estates that tell about the history of Russia and its outstanding personalities.
