Moscow guide
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Moscow, the capital of Russia, has a population of some nine million people. It is a city rich in cultural, architectural, historical and revolutionary monuments and, at the same time, a rapidly developing modern urban community having brand-new blocks of flats, long, straight and broad avenues, parks, gardens, stadiums, schools, cinemas, department stores, recreation centres, bridges and highways. Though forward-looking, it cherishes the memory of its past, and its old sections lend it a special charm.
Rather than being an exhaustive source of information, this brochure is meant to help visitors get their bearings in Moscow; it spotlights the city's historical and cultural monuments, its theatres, parks, sporting facilities and other objects of interest. After returning home, it also can serve as a souvenir and a reminder of your Moscow experience. Before describing the particular sights of Moscow, it would be useful for the reader to learn some general information about Russia.
Russia
In terms of size, it is really more appropriate to compare Russia to a continent rather than to another country. It occupies an area of 22,402,200 square kilometres, or one-sixth of the world's land surface. It spans 5,000 kilometres from north to south, and nearly twice that distance from east to west. It has eleven time zones. The most southerly Russian republic, Turkmenia, lies only several degrees north of the tropics, while the city of Murmansk, one of the most northerly, is above the Arctic Circle.
Once you have decided to see Russia, it can be visited at any time of year. Indeed, the term "dead season" loses its meaning in a country which has every climatic zone except for the tropica.
More and more foreigners are becoming interested in visiting Russia. Many of them believe a better knowledge of this country and its achievements in building a communist society will give them a broader context in which to look at the world at large. Significantly, those wishing to come to this country no longer apply for a "tour to Russia". Apparently, they ere aware that Russia, though the largest, is just one of the fifteen constituent republics making up Russia. Many future tourists have also learned that Russia is the home of many nationalities, each having their own culture, art and customs. In addition to the fifteen constituent republics, there are smaller administrative units within them, such as autonomous republics (20 in all), autonomous regions (8) and autonomous areas (10).
Russia's Constitution names the Federal Assembly of Russia as the highest body of state authority. It consists of two chambers. All Russian citizens enjoy equal rights, without any limitation or discrimination. Their basic rights are laid down in the Constitution and guaranteed both by law and in practice. The Constitution, for instance, proclaims and guarantees the right of Russian citizens to a job and to freely choose their trade or profession. There is no unemployment in Russia. Among other fundamental rights of Russian citizens are their rights to rest and education. Not only are all forms of education free, but students accepted into higher or specialized secondary educational establishments are given stipends to help defray their living costs. The Russian state also guarantees its citizens maintenance in old age and free health care, and proclaims and guarantees freedom ol speech, as well as freedom of the press, assembly and demonstrations, the inviolability of the person and his home, and the privacy ol correspondence. The rights and duties of Russian citizens have a firm political, economic and social basis. The changes that took and are taking place in Russia are attracting special attentior abroad. The words "perestroika" and "glas nost", and "acceleration" and "intensification' have become familiar throughout the world and many people would like to see first-hand wha they stand for. Essentially, they mean a reliance on the entire nation, the all-out development and extensior of democracy, and a greater respect for person's worth and his or her dignity Specifically, all this implies the use of economic incentives in management, as well as new forms of organizing labour and production: the effective cooperation of science and its application in pursuit of the highest possible end results; constant efforts to ensure good working and living conditions, recreational facilities and medical care; and the consistent implementation of the principles of social justice. This process is naturally bringing about many changes in the life of the nation and of each individual. To have a better understanding of this, one should walk about. Moscow streets, read its newspapers and watch its TV programmes, and, most importantly, meet Muscovites and Moscow numerous guests from other republics.
Moscow, the heart of Russia
In addition to being the capital of Russia, Moscow is also the country's largest city, its major political and industrial centre and its leader in science, culture and art.
Moscow has relations of friendship with many other capitals and large cities abroad, for instance, Belgrade. Madrid. Prague, Tokyo, Sofia, Helsinki, London, Mexico, Rome and Vancouver. The city's image bears the imprint of the talent and inspiration of many generations of Russian master artists and craftsmen. Though it is always acquiring new features, it does not renounce the past. It preserves its best elements as it forges ahead. Moscow is a multinational city. Living here are Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Tartars, Estonians, Jews and people of other nationalities. But there are certain traits they have in common-kindness, friendliness and hospitality. To really get to know Moscow, one should see both its old and new streets and squares, enjoy the view of the Old Kremlin, go to the city's theatres, visit its art galleries and museums displaying masterpieces of Russian and world art. see its Metro stations, take a boat trip on the Moskva River, stroll through its parks and just relax in the shade of verdant boulevards. Everywhere you will sense the spirit of the city.
Pages of history
Moscow is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It was founded in 1147 by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky (Yuri tht; Long Armed) 51 Suzdal who had a fortress built on the high undulating bank of the wide and deep Moskva River.
The city's favourable geographical position contributed a great deal to its growth and progress. Craftsmen and traders flocked to Moscow from all parts of the Russian land. By the beginning of the 15th century the city had grown markedly in size and strength to become Russia's political and cultural centre. Moscow was made capital of the first united Russian state during the reign of Prince Ivan 111 (15th century).
Moscow's influence and might increased still more over the next two centuries. Although Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 18th century, Moscow continued to play a major role in Russian history.
During the war against Napoleon in the beginning of the 19th century, Moscow was badly damaged by a great fire. Rebuilding it required a tremendous effort, and the best architects were engaged in its reconstruction.
About the same time, large industrial enterprises began appearing in Moscow. Paralleling the city's industrial growth was the development of the revolutionary movement in Russia. Moscow's working class played a great role in the memorable events of 1917.
The silhouette ol the Kremlin's Spassky Tower is familiar to many people throughout the world. For more than 70 years its clock has been showing the time of the new era begun by the victorious Great October Socialist Revolution.
Moscow was once again made the capital in 1918, this time of the Soviet republic.
The Kremlin in Moscow is the focus of the country's social and political life.
Many streets radiate from the Kremlin in various directions.
Today Moscow boasts broad thoroughfares and streets, abundant greenery, pure air –purer, in fact, than in any other large city in the world—-new residential districts and a well-developed public transport system.
In keeping with a proposal ol the city's residents, the Moscow Deputies instituted a new holiday, Moscow Day, celebrating the founding of Moscow.
Weather in Moscow
Moscow is beautiful no matter what the season, no matter what the weather. Its snow-covered narks and gardens, streets and build ings in winter are a charming sight. The coldest month is January. If you ate planning to visit Moscow in winter be sure to lake warm clothes with you, though don't worry, for the hotels and public buildings are quite well heated, as is public transport.
Moscow is also wonderful to visit in the summer. It is only then that one realizes just how very green the city is. The warmest month: are June. July and August. July and August have the distinction of being both the rainiest and the sunniest months.
Moscow time
+8 hours Eastern Standard Time
+3 hours London Time
+2 hours European Mean Time
National holidays
January 1—New Year's Day
March 8—International Women's Day
May 9—Victory Day
Visitors to Moscow travelling by air arrive at Sheremetyevo International Airport A comfortable bus will quickly take you to the centre of the city. Along your route are many interesting sights...
Once leaving the area of the airport, you'll be tiding on Leningradsky Highway, which connects Moscow with St. Petersburg, the country's second largest city. At the 23-kilometre mark where the road turns from the airport, you will see huge six-metre high anti-tank obstacles greeted here in 1966 as a memorial to the heroes who fell defending the city against the nazi invaders on the approaches to Moscow in the winter of 1941.
All Muscovites helped to build defence works. Women and children dug trenches and put up metal "hedgehogs" like those of the memorial only much smaller. All able-bodied people worked in the factories, replacing the men who had gone lo the front. It was said in those days that Moscow had donned a military uniform. Old-timers still remember the small one-storey houses that lined this road. In the '30s those ramshackle dwellings were pulled down and their residents, the workers of the nearby factories, moved into comfortable multi-storey blocks of flats.
New buildings are still going up. but the architects always leave enough space for parks and public gardens, one of which is the Friendship Park on your left as you ride towards the city's centre. It was laid out during the Sixth World Festival of Youth and Students that was held in Moscow in 1957. Each festival participant planted a tree and wrote down his or her name and country on a special piece of paper. Three thousand trees were planted in one day Among the numerous sculptures embellishing the park is a statue of Miguel de Scrvantes Saavedra, the author of th classic novel "Don Quixote". The statue was presented to Moscow by the residents o Madrid in 1981.
Across from the park is the Northern River Terminal. Its steeple can be seen from quite some distance. Moscow had no outlet to the sea until 1937, when a wide canal was built connecting the Moskva to the Volga and linking the country's northern and southern seas. Moscow thus became a port of five seas.
Leningradsky Highway has now become Leningradsky Prospekt. The place where th happens was once considered the distant outskirts of Moscow. The Church of All Saints built in 1683 is a witness ot those days. The church, which is on your left, gave its name to the village of Vsekhsvyatskoyc (of All Saints) which used to stand here.
A guidebook from the beginning of the century invited Muscovites to this place, listing as-one of its attractions the summer cottages that could be rented cheaply just "five versts" from the checkpoint". Some of those cottages are still there.
Hidden behind modern high-rise buildings are several quiet streets with wooden houses which have fancifully carved platbands and peaked roofs. Some are crowned with figures of cocks, a popular decorative motif of Russian village houses. It is not because they were somehow forgotten that these houses have survived They have been preserved for their architectural value. A settlement was built here from 1924 to 1930 for artists, teachers, scholars and the workers of a Moscow factory. Many prominent architects took part in its building, and no two houses are alike. This settlement is described in many textbooks on the history of architecture. It is also interesting that the sugar and reel maples, blue spruces and cork trees planted by the original residents are still standing.
On the right side of Leningradsky Prospekt is the Moscow Air Terminal, which used to have a large airfield from which the first regularly scheduled passenger flights took off. The first of those was made in the summer of 1923 in a plane bound for Nizhni Novgorod (present-day Gorky). A brochure from those days offers passengers these comforting words: "The passengers need not worry about the cold. During the flight they will be provided with shipskins." The plane covered the distance of 420 kilometres in two and a half hours, flying at an altitude of 250 metres. During that year Aeroflot flew all of 600 passengers. Nowadays, especially in summer, Moscow's airports (of which there are four) serve over 100.000 passengers daily.
The landing field behind the Air Terminal is also noteworthy for the fact that on May 9, 1945 pilot A. Semenkov landed there, bringing the Act on the Full and Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany to Moscow.
One of the most remarkable structures along Leningratisky Prospekt is Peter the Greats Palace, or Petrovsky Palace, which is on the left side of the road. This magnificent building was designed by the Russian architect Matvei Kazakov (1738-1812) and built in 1775-1782. The palace is embellished with white-stoned tracery and surrounded by a strong wall whos tuirets look very much like the castles in a chea set. Napoleon fled to this suburban palace fronj Moscow when the terrible fire broke out in lh city in 1812. It was from this place that h began his hasty retreat from Russia.
Today the palace accommodates lh Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academ named after Professor Nikolai Zhukovskj (1847-1921), a pioneer of Russian aviation} Many Russian cosmonauts, notably Yuri Gagari (1934-1968), the world's first man in space studied at the Academy.
The next structure of interest is the Dynam Stadium, which seats 60,000. Though not th city's largest stadium, Muscovites are vet proud of it because it was the first. Built i 1928, the stadium used to attract crowds ( fans to football matches. Leningradsky Prospel^ was rather narrow in those days, and all of the public transport would be filled with enthusiastic sports fans. The radio broadcasts of the matches were introduced by the tune of the then popular song about how "virtually the whole of Moscow" was rushing to the stadium, regardless of the rain.
Among other sights along Leningradsky Prospekt is the House of Newly-Weds at No. 33 (on the right side), an enormous block of flats a quarter of a kilometre long. It is one of the first buildings built especially for young couples in Moscow. It contains 250 comfortable one-room flats with balconies and has a Wedding Palace in which marriage ceremonies are performed on the ground floor. Nearby is the cosy Cafe Aist (Stork), a name with obvious symbolic meaning. According to old belief, the stork presents to happy parents their newborns.
The young couples arrive for their wedding ceremony in cars decorated with ribbons and tinsel. But if you are here in the winter, you may be lucky enough to see some famous Russian troikas drive right up to the Wedding Palace's entrance. And don't be surprised if the horses seem especially fine, for the 150-year-old Central Race Track is close by. Its employees arrange such splendid troikas for newly-weds.
Next you will pass the Bolshevik Confectionery Factory (on the righi side). You can't fail to notice Us unmistakable sweetl and tempting aroma. Across Irom it is the glass cube-like building ot a watch factory.
The Byelorussky Railway Station is thel next structure of note. U is fronted by a vasi square, where long ago there was a city check-point. From here trains run to the country's western regions and to some capitals o( Eastern and Western Europe—Warsaw, Stockholm. Berlin, Vienna, Rome and Paris.
The Belorussky Railway Station also marks the beginning of Moscow's main street— Gorki Street.
Tverskaya Street
In general, Moscow is best viewed with unhurried attention. Here you pass a large, modern building, there a 19th-century mansion. A big bookshop with mirrored windows rubs shoulders with a tiny apothecary's shop which will soon mark its centenary. Further on, an archway leads to a quiet meandering street with a small church.
Tverskaya Street became the city's main one back in the 18th century. Even the best architects considered it a Great honour to be commissioned to build a house in this street. There are several monuments in Tverskaya Street.
In the square in front of the Belorusskj Railway Station rises the bronze figure Maxim Gorky (1868-1935), the great writer whose books are known through out the world.
Mayakovsky Square comes next as you go towards the centre. It is named alter the Sovie poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930] whose talent had an influence on the develop ment of world poetry. A statue of the poet stands in the centre of the square.
After that comes Pushkinskaya Square, where stands another statue—this one to the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (179! 1837). "Word of me shall spread across th Russian land," the poet wrote once, and his words proved prophetic. The monument was erected with money donated by the public. People from all walks of life contributed, from top officials to peasants, shop assistants and school pupils. They donated whatever they could afford, both large and small sums. All together 106,575 roubles were raised. An unveiling ceremony on June 6. 1880 marked the monument's completion. Since then it has become a tradition to lay flowers at the foot of the monument. You will see flowers there on any day of the week all year round.
Pushkinskaya Square can well be described as Moscow's major publishing centre. The newspapers /zvest/a, Trud and Moscow News have their editorial offices there. The Izvestia building is an excellent example of constructivism, the principal trend in Russian architecture of (he 1920s. In (he 1970s, a modern addition was built on to it.
In Russia, the mass media serve the interests of the people.
Now you have come toTverskaya Square. Its main feature is the building of t Moscow Russian of People's Deputies, City Council. Across from it stands the monument to Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, a bronze equestrian statue in battle panoply. Th| Russian prince's name appears in chronicle containing the first mention of Moscow.
The two neighbouring buildings Nos. 9 an 11 have socles faced with red Finnish granite.
A trainload of these stone blocks was left behind near Moscow by the fleeing Nazi troops in the winter of 1941 along with huge quantities of military equipment. It was Hitler's intention to have a monument erected after the capture of Moscow marking the victory over Russia. The granite was put to good use In addition to the two buildings mentioned, an arch spanning the passage to the neighbouring street and the parapet of a large department store nearby were faced with it.
There is much of interest in Tverskaya Street— buildings, museums and theatres—such as, for instance, the Memorial Museum of Nikolai Ostrovsky (1904-1936). The latter is devoted to the author of the book How the Steel Was Tempered Nikolai Ostrovsky, who, though blind and paralyzed as a result of a concussion, nevertheless wrote this inspiring novel about the heroic deeds of young people in the first years after the Revolution.
One of the buildings facing Tverskaya Square contains the studio of the sculptor Sergei Konenkov (1874-1971). His work say are displayed in many museums around ih world. The studio has now been turned into memorial museum.
The Dresden Hotel once stood on Tverskaya Square. It accommodated many famous visitor to Moscow. The German composer Robert Schumann stayed there with his wife in 1844 She, a well-known pianist, wrote home that Moscow was special and unlike any other cit y in Europe. Perhaps others get this impression when visiting Moscow as well.
At the end of Tverskaya Street is a vast squar called Manezhnaya. On its opposite side are the old fortified walls and tall lowers o the Kremlin. The area beyond it along one sid of the Kremlin is Red Square.
If you arrived in Russia through another city your first entry into Moscow may be via Vnukovo Airport. So the next chapter will describe the route to the city's centre from Vnukovo.
The first kilometres of the road run through suburban forests and parks. Moscow is surrounded by a protective forest belt, a huge reserve of clean air. It also serves a favourite recreational area for Muscovites during every season of the year—mushroom-hunters and hikers in the warmer months and cross-country skiers in the winter.
Now a long row of large buildings comes into view on the right side of the road. They are part of the Moskovsky Integrated State Farm which supplies Moscow with nearly 20.000 tons of vegetables a year. It also grows the ever- I popular champignon mushrooms.
Crossing the Moscow Circular Motorway you enter Leninsky Prospekt, one of Moscow's major thoroughfares.
This road has been in existence since the 14th century. It led to the old town of Kaluga, then on the south-western frontier of the Moscow state. Squat little houses once stood along this road.
Nowadays the avenue is lined with high-rise buildings, the first one of note being the tall Hotel Salyut on the left. It can accommodate up to 2.000 guests at a time. Then comes a large housing estate named alter the village of Troparevo that once stood there. The village was known for its five-domed church Duilt in the 17th century, which still stands amongst the tall blocks of flats. Located nearby is Tsentralny Dom Turista. a 36-storey hotel with a cinema and concert halls, gymnasiums and a swimming pool.
On the right side of Leninsky Prospekt is the Belyaevo-Bogorodskoye housing estate built on the site of the old suburban villages of Belyaevo and Bogorodskoye. Several educational establishments are now located there including the Patrice Lumumba Peoples Friendship University with its dormitories, lecture halls and laboratories. Opened in 1960, the University has departments ol agriculture medicine, physics and mathematics, natural sciences, history and literature, economics ar law. lis student body numbers over 6,000 ( under- and post-graduates from Asia, Africa and Latin America. There are numerous shops of different type and department stores along the avenue, si as Vlasta (on the left), a store selling goods from Czechoslovakia.
In fact, Leninsky Prospekt can in general be described as a science avenue, for there arc over thirty research centres along it. The avenue going off to the left is Universitetsky Prospekt, which in the summer is very shady and green. It leads to the tall building of Moscow University whose giant silhouette is easily visible from afar in arty weather.
After passing another big hotel. Hotel Sputnik, you come into Gagarin Square. This is one of the largest out of Moscow's more than 90 squares- Several decades ago it was known as Kaluzhskaya Zastava (Checkpoint) Square and marked the boundary of Moscow.
In the middle of the square on a 40 metre-high pedestal rises a monument to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. The figure of the cosmonaut is cast from titanium and was the first large sculpture in the world to be cast from this rare metal. At the foot of the monu ment is a replica of the descent module of tre Vostok spaceship, which carried Yuri Gagari on his historic flight on April 12. 1961.
The old part of Leninsky Prospekt begin after the square. The elegant palace standing inside a vast courtyard on your left is sure to attract your attention. It is the Presidium o Russian Academy of Sceinces.
Two other architectural monuments near the palace—both hospital buildings—merit attettion. One of them was designed by Matvej Kazakov, an outstanding Russian architect, and the other, by Osip Bove (1784-1834). The names of both of these architects will be mentioned many more limes in connection with other of Moscow's outstanding older structures.
The next square you will come to is Oktyabrskaya, with a monument to Lenin (1870-1924) in the centre. The bronze statue of the founder of the Communist Party and the first leader of the Russian state stands on a pedestal of polished red granite. The composition of (he monument includes a sculptural group symbolizing the popular nature of the October Revolution and a female figure symbolizing the revolution.
Turning into Dimitrov Street one passes the Church of St. John the Warrior on the left, which was built in 1709-1719 and is surrounded by a handsome metal grating.
On the right is a brick mansion of the late 19th century, built in the manner of early Russian wooden architecture. This is now pal of the French Embassy, as is the modern build ing next to it.
Another route to the centre from Vnukod Airport takes you into Vernadsky Prospekt after passing the Circular Motorway. Vladim Vernadsky (1863-1945) was a scholar of world renown, a prominent mineralogist, crystallographer and the father of geochemistry.
This route takes you past the Olympic Village (on the left), which was built in 1980 for the 22nd Summer Olympics.
Actually, it is a small city having 18 blocks of flats of sixteen storeys each, a swimming pool, football fields and basketball grounds, a concert hall seating 1,200, shops and many other facilities.
Thousands of Muscovites moved into the Olympic Village after the Olympics were over where they were allotted new, comfortable flats. As with all state-owned housing in Russia there were no fees involved.
The Olympic Village is a very nice blend of the city, with all of its conveniences, and a cosy and pleasant community having little traffic.
As you cross Lomonosovsky Prospekt, Moscow State University comes clearly into view. The University has 17 departments with more than 30,000 studying in them, with nearly 2,000 foreign students from some 80 countries.
The tent-like structure on the right as you continue down Vernadsky Prospekt is the Moscow Circus with a seating capacity of 3.400.
Right next to it is the Children's Musical Theatre, the first of its kind in the wotld. Only glimpses of its low building can be caughfl because of a row of trees which shield it fron the noisy street. Inside of it are wooden sculptures of fairytale characters, a museum, a smal zoo and a winter garden. The ethereal Blut Bird, the theatre's emblem and symbol, greet) visitors from the roof.
Farther on, also on the left side of the street stands the Central Palace of Youn<. Pioneers and Schoolchildren. Built it 1960-1962, it has about 500 room) for children's amateur pursuits, a theatre ft young actors, an orchard and an arborelui for young environmentalists, and splendi gymnasiums. The exhibitions of children's ar held here are often as popular as those o recognised masters.
Now you are crossing the Moskva River ov< a wide bridge and have come to the beginning of Komsomolsky Prospekt. There is a goo< view of the Lenin Central Stadium fror here. This is the largest of Moscow's stadiums and its Grand Sports Arena can se;
103.000 spectators. The complex, of which the stadium is the principal part, has 140 various structures all together
Another remarkable facility on the left side of Komsomolsky Prospekt is the Youth Palace. Its large auditorium scats 2.000 and is excellent (oi concerts and other types of the theatrical performance?.
Kornsomolsky Prospckt is only five kilometres long. In addition to its many modern buildings, there are several old structures along it. Perhaps the most notable of these is St. Nicholas Church at Khamovniki. which was built in 1682. "Khamovniki" is the old Russian and obsolete word for weavers. You will hardly find this word in the dictionary. Long ago. weavers lived in this area, and the top-quality linen they made was sold in Moscow and other cities.
The street in which this marvellous church building actually stands used to be called Bolshoi Khamovnicheski Lane. It has been renamed Leo Tolstoy Street. The great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1829-1910) lived here foi about nineteen years. "Power of Darkness", "Kreutzer Sonata", "Fruits of Enlightenment". "Father Sergius". "Living Corpse" an "Resurrection" are among the works he wrot, while living on litis street.
Red Square
All Moscow squares and sweets have a certificate giving their dimensions, date of origination, number of buildings and the date of construction.
Certificate No. 1 has been written for Red Square, the central one of Moscow. According to it. the square is 695 metres long and 130 metres wide, making it one of the largest ones in Moscow- In addition to its great size and the architectural monuments facing it. Red Square is famous for the many historic events it has witnessed. It has had different names over the long years of its existence. The first written mention of it calls it Torg. which means market place.
Because of the devastating fire that swept over it in 1493, it was lor some timj called Pozhar. the Russian word for fire. It waf also colled Troitskoya. or Trinity, Square af« the Trinity Church thai once stood there. It hai been known as Krasnaya Square since the enl of the 17th century. "Krasnaya" has tradition! ally been translated as "Red", although in o| Russian the word mosfoflen meant "beautrf magnificent". "Krasnaya" also meant "gra main, stately", and it is in this sense that word is used in the name of the principal po of a palace or royal apartments "krasn*. kryltso".
But while "Krasnaya" originally denoted 11 square's grandeur, after the October Revoluti the adjective came to signify the colour of revolutionary banner and the country's stal flag and thus acquired its modern basic lite] meaning -Red.
The austere-looking structure of red grann and black labradore near the Kremlin wall is tf Lenin Mausoleum, built after the death Lenin, (he leader of the revolution. It was dj signed by architect Alexei Shchusev (187^ 1949). The changing of the guards standing at the Mausoleum entrance takes place every hour. During the hours which the Mausoleum is opened there is always an endless stream of people wishing to pay homage to Lenin.
Behind the Mausoleum, along the Kremlin wall, are the graves of some outstanding leaders of the Communist Party, and of writers, scientists, generals and cosmonauts. Several prominent members of the international communist and working class movement a'e also buried here.
The architectural look of Red Square has formed over centuries. Many of its buildings are connected with some crucial events in the nation's history.
One such event was the victory over the
Kazan Khanate in 1552. Three years later, tu commemorate this victory, the construction of the Cathedral of the Intercession (popu larly known as St. Basil's) was started in Re■: Square. Finished in 1561, the cathedral was designed by Russian architects Barma anu
Red square today. Postnik. Legend has it that alter the construe lion was completed Tsar Ivan the Terrible hef the two architects blinded so that they could not build any structure as beautiful as the cathedral.
St. Basil's is indeed unique, a whimsical designed structure uniting nine churches inif a single whole. It is often quite app" opriately referred to as "the stone flower in Rtt Square".
In 1818. a monument to two of Russia's national heroes, merchant Kuzma Minii and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, was erectc near St. Basil's. Minin and Pozharsky rallied and led Russians into battle against foreig' invaders more than 350 years ago. After defeat ing the enemy, the Russian army march*1'"
triumphantly through Red Square and entered the Kremlin. The monument built with money donated by the public was the first memorial sculpture in Moscow.
Another historical sight in Red Square is Lobnoye Mesto. Legend has it that it was
a place for public executions. Actually, however, the Tsar's edicts and orders used to be read out from this high platform in the Middle Ages.
The oldest structure in Red Square is the Kremlin wall, which runs along one side of it, and Ihe three tall towers that are pari of that wall—Spasskaya (Saviour's), Senatskaya (Senate) and Nikolskaya (St. Nicholas'). The wall and towers are over 500 years old.
These towers have stood many trials over their long history. In 1812, when Moscow was occupied by Napoleon, the Nikolskaya Tower and part of the Kremlin wall were ruined by an explosion. The damage was repaired after Napoleon and his army were defeated and driven out of the country.
were exorbitant and in the end the clock vjt repaired by Nikolai Berens, a fitter working j the Kremlin. Mikhail
The Spasskaya Tower was badly damaged artillery fire during the armed uprising in 1911| A shell hit the famous Kremlin clock. Leni suggested that the country's main timepiece repaired as quickly as possible. Though severi foreign firms offered their services, their fee|
Cheremnykh {later I become a famous artist) set the chime mechai ism to the tune of the Internationale, the p«letanan anthem.
The chime mechanism occupies three tiers the tower and is actuated by three weights fro 160 to 224 kilogrammes.
The Kremlin clock, which is connected by I underground cable to the reference clock of t Moscow Astronomy Institute, is considered t most accurate of all tower clocks in the USS
The clock strikes every fifteen minutes. Twi in 24 hours the chimes are broadcast by radic every day in this country begins and ends with the Kremlin chimes.
Students usually come to Red Square after their graduation party in early summer and cosmonauts make a stop here before their flights. All day long languages from many parts of the world can be heard here.
Red Square is where national holidays are celebrated and military parades are held. This tradition was not even broken on the anniversary of the October Revolution celebrated on November 7, 1941 when the Nazi forces had reached the approaches to Moscow. After the parade the troops went straight to the front lines.
The fits! Victory Day Parade took place i Red Square on June 24. 1945. Composite regj ments arrived from all the fronts. To the sound of beating drums. Russian servicemen marcher, up to Lenin's Mausoleum and threw down Q the pavement wet with pouring rain hundred of battle standards of the defeated Nazi arrrn, including the one that had been Hitler's.
The Kremlin
Here is some basic information in brief.
The Kremlin, which occupies an area of 27.5 hectares, is not very large. In former times it was a regular city with numerous wooden houses, churches, monasteries, and royal and princely palaces.
BacK then, in addition to being bordered by the Moskva River on the south, it had deep and wide moats on the other sides. The high walls were punctuated with formidable towers with battlements
The walls were 3.5 to 6.5 metres thick enab-liny both troops and carts carrying food am munitions to the fighters to easily pass alonj the top of them. Of the Kremlin's 20 towers, only a few shibe described here.
The Soasskaya, Senatskaya and Nikolsl-Toweis have already been mentioned.
The Uglovaya Arsenalnaya (Con Arsenal)Tower standing next to Nikolskaya was built in 1492.
The place where it stands was strategical important for the Kremlin's defence, explainif why the tower was made so strong. A well w sunk in the tower's basement to supply defenders with fresh water in the event of| long siege. The well is still there.
The tower also had a secret passage to tl Neglinnaya River, which has since been divei ed into an underground aqueduct.
The tallest tower is the Troitskaya (Trinity which is 80 metres high. To get to it it necessary to pass through the Kulafya To* that once guarded the river bridge leading into the Kremlin.
Kutafya's name is unusual, in that the towers were generally given the names of churches, houses of prominent noblemen or localities.
Where then did this tower yet its name? In olden days, women who wore layer upon layer of clothes to keep warm and as a result looked ungainly were called kutafyas (from the word "kutatsya"- to put on too many clothes).
Perhaps the tower looked awkward back then, though now, after restorers reconstructed its 17th-century openwork top some time ago, it looks quite smart.
There is another explanation of the name. "Kutai" meant also to cover up, to shield, say, a road or passage, and that is exactly the purpose the Kutafya Tower served-
The next tower is Borovitskaya, which is the entrance into the Kremlin. Through the wide apertures that can be seen chains used to pass that held the draw-bridge spanning the Neglinnaya River.
Thetowe,S,anasonBorovi;?kvH..rH
Moscow came into being- Bor me" pine wood. Pirates that the! wooded.
Vodov*vodnaya (Water) is the next towerl It received its name in 1633 when a water! pump was installed inside Of U to bring watt liom the Moskva River 10 the Kremlin. Thi lower was built in 1488. It was blown up by thj French as they retreated from Moscow in 181? It was restored by architect Osip Bove severi years after the end of the war.
Another lower worth noting is Tainii kaya (Secret). The old Kremlin holds mai secrets. There are secret wells, undergrouri passages, and so on. And the Tainitskaya TOWM had these as well. Moreover, it is the oldea Kremlin tower. Italian architect Marc Friazin Ian its cornerstone in May 1485, thus initiating thl construction of the Kremlin fortifications.
At the next corner of the Kremlin triangle stands the Beklemishev Tower. Its name is linked with a grim episode from the past. Once the mansion of a very rich boyar (Russian nobleman) named Beklemishev stood nearly.
The boyar was rather hot-headed and had numerous arguments with Prince Vassily the Third (father of Ivan the Terrible). He paid for this with his head in 1525. The mansion was turned into a prison and so was the neighbouring tower. Many rebels against tsarist rule were imprisoned there.
The Konstantino-Yeleninskaya Tower is famous for the fact that Prince Dmitry Donskoy (1350-1389) led his troops through the gate that once stood there into battle against the Tartars. In the historic Battle of Kulikovo (1380), the Russians defeated the Tariar horde led by Khan Mamai which was believed to be invincible. That victory marked the beginning of the liberation of the Russian lands from Tartar-Mongol oppression.
The Nabatnaya (Alarm) Tower once had a bell thai announced important events on] warned of impending dangers.
The last time it tolled was in 1771 when a riod began in Moscow. The riot was cruelly sup-1 pressed and the bell also got its due: its tongue] was cut off. For more than thirty years it hungj silent. Now it is kept in the Kremlin Armoury ii Moscow.
Close to the Nabatnaya is the Tsarskayi (Tsar's) Tower, the youngest and smallest
ii the Kremlin. The whitestone girdles round the pillars, py ramids with gilt
streamers, and the fanciful weathercock on top of the peaked roof give the semblance
ol a fairy-tale palace. It was buil in 1680 on the site of a small wooden towel
from which, according to legend. Tsar Ivan thj Terrible liked to watch what was
going on Red Square. Hence the name -Tsarskaya,
The Kremlin is the heart of the Russian state. It has also witnessed the country's centufies-long history, and is furthermore a unique cul- lural monument, a treasurehouse of invaluable works of fine and applied decorative arts.
The treasures preserved in its museums— former cathedrals and palaces, the Armoury arid the Diamond Fund —are known throughout the world.
We'll begin with the Armoury, which appeared later than many other Kremlin structures (see References). Designed by architect Konstantin Ton and constructed in 1851 as an aft museum, the building stands on the site where in the 16th century stood an armoury for manufacturing and storing weapons. Hence its present name.
But the Armoury collection is much older than the building housing it. Among its treasures is the silver cup of Prince
Yuri Dolgoruky, the tamous Cap of Princ Vladimir Monomakh, one of the main regalia of ihe Russian isars, and the sabies of Mini and Pozharsky. Also exhibited are superbl crafted thrones, gilt carriages, pearl-bedecke saddles and china tea sets that once belonge to the tsars.
The collections, however, are not limited t only Russian-made items. Many treasures ar testimony of Russia's long-standing ties wit numerous countries of Ihe East and the \ There are Italian fabrics, a Sevres tea Persian handicrafts, silverware from Lond to name but a few of these.
The Armoury has a permanent exhibit!" known as the Diamond Fund of the USS On display are such attributes of tsarist pow as the mace, the sceptre and the crown. The are also rare gems, antique jewellery, and t world's biggest gold nugget, the so-called B Triangle, weighing 3.6 kilogrammes, as well works by Russian jewellery.
Two new diamonds were recently added the collection.
One of them is named after the late Indi Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the otf commemorates the American schoolg Samanfha Smith.
Though the Diamond Fund was opened the public only in 1967. its origins go back the beginning of the 18th century, wh Russian Emperor Peter the Great ordered tha all state treasures be kept in one place, in I strong chest with three padlocks.
Three men were put in charge of the chea each keeping one key to one lock, so that thj chest could only be opened in the presence all three.
As the wealth of the imperial family i creased, so did the number of chests. By t time of the October Revolution in 1917, th were eight chests. They were kept in Mosc having been brought to the Armoury and I there for safekeeping on the orders of tsa officials.
The documents certifying the presence of the treasures were lost during the turbulent times following the revolution.
The chests were discovered in 1922. A special commission was formed to take care of their contents. The exhibition was opened on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Russian state.
Near the Armoury is the Grand Kremlin Palace, built in the first half of the 19th century. It was the tsars' residence in Moscow.
Russia Supreme Russian, the country's highest legislative body, holds its sessions in this building. Parliamentary commissions also meet in it and foreign ambassadors present their credentials there.
The Grand Kremlin Palace has over 700 rooms and halls, and, while they all are worth mentioning, it is impossible to describe them all here.
Two of them, however, cannot be passed by in silence. St. George's Hall is dedicated u the Order of St. George, the highest militan award for distinguished service in action givei in the days of the tsars. Its motto was "Fo Service and Gallantry". The walls are hung witl white-marble plates inscribed in gold with tht names of the military units and individuals df orated with the order.
Today, orders and medals of Russia a] presented in this hall to those who have dij tinguished themselves in various fields human endeavour. Cosmonauts, farmers lead ers. servicemen, public figures, scientists others have been so honoured.
The Faceted Hall, though now part of tr palatial complex, is much older than the palac proper. Built in the 15th century, it js one of tl oldest structures in Moscow.
Its name derives from the fact that its eastel facade is faced with four-faceted bn of white limestone. Intended f0r state reel plions. it contains a large vaulted hall 495 square metres with a supporting pillar in the centre.
The light pouring in through eighteen windows illuminates the murals decorating its walls.
Unfortunately, the centuries took their toll on the work of the old masters. The Faceted Hall has during its long history suffered from fires and wanton destruction. Luckily, however, surviving detailed descriptions of the paintings enabled two artists, the Belousov brothers from the village o' Palekh. to repaint the murals at the end of the 19th century. Those paintings have been well preserved. Next comes Cathedral Square. The Cathedral of the Assumption, built in 1479 as the main church of the Russian state, is the oldest structure in Cathedral Square. It was here thai the Russian tsars were crowned, metropolitans and patriarchs were elected by church councils and important tsarist edicts were read out-Invaluable works by Russian painters are preserved in the Cathedral of the Assumption. \td ceilings and walls were decorated by thai famous Dionysius (c. 1440-after 1502). Nor] much is known about this painter. Most of hi$| works were destroyed in fires. What has surJ vived shows the artist's great talent, his exalted! manner of painting and his use of vibranj colours.
One painting in the cathedral dates bacll to the 12th century. It is the St. GeorgJ icon.
The unknown artist has depicted the saint as a defender of the people, a gallant hero always ready to defend his native land,
The cathedral also preserves an icon pa' ted by the great Andrei Rublev (c. 1360-d 1430).
The 600th birthday of this great artist in 196 was observed throughout the world and th year was proclaimed the Year of Andrei Rubl by UNESCO
The Cathedral of the Annunciation] whose gilded domes shine so brightly in tha sun. is ten years younger than the Cathedral o] the Assumption.
Built by skilled masters invited to Mosco from Pskov, another old Russian town, it w decorated by Andrei Rublev. Prokhor fro Gorodets (early 15th century), Theophanes th' Greek (c. 1340-after 1405) and other famouj artists.
In the gallery that leads to the cathedral] nave, in the niches, on the vaults and pilaster* are painted the life-size figures of philosopher) and writers from antiquity, such as Aristotl Thukydites, Plutarch, Homer and Virgil. TheS names were familiar to educated people i Russia in those days.
Slightly over fifteen years after the constfl uction of the Cathedral of the Annunciation work was started on the Archangel Cathedral.
This cathedral became the resting place o Russian grand dukes and princes. Many of th
names inscribed on the tombstones will be familiar even to those knowing little of Russian history. Among them are Dmitry Donskoy. the winner of the Battle of Kulikovo, Prince Ivan Kalita of Moscow, and Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584). Ivan the Terrible's burial place in
the cathedral was chosen by the Tsar himself, but. as fate would have it, his elder son. Ivan, whom he killed in blind fury, was buried there first.
Like the other Kremlin cathedrals, the Archangel Cathedral contains invaluable works of art—old icons painted by artists from Moscow, Rya^an. Kostroma, Vologda and Yaroslavl. Several years ago, restorers started removing the paintings subsequently done over the original icons until gradually the works of early Russian art reappeared in all their beauty. ceremonies tot annoiritment. baptism an consecration.
Originally called Cross (Krestovaya
Chamber, the room was also used by t church lathers lor receiving noblemen and f holding church councils. Today the Patriarch'
Palace displays objects ol everyday life an applied art from 17th-centuiy Moscow, such ai tableware, fabrics, timepieces, as well as many! scripts and printed books.
For centuries the Bell-Tower of Ivan' the Great was the tallest structure in botti Moscow and Europe. It was built in 15051 1508 and a hundred years later two more ties and a 300-square-metre gilded dome wen added to it to give it an overall height of 81 metres.
The bell-tower was built foi the Church of John (Ivan) Stratilalus. Hence its name, whin also alludes to its great size.
Near the bell-tower stands ihe Tsar Bell. Standing over 6 metres high and weighing 20u tons, it was bigger and heavier than any othM bell in Moscow, and for this reason was give* the name '"Tsar".
The bell bears an inscription saying when afl by whom it was cast. Its subsequent historyB known from old chronicles. In 1737, when tfl bell was still in the casting pit, a tire broke on in the Kremlin. In the course of fighting it, soifl water went onto the red-hot bell causing it 9 crack and a piece to fall out of it. A hundvB years later, the world's biggest bell was pulM out of the pit and mounted on a granfl pedestal.
Not far from the Church of ihe Twell Apostles is the Tsar Cannon, the larges calibre artillery piece in the world. Cast in 1586, it was intended to defend the Kremlin and the Moskva River crossing.
Now you pass the Tainitsky Garden where a monument to Lenin was erected in 1967.
Much in the Kremlin is associated with LeninB He
Much in the Kremlin is associated with LeninB He lived and worked there (rom 1918 to 1923M His study and apartment in one of the Kremlin! buildings have been carefully preserved, wit™ everything in them left just as they were! in Lenin's time. His study is a small, sunny! room with a plain desk and armchairs! for visitors.
There are many books in the bookcases. onl the shelves and on the low table by thai window—over 2,000 of them in all.
Since Lenin's apartment and study were! turned into a museum it has had thousands o! visitors.
The huge building you are passing now is thfl Arsenal. Its cornerstone was laid
in 1702 an
The Kremlin is the place where Moscow was born. There was a time when all of Moscow was located inside the Kremlin, and the histories of Moscow and the Kremlin are basically inseparable from each other. Moscow became one of the world's largest cities long ago, but I vitality still comes from the place where stone walls form an irregular triangle. The Kremlin will always remain the historical centre of the capital, its heart, caressing the city with the light of its five ruby-glass stars and the melodious sounds of its chimes-
The garden was laid out in 1819-1822 on ill bed of ihe Neglinnaya River which had be9 diverted into an underground aqucdua Muscovites are very fond of this gardel The best gardeners were invited from 1 parts ol Russia who planted the garden trees, shrubs and flowers. The mysterida grolto you see here was created at the safl time as the garden. In spring, the garden blossoms forth w hundreds of tulips. In December 1966. the mains of an unknown soldier who fell defending Moscow against the Nazi armies in December 1941 were interred in the Alexandrovsky Garden and an Eternal Flame was lit on the grave. On the right ore the memorial blocks of dark red porphyry under which lie capsules with earth taken from each of the cities in Russia that had had the honourary title of Hero City conferred upon it for its feat of arms during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 -1945. Moscow is one of these cities. People come to the Grave of the Unknown Soldier every day of the year. War veterans and those who lost husbands, sons or brothers during the war, as well as visitors to Moscow and newly-weds come here to lay fresh flowers on the tomb. The tombstone is inscribed with the words, "Your name is unknown. Your feat is immortal". You will also find a tall rectangular obelisk in the Alexandrovsky Garden. The first monument built by the victorious Revolution to commemorate great revolutionaries.
The Boulevard Ring
Cosmonaut Vitaly Sevastyanov wrote ihat from space Moscow looked like a camomile flower, with a round centre and petals formed of the city's new districts. On the map it resembles a sectio'n of a tree, with its yearly rings. These rings, and the round centre mentioned by the cosmonaut, are the results of the city's historical development. There was a time when Moscow's houses and streets were protected by strong stone and earthen walls that surrounded the city. As time passed, the defence structures gave way to Bulvarnoye (Boulevard) and Sadovoye (Garden) Rings. The Boulevard Ring (Bulvarnoye Koltso) stretches for 9 kilometres and consists of ten beautiful boulevards, all of which, as was noted by the 19th-century writer Nikolai Chernyshevsky (182S-1889), "lend the city a special charm". The Boulevard Ring is actually in the shape of a horse-shoe with its ends beginning at the banks of the Moskva River. However, it is planned to complete the circle with the laying of a number of new boulevards. We'll begin with Gogolevsky Boulevard near Kropotkinskaya Metro station. Notice that the outer side of the boulevard is much lower than the inner. There used to be a small stream, the Chertory. that ran here in a deep gully. On the declivity was a rampart. All this taken together made the boulevard what it is today. Gogolevsky Boulevard is lined with many old buildings- They house such institutions and organizations as the Russian Committee of War Veterans (No. 4), the Board of the Russian Artists' Union (No. 10). and the Central Chess Club (No. 14). At the end of the boulevard, near Arbat Square, stands a monument to Nikolai Gogol (1809-1862), one of Russia's greatest writers, by sculptor Nikolai Tomsky. Across Arbat Sfluare on Suvorovsky Boulevard is another monument to Gogol. Suvorovsky Boulevard was given its present name on the occasion of the 150th anni- I versary of the death of the celebrated Russian army commander Alexander Suvorov (1730-1800). His house is at the end of the boulevard. Nearby is the church where his parents were buried. Bui let's go back to the boulevard's beginning. Behind a tall fence is a large yard. One of the buildings (No. 7) facing (he yard is where Gogol passed away in February 1852. In 1909 a monument sculpted by Niko! Andreyev was erected jusi in from of the wirv dows of his study. The writer is shown as he w^ in his last years. He sits somewhat slumps over with a pensive look on his face. Characters of his immortal books—such as, among others 1909 a monument sculpted by Niko! Andreyev was erected jusi in from of the wirv dows of his study. The writer is shown as he w^ in his last years. He sits somewhat slumps over with a pensive look on his face. Characters of his immortal books—such as, among others the Mayor from The Inspector General Chichikov from Dead Sou/s and Taras Bulba-i are depicted on the pedestal of the monumeS House No. 12 on the opposite side of the boulevard, known as the Lunins' House, is on of the best works of architect Domenw Gilliardi (1785-1845). Built in the beginning! the 19th century, it is a splendid example I Empire style. It now is the home of the Staff Museum of the Arts of the Peoples of tfl East (see References).
Tverskoy Boulevard forms the next sectiuj of the ring. Constructed in 1796, it is the oldefl longest (857 metres) and the most famoB boulevard in Moscow. It is mentioned in trl writings of Pushkin, Tolstoy. Griboyedov arl Turgenev.
Among the boulevard's sights is the buildirl at No. 11. "The great Russian actress Maria Yermolova lived in this house from 1889 to 1928", reads the memorial plaque mounted on its wall. The building at No. 23 is the Pushkin Drama Theatre. The large theatre across the street was erected in 1973. It is the Theatre of Friendship of the Peoples of the USSR and was opened especially for the guest performances of theatrical companies coming from all parts of the country. The building at No. 25 is the Gorky Literature Institute, the only one of its kind in the world. Many poets and prose writers of world stature studied here.
On the opposite side, at the end of the boulevard, is mulli-storeyed block of flats. On the ground floor the Russian sculptor Sergei Konenkov's Studio-Museum has been opened (see References).
Across Pushkinskaya Square, past the monument to Pushkin (see the chapter "Gorky Street") and beyond a good-sized garden with fountains begins another old boulevard—Street, you come to Sretensky (Candlemas) Boulevard- There is a monument to Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939). Lenin's wife and comrade-in-arms, at its beginning. A short way from here is the building that accommodated ihe People's Commissariat of Education (now called [he Ministry of Education) in 1920-1925. Nade2hda Krupskaya, who devoted many years of her life to public education, worked at the Commissariat in those days.
The sculptors have depicted her as a young woman who went in 1898 to faraway Siberia to join Vladimir Ulyanov in exile. Laler the whole I world came to know him as Vladimir Lenin.
The dates of Krupskaya's birth and death, along with quotations from her writings, are! inscribed on two steles rising behind the | sculpture.
The boulevard ends at Turgenevskaya J Square. Moscow's first free public library was! opened in 1885 in a house that once stood inl this square. The library was named alter the _ Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (18l8-1883).r Later, the square also received his name.
IMovokirovsky Prospekt, which is currently] under construction, will cross Turgenevskaya Square. Its tall buildings--a future hotel, banks and department stores—have already risen oveil the old mansions around the square.
On the other side of Kirovskaya Meiro station Chistoprudny (Clear Pond) Boulevarcfl begins. A monument to Alexander Griboyedofl (1795-1829). the author of Woa from vV/H stands there.
The boulevard takes its name from the pond Chisty Prud, occupying its centre. In th§ summer you'll see young couples and pen! sioners, mothers with their little ones. schoc»l| children and students relaxing on ihe benchel near the pond. In winter the pond is used asm skating rink. Though there are hotter, bigcra and more comfortable skating rinks with cloW rooms and snack bars, Chisty Prud nonethele* retains its popularity with skaters.
In the 16th century, incidentally, the pond was called Filthy because of the refuse and garbage that was dumped info it. In 1703. however. Prince Alexander Menshikov. a favourite of Peter Ihe Greet, decided to build a mansion in the viciniiy and had the pond cleaned. Several years ago, swans began to nest here. They lee/ perfectly at home as (hey glide over the unruffled surface of Chisty Prud and are quite tame. The columned building on the left side of the boulevard is Ihe Sovremerinik Theatre, one of the mosl popular ones in Moscow. Crossing Chernyshevsky Street, a very busy thoroughfare by which the tsars used io travel to their suburban estate of Izmailovo. you will find yourself on downward-sloping Pokrovsky (Iniereession) Boulevard. The massive building on the left side of the boulevard are barracks from the late 18rh century. Offices of various types are now locaied fhere. After passing several buildings you
Street, you come to Sretensky (Candlemas) Boulevard- There is a monument to Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939). Lenin's wife and comrade-in-arms, at its beginning. A short way from here is the building that accommodated ihe People's Commissariat of Education (now called [he Ministry of Education) in 1920-1925. Nade2hda Krupskaya, who devoted many years of her life to public education, worked at the Commissariat in those days.
The sculptors have depicted her as a young woman who went in 1898 to faraway Siberia to join Vladimir Ulyanov in exile. Laler the whole I world came to know him as Vladimir Lenin.
The dates of Krupskaya's birth and death, along with quotations from her writings, are! inscribed on two steles rising behind the | sculpture.
The boulevard ends at Turgenevskaya J Square. Moscow's first free public library was! opened in 1885 in a house that once stood inl this square. The library was named alter the _ Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (18l8-1883).r Later, the square also received his name.
IMovokirovsky Prospekt, which is currently] under construction, will cross Turgenevskaya Square. Its tall buildings--a future hotel, banks and department stores—have already risen oveil the old mansions around the square.
On the other side of Kirovskaya Meiro station Chistoprudny (Clear Pond) Boulevarcfl begins. A monument to Alexander Griboyedofl (1795-1829). the author of Woa from vV/H stands there.
The boulevard takes its name from the pond Chisty Prud, occupying its centre. In th§ summer you'll see young couples and pen! sioners, mothers with their little ones. schoc»l| children and students relaxing on ihe benchel near the pond. In winter the pond is used asm skating rink. Though there are hotter, bigcra and more comfortable skating rinks with cloW rooms and snack bars, Chisty Prud nonethele* retains its popularity with skaters.
In the 16th century, incidentally, the pond was called Filthy because of the refuse and garbage that was dumped info it. In 1703. however. Prince Alexander Menshikov. a favourite of Peter Ihe Greet, decided to build a mansion in the viciniiy and had the pond cleaned. Several years ago, swans began to nest here. They lee/ perfectly at home as (hey glide over the unruffled surface of Chisty Prud and are quite tame.
The columned building on the left side of the boulevard is Ihe Sovremerinik Theatre, one of the mosl popular ones in Moscow.
Crossing Chernyshevsky Street, a very busy thoroughfare by which the tsars used io travel to their suburban estate of Izmailovo. you will find yourself on downward-sloping Pokrovsky (Iniereession) Boulevard.
The massive building on the left side of the boulevard are barracks from the late 18rh century. Offices of various types are now locaied fhere. After passing several buildings you will come to another old structure. It was built in 1801 by architect Matvei Kazakov for the noble family of Ourasov. was ihe Academy of century a Academy. °'gan,zed a circle o,,^ f,'V vea.s. He sonal,t,eS among whoir^und "** Per-porky, Fyodor S3J3* "I^bers were Maxim '«n Bunin and other n", 96' Rakh™ninov«* All-Russia SK^^To^ Monuments of Hfeta™ I ^ '!ie Pfo'ection of ^o.in9sthere.THJ^V and Cu|(u,e ho,ds * MwtMB can be iudnL ihat ?rgani»«on's f,9Ures: of the cSSEL bL*« '""owing monuments of hSo^L?50'000 known development J^,,^ urban *ave been ,egistered S'Jg™* 190.000 Protection. na p'aced under state required to set out a garden. Its streets thus appeared having names connected to those gardens, such as. for instance. Bolshaya Sadovaya (Great Garden Street). Sadovaya Karetnaya (Garden and Carriage Street), Sadovaya Samotechnaya (Sloping Garden Street) and Sadovaya Kudrinskaya (Kudrin-skaya Garden Street).
Photographs of the beginning of the century show what they were like—houses of modest dimensions surrounded by big trees and facing a dusty cobblestone roadway.
Somewhat later, horse-drawn trams began running. Electric trams appeared in 1912 to remain for quite a long time. About fifty years ago the trams began to lose ground to buses and then to trolleybuses.
Mass transit along the Garden Ring is handled not only by buses and trolleybuses, but by the city's Metro system as well. Still, despite the underpasses built some time ago eliminating some intersections, traffic is heavy and not all transportation problems have been solved.
In the streets and squares of the Garden Ring you will see large 18th-century manor houses, cosy Empire style mansions of the early 19th century and modern high-rise buildings.
In Krymskaya (Crimean) Square, for instance, ate the so-called Provisions Warehouses. These architectural monuments from the first! half of the 19th century were described by, Alexei Shchusev. a prominent architect, many years after their construction as being "among! the best of Moscow's architecture". A short] distance away is the building of the Novosti Press Agency, an information body run by public organizations.
Across from the Provisions Warehouses, be-j tween Krymskaya and Zubovskaya Squares, isf the editorial office of Progress Publishers. which specializes in publishing literature in foreign languages. The two lower floors of the! building are a bookshop selling literature in] many languages
The next square is Smolensftaya. Its most prominent feature is the massive and tall building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations. Arbat Street, a great favourite with Muscovites, begins on the other side of it. This recently renovated street is closed to traffic and is very pleasant to stroll along. The two 21 storey buildings across from the Ministry are Intourist's Hotel Belgmd. The next stretch of the Garden Ring is Tchaikovsky Street- Once called Novinsky Boulevard, it was renamed in 1940 to commemorate the great Russian composer who lived (here in 1872-1873. The poet Alexander Griboyedov. whose monument is in the Boulevard Ring, lived in the building at No. 17 during his childhood and youth. The building at No. 25 in the same street is where the great basso Fyodor Chaliapin (1873-1938) lived from 1910 to 1922. Now you have reached Vosstaniye (Uprising) Square, named in honour of the first Russian revolution and the battles fought by groups of local workers against tsarist troops in 1905. Dominating the square is a 160-metre high | block ol flats whose ground floor is occupied] by a foodshop and a cinema. The 18th-century Widows' Home alsol faces the square. It used to be a home for| widows and orphans of tsarist military men and officials. Today it is occupied by the Central Institute lor the Improvement of Medical Qualifications. Sadovaya Kudrinskaya Street, the next stretch of the Garden Ring, holds the greatest attraction for Moscow children because of the« Planetarium and the Zoo located not far front! it. Then you pass the buildings of the children's] hospital, the Filatov Pediatric Centre, which! stand in an old park. Named after the famous Russian doctor Nil Filatov, the centre is known] throughout the world. The next street is Bolshaya (Great) Sadovaya. Why such an impressive name fofl such a short street, only 470 metres long? Itj used to have triumphal gates decorated with] green garlands and sculptures through whicn important personages and troops returning fronL war would enter Moscow. Modern buildings stand in this street todayB The most remarkable of them is ihe 15-siorey Hotel Pekin. which faces Mayakovsky Square. The square was named in honour ofl the great Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky ifl 1935. but its history goes back to the 16th century when peasants used to bring hay, fireS wood and other goods for sale to this spot. Facing the square is the Satire Theatre, thai MosRussian Theatre and the Tchaikovsky! Concert Hall.
The square has traditionally been somewhat; of a theatrical centre. At different times it has been the location of one of Moscow's lira circuses, of an operetta theatre, and of thl Charles Aumont Theatre. The latter stood on thl of the present Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and was very popular at the beginning of the century. A theatre directed by the world-famous theatrical figure Vscvolod Meyerhold {1874-1940) gave its performances here in the 1920s. This square was also the birthplace of Sergei Obraztsov's Puppet Theatre, now one of Moscow's most popular theatres. After Mayakovsky Square comes a sequence of Sadovaya streets—Sadovaya Triumfal-naya. Sadovaya Karetnaya and Sadovaya Samotechnaya. Amidst the modern comfortable buildings that predominate here are still some old mansions, witnesses of the events of the past centuries.One such survivor is in Vorotnikovsky Lane, which runs into Sadovaya Ttiumfalnaya. It was in this house at No. 12, in the apartment of his close friend Pavel Nashchokin. that Alexander Pushkin stayed during his last visit to Moscow.
In Sadovaya Karetnaya Street is a large 18th century estate whose manor house now aej commodates the All-Russia Museum on Decorative, Applied and Folk Art (see] References). It displays outstanding works off folk artists and craftsmen from the 17th century] to the present. Among them are golden-painted] Khokhloma ware. Palekh lacquered boxes, toys) from Vologda, clay toys from Dymkovo. samJ ovars (tea urns) and glass and earthenware] items.
The new building of the Central Academic Puppet Theatre stands along Sadovayaj Samotechnaya street. On the theatre's facade is a large clock made up of 12 little houses and a rooster on top. It measures all together 42j square metres. Every hour the door of one of tha twelve little houses opens and a bear, 3 fox, a rabbit, a donkey or some other animal makes iti appearance to the tinkle of bells and the crowing of the golden rooster on top. At noon all twelve of the animals emerge and begin a round dance to the tune of an old Russian song. It's a sight well worth seeing and a crowd almost always gathers to watch it. Needless to say it is a special treat for children.
The next square on your route is Kolkhoznaya. One of Moscow's largest avenues, Prospekt Mira (Peace Avenue), goes off from the intersection to the left.
Kolkho2naya Square used to be called Sukharevskaya after Colonel Leonti Sukharev. the commander of the Streltsy, or the tsar's guards, which were quartered there. At the end of the 17th century the 70-metre-tall Sukhareva Tower was erected in the square Later, Peter the Great opened Russia's first school of mathematics and navigation there. An astronomic* observatory was located on the top floor of Xh\ tower.
The tower was demolished in the '30s acl cording to the reconstruction plan that haq been adopted. Recently, however, the press hal carried articles in favour of restoring the original tower.
The Emergency Aid Research Institute named after Nikolai Sklifosovsky (1836-1904) is thl main structure of note in the square. This build! ing is one of the most remarkable architecture monuments in Moscow from the early 19tH century.
Sadovaya Spasskaya (Saviour's) Street leas to Lermontovskaya Square. The elder generi ations of Muscovites know it as Krasniye Voroa (Red Gate) Square, and the Metro station therl still bears that old name.
The square's central feature is the 138-melrS tall office building. A memorial plaque on 1 says that on its site a house once stood i| which the great Russian poet Mikhaj fower (Hw~" Leimontov was born on October 3, 181fl cniory> Hence the name ot the square.
A monument to the poet has been erected in the garden in Iront of the building. Engraved on its pedestal is a line from one of his poems: "Moscow. Moscow! I love you as a son, as a Russian, deeply, passionately and tenderly!"
Sadovaya Chsrnogrya^skaya Street begins at Lermontovskaya Square. Its name is reminiscent of a time centuries ago when Moscow, then a small settlement, had its kitchen gardens here on fertile black soil with the river Chernogryazka (Black Mud) flowing nearby. The river was later diverted into an underground aqueduct. All the streets of Sadovoye Koliso have their monuments from the past centuries. Bolshoi Kharitonyevsky Lane, with its 17th-century, fairy-tale-like mansion, is no exception. Today it is the seat of the Presidium of the Lenin
Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In the past it was the estate of the Counts Yusupov. de scendants of (he Nogai khans. At one time one of its wings was rented by Pushkin's parents and the future poet, who was then about three rota years old, walked in the famous Yusupov garden. In one of his poems he recalled how he "furtively ran away into the splendid darknesj of the alien garden". Crossing a small square named in honour of Major Tsezar Kunikov, a hero of the Grea^ Patriotic War of 1941-1945, you eni^ Chkalov Street, the longest section ofl Sadovoye Koltso. The large modern building at Nos. 14-16 bears several memorial plaques. The poet Samuil Marshak (1887-1964), the comJ poser Sergei Prokofyev (1889-1953) and the violinist David Oistrach (1908-1974) once lived here, as did the famous flier Valen Chkalov (1904-1938) who made the world's first norfl stop flight over the North Pole from the? USSR to the USA in 1936. The street was named in his honour in 1938. On the left side of the street, a short distance from Kursky Railway Station Square, on an elevation behind the Lyudmila dress shop isfl small stone mansion, a magnificent example of Moscow classicism. Have a look at the bronze lions guarding the entrance, the stone verandM and the stairs with decorative vases descending into the park which once spread as for as the Yauza River. This mansion was built by arch! tects Domenico Gilliardi (1785-1845) afl Afanasi Grrgoryev (1782-1868). Now you have come to Taganskaya Square. The Taganka Theatre located there (j rather well known. Until recently it occupied the former building of the Vulkan Cinema (1911). Now it has moved into its own neW and large building with four stages. Bolshoi Krasriokholmsky Bridge crosses the Moskva River and there old Zatsepskaya Street begins by which you get to PaveletskV Railway Station. Nearby, in quiet Bakhrushin Street, is the Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum. The museum and street af* named after Alexei Bakhrushin (see RefM fences), a rich merchant who spent all hi| fortune on collections relating to the history Oj the Russian theatre. The museum was opened in 1894. In 1918, on Lenin's suggestion. was given its present name and Bakhrushin himself, the founder of the museum, was made its director for the rest of his life. The street on which it stands, formerly called Luzhnikov-skaya Street, was given its present name in 1969.
The next square is Dobryninskaya, named in honour of Pyotr Dobrynin, a Moscow worker who commanded a military unit of workers and was killed during revolutionary battles in Moscow in October 1917. Like the other squares of the Garden Ring, Dobryninskaya is a major traffic intersection, with eight busy streets converging on it. It is planned to carry out some improvements here in the near future, to widen the square and erect new blocks of flats and office buildings. Next comes Oktyabrskaya Square, which was described earlier. Now the part of Sadovoye Koltso known as Krymsky Val (Crimean Rampart), it descends to the Moskva River. To your left, on the river bank, is Gorky Park (also mentioned earlier) and on the right, acrosJ from the park, is the State Art Gallery of th J USSR, built in the '80s. The gallery, which jJ one of the world's largest, has a total area 0d 25.000 square metres and can accomrnodaiJ over 9,000 visitors at a time. It is surrounded bJ Park of Arts.
The openwork Krymsky Bridge, the only sus,| pension bridge over the Moskva River, leads to] Krymskaya Square, from where you started! your tour of Sadovoyc Kollso. There are nearly 3.000 streets, avenues lanes, and over 90 squares in Moscow. Seeing them all would take you more than a month, and since most visitors to Moscow are here for much less time than that, what follows are suggestions as to how to make the most of your tour of the city. The first place to see is Sverdlov Square.
Sverdlov Square
The square bears the name of the first president of Russian Russia. Yakov Sverdlov (1885-1919)1 In 1978 a monument io this outstanding fig una in the Communist Party and the Russian state was unveiled in the garden adjoining the square. The square is in the very centre of the city.! From here Red Square, the Kremlin and mam] Moscow streets can be easily reached. The Hotel Mettopol stands at the corner! where Marx Prospekt enters Sveidlov Square! Built in 1903 in the Modernistic style, thern very much in vogue, it has a ceramic panel on its pediment based on the drawing! of the prominent Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel. Several memorial plaques on the facade refq| to various historic events, notably, the fierce battles fought by the revolutionary forces in October 1917. The world-famous Bolshoi and Maly Theatres, as well as the Central Children's Theatre are located in Sverdlov Square. The Moscow's central latter occupies a building erected in 1821 in i' UMI"8*" ,0'e which many theatrical companies gave performances in the second half of the 19th century.
When the Central Children's Theatre was opened in 1936, it was the only one of its kind. All of these theatres were in operation by 1829, which explains why the square was described as theatrical even back then. Pride of place, of course, must go to the Bolshoi Theatre.
Its interior is stately and brightly decorated. The red velvet upholstery, gilded boxes and the sparkling cutglass chandelier consisting of 13,000 parts and 300 lamps fill serve to create a brilliant and festive atmosphere.
The theatre's companies enjoy world-wide popularity. When ihe Bolshoi Ballet was touring the USA, it was named a "company of stars'", while the local press described the Bolshoi Opera's performances in Milan, Italy as "the triumph of the soloists, the choirs and the orchestra". V
The Maly Theatre opened in 1824. As there was already the Bolshoi, or big. Theatre there, the new theatre took the name Maly, or small. People then referred to it as a second Moscow University because it staged the Russian] classics.
The theatre is also popularly called Ostrovsky's House, because it has staged practically all the plays written by the great Russian! dramatist. In 1929, a monument to Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886) was unveiled in front of the theatre.
The Central Children's Theatre has the great responsibility of performing before the most responsive and trusting audiences. Th^ actors try to make each performance both entertaining and instructive, to present be*j fore their young viewers serious moral issues in a way that will prompt them to ponder them and learn lessons about decency and justice.
Sverdlov Square is marvellously attractive at the lime of the evening when the theatres have let out. The fountain in front of the Bolshoi Theatre is playing joyously. It was built more than 150 years ago by the excellent sculptor Ivan Vitali (1794-1855). There are always many people in the garden in front of the theatre. It is a very popular meeting place, and war veterans come on May 9, Victory Day, to greet their former comrades-in-arms.
In the small part across the road is a monument to Karl Marx, the great philosopher and founder of scientific communism. There are always flowers at the foot of the monument.
Sverdlov Square merges with Revolution Square. In October 1917 it was the scene of fierce fighting for the City Duma (Council) building. In 1936, the Central Lenin Museum was opened in this building (sea References). From here il is easy to get to the neighbour-l ing streets. Some o( them are of special interest.1 The museum displays Lenin's manuscripts! first editions of his articles, books and complete! collected works from many countries of Europe, Asia. America and Africa, workers' letters to Lenin and his replies to them, historical photoglyphs, works of fine arts and thousands of o;her exhibits showing how Lenin worked and lived.
Razin street
The street begins at Red Square and runs past} Hotel Rossiya. It was given its present name m 1933 to commemorate Stepan Razin (c.1630-1671). the leader of a peasant revolt.
The right side of the street is a veritable open-air museum, beginning with the Church of St. j Barbara, an example of Russian classicism of I the late 18th century. Nearby is the Church of St. Maxim, built at the end of the 17th cen-l tury- Between these church buildings, at the foot of a steep elevation, stands the Old! English Inn, dating back 400 years ago. The! building was granted by Ivan the Terrible to I English merchants who actively traded with! Russia.
Besides merchants, travellers and diploma stayed there. Some of them left notes of historical value describing their sojourn in medieval Moscow.
Over the centuries the English Inn underwent numerous alterations that changed it beyond recognition and finally fell into decay. After painstaking research, historians and restorers reconstructed its original aspect from old drawings and documents. The builders raised the house on a new foundation and laid a cupolalike vault from old blocks found during excavations. Now this building is used by the Archaeological Institute of Russia Academy of Sciences for exhibitions of unique finds discovered by Moscow archaeologists.
Down below, near Hotel Rossiya, stands the ensemble of the Znamensky Monastery which was built on the orders of Tsar Mikhail, the first of the Romanov dynasty, on the grounds of his Moscow estate.
The main monastery structure is the Cathedral of the Sign (Znamensky), built in 1677-1684 on 2,486 oaken piles. These piles firmly held up the massive building for nearly three centuries until they were replaced by 3 modern foundation during reconstruction work. Today the building is used by the All-Russia Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture. It arranges popular piano concerts of old music, for the building is noted for its excellent acoustics.
One of the monastery buildings is now a branch of the State History Museum (see References), whose displays show the way of life of the Russian boyars in the 16th-17th centuries. There are living rooms and pantries recreated with household items and chests containing the rich dowries of boyar daughters. | The last in this sequence of architectural monuments is the moderate-size Church of St. George on Pskov Hill. The church w4 built in 1657 and the belfry was added in 1818. The All-Russia Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture uses the church building for exhibitions.
Razin Street continues to surprise researchers with unexpected discoveries. The remains of old houses and various household items are often found during excavations or construction work.
The centuries-old clay toys, painted earthenware and coins of both Russian and foreign make provide evidence of Russia's close economic and cultural ties with many countries of those olden times. As you leave Razin Street, look at the remains of a high brick wall on your right. In the past the wall surrounded a large city district known as Kitay-gorod. Both Hotel Rossiye and Razin Street are in what used to be Kitay-gorod. Researchers believe that the name comes from the old Russian word "kita" meaning a palisade made ol stakes and branches of trees. A palisade once did surround this part of the city.
A brick wall was built in the mid-16th century under the supervision of Italian architect Petrok Maly. Its length was 2.567 metres and its height exceeded 6 metres, Many experts believe this wall was ont* of the best fortification structures in Europe. Besides the surviving part near the Hotel Rossiya there is a short existing section of the wall near the Hotel Metropol. A short way from Razin Street another old thoroughfare begins.
In the past it was one of thexmain streets ■ Kitay-gorod and was named after ihe nearby Nikolsky Monastery.
It was renamed in 1935 to commemorate the Great October Socialist Revolution which took place on October 25 accordinq to the old calendar.
The first Printing Yard and the Slav-Greek-Latin Academy, a cultur.nl centre of Russia, were here, and several popular bookshops also stood in this street, which was rightfully called the street of science and enlightenment.
The corner building on the left as you lea Red Square was the governor's office. A m orial plaque on its fapade says that in 1790 progressive writer Alexander Radishc (1749-1802) was kept here on his way into Siberian exile. In the courtyard of this building one can see the Royal Mint—a unique architectural monument which is more than two hundred years old. On the right is Ihe long building of the State Department Store (Gosudarstvenny Univer-salny Magazin). which Muscovites call GUM for short. It was built at the end of the 19th century by architect Pomerantsev, who was honoured with the highest academic title for this work. On the opposite side are several buildings of Zaikonospassky (the Icon of Our Saviour) Monastery which was founded in 1687. More than 300 years ago the Slav-Greek-Latin Academy was here. Among its students were such prominent figures in science and culture as Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765), architect Vassily Bazhenov (1737-1799), poet Antioch Kantemir (1708-1744) and geographer and traveller Stepan Krasheninnikov (1711-1755). On the site of the present-day building of the History and Archives Institute (No. 15) was the first state Printing Yard. It was there that Ivan Fyodorov printed the first dated Russian book entitled The Apostle in 1564. Vedomosti. the first Russian newspaper, began being printed there in 1703. On the Institute's facade there is one of the few still surviving sundials in Moscow. It was mounted in 1814. Over the arch of the same building there are two bas-reliefs depicting a lion and a unicorn. These figures were part of the emblem of the Printing Yard. The building at No. 19 houses the Slavyansky Bazar (the Slav Bazaar) restaurant, one of the most popular in Moscow. In Kuibyshev Proyezd. almost opposite the Institute, rises the domed top of the Cathedral of the Bogoyavlensky (Epiphany) Monastery founded back in the 13th century.
The existing monastery buildings were erect- ed in the 17th century. Some time ago, dunn*, restoration work in the cathedral, historian* made a truly unique discovery—whiteston6 masonry which they identified as the remains of Moscow's first stone church, built during tne reign of Prince Ivan Kalila of Moscow 600 years ago.
Another building worth noting in this street ii Pharmacy Shop No. 1 (No. 21). It is nearly hundred years old.
On the left at the end of the street is | monument to the first Russian printer Ivai Fyodorov (c.1510-1583) standing in a smal] park. 1983 marked the 400th anniversary of hi death, which on UNESCO's decision was cotn| memorated worldwide. Given the close prox-3 imity of the Printing Yard, the monument's placement was very appropriate. The area also was a centre of the book trade (or centuries. Even today the popular bookshop. Knizhnaya Nakhodka (Bibliographical Find), is located nearby.
Around Ilyinsky Gardens
A walk around Nogin Square (Ploshchad Nogina) and along the adjaceni streets promises interesting discoveries. The square can be reached from Razin Street or by Metro.
The square is named after the revolutionary Victor Nogin (1878-1924) who for several years was the Chairman of the Moscow Russian of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
One of the most remarkable buildings in Nogin Square is the Church of All Saints on Kulishki. Kulishki is the old Russian word W swamp, or marshy land overgrown with grass. That was what the area was 600 years ago when Prince Dmitry Donskoy's troops passed j| on their way back from the Battle of Kulikovo. * wooden church was built there to commemorate the victory over the Tartar-Mongol invaders. At the end of the 1bth century it was replaced with a stone one.
The group of dark grey buildings left of the church (No. 2/5) were pad of the so-called Delovoy Dvor (Business Chambers). Built in 1913. it comprised offices, storehouses and inns, in other words, everything that was necessary for conducting large-scale business operations. This district in general was the city's business centre. In the streets and squares around you will see buildings that were formerly occupied by major firms and banks. Also in this neighbourhood were the Commerce Exchange (now Russia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 6 Kuibyshev Street) and huge warehouses.
Structures from different periods make up an unparalleled ensemble here, a splendid chronicle in stone telling a part of the history of Moscow.
Turning right at the crossing after passing the Business Chambers puts you in Solyanka Street. Its name comes from the word "sol", which means salt. In the 17th century there was the Salt Yard here where they stored and sold salt. At the end of the street is the gate of what used lo be the Foundling Hospital, built in 1764-1770. The sculptures adorning the gate executed by Ivan Vitali are of Charity and Education.
On the hill further on is the Church of St. Vladimir in Old Gardens. The church's name goes back to the time when there were gardens growing in this part of the city. In fact, long ago the area was considered to have been the countryside and the palace of Prince Ivan the Third (Ivan the Terrible's grandfather) adjoining the Convent of St. John (you can see it from the street crossing) was referred to as suburban.
Narrow Arkhipov Street winds its way up the hill on your left. It is named after the artist Arkhipov who lived here in 1899-1900. The low houses crowding here were once inhabited mostly by artisans and tradesmen of moderate income. The large building on the left side on the street is a synagogue. As you return to Nogin Square, near llyinsky | Gardens you see on your lefl the buildings 0| the Central Committee of the Communist Party! of Russia, the highest body guiding] the Party's activities during the 5-yenr-long| periods between congresses. The Communist] Parly of Russia has over 19 million] members, including industrial workers, collec-i live farmers, office employees and intellectuals in literature and the arts. Its address is a Staraya (Old) Square. Many squares in Moscow have no distinct] boundaries and merge with one another. || would be hard, for instance, to find a dernarl cation line between Nogin and Staraya Squares. These two. in turn, merge with llyinsky] Gate Square. llyinsky Gardens open with a monument in the shape of a small chapel. This is the monument to the Russian Grenadiers who fell ifl the Battle of Plevna in 1877. one of the decisive! engagements in the war that resulted in Bulgaria's liberation from Turkish oppression. I Now you have come to Novaya (New)| Square, which features the Polytechnical] Museum. Opened in 1872, it' is one of Moscow's oldest museums (see References). II takes its origin from the Polytechnical] Exhibition which was such an outstanding event in Russia's social life that the greafl Tchaikovsky wrote an inaugurate cantata.
The museum has neatly 30,000 exhibits telling about the progress of science and tech-j nology in Russia from the first steam engines HI the latest achievements. Especially popular ard the exhibits featuring the development of radio] engineering and television, as well as modern] space communication.
Every year about half a million people come to the lecture and demonstration halls of tha Znaniye {Knowledge) Society, which are alstl located in the museum's building, along witlj the Polytechnical Library. Opened about hundred years ago it now has a collection of over 3 million volumes. It is regularly used by engineers, researchers, factory workers, inventors and students.
Literary gatherings have for many years now been regularly held in the museum's Grand Hall.
They always attract large audiences.
Across from the Polytechnical Museum is the Museum of the History and Reconstruction of Moscow (see References).
Novaya Square merges with Dzerzhinsky Square. In the centre of D?erzhinsky Square rises the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877-1926), Lenin's comrade-in-arms who headed the All-Russia Extraordinary Commission for the Struggle against Counter-Revolution and Sabotage. The Commission also actively concerned itself with the fate of homeless children who had lost their parents during the revolution and civil war.
In front of you now is Detsky Mir (Children's World) Department Store. On your left is 25th October Street, already familiar to you, by which you can return to Red Square or to Razin Street and the Hotel Rossiya if you turn left into Kuibyshev Proyezd, then cross both Kuibyshev Square end Kuibyshev Street.
If you go that way, you will see the earlier mentioned Commerce Exchange and pass the huge Atcade (Gosiiny Dvor) built in 1805. As was noted in an old guidebook, the Arcade, which occupies a whole block, was "a well-sjjring of goods not only for Moscow but for the whole of Russia". Georgi 2hukov worked as an errand boy in one of its shops. He later became a Marshal of Russia, a celebrated commander of the Great Patriotic War who signed on behalf of his country the Act on the Complete and Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945.
Now we'll walk along Kuznetsky Most, another old Moscow street.
Kuznetsky Most
This old Moscow street whose name in English means Blacksmiths' Bridge contains neither blacksmiths nor bridges. The name harks back to the time when blacksmiths did live here along the banks of the Neglinnaya River which was spanned by a wide bridge-They settled here back in the 15th century and produced goods known far beyond the boundaries of the Russian state-In the 19th century, the Neglinnaya Rive' was diverted into an underground aqueduct. The bridge disappeared but the name, as with many other names in Moscow from the past. has remained.
Once a neighbourhood of artisans. Kuznetsky Most became a shopping district. This is how a guidebook from the first third of the 19th century described Kuznetsky Most: "As you stand at the head of the street, you see on your right and on your left continuous rows of shops selling sundry goods, mostly ladies' hats. The words. 'Bought at Kuznetsky Most', lend a special charm to any purchase."
And now a testimonial from the late 19th century: "Every tourist coming here cannot help wondering how this street climbing up such a steep hill could have become Moscow's most popular shopping street." It was also reported that "large buildings of fine architecture" were being erected along Kuznetsky Most. These buildings have survived and are now occupied by popular bookshops, among them one selling books in foreign languages, the House of Fashion and, on the opposite side, a large ladies' garments shop called Sveflana. The Artists' Unions Of the RSFSR and Russia have two exhibition halls in the buildings at Nos. H and 20.
Across the street are various airline ageri. cies from different countries.
Legends and stories are connocied with vjT_ tually every old building in Kuznetsky Most. \n the building at No. 9 there was a restaurant owned by a merchant whose last name was
Yar. Pushkin mentions the restaurant in one ol his poems, as do the writers Alcxandel Hertzen and Leo Tolstoy.
The building at No. 20 also figures in Russian literature. Anna Karenina, the main character in Leo Tolstoy's famous novel of the same name] used to buy the latest books at a bookshoa located there. Gautier'a, which opened in thq mid-19th century.
A shop selling musical instruments in the! building at No. 12 Kuznetsky Most was visiteA by Leo Tolstoy in September 1909 where hfl listened to a recording of famous pianists orl one of the world's first phonographs.
While much is known about the old buildinffl in Kuznetsky Most, the events they have wifl nessed and the personalities whoso memories they preserve, researchers continue to make amazing discoveries. Some time ago, repair work required that the pavement be dug up, and al a depth of several metres the workers discovered the arches of a bridge, the very bridge historians had believed lo have been demolished. That was indeed a sensational find. Arches that had been cleaned of their dirt were shown on TV news programmes and the question of how to proceed was heatedly debated in the press. What seems the most likely plan to be adopted is to leave the old bridge where it is and construct an underground viewing gallery for visitors. Seeing it will be a fascinating introduction to one of Moscow's most interesting streets.
Petrovka
The street took its name some 300 ytats ago from the Petrovsky (St. Peter's) Monastery or the Hill, a stronghold on the approaches to Moscow. The monastery was built over 600 years ago and its walls can still be seen on the right side ot the street coming from Kuznetsky Most
Like Kuznetsky Most. Petrovka became • shopping street long ago. There tire shops selling jewellery, haberdashery, hooks and mam other things.
Many buildings in this street deserve specif mention. The building at No. 19. for instant* was where the writer Anton Chekhov (I860 1904) lived for some time. He was very fond 0* this street, and when a serious illness force* him to go to the Crimea his letters from the* often mentioned how he was dreaming of the time when he could stroll down Petrovka again, -j 25 In the building at No. 15 the society of the World of Art arranged its first exhibition in the beginning of the century which introduced the public to the art of Alexander Benois (1870-1960). Nikolai Roerich (1874-1947) and other painters now known throughout the world.
The building at No. 25 was designed by Matvei Kazakov and erected in the late 18th century. A secondary school opened in this building at the end of the 19th century, among whose students was the future poet Valery Bryusov (1873-1924).
The Ministry of Health has its headquarters in the building at No. 3 on a small by-street branching off of Petrovka. It used to house a labour exchange in the first years of Russian government. People queued for jobs. When the day came in 1930 when unemployment was done away with in Moscow plumber Mikhail Shkunov became famous overnight for being thy last unemployed person to be given a job by the exchange.
Now back to Petrovka. The above-mentioned monastery was founded by Prince Dmitry Donskoy to commemorate the victory over the Tartar-Mongol forces in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. It assumed its present aspect, however, back at the end of the 17th century. In addition to the monastery walls, the multi-tiered belfry, the refectory, the churches, the apartments of the Father Superior and the monastic cells have survived. Extensive restoration work is currently under way in the monastery, which now houses the Literature Museum and the Central Board of the All-Russia Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture.
Crossing the boulevard, you continue along Petrovka Street. Two hundred years ago the suburban estates of Moscow's aristocracy were located along here. Still earlier, the neighbourhood was inhabited by coach-makers. They made carts, coaches and, later, carriages for' wealthy, which explains why this part of street was named Karetny Ryad. or Carrii Row. The nearly 100-year-old Hermit Garden, a favourite haunt of Muscovites, jalso in this street. _^^
Petrovka has shops affiliated with the Centra Department Store (TsUM). The most popularg them are the Women's Wear shop, th Russkiye Uzory shop which sells Russi folk handicrafts, and one of Moscow's watch shops.
In one of his poems Vladimir Mayakovs wrote: love Kuznetsky Most, (you'll pardon me for this), And then Petrovka, And then Stoleshnikov Lane." Having already been along Kuznetsky M and Petrovka, you should now turn Stoleshnikov Lane.
Stoleshnikov Lane
Stoleshnik" is the Old Russian word for tablecloth. Three hundred years ago this place was inhabited by artisans who made patterned tablecloths for the tsar's court.
Like th& other streets in the neighbourhood. Stoleshnikov Lane, which is only slightly more than 200 metres long, is lined with various shops.
These small and quaint shops are very popular with Muscovites. There are shops selling gifts (Podarki), second-hand books (Bukinist), diamonds (Alrnaz) and furs (Mekha).
There is a small pastry shop in the building at No. 11 which still uses 19th-century ovens. Many Muscovites are convinced that the cakes made here are the best in Moscow, and some old-timers think of going to Stoleshnikov Land for cakes as a kind of ritual.
Stoleshnikov Lane is being carefully pre, [ served and there are no new buildings along it! It is closed to traffic and you can walk in thoj middle of the street. There are more and more on such pedestrian concourses appearing every) year in Moscow.
The building at No. 9 Stoleshnikov Lane| bears a red-granite plaque saying that Vladimir] Giliarovsky (1853-1935) lived there for morel than fifty years. Russian writer Konstantinl Paustovsky (1892-1968) wrote about this) famous journalist in his memoirs: "Moscow of! the late 19th and early 20th century can noi sooner be imagined without Giliarovsky as it] could not be imagined without the Art Theatre Chaliapin or TheTretyakov Gallery." Giliarovsky himself, who knew every corner in Moscow] was especially fond of Stoleshnikov Lane am used to Say- "Our lane is the centre ol Moscow."
One should not leave this little lane without look at Stoteshniki Cafe (No. 6), not far from! the building Giliarovsky lived in.
The cafe is in an 18th-century basement with! thick walls, carved oak doors and old-fashioned] lamps on iron posts.
Everything in the cafe reminds one oil Giliarovsky and his times. The walls of thai, cafe's Reporter's Hall are faced with old lithog-] raphic plates, and the decor of the hall named! "Moscow and Muscovites" after Giliarovsky's most well-known book- along with the objects] and photographs in it, are all evocative of pre-revolutionary Moscow.
Neglinnaya Street
In our tour of Moscow I have several times mentioned the Neglinnaya River, the Moskva River tributary which was diverted into an underground aqueduct in the beginning of the 19th century. Ku^netsky Most Street and Trubnaya Square still preserve the memory of the Neglinnaya. Not far from the places you have just visited is a street named after this formerly unruly and copious river. Neglinnaya Street begins at Marx Prospekt and runs as far as Trubnaya Square.
Although diverted under ground, the river continued to cause trouble. For instance, the building at No. 23. built on piles because of the marshy soil, began sinking while under construction. It took the engineers quite some time to figure out a solution.
The building at No. 12, which is now |k State Bank of Russia, also stands j piles. In front of the building is an old willow,* tree hardly to be found anywhere else jn Moscow, This one is thriving on the damp bar* of the banished river. Standing in the facade QJ the bank building are sculptures done by Alexander Opekushin, who also did the mony^ ment to Pushkin.
Bath houses long existed along the banks of the Neglinnaya. One of them, Sandunoy Baths (No. 14), is still surviving and is very popular with Muscovites. The fancifully designed Moorish-style building has been in existence since the end of last century, but the establishment itself goes back to the 18th century, when it was bought and reconstructed by Sila Sandunov, a well-known actor.
Moscow's oldest sheet music shop is m Neglinnaya Street. The building that it is in also deserves mention because the writer Anton Chekhov rented a flat in it after his marriage. The writer's choice was largely determined by the proximity of the Sandunov Baths, of which he was a great lover.
This quiet street witnessed events of the first Russian Revolution of 1905. Tsarist troops shelled the buildings at Nos. 16 and 13. which were held by the insurgent workers.
The building at the intersection of Neglinnaya. Kuznetsky Most and Pushechnaya Street was where furniture manufacture)' Nikolai Schmit had his retail outlet. No one suspected that this young man, the heir to a fortune worth a million roubles and a student at Moscow University, was a revolutionary. Before the uprising he bought arms for the workers' squad that had formed in his factory in Presnya-Though the workers fought courageously against the tsarist troops, the forces were un| equal. The factory was burnt down by artillery fire and Schmit was put in prison, where sever* months later he was murdered. One of tW streets in Krasnaya (Red) Presnya, which ** will visit next, bears his name.
Going to Krasnaya Presnya
Your way lies through Hertzen Street, one of the oldest in Moscow.
Five hundred years ago the main road from the Kremlin to Veliki Novgorod passed along here. Before being given its present name in 1920 in honour of Alexander Hertzen, a revolutionary democrat, writer, publicist and philosopher, the street was called Bolshaya Nikit-skaya after the Nikitsky Convent built in the 16th century.
Many courtiers resided in this street not far from the Kremlin. They built big solid mansions, many of which are still standing. Hertzen Street is interesting not only from the point of view of the history of architecture, but also as a centre of Russian science and art. One of the first Moscow threatres was opened here (No. 26) and the Moscow Conservatoire (rg0 13) has been in this street for nearly . hundred years. The first Russian University which now bears the name of the greaj scientist Mikhail Lomonosov, originated \n this street.
On the left side of the street is the University's House of Culture. Erected in 1835, this building was intended to be the University's church. The, design of the building is such that it seems to open the way into the street. There ara University buildings along the right side of the' street, too.
They are now referred to as the old University buildings to distinguish them from the new ones on Lenin Hills whose construction began in 1949. One of the old buildings (No. 6\ houses the Zoological Museum (seej References). Founded in 1791. it is one of th oldest museums in Moscow, and has nearl three million exhibits.
The building at No. 11 used to be a choral, school. The great singers Fyodor Chaliapi (1873-1938), Antonina Nezhdanova (1873-1950) and Leonid Sobinov (1872-1934) have all given concerts in this building. Recently, while repair work was being done on its concert hall, clay jugs were found in the walls. These are acoustic devices intended to preserve the strength and beauty of the human voice. Moreover, the stuccowork decoration on the walls and ceiling serve to send the sound waves in the proper direction,
The building at No. 12 was originally the palace of Count Menshikov. at one time Peter the Great's orderly and later His Excellency and Generalissimo.
The next building is the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire. In the evening, there are always crowds of people near this old building, for the concerts held there are so popular that there are never enough tickets for those wanting them. So don't be surprised if, turning into Hertzen Street around this time, you arc assailed by eager music lovers asking if by any chance you have an extra ticket.
The monument to Tchaikovsky in front of the Conservatoire building was unveiled in 1954. Incorporated into the ornament of the railing surrounding the monument is music cast in bronze from six of Tchaikovsky's compositions—the opera Eugene Onegin, the ballet Swan Lake, the Sixth Symphony, Quartet No. 1, the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and the romance The Day Reigns...
On the same side of the street is the Mayakovsky Moscow Academic Theatre. The building, which was erected at the end of the last century, is built in the style of an old Russian terem, a style very much in vogue in those days. The theatre is one of the most popular in Moscow and stages tho works of both classic and modern playwrights.
Now we have reached Nikitskiye Vorota (Gates of St. Nikita) Square. We described it in the chapter on the Boulevard Ring. Before continuing across the square a few words about some of the streets going off of it are in order.
Radiating to the right from Hertzen Street a Stanislavsky Street, named alter Konslantij Stanislavsky, one of the founders of trl Moscow Art Theatre. Stanislavsky lived in thJ building at No. 6. He would hold both classes and rehearsals in his apartment, which is now the Konstantin Stanislavsky House. Museum (sec References). The museum ex-1 hibits Stanislavsky's famous collection of old arms, golden embroidery, Russian national cosJ tumes and headgear, wooden ware and bronzj items. Stanislavsky gathered this collection foi years in the course of selecting the stage props and costumes for each new production. Ha always tried to have the objects in his plays as authentic as possible.
The Folk Arts Museum (No. 7) is across from the Stanislavsky House-Museum (sea References). It has over 35.000 works a Russian folk an from the 17th to the 20lti centuries on display. Live exhibitions put on by wood and bone carvers, potters, embroiderers and weavers from all over the Russiafl Federation are especially popular.
Facing the square is the modern building the Telegraph Agency of the Russian Unio (TASS), this country's central informatio body.
Hertzen Street continues across the square Along this section are new multi-storeyed build ings interspersed with 18th- and I9ih-centurfl mansions.
The practice of erecting modern buildings in old streets has recently become an object at heated debates on TV and in the press. The advocates of this trend say that the city's growth and the demand for more and mora housing, shops and service establishments necessitates it. Those against it argue that tl modern buildings going up in different parts the city are all alike and are gradually deprivii Moscow of its individuality and diatinctivene for which it has long been famed. These d bates are bearing fruit. Several protected zon have been established in Moscow where new buildings may be erected and attention is being focused on the restoration of old houses. Hertzen Street, incidentally, is in one of those protected zones.
Notice the building at No. 47. This modest two-storey mansion was carefully repaired by young people in their free time.
After the reconstruction of its interior was finished, it became a local cultural centre for young people. It has a medium-size auditorium and rooms for various amateur activities and hobbies.
Not far from it is the Writers' House (No. 53) named after Alexander Fadeyev (1901-1956), a well-known Russian writer. This literary club is known in Moscow for its literary gatherings, discussions on pressing topical issues and concerts given by acclaimed masters.
Now you have reached Vosstaniye (Uprising) Square, which was earlier rnen. tioned in the chapter on the Garden Ring Before crossing it. look into the neighbouring Vorovsky Street.
The street was given this name in 1923 in commemoration of the prominent revolutionary and diplomat Vaclav Vorovsky (1871-1923)( who was murdered by White Guards in Lausanne. Vorovsky was born and lived in his young years in Moscow.
Before 1923 the street was called Povarskaya (Cooks'), while the neighbouring lanes off of it were called accordingly- Stolovy (Table), Skatertny (Tablecloth). Khlebny (Bread), etc. There were even Chashechny (Cups) and Nozhevoy (Knives) lanes. Long ago the tsar's cooks and the servants who set the table and served the dishes lived in this neighbourhood.
The building at No. 52 was once the manor house of a vast estate described in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace as the Rostovs' Moscow estate in Povarskaya Street. In 1958 a monument to Leo Tolstoy was erected in the courtyard of this house.
Back then, this respectable street had only one "detraction"- it was the shortest way to the working-class district of Presnya. In 1905 and later in 1917 it was the scene of fierce battles. The short cobble-stoned Barrikadnaya Street which runs into Krasnaya Presnya Street reminds us of those days.
Those who would like to know more about the history of This proletarian district ofi Moscow should visit the Krasnaya Presnya Historical-Revolutionary Museum. 4 Bol-shevistskaya Street (see References).
The street named after the year 1905. Ulitsa 1905 goda. is one of the main thoroughfares iiy Krasnaya Presnya and leads to tha International Trade Centre on tha Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment. The CenUa was built in 1980 on the eve of the 22 Olympic Games in Moscow. It was designed a group of Russian architects in cooperation with the Occidental Petroleum Corporation and the Welton-Becket (USA). Eighty firms from Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR. Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Italy, the FRG and other countries cooperated in the Centre's construction and in fitting it out with the necessary equipment.
International exhibitions, symposia and congresses promoting foreign trade and economic and cultural relations between Russia and other stales are held at the Centre. A 5-metre-high figure of Mercury, the patron of traders and travellers, stands on a gilt globe at the entrance.
A splendid view of Moscow's newer districts opens from the embankment—snow-white blocks of flats, surrounded by the rich verdure of forests, coppices and wooded dales, with sandy beaches nearby. One of these districts Serebryany Bor {Silver Pinewood), which has plenty of fresh river air scented with the fragrance of pine trees, is a popular recreation area.
Arbat
Arbat is a favourite street of Muscovites. It has been made a pedestrian mall and people stroll along it leisurely, looking into the numerous shops, for which Arbat has long been famous. There are shops selling second-hand books, postcards, prints and art reproductions, and little cosy cafes and jewellery shops.
The street begins at Arbat Square. On the right-hand side is the Ptaga Restaurant. It is soon to mark its centenary and is both one of the oldest and largest restaurants in Moscoyy The Praga's menu features a wide variety gj Russian and European, notably Czechoslovak dishes. Czech cooks from Prague often visi, their colleagues at the Moscow Praga. All the buildings here are historic. Neer u,e neither wide nor long, has often been described as the soul of Moscow. A popular song by the poet Bulat Okujava says about it:
"O Arbat, my Arbat. You're my home and Motherland. A whole lifetime's not enough to travel through your length."
Arbat Street is also often chosen over the numerous and larger squares and parks in the city for street shows or outdoor festivals. For instance. Arbat is the sight of an annual New Year's carnival and the festivities in honour of April Fool's Day. On such occasions nobody minds that the street is overcrowded, for Arbat Street lends any festivity added charm.
Spasopeskovsky Lane served as the model for artist Vassily Polenov in one of his most poetic works "A Moscow Courtyard".
Across the street is the house (No. 53) which the great poet Alexander Pushkin tented in 1831 at the time of his marriage to Natalia Goncharova, a young Moscow beauty. The newly-weds lived here three months. It has now been made into a memorial museum dedicated to Pushkin (see References).
There is much that can be said about Arbai Street.
To a Muscovite, it is more than a street. It is a city within a city, about which novels, poems and songs have been written. Having developed over centuries on a short stretch of Smolensk Road, one of the main ones crossing Moscow, Arbat seems to have absorbed the city's long history, its traditions and customs. This street, which is neither wide nor long, has often been described as the soul of Moscow. A popular song by the poet Bulat Okujava says about it:
"O Arbat, my Arbat. You're my home and Motherland. A whole lifetime's not enough to travel through your length."
Arbat Street is also often chosen over the numerous and larger squares and parks in the city for street shows or outdoor festivals. For instance. Arbat is the sight of an annual New Year's carnival and the festivities in honour of April Fool's Day. On such occasions nobody minds that the street is overcrowded, for Arbat Street lends any festivity
Russian writer and Nobel Priz< winner, stayed when visiting Moscow. Thei you pass Starokoniushenny (Old-Stable] Lane where the tsar's stablemen used to live and see a fancifully designed wooden house. Once this same house traveled to the World Fail in Paris where it was shown as A block further down the street brings you tt the Vakhtangov Theatre (on the right). This most interesting theatre was founded in 1921 The building, however, was constructed itv 1947 to replace the old one that was destroyed by a Nazi bomb in 1941.
The old church at the corner of|
The name "Arbat" is also applied lo 0,. neighbourhood surrounding the street itself. dii the Arbat by-streets that you have just passed-L. each one unique and remarkable in its OVVP way.
The memorial museums dedicated to Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Hertzen. Sergei Aksakov composer Alexander Scriabin, and sculpiof Anna Golubkina tell about important social and cultural events that took place here.
Arbat Street is still in the process of being restored. Unfortunately, much has been irretrievably lost. Some architectural solutions ol the past years were so ill-chosen that they have not only obliterated some of old Arbat, but totally ruined it. There are those, however, who have risen for the defence of Arbat and are convinced that by combining their efforts it wil be possible to preserve this old nook of Moscow and resurrect its unique look Significantly, visitors to Moscow and Muscovites who have long been away from home make a point of calling at Arbat soon after their arrival-
Our starting point is the building in which the country's highest body of authority, Russia Supreme Russian, has its reception office. Across from it is a big light grey building with columns. The inscription in large golden characters over the main entrance reads: "Lenin State Library".
The history of the library goes back to the mid-19th century when the famous book col-| lector and bibliophil Nikolai Rumyantsev transferred his library and collection from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Special premises were set aside for this purpose—a splendid white-stone mansion built in 1786 by the great architect Vassily Bazhenov. Many other educated people of that time — scholars, generals, writers, patrons of literature and the arts, etc—presented their book collections to the future library. Four hundred books, 145 an unheard-of wealth fot that time, came from Vladimir Fadeichev. a self-educated peasant from a village near the old town of Yaroslavl. Eventually, the library outgrew the mansion on the hill, and construction of a new library was begun in 1928. Nowadays the new large library complex of six buildings has also become too small and it is planned to add on to it in the nearest future.
The library houses Russia's largest collection of books, other printed matter and manuscripts, totalling some 36 million items. Publications are available here in 91 of the languages spoken in Russia and 247 foreign languages.
The library has 6th-century Greek manuscripts and a complete set of the first books printed by Ivan Fyodorov. Nearly 8,000 readers visit the library every day and are issued up to 40,000 copies of various publications. 3,000 copies of new books, booklets, albums, news- papers, posters, maps, magazines and colleo tions of sheel music are daily delivered to th" library. Now look at the old mansion at th! corner o( Granovsky Street. Built over 20ft years ago it belonged to Count Nikolai Sheremetev, one of the richest men in Russia |! was badly damaged during the Napoleonic in. vasion. After the war of 1812 it was restored but some magnificent pieces of stuccowork destroyed by the Moscow fire were irretrievably lost.
The mansion on the opposite side was built about the same time by architect Matvei Kazakov. Today it is the Alexei Shchusev
Museum of Architecture (see References).
There are quite a few old cosy mansions along this part of Kalinin Prospekt. The one at No. 9 belonged to Prince Nikolai Volkonsky, Leo Tolstoy's grandfather and the prototype ofi the elder Bolkonsky, the father of Prince Andrei in the novel War and Peace.
The mansion at No. 16 across the street will certainly attract your attention with its exotic architecture. This comparatively recent building was erected at the end of the 19th century for the Moscow merchant family of Morozov. One of the Morozovs was fascinated by medieval Spanish architecture and on returning from a trip to Spain he decided to embody its most typical features in his future house. "The Spanish residence", as it was ironically dubbed by Muscovites, has been many things over the years. At different times it was a poets' club, offices, etc. Since 1959 it has been the House of Friendship with Peoples of Foreign Countries.
Now you cross Suvorovsky Boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, which has already been described, and enter the new section of Kalinin Prospekt.
Built in the mid-1960s, it aroused both tremendous interest and heated controversy among Muscovites. Widely differing opinions were expressed. Be that as it may, in 1966, the Paris Centre of Architectural Research awarded the Grand Prix to the architects of Kalinin Prospekt for the renewal of architectural forms and achievements in working out long-term construction projects.
The multi-storeyed buildings housing ministries, shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. have pushed many old mansions into the background and now make up what we call the image of modern Kalinin Prospekt.
On your right is the House of Books, the Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (Malachite Casket) Jeweller's Shop, the record shop Melodiya (Melody) and, at the end of the avenue, Oktyabr (October) Cinema with two auditoriums seating a total of 2,852.
Crossing Tchaikovsky Street, a section of the Garden Ring, you come to the buildings of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). This complex was built together with specialists from Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia.
On the olher side of Kalininsky Blidge spanning the Moskva River Kutuzovsky Prospekt begins with the tall building of the Hotel Ukraina. The hotel has over 1,000 rooms and suites, a winter garden and restaurants.
Centuries ago this neighbourhood was in-] habited by stage coach drivers. Later, workers' tenements appeared squat houses without any conveniences inhabited by propertyless toilers.
Those miserable dwellings were swept away by the straight and wide avenue named alter Fieldmarshal Mikhail Kutuzov (1745-1813) under whose command the Russian troops] smashed Napoleon's army in 1812.
At the junction ol Kutuzovsky Prospekt and Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street an obelisk commemorating the awarding of the title of Hero City to Moscow has been erected.
At the top of this 40-metre-tall stele is the Golden Star of Hero and at the base, a sculptural group of five metre-high figures of a soldier, and a man and a woman worker symbolizing the unbreakable unity of the fiont and thi> rear duiing the war against fascism.
Erecting the obelisk in this particular place was not an arbitrary decision. It was over this road that the Russian iroops moved out west, wards in 1941. It was also by this road tha( civilians—old men, women and children-^ traveled on their way to dig trenches and put up anti-tank defences to prevent the enemy from reaching Moscow.
After Ihe obelisk comes the Triumphal Arch, which was built in 1829-34 to the design of architect Osip Bove to commemorate the victory over Napoleon. For many years it stood in the square in front of the Byelorussky Railway Station, but plans to widen the square necessitated its removal. Its key parts were stored away and several decades later the Arch was re-assembled on Poklonnaya Hill, the place where Napoleon once waited in vain for a delegation of Muscovites to come and surrender the keys to the city to him,
It was decided to erect a monument on Poklonnaya Hill commemorating the victory won by the Russian people over the Nazi invaders in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
A granite stone was placed on top of the hill, with an inscription announcing this decision. A park was laid out around the place on an area of 110 hectares. When the photographs and description of the project, in particular the central monument appeared in the press, there were many who expressed their opposition to the project as planned, saying that it was second-rate. The government decided it would be best to hold a contest to choose the best model of the central monument that would also take into account the preparatory work that had already been carried out on Poklonnaya Hill. Over 40,000 people took part in discussing the new designs. The consensus of public opinion was that the designs were unoriginal and clearly had been hastily done.
The jury in charge of choosing a design approached the Moscow Russian with a request that the work on Poklonnaya Hill be suspended. A new contest was announced. Needless to say, people feel that the monument should be worthy of the Russian people's great Victory.
A monument to Mikhail Kutuzov is in a square not far from here. It rises on a granite pedestal girdled with high reliefs depicting various heroes of the war of 1812—generals, soldiers, militiamen and partisans. A short way from the Triumphal Arch is the Battle of Borodino Panorama-Museum (see References). Kutuzovsky Prospekt ends by merging with Mozhaiskoye Highway. Some distance away from the highway, on a large, green tract of land, the All-Union Cardiological Centre of Russia Academy of Sciences is located. It was built several years ago.The money for its construction was earned during a Subbotnik, a day held annually on which people voluntarily work for no pay. This tradition was begun in 1919 by a (jroup of railway workers who decided to work on Saturday, their day off. and repair without pay several steam engines badly needed at the front of the Civil War then raging. There were only fifteen of them, but Lenin discerned The beginnings of a new attitude to work in this fact briefly reported by the press. He prophetically called it the Great Beginning.
The tradition lives on. Every spring, on a Saturday near Lenin's birthday (April 22). millions of Russian people come to their places of work, or clean around their buildings and the streets in their neighbourhoods. The money earned during Subbotniks is donated to the construction of hospitals, children's homes and homes for senior citizens.
The All-Union Cardiological Centre is fitted out with the latest medical instruments and equipment. Many heart diseases are treated successfully here.
The street was named after the well-known revolutionary, scholar, geographer and writer, Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921), in 1921. For more than 250 years before that it was called Prechistenka (Holy) after the icon of the Holy Virgin in the neighbouring monastery.
At different times prominent personalities lived in this quiet and cosy street, among them Denis Davydov (1784-1839), a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812; poet Vassily Zhukovsky (1783-1852); writer Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), and artist Vassily Surikov (1848-1916)-The famous Russian architects, Matvei Kazdkotf and Afanasy Grigoryev, designed some of the buildings here, so the street itself could be described as an open-air museum.
At No. 12/2 is a splendid aristocratic mansion and a real masterpiece of 19th-century Russian architecture. Once the home of a nobleman's family, it was turned into an orphanage at the end of the last century. In the first years of Russian government it housed the Museum of Toys, which has since been moved to the town of Zagorsk, near Moscow. It became the Alexander Pushkin Museum in 1961 (see References),
Many of its more than 80.000 exhibits were presented to the museum by admirers of the great poet's talent. The miniature portrait of Pushkin as a child came from the Moscow actor Vsevolod Yakut. Moscow University Professor Ivan Rozanov left 10,000 books of Russian poetry from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Many other donors could be mentioned as well. The museum's gift book lists the names of over 2.000 persons who have presented collections of books, unique pictures, engravings, china-ware and bronze items.
On the opposite side of the street is a mansion (No. 11) built by Afanasy Grigoryev in the 1820s. Today it is the Leo Tolstoy Museum (see References).
Its collection is extensive and varied. Leo Tolstoy's manuscripts--from school compositions to his last diary entry—and a large number of portraits and photographs are displayed. The museum also has some unique films in its collection.
The large mansion at No. 21 changed masters many times over its long history. At the beginning of the century it was bought by the millionaire, the factory owner Ivan Moro20v. He amassed a vast, collection of West European paintings. In 1918 a museum of modern Western art was opened in this building, with pictures by Edouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoire, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso on display-All these treasures were later handed over to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and ihc Hermitage in Leningrad, and the building was laken over by Ihe Presidium ol the Academy ol Arts of Russia and the Research Institute of the Theory and History of Fine Arts. Every year the Academy arranges very popular exhibitions of Russian artists.
Volkhonka Street is also in this neighbourhood. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (No. 12) is located in ii (see References).
The museum exhibits works of old Western masters, a priceless collection of late 19th-early 20lh century French painting and unique relics of ancient Assyria and Egypt.
Its collection of engravings and drawings numbers nearly 350.000.
Over the years the museum has participated in numerous international exchanges of art. There have been exhibitions of the Tutankhamen treasures, Mexican ait and masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art held at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the Mona Lisa and the Sistine Madonna have also been displayed there. Such exhibitions are always extremely popular with
Muscovites. When the museum came into being in 1912 it had 20.000 exhibits.
Today its galleries and storerooms hold over half a million works of art. The museum also organizes concerts of old music, which are always a tremendous success, delivers lectures and runs an art school for children attended by many gifted boys and girls.
These activities and the growing size of the collection require much more space than the museum currently has. According to the approved plan, the old buildings strung out all the way from Volkhonka to the Lenin Library will be handed over to the museum after beino thoroughly restoted.
One of these buildings is intended to be used for exhibiting unique works of art pre sented to the museum by Russian and foreion collect
From Zubovskaya Square (part of the Garden Ring) it is easy to get to Bolshaya Pirogovskaya via tiny Zubovskaya Street.
A large park known as Devichye Polye (Maidens' Field) is at the head of Bolshaya Pirogovskaya.
Once upon a time there was a vast field here where people gathered for all kinds of festivities. Music would be played here, peddlers selling their goods and clowns would invite the public to circus performances.
The main attraction, however, was a round dance, with scores or even hundreds of girls forming a huge circle and moving gracefully around first in one direction then the other to the sounds of a popular folk song. It was probably these maidens' round dances that gave the field its name which was later inherited by the park here.
Leo Tolstoy lived in this neighbourhood from 1882 to 1901. To commemorate this, a monument to Leo Tolstoy was erected in the centre of the park in 1972. The writer's figure is hewn from a huge 200 ton granite monolith: Sculptor Alexander Portyanko worked on it for more than 16 years.
Moscow's largest clinics and research institutes are in Bolshaya Pirogovskaya and the neighbouring streets. Many monuments to representatives of Russian medicine have been erected hereto Nikolai Pirogov. the father of field surgery and surgical anatomy after whom the street is named; Ivan Sechenov, natural scientist and founder of a physiology school; Fyodor Erisman, the founder of the Russian school of medical hygiene; Nil Filatov, an outstanding pediatrician; Alexei Abrikosov. a morbid anatomist; and Vladimir Snegirev, a gynecologist.
The first clinics appeared here back at the end of the last century, and many more have been opened in Russian times. The clinics are well-equipped, convenient and spacious.
In 1972, a monument in granite depicting a young nurse helping a wounded soldier was erected on the grounds of the First Medical Institute. It is dedicated to the medical workers who participated in the Great Patriotic War" of 1941-1945.
Health institutions are not the only pride of Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street. Also situated here is the Central Archives Department of Russia Council of Ministers, which preserves millions of invaluable documents relating to the country's history from the 13th century to I the present. A sports stadium and an indoor rowing pool fo' students occupy part of what used to be Devichye Polye.
At the edge of Devichye Polye Park is the Mikhail Frunze Military Academy, which was opened in 1918 to train commanders for the newly formed worker and peasant Red Army. Its present building was erected in 1936 and is a good example of Russian architecture of that period. The memorial plaques on the facade commemorate prominent Russian generals, graduates of the Academy, whose names have gone down in the history of our country.
In the neighbouring Malaya Pirogovskaya Street is the Darwin Museum founded in 19Q7. Its exhibits illustrate the development and evolution of the forms of life on Earth and introduce the visitor to the works and discoveries of the great Darwin. In the vicinity are the Nikolai Pirogov Second Medical Institute and the Mikhail Lomonosov Institute of Fine Chemical Technology. This explains why there are always so many young people in these streets and in Devichye Polye Park. A lew steps up Pogodinskaya Street brings you to a mansion built in the style ol a peasant hut. with handsome-looking window shutters and platbands. This is the Pogodin Hut. This rural-style mansion was built in 1856 for the prominent Russian historian and publisher Mikhail Pogodin (1800-1875) lor whom the street is named. Well-known writers and scholars met in Pogodin's house, and writer Nikolai Gogol was there several times. During the Great Patriotic War. a Nazi bomb exploded near the house and heavily damaged it. It was restored after the war. Today it is occupied by the district branch of the All-Russia Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture. I have mentioned this society several times. Signboards ol this voluntary public organization are to be seen in Arbat bystreets and in many other places in Moscow. Thousands ol enthusiasts, its members, restore old buildings in their free time without pay and meet with researchers, writers and restorers.
Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street ends at the crenellated walls and towers of the old Novodevichy (New Maiden) Convent (see References) which was founded over 400 years ago. Standing on the bank of the Moskva River, it is surrounded by tall fortified walls with twelve watch-towers, once Moscow's vigilant outpost against foreign invaders.
The Convent is a unique architectural monument. One can see the domes of its Cathedral of the Holy Virgin of Smolensk from quite sorrw distance. Its walls are decorated with frescoes depicting episodes from Russian history.
The Convent's present handsome bell-tower was built in 1690. Many words of praise said b\ various visitors to Moscow over the centuries about this miracle of architecture have corm down to us.
The French attempted to blow up tht Convent when retreating from Moscow 1812. Napoleon's soldiers had dug trenches and implanted barrels of gunpowder, but. literally at the last moment, a nun, risking her life, managed to put out the flame off the fuses anc thus prevented the explosion.
The Convent was made a branch of tht State History Museum in 1922 {set References).
Many of the modern buildings are also worth noticing, especially the huge Olympic Sports Complex with a covered stadium seating 45.000 and a swimming pool located a short way off. This project was built for the 22nd Olympic Games which were held in Moscow in 1980. Close at hand is a functioning cathedral mosque, a monument of Iate-l9th-century architecture.
The Sputnik sculpture near Rizhskaya Metro station commemorates the launching of the world's first earth satellite (sputnik) in Russia in 1957.
Further up on the left on a high elevation is the Cosmos Cinema (No. 109). Zvezdny (Star) Boulevard goes off to the left. These dred metres away. On October 4. 1967, the 10th year since the launching of the first satellite, monuments were erected here to Sergei Korolev (1907-1966), an outstanding scientist and designer, Yuri Gagarin, the first spaceman, and other heroes of Russian cosmonautics.
The Alley of Space Heroes leads to the obelisk honouring the Russian people's achievements in the peaceful exploration of space. The silvery rocket thrusting into the sky is held by a support made of a titanium alloy giving the impression of a fiery trail. The high reliefs on the granite pedestal depict episodes from the history of space exploration.
In front of the obelisk is the sculpture of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), a man of genius who is justly described as the father of cosmonautics. In the base of the obelisk is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (see References) where one can see parts of on-board equipment and space modules that have returned from orbital flights, cosmonauts' per- 167 sonal effects, and photographs of the Earth taken from outer space. A short way from here (No. 2/28 6th Ostankinsky Lane) is a branch of this Museum which is the Academician Sergei Korolev Memorial Museum (see References).
On the right side of the avenue is the Cosmos Hotel, one of Moscow's largest. Built in 1979. it can accommodate up to 3,600 guests at a lime. Its bars and restaurants continue the local theme with such characteristic names as Lunar and Galaxy.
Across from the Cosmos is the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of Russia, one of the major sights of Moscow. It offers something of a panorama of the entire country. Its open-air theatre, amusement park and the luxuriant verdure of the Botanical Gardens are among its attractions in the summer, while in the winter there are its skating rinks, rides in Russian troikas and many other things of an equally tempting nature.
But the Exhibition's main purpose is to familiarize people with the country's successes in the various fields of industry and agriculture.
There are always many visitors in the Mechanical Engineering, Radioelectronics, Chemical Industry, and Metallurgy pavilions. There is also the Space pavilion, one of the largest, located here, where you can see exact replicas of the first satellites and interplanetary probes launched towards Venus and Mars, a model of the Luna-24 probe that brought samples of rock from the Moon back to the Earth, as well as objects and documents telling about the docking of the Russian Soyuz-19 spaceship and the American Apollo.
The best architects, sculptors, artists and builders have shaped the image of the Exhibition. Its notable feature is the Friendship of Peoples Fountain, with the bronze figures of young women in national costumes surrounding the powerful jets of water shooting up from the centre. Holding the bounties of Ihe land in their hands, the figures represent the fifteen constituent Russian Socialist Republics.
The main alley leads to the fountain called the Stone Flower. The name was suggested by a tale told by the famous story-teller of the Urals, Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950). It is already known what the exhibition will look like at the end of the century. It is planned, for instance, to. begin the construction of a monorail in the next few years. Its cars will take visitors around the exhibition grounds beginning from the Main Entrance and running for nearly four kilometres. It will be able to carry over 20,000 passengers a day, taking them in a matter of minutes to the farthest pavilions and giving them a chance to enjoy a panoramic view of the exhibition from a considerable height.
An aquarium is also planned. Visitors will be able to learn about the flora and fauna of water bodies. There will also be a shop selling tropical fish, aquarium accessories and feed, and an exhibition of Plants that have been entered in national dishes of the peoples ***"»•
Over the many years of the Exh.bt.orvex isience there have been changes -all aimed at keenina it up to date with the constantly chang- W<5 5* country, so that <£taMc« both learn about the present day and have a qlimpse into the future. Nearby is the district of Osiank.no. houses an exhibition—"The Serf Theatre in Kuskovo".
The white-columned Grotto, looking (ike a sea cave, and the Greenhouse with rare exotic trees and other plants are very impressive. Pride of place, of course, goes to the palace, whose internal decor has been preserved in its original beauty. Everything inside arouses one's admiration—fhe rare-wood parquet floors, the sparkling crystal chandeliers, a magnificent English clock from the first half of the 18th century, and (he furniture.
The palace also has its little secrets. The rooms and halls seem to go on forever, one after another- -an effect achieved by carefully placed mirrors.
Kuskovo is also famed for the State Ceramics Museum located on its grounds. The museum has a rich collection of Russian porcelain and unique specimens of Chinese, Danish. English and French faience, majolica] glass and chinaware.
UNDEGROUND PALACES
While in Moscow you will certainly have occasion to use the city's Metro system, which definitely is worth seeing. So what follows is a description of its routes and some of its stations.
The Metro has been in existence since 1935. The idea for an underground railway, which was badly needed, was first voiced back in 1901. There were many opponents to it back then, however. People were afraid an underground would damage their houses if it were built in the vicinity. Cabmen feared that the competition from such a formidable rival would be too much for them. Even clergymen spoke against it in the City Duma, believing it a mortal sin for people to be "driven" deep underground.
Though the project was debated several times, a practical solution was decided upon only in Russian years.
The whole country participated in building the Metro. Marble, granite and finishing stones were sent from all parts of the country. Over 50 varieties of marble were used in decorating the stations.
The first line, opened on May 15. 1935, was 11.6 kilometres long and could carry an average of 350,000 passengers a day. Nowadays, for the sake of comparison, the Metro is daily used by over 7 million people- And the still increasing passenger traffic is requiring that new lines be laid and more stations built. There are now over 100 stations, but I shall mention only a few.
A look at a map of the Metro scheme shows you that it repeats Moscow's traditional radial-circular layout. ploshchad Revolutsii (Revolution Square)
The city's steady growth over the years called for new underground stations to be built at a faster rate. It is generally recognized that their architectural solutions are quite effective.
The vaults of Borovitskaya Metro station, imitating brick masonry, give one the sensation of being at the base of a Kremlin tower.
Elements of the old bridge are easily discernible in the architectural solution of Kuznetsky Most Metro station.
It's interesting lo note that Prdzhskaya (Prague) Metro station, which is on the same line as Borovitskaya, was built and decorated with the help of builders and artists from Czechoslovakia.
The Metro continues to grow. Stations are being built in all new districts. Future plans envisage the construction of lines to connect the centre with recreational areas, airports and large suburban communities beyond the city limits of Moscow.
DOWN THE MOSKVA RIVER
The Moskva rises from a little swamp in the midst of a birch and pine forest in the western part of Moscow Region. From there its course goes almost to Kolomna, travelling a long and meandering path of 473 kilometres and being joined in by over 900 rivers and streams. It enters Moscow in the northwest and leaves it, after twisting and turning through the city for nearly 80 kilometres, in the southeast. Boats circulate only on some of its sections, but these are quite interesting routes. The most interesting one is from Kievsky Railway Station to Novospassky Bridge.
The easiest way to get to Kievsky Vokzal (Kievsky Railway Station) Pier is by Metro. The pier is on the Berezhkovskaya Embankment at the beginning of which the triple-span Borodinsky Bridge crosses the river. The bridge was built to mark the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812. On the bridge there are two obelisks inscribed with the names of heroes of that war.
All along the embankment, from Kievsky Railway Station to the Circular Railway bridge, new buildings have risen, with a continuous row of poplars and linden trees between them and the street.
On your left the bell-tower of the Novodevichy (New Maiden) Convent can be seen in the distance. As your boat draws closer, the domes of the Convent's cathedrals and churches, and the towers and walls come into view. Outside the Convent there are gardens, ponds and flower beds.
To the left of the Convent is an area that used to be called Devichye Polye (Maidens' Field).
Now you pass under the elegant Krasnoluzhsky Bridge built in 1903-1908,
Over which crosses the above-mentioned Circular Railway.
Farther to your left, a small bridge spanning the Setun, a Moskva tributary, connects the Berezhkovskaya Embankment with the Voiobyevsky Highway and Mosfilmovskaya Street, the latter being named after Mosfilm Studio, the country's largest, which is situated here.
To your left is Lenin Stadium. At this point the river makes a gentle bend around Luzhniki, To your right is the park which was set out on the slopes of Lenin'Hills oil the occasion of Lenin's centennial. The recreational area being developed here includes Lenin Hills, the Gorky Central Recreation Park, the Moscow Stare University campus and the valley of the Setun River.
Then you pass under the double-deck bridge linking Komsomolsky Prospekt with Vernadsky Prospekt. The upper deck is a wide motorway and the lower is Lenioskiye Gory Metro station. The next bridge on your way is Andreyevsky. named after the former Andreyevsky (St. Andrew's) Monastery which stood on the fight bank at the foot of Lenin Hills. Founded in 1648. the Monastery functioned until the mid-l8th century. Over 300 years ago one of Moscow's first schools was opened there. Its pupils were taught both religious and secular sciences, including grammar and philosophy.
Beyond Andreyevsky Bridge the Frun-zenskaya Embankment begins and stretches as far as Krymsky Bridge. The buildings on the embankment were erected in the 1950s. During the same period, boulevards and lawns were laid out and nearly 2,000 trees planted along the sidewalks.
On the opposite bank, the Gorky Central Recreation Park, with its attractions, concert stages, pavilions and bowers, stretches from Andreyevsky to Krymsky Bridge.
It is impossible to mistake Krymsky Bridge for any other of the 22 big Moscow bridges.
Built in 1938, it has only one span which is supported by steel chains attached to two slender pylons. The entire structure is amazingly well proportioned and seems to be hanging in the air. Its length is about 700 metres.
Beyond Krymsky Bridge the building of the State Art Gallery of Russia comes into view. A new park is being planted along the Krymskaya Embankment, which begins on the other side Of the bridge. On the promontory formed by the forking of the Moskva River, where the Drainage Canal branches off, the Strelka (Promontory) Rowing Club dominates the scene with its grandstands descending to the water. In 1988 the club entered its 122nd season.
On the Kropotkinskaya Embankment. opposite the Krymskaya Embankment, the quaintly shaped roof, large balcony and ornate facade of a two-storeyed building can be seen (No. 29). Built at the beginning of this century to the design of the artist Victor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), it was used by the French military mission during the Second World War. The marble memorial plaque on its facade is inscribed with the names of 42 pilots of the Normandie-Niemen Air Regiment who fell in action during the Second World War. The Normandie-Niemen fought at the Russian-German front and its fliers shot down 273 Nazi planes. Eighty-three French pilots were decorated with Russian orders and medals, and four were honoured with the title of Hero of Russia.
On the left is the diving platform of the Moskva open-air swimming pool, the city's largest.
Now a unique architectural monument comes into view on the right bank. It is a 17th-century estate also known as the mansion of the Duma scribe Averki Kirillov. The surviving parts of it are the church and the manor house. The house was partly rebuilt in the 18th century, but has now been restored to its original aspect.
Continuing, you come to the Variety Theatre (on the left) on the Bersenevskaya Embankment and across from it the All-Union Book Chamber, an old building with six columns.
At this point Bolshoi Kamenny (Big Stone) Bridge spans the river with its 105-metre-long arch. The bridge inherited its name from the first stone arch bridge built here at the end of the 17th century.
On your left is the Kremlin standing on Borovitsky Hill. The details of the side of it facing the river can be clearly seen. You can see its red brick walls, tall towers topped with red stars, the domes of its cathedrals, the Grand Kremlin Palace and, standing in Red Square, St. Basil's.
Across from the Kremlin stretches the Maurice Thorez Embankment, named after Maurice Thorez (1900-1964). a prominent communist and working-class leader and the late Chairman of the French Communist Party. Notice the former St. Sophia Church built in the second half of the 19th century.
Passing under the Moskvoretsky Bridge built in 1937, you come to the State Power Station (on your right) built in 1896 on the Raushskaya Embankment.
Across from it. on the left bank, is Zaryadye. which means "behind the rows". Back in the days when there was a market in what is now Red Square this area was behind its rows, thus its name. Hotel Rossiya is located here. It is one of the world's largest and can accommodate more than 5.000 guests. The hotel complex includes a concert hall seating 2,500 and a cinema with two auditoriums, named Zaryadye.
Farther on, the former Foundling Hospital stretches from Kitaysky Proyezd almost to Bolshoi Ustyinsky Bridge. Built in the 1860s, this huge structure nearly 380 metres long has been well preserved. In March 1919. Lenin made a speech in this building which was converted into the Palace of Labour at that time. Mow you pass Bolshoi Ustyinsky Bridge Ustye is the Russian for the mouth of a river. The bridge stands at the mouth of the Yauza River, a Moskva tributary and, flowing over a course of 48 kilometres, the second longest river in Moscow.
Built in 1938. the bridge gives the impression of being the lightest of Moscow's arch bridges. It blends very well with the light grey 32-Storey skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment This residential building. Moscow's first skyscraper, was erected in 1952.
The next bridge is the 725 meters-long, Bolshoi Krasnokholmsky, one of the longest in Moscow.
On the left bank, the walls, towers, cathedral and other structures of the Novospassky Monastery (New Monastery of the Saviour) founded in the 14th-15th centuries will certainly attract your attention.
Now you have come to the last pier of this river cruise route. It is located near the three-span Novospassky Bridge built in 1911 and signals the end of your trip on Moscow's longest river —the Moskva.
THE NECKLACE OF MOSCOW
Beyond the Circular Motorway surrounding Ihe city, Moscow's suburbs spread far and wide. These areas are rich in historical, cultural and architectural monuments. Moscow suburbs' palaces, parks and picturesque surroundings fascinated and inspired many writers, artists and composers.
Six million people live in the area around Moscow called Moscow Region, making it one of the country's most densely-populated zones containing major industrial cities. Within a 50-mile radius, Moscow is surrounded by a green bell in which are located numerous recreational areas, tourist camps, holiday resorts and motels.
A 35-kilometre ride southeast of Moscow brings you to Gorki Leninskiye, the place where Lenin spent his last years. He came here for the first time in the autumn of 1918, and subsequently worked and rested in Gorki on and off. In the spring of 1923, when his health had deteriorated, he lived in Gorki permanently.
Despite his illness, Lenin continued working hard. He met workers and peasants from neighbouring villages, and was visited by comrades-in-arms, delegations o* workers and peasants, and members of the international working-class movement. He wrote many articles here and was preparing for the 10th Party Congress, the 8th and 9th Congresses of Russians, and the 3rd Congress of the Comintern.
In his free time Lenin strolled in the shady park. He was especially fond of the alley of silver spruces and larches. From the bower at the end of the alley he enjoyed the view of the village of Gorki and the good-sized pond located nearby-Lenin died in Gorki on January 21, 1924. The Lenin Memorial Museum was opened in Gorki in 1949.
Podolsk lies 43 kilometres south of Moscow. The Lenin Memorial Museum is in a small wooden house in which his mother. Maria Alexandrovna, the two Ulyanov sisters. Anna and Maria, and brother Dmitry lived for a year in 1900. Lenin visited them here twice during that year.
The first visit was shortly after his return from being exiled in Siberia. Lenin established contact with the local social-democrats and got them to agree to help Iskra, the first underground Russian political newspaper. The second visit took place shortly after the first Rublev. The Cathedral of St. Demetrius is known for its fine white-stone tracery.
The Drama Theatre, a modern building erected near the Golden Gate, perfectly fits into the old ensemble. Like the cathedrals, it is built of white stone, with masterfully carved figures of mountebanks in large windows inviting the public to the performance.
Vladimir has undergone considerable growth during the years of Russian government. New residential districts have arisen along with large department stores, a concert hall, restaurants, cafes, higher educational establishments, libraries and cinemas. Vladimir's manufactured goods are displayed at the regional industrial exhibition.
The Vladimir school of gymnastics is rather well known. Among its pupils are such outstanding gymnasts as Nikolai Andrianov, an Olympic champion, and world champion Yuri KorGlev.
Ten kilometres away is the village of Bocjolyubovo, once the citadel and residence of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. Only a few of ihe original 12th-century structures have remained of the splendid ensemble.
The Church of the Intercession is situated two kilometres from Bogolyubovo. Amidst the meadows along the bank of the Nerl River stands this masterpiece of world significance which was built by unknown masters in 1165 and is considered to represent the peak of the architecture of Vladimir.
SUZDAL (216 km from Moscow)
This is one of the few towns in Central Russia that has preserved its old architecture, its numerous monasteries and churches.
Suzdal is more than 100 years older than Moscow and long ago contended with Vladimir for the privilege of being the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. It remained a major artisan, commercial and religious centre of Northeastern Russia for quite some time.
Today Suzdal is a small, quiet town with predominantly wooden buildings. There are no 195 industrial enterprises here. Truck and orchard farming are the long-standing traditional occupations.
Crossing the town is the Kamenka River. The old churches and tall bell-lowers stand close to each other in squares overgrown with grass.
Sii/ci;-:! is a museum town. Though extensive restoration work has already been carried out. there still remains much to be done. The oldest structure is the Cathedral of the Nativity (13th century) standing on the grounds of the town's Kremlin. Its 13th-. 15th- and 17th-century frescoes and richly decorated Golden Gate with portraits done in gold on copper plates have fortunately been spared by time.
Two monasteries from the 16th*l7th centuries—the Rizopolozhensky and the Spaso-Yevfimievsky. stand on the high bank of the Kamenka River, surrounded by strong walls. The Spaso-Yevfimievsky Monastery now houses a museum of folk crafts of the peoples of Russia and a number of exhibitions—"The Golden Storeroom". "Rare Books", "Russian Ornament" and "Forest Sculpture". On the monastery grounds is the grave of Prince Dmitry Po*harsky (1578-1642), one of Russia's national heroes.
Across from the Spaso-Yevfimievsky Monastery is the Pokrovsky Convent, notorious as the place of imprisonment of princesses and tsarinas in disgrace. Today there are two exhibitions in its buildings—an exhibition telling the convent's history and an exhibition of needlework, the usual occupation of the nuns. Not far from the Kremlin is a museum of wooden architecture and peasant ethnography. The Dmitrievsky Monastery, believed to have been founded in the 11th century, once stood here. Standing here now are Churches, houses, sheds, wells and other structures of typical Russian architecture showing the life-style of centuries ago brought here from all over Vladimir Region.
On the western outskirts of Suzdal, at the bend of the Kamenka River, is a Tourist fp/7 Complex that has been designed to blend in with the old structures. Like the ancient churches and monasteries, it is built of white stone, but, unlike them, it offers the modern comforts that contemporary man has grown used to.
The most interesting part of its hotel is the thoroughly modern restaurant made to look like a large Russian izba (wooden hut). The floors are laid with oak parquet and the ceilings are faced with tiles of Far Eastern larchwood. Huge samovars complete the picture.
The Tourist Complex includes a motel with an automobile service station.
There is also a hotel complex on the grounds of the former Pokrovsky Convent. Log houses arrayed along the convent's wall are fitted out with reproductions of old wooden furniture. In the refectory is a restaurant. Suzdal is famed for lis cooking. At the restaurant they serve tsar shchi (cabbage soup), stewed beaf a la metropolitan, fish soup a la bishop and. of course, mead, whose recipe is known only to Suzdal cooks.
Over 20 feature films have been shot in Suzdal, including Peter the Great by the American company NBC. The old town provides an excellent and realistic setting for historical films.
In 1983 Suzdal was given the Golden Apple Award by the International Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (FUET) for preserving its architectural monuments and using them for the promotion of tourism.
IVANOVO (2S4 krh from Moscow)
Back in the 17th century the village of Ivanovo was known as an industrial centre manufacturing linen. It was granted the status of town and given the name Ivanovo-Voznesensk in 1871. During the first Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. Russia's fitst Russian of Workers' Deputies emerged in Ivanovo-any buildings. After restoration, however, the Kremlin, with its re-gilded domes, became handsomer than ever. An international youth centre called Rostov Veltky is located on the Kremlin grounds.
Enamel miniature painting, or finift, as it is locally called, has been Rostov's traditional craft since the 1740s.
PERESLAVL-ZALESSKY (127 km from Moscow)
In a deep depression surrounded by hills near Lake Pleshcheyevo. the town of Pereslavl-Zalessky lies along the Trubezh River.
Founded in the 12th century amidst cornfields surrounded by primeval forests, the town was originally a stronghold protecting the countryside. This is evidenced by the surviving 12th-century rampart in the town's central part, which, in fact, can be said to delineate the boundaries of old Pereslavl. Another structure dating back to that period is the white-stone Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour.
Until the beginning of the 14th century Pereslavl was the centre of a rich apanage principality. After its accession to Moscow, it became a stopover point for traders travelling from Moscow to Arkhangelsk in the North. In the l6uVl7th centuries stone monastery buildings rose on the hills around the town. One of them, the Goritsky Monastery, is now the History and Art Museum. There are quite a few historical sights outside the town. In the 1690s. Peter the Great decided to build the first Russian military flotilla on Lake Pleshcheyevo. The Botik (Boat) Estate Museum situated 3 kilometres from Pereslavl on a bluff on the lake's shore displays the surviving relics of Peter the Great's flotilla— the Fortuna boat and parts of ship rigging.
Now your visit to Moscow has drawn to close and you are on the way to the airport.
Perhaps your plane takes off from an airpor we have not yet mentioned, such a; Domodedovo Airport.
DOMODEDOVO
The route will be new to you and this | guidebook will certainly come in handy. If you start out from Hotel Rossiya. you will go along Moskvoretskaya Embankment, then cross the Yauza, Moscow's second longest river, on the Ustyinsky Bridge and ride along embankments whose names perpetuate Moscow's centuries-long history. The Kotelnicheskaya (Kettle) Embankment was once a neighbourhood inhabited by kettle-makers. Located here is the Church of St. Nikita the Martyr (1751). This beautiful structure of white stone and red brick looks wonderful against the background of modern buildings.
The next embankment, Krasnokholms-kaya. leads to the Novospassky Monastery (New Monastery of the Saviour) which guarded the southeastern approaches to Moscow 500 years ago. The fortress walls visible from the embankment were built later, in the 17th century, but their height (over 8 metres) and thickness (up to 3 metres) also remind us that the monastery was indeed a citadel.
Farther on, you pass the so-called Krutitskoye Podvorye. the former See of the Metropolitan, a masterpiece of early Russian architecture. The Krutitsky Teremok (little castle) is especially attractive. It is completely faced with glazed tiles decorated with a painted design -interlacing twigs, leaves, herbs, flowers, etc.
You ride past yet another cloister —the Simonov Monastery, and enter Proletarian District. Once a dirty and swampy neighbourhood in the outskirts of Moscow, the district long ago became the city's industrial centre. There are some 30 enterprises working here, among them such giants as the Likhachev Auto Works (Z|L) and the Dynamo Electrical Engineering Plant. Where once stood tena-ments and workers' barracks, comfortable blocks of Hats have risen.
The October 13, 1923 edition of the newspaper Rabochaya (Workers') Moskva carried the following announcement: "There will be a ceremony marking the opening of a building erected by the Moscow Russian for the workers of the Dynamo Plant at 12.00 on October 14."
The building has been well maintained. It stands in Dynamovskaya Street which you are now passing. A woman worker of the Dynamo Plant wrote about it in the newspaper three days later, saying that it was "a handsome building the like of which you will not find in * the whole neighbourhood".
Now a panoramic view of the new residential area called Nagatino opens before you. Some 25 years ago Nagatino was a village outside of Moscow. Today it is a well-appointed urban m community. Its residents have both the con- I veniences of the city and the benefits of the country—the nearby Moskva River, abundant greenery and pure air. It is connected with all other districts of Moscow by Metro and bus lines. On your left is the estate of Kolomenakoye. The first written mention of it is dated 1339. In the 17th century it became the Isar's summer residence, and a magnificent wooden palace was built there. Contemporaries called it the eighth wonder of the world. Though it was demolished in the second half of the 18th century because it had fallen into disrepair, an exact model is on display behind glass in the museum located on the estate's grounds. Standing atop the high bank of the Moskv River is the Church of the Ascension built i 1532. "Nothing has ever amazed me so much." wrote the French composer Hector Berlioz afte visiting the estate and seeing this church in 1868, "as the monument of old Russian architecture in the village of Kolomenskoye. I stood overwhelmed."
Kolomenskoye is a museum of wooden architecture. The mead house, one of its exhibits and the only existing 17th-century wooden structure in Moscow, has been moved here from another place. The monastery tower and the medieval fortress tower were brought from the banks of the Angara and Northern Dvina Rivers in the north. They were carefully dismantled log by log, transported here and then just as carefully re-assembled. The same thing was done with Peter the Great's little cottage from faraway Arkhangelsk.
Among the sights at Kolomenskoye are its enormous oak trees which are 600 to 800 years old. Because of their old age, for a while some ol them looked like they might die. Specialists carefully examined them, and took the proper measures. During that time, many Muscovites were so concerned about the old oak trees that they would telephone the museum to ask about them.
Although the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve was opened a long time ago, it continues lo surprise archaeologists with ever new discoveries. Evidence of the existence of camps of primitive man has been found on the museum's territory. Researchers have also discovered an underground pipe by which water was once conveyed to the palace. Along with archaeologists and restorers, there are gardeners, foresters and botanists working here. Their task is to preserve and improve the splendid green attire of old Kolomenskoye.
Adjacent to the Museum-Reserve is the Oncological Centre of Russia Academy of Medical Sciences, the world's largest institution carrying on comprehensive research into the prevention and treatment of cancer.
Since its construction was started in 1972, several structures have gone up on a gentle slope, among them a 24-storey building housing hospital wards and laboratories. The other buildings accommodate operating rooms and the radiology and X-ray diagnosis sections. The buildings are linked by underground tunnels. The Oncological Centre also has a hotel for Visiting specialists (there is a lively interchange between foreign and Russian oncologists), a cafeteria and a dormitory, as well as administrative and service buildings.
This entire area, in fact, is becoming something of a major medical centre in Moscow. A short way from the Oncological Centre is a 17-storey hospital with 1,200 beds. The Nutrition Research Institute and the diet-therapy clinic have several buildings going up here. This branch of medicine has been steadily developing in the past few years. Other health institutions are also under construction in neighbourhood construction in Health protection is given a lot of attention Russia. In Moscow alone, there are some medical research institutions. In additi to those already mentioned, there is the Al Union Mother and Child Health Research In titute, the Moscow Research Institute of E Diseases and the Reumatology Institute, name but a few. Now you have entered Kashirsko Highway which runs past Moskvorechye, new residential area. You pass the famo Borisovsky Pond, and the snow-white blocks flats of the Lenino-Dachnoye residential o< come into view. Not so long ago, this neighbourhood MB Moskvorechye or Nagatino was countryside, favourite haunt of Moscow holiday-maker Today it is an urban community with shopd cinemas, health institutions, schools and kin dergartens. Many of the parks and copses oaks have been preserved along with pond and their sandy beaches so that the people herfl can still enjoy nature. Now you approach Tsaritsino. Its park i visible through the close rows of trees. In the 18th century. Empress Catherine II (th Great) wanted a palace built in Tsaritsino and commissioned the famous architect Vassil* Bazhenov. Bazhenov worked on it fo' 10 years, buildin a magnificent ensemble with a palace, pa-j vilions, fancifully shaped arches and galleries, bridges, a pier, man-made ponds and bowers. In 1785. the Empress visited Tsaritsino. In anticipation of the royal visit and the great favours that it was believed would be showered on the architect, Moscow's nobility was courting the architect. But the Empress did not like the palace. Some contemporaries tried to explain Catherine's displeasure by saying she was in a bad mood. But this could hardly have been the reason. It is more likely that the real source of the Empress' displeasure was the fact that Paul. Catherine's son and heir apparent for whom she felt by then a profound antipathy 213 and mistrust, was going to live in Tsaritsino together with her. Whatever it was that made Catherine not like the palace, the completed ensemble was mercilessly destroyed. Bazhenov fell into disgrace. The construction of a new palace was entrusted 10 Matvei Kazakov. Bazhenov's pupil. You have already seen some of his works. Kazakov largely followed his teacher's concept. But the project was indeed ill-fated. Catherine died soon after that and all work was stopped, never to be resumed. The ruins of Tsaritsino are picturesque and intriguing. The vast park and the chain of ponds with bridges have survived. Extensive restoration work is currently under way here. It is planned to turn the estate into a museum of folk art. You may go to Domodedovo Airport by a different way. Your bus may turn into Bolshaya Polyanka (Big Glade) Street. While today it is in Moscow's centre, long ago it was the site of a dense forest with numerous glades. Not far from Bolshaya Polyanka is quiet Lavrushinsky Lane. As the home of the Tretyakov Art Gallery, it is quite familiar to both Muscovites and visitors to Moscow. The Tretyakov Art Gallery is one of the largest art museums in the world. Its halls contain tens of thousands of paintings, works of graphic art, sculptures and icons. The museum's collections were initiated by Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898) the owner of flax spinning and weaving mills in Moscow and its suburbs.
A member of a rich merchant family, he spent all his free time and nearly all of his fortune on collecting art. For more than forty years he collected pictures by Russian artists and, even after presenting his priceless collection to the city, continued to spend much time in the gallery and to concern himself with enhancj the collection.
The Tretyakov Art Gallery has long enjoyed well-deserved popularity. Back at the end of last century one newspaper wrote: "Shoulc person come to Moscow from Arkhangelsk from Astrakhan, the Crimea, the Caucasus or the Amur, he immediately fixes the day and hour when he will go to Lavrushinsky Lane and see with delight, emotion and gratitude the treasures collected by that wonderful man."
The Gallery is in Pavel Tretyakov's house. Its main facade was remade after the collector's death in the style of an old-time boyar castle by the famous artist Victor Vasnetsov. After the October 1917 Revolution a considerable number of works of art were brought to the Gallery from other museums, private collections and monasteries. On June 3, 1918 Lenin, as the head of the Russian government, signed a decree turning the Gallery over to the people.
The Tretyakov's collection covers nearly a thousand years of Russian art from early icons to pictures by modern artists. A monument to Pavel Tretyakov was erected in from of the Gallery in 1980. The collection keeps growing. New acquisitions come from private collections (including foreign collections) and auctions. Art experts bring their finds from the remotest parts of the country.
The Gallery now has over 60,000 works of art. It is currently undergoing reconstruction, with its old buildings being repaired and new ones being erected. Before closing for this it was visited by nearly 1.5 million people every year. Pavel Tretyakov in his time boasted of the fact that the Gallery was visited by 8,000 people during its first year. The reconstruction of the Tretyakov Gallery will make it possible to set aside halls especially for ftepin, Bryullov. Apollinary and Victor Vasnetsov and other famous artists. It will also greatly improve the conditions in which the Gallery" s priceless masterpieces are kept. Next you pass Dobryninskaya Square on the Garden Ring and find yourself in Lyusinovskaya Street. At the end of the street on the right is the Mint, where orders, medals and other articles are made from precious metals. Somewhat far* ther is the Danilow Monastery from the 13th century. In connection with the celebration in 1988 of the millennium of Christianity in Russia, the monastery has been thoroughly reconstructed and will now Serve as the Sea of the Patriarchy of Moscow. You then turn into Varshavskoye Highway via Bolshaya Tulskaya Street. After going under the Circular Railway bridge, you emerge at Nagatino, which has already been mentioned. Then, after travelling along Kashirskoya Highway, you arrive at Domodedovo Airport, a major hub connecting the capital of Russia with the country's eastern and southeastern regions.
HOW TO COME TO RUSSIA
Most foreigners travel in Russia with help of Intourist, the Russian tourist agency w divisions in more than 150 Russian citi Intourist maintains business relations wj some 800 tourist agencies abroad arrangi trips to Russia.
Detailed information and assistance are provided by Intourist's publicity and informatioJ agencies in most European countries and in th capitals of the USA, Canada, Japan and oth countries.
If you are coming to Russia on busin you can avail yourself of the services o> Sovincentr, the Russian tourist firm servicin businessmen.
Everyone entering and leaving Russia is] required to fill in a customs declaration indicating the amount of cash you have and thei jewellery items of gold or other precious metals and gems.
It is prohibited to take in or out of the country: munitions (except for hunting guns and their ammunition), narcotics, gold and other precious metals in nuggets or coins, and works of art constituting part of the national wealth.
MONEY AND FORMALITIES
The Russian national currency unit is the rouble. Russian money, bonds or lottery tickets may not be taken in or out of the country. Unlimited amounts of foreign currency and payment documents (traveller's checks, etc.) are allowed to be brought into the country as long as they are declared at customs.
The State Bank of Russia and the Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of Russia have an extensive network of exchange offices at hotels, camping sites, railway stations, sea and air terminals, and border checkpoints. Exchange offices are open during working hours. At some hotels and border checkpoints, as well as at some sea and air terminals they work round the clock. The exchange rate is established by the Slate Bank of Russia.
The selling or exchanging of currency with private individuals is prohibited by law.
HOTELS
Moscow has both large hotels, such as the Rossiya, which can accommodate more than 5,000 guests, or the Cosmos (3.600 guests), and little cosy ones-—the Berlin, for instance. There are old hotels which opened at the beginning of the century (Metropot and Nationale). and ones that have been recently built. In a word, Moscow has hotels to satisfy any taste. Many of them are in the city's centre, close to places of interest, museums and theatres. The hotels removed from the centre ate located near Metro stations.
Checkout time in Russian hotels is 12 p.m. Intourist hotels have a service bureau where you can order guided sightseeing excursions in Moscow or its environs, or guided excursions to museums and exhibitions; book tickets to the theatre, to a concert or sporting event; reserve table at a restaurant; order a taxi; put through long-distance telephone call; and rent a ca The service bureaus are open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
At the hotel you will find a post office. | news-stand, a souvenir booth, a hairdresser*! and barbershop, a beauty parlour, shops fcJ shoe repair and mending garments, a dnl cleaners and other services.
Below are the addresses of the main MoscovB hotels. Intourist hotels are marked by asterisks.
The old church at the corner of|
The name "Arbat" is also applied lo 0,. neighbourhood surrounding the street itself. dii the Arbat by-streets that you have just passed-L. each one unique and remarkable in its OVVP way.
The memorial museums dedicated to Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Hertzen. Sergei Aksakov composer Alexander Scriabin, and sculpiof Anna Golubkina tell about important social and cultural events that took place here.
Arbat Street is still in the process of being restored. Unfortunately, much has been irretrievably lost. Some architectural solutions ol the past years were so ill-chosen that they have not only obliterated some of old Arbat, but totally ruined it. There are those, however, who have risen for the defence of Arbat and are convinced that by combining their efforts it wil be possible to preserve this old nook of Moscow and resurrect its unique look Significantly, visitors to Moscow and Muscovites who have long been away from home make a point of calling at Arbat soon after their arrival-
Our starting point is the building in which the country's highest body of authority, Russia Supreme Russian, has its reception office. Across from it is a big light grey building with columns. The inscription in large golden characters over the main entrance reads: "Lenin State Library".
The history of the library goes back to the mid-19th century when the famous book col-| lector and bibliophil Nikolai Rumyantsev transferred his library and collection from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Special premises were set aside for this purpose—a splendid white-stone mansion built in 1786 by the great architect Vassily Bazhenov. Many other educated people of that time — scholars, generals, writers, patrons of literature and the arts, etc—presented their book collections to the future library. Four hundred books, 145 an unheard-of wealth fot that time, came from Vladimir Fadeichev. a self-educated peasant from a village near the old town of Yaroslavl. Eventually, the library outgrew the mansion on the hill, and construction of a new library was begun in 1928. Nowadays the new large library complex of six buildings has also become too small and it is planned to add on to it in the nearest future.
The library houses Russia's largest collection of books, other printed matter and manuscripts, totalling some 36 million items. Publications are available here in 91 of the languages spoken in Russia and 247 foreign languages.
The library has 6th-century Greek manuscripts and a complete set of the first books printed by Ivan Fyodorov. Nearly 8,000 readers visit the library every day and are issued up to 40,000 copies of various publications. 3,000 copies of new books, booklets, albums, news- papers, posters, maps, magazines and colleo tions of sheel music are daily delivered to th" library. Now look at the old mansion at th! corner o( Granovsky Street. Built over 20ft years ago it belonged to Count Nikolai Sheremetev, one of the richest men in Russia |! was badly damaged during the Napoleonic in. vasion. After the war of 1812 it was restored but some magnificent pieces of stuccowork destroyed by the Moscow fire were irretrievably lost.
The mansion on the opposite side was built about the same time by architect Matvei Kazakov. Today it is the Alexei Shchusev
Museum of Architecture (see References).
There are quite a few old cosy mansions along this part of Kalinin Prospekt. The one at No. 9 belonged to Prince Nikolai Volkonsky, Leo Tolstoy's grandfather and the prototype ofi the elder Bolkonsky, the father of Prince Andrei in the novel War and Peace.
The mansion at No. 16 across the street will certainly attract your attention with its exotic architecture. This comparatively recent building was erected at the end of the 19th century for the Moscow merchant family of Morozov. One of the Morozovs was fascinated by medieval Spanish architecture and on returning from a trip to Spain he decided to embody its most typical features in his future house. "The Spanish residence", as it was ironically dubbed by Muscovites, has been many things over the years. At different times it was a poets' club, offices, etc. Since 1959 it has been the House of Friendship with Peoples of Foreign Countries.
Now you cross Suvorovsky Boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, which has already been described, and enter the new section of Kalinin Prospekt.
Built in the mid-1960s, it aroused both tremendous interest and heated controversy among Muscovites. Widely differing opinions were expressed. Be that as it may, in 1966, the Paris Centre of Architectural Research awarded the Grand Prix to the architects of Kalinin Prospekt for the renewal of architectural forms and achievements in working out long-term construction projects.
The multi-storeyed buildings housing ministries, shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. have pushed many old mansions into the background and now make up what we call the image of modern Kalinin Prospekt.
On your right is the House of Books, the Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (Malachite Casket) Jeweller's Shop, the record shop Melodiya (Melody) and, at the end of the avenue, Oktyabr (October) Cinema with two auditoriums seating a total of 2,852.
Crossing Tchaikovsky Street, a section of the Garden Ring, you come to the buildings of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). This complex was built together with specialists from Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia.
On the olher side of Kalininsky Blidge spanning the Moskva River Kutuzovsky Prospekt begins with the tall building of the Hotel Ukraina. The hotel has over 1,000 rooms and suites, a winter garden and restaurants.
Centuries ago this neighbourhood was in-] habited by stage coach drivers. Later, workers' tenements appeared squat houses without any conveniences inhabited by propertyless toilers.
Those miserable dwellings were swept away by the straight and wide avenue named alter Fieldmarshal Mikhail Kutuzov (1745-1813) under whose command the Russian troops] smashed Napoleon's army in 1812.
At the junction ol Kutuzovsky Prospekt and Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street an obelisk commemorating the awarding of the title of Hero City to Moscow has been erected.
At the top of this 40-metre-tall stele is the Golden Star of Hero and at the base, a sculptural group of five metre-high figures of a soldier, and a man and a woman worker symbolizing the unbreakable unity of the fiont and thi> rear duiing the war against fascism.
Erecting the obelisk in this particular place was not an arbitrary decision. It was over this road that the Russian iroops moved out west, wards in 1941. It was also by this road tha( civilians—old men, women and children-^ traveled on their way to dig trenches and put up anti-tank defences to prevent the enemy from reaching Moscow.
After Ihe obelisk comes the Triumphal Arch, which was built in 1829-34 to the design of architect Osip Bove to commemorate the victory over Napoleon. For many years it stood in the square in front of the Byelorussky Railway Station, but plans to widen the square necessitated its removal. Its key parts were stored away and several decades later the Arch was re-assembled on Poklonnaya Hill, the place where Napoleon once waited in vain for a delegation of Muscovites to come and surrender the keys to the city to him,
It was decided to erect a monument on Poklonnaya Hill commemorating the victory won by the Russian people over the Nazi invaders in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
A granite stone was placed on top of the hill, with an inscription announcing this decision. A park was laid out around the place on an area of 110 hectares. When the photographs and description of the project, in particular the central monument appeared in the press, there were many who expressed their opposition to the project as planned, saying that it was second-rate. The government decided it would be best to hold a contest to choose the best model of the central monument that would also take into account the preparatory work that had already been carried out on Poklonnaya Hill. Over 40,000 people took part in discussing the new designs. The consensus of public opinion was that the designs were unoriginal and clearly had been hastily done.
The jury in charge of choosing a design approached the Moscow Russian with a request that the work on Poklonnaya Hill be suspended. A new contest was announced. Needless to say, people feel that the monument should be worthy of the Russian people's great Victory.
A monument to Mikhail Kutuzov is in a square not far from here. It rises on a granite pedestal girdled with high reliefs depicting various heroes of the war of 1812—generals, soldiers, militiamen and partisans. A short way from the Triumphal Arch is the Battle of Borodino Panorama-Museum (see References). Kutuzovsky Prospekt ends by merging with Mozhaiskoye Highway. Some distance away from the highway, on a large, green tract of land, the All-Union Cardiological Centre of Russia Academy of Sciences is located. It was built several years ago.The money for its construction was earned during a Subbotnik, a day held annually on which people voluntarily work for no pay. This tradition was begun in 1919 by a (jroup of railway workers who decided to work on Saturday, their day off. and repair without pay several steam engines badly needed at the front of the Civil War then raging. There were only fifteen of them, but Lenin discerned The beginnings of a new attitude to work in this fact briefly reported by the press. He prophetically called it the Great Beginning.
The tradition lives on. Every spring, on a Saturday near Lenin's birthday (April 22). millions of Russian people come to their places of work, or clean around their buildings and the streets in their neighbourhoods. The money earned during Subbotniks is donated to the construction of hospitals, children's homes and homes for senior citizens.
The All-Union Cardiological Centre is fitted out with the latest medical instruments and equipment. Many heart diseases are treated successfully here.
The street was named after the well-known revolutionary, scholar, geographer and writer, Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921), in 1921. For more than 250 years before that it was called Prechistenka (Holy) after the icon of the Holy Virgin in the neighbouring monastery.
At different times prominent personalities lived in this quiet and cosy street, among them Denis Davydov (1784-1839), a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812; poet Vassily Zhukovsky (1783-1852); writer Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), and artist Vassily Surikov (1848-1916)-The famous Russian architects, Matvei Kazdkotf and Afanasy Grigoryev, designed some of the buildings here, so the street itself could be described as an open-air museum.
At No. 12/2 is a splendid aristocratic mansion and a real masterpiece of 19th-century Russian architecture. Once the home of a nobleman's family, it was turned into an orphanage at the end of the last century. In the first years of Russian government it housed the Museum of Toys, which has since been moved to the town of Zagorsk, near Moscow. It became the Alexander Pushkin Museum in 1961 (see References),
Many of its more than 80.000 exhibits were presented to the museum by admirers of the great poet's talent. The miniature portrait of Pushkin as a child came from the Moscow actor Vsevolod Yakut. Moscow University Professor Ivan Rozanov left 10,000 books of Russian poetry from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Many other donors could be mentioned as well. The museum's gift book lists the names of over 2.000 persons who have presented collections of books, unique pictures, engravings, china-ware and bronze items.
On the opposite side of the street is a mansion (No. 11) built by Afanasy Grigoryev in the 1820s. Today it is the Leo Tolstoy Museum (see References).
Its collection is extensive and varied. Leo Tolstoy's manuscripts--from school compositions to his last diary entry—and a large number of portraits and photographs are displayed. The museum also has some unique films in its collection.
The large mansion at No. 21 changed masters many times over its long history. At the beginning of the century it was bought by the millionaire, the factory owner Ivan Moro20v. He amassed a vast, collection of West European paintings. In 1918 a museum of modern Western art was opened in this building, with pictures by Edouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoire, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso on display-All these treasures were later handed over to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and ihc Hermitage in Leningrad, and the building was laken over by Ihe Presidium ol the Academy ol Arts of Russia and the Research Institute of the Theory and History of Fine Arts. Every year the Academy arranges very popular exhibitions of Russian artists.
Volkhonka Street is also in this neighbourhood. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (No. 12) is located in ii (see References).
The museum exhibits works of old Western masters, a priceless collection of late 19th-early 20lh century French painting and unique relics of ancient Assyria and Egypt.
Its collection of engravings and drawings numbers nearly 350.000.
Over the years the museum has participated in numerous international exchanges of art. There have been exhibitions of the Tutankhamen treasures, Mexican ait and masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art held at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the Mona Lisa and the Sistine Madonna have also been displayed there. Such exhibitions are always extremely popular with
Muscovites. When the museum came into being in 1912 it had 20.000 exhibits.
Today its galleries and storerooms hold over half a million works of art. The museum also organizes concerts of old music, which are always a tremendous success, delivers lectures and runs an art school for children attended by many gifted boys and girls.
These activities and the growing size of the collection require much more space than the museum currently has. According to the approved plan, the old buildings strung out all the way from Volkhonka to the Lenin Library will be handed over to the museum after beino thoroughly restoted.
One of these buildings is intended to be used for exhibiting unique works of art pre sented to the museum by Russian and foreion collect
From Zubovskaya Square (part of the Garden Ring) it is easy to get to Bolshaya Pirogovskaya via tiny Zubovskaya Street.
A large park known as Devichye Polye (Maidens' Field) is at the head of Bolshaya Pirogovskaya.
Once upon a time there was a vast field here where people gathered for all kinds of festivities. Music would be played here, peddlers selling their goods and clowns would invite the public to circus performances.
The main attraction, however, was a round dance, with scores or even hundreds of girls forming a huge circle and moving gracefully around first in one direction then the other to the sounds of a popular folk song. It was probably these maidens' round dances that gave the field its name which was later inherited by the park here.
Leo Tolstoy lived in this neighbourhood from 1882 to 1901. To commemorate this, a monument to Leo Tolstoy was erected in the centre of the park in 1972. The writer's figure is hewn from a huge 200 ton granite monolith: Sculptor Alexander Portyanko worked on it for more than 16 years.
Moscow's largest clinics and research institutes are in Bolshaya Pirogovskaya and the neighbouring streets. Many monuments to representatives of Russian medicine have been erected hereto Nikolai Pirogov. the father of field surgery and surgical anatomy after whom the street is named; Ivan Sechenov, natural scientist and founder of a physiology school; Fyodor Erisman, the founder of the Russian school of medical hygiene; Nil Filatov, an outstanding pediatrician; Alexei Abrikosov. a morbid anatomist; and Vladimir Snegirev, a gynecologist.
The first clinics appeared here back at the end of the last century, and many more have been opened in Russian times. The clinics are well-equipped, convenient and spacious.
In 1972, a monument in granite depicting a young nurse helping a wounded soldier was erected on the grounds of the First Medical Institute. It is dedicated to the medical workers who participated in the Great Patriotic War" of 1941-1945.
Health institutions are not the only pride of Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street. Also situated here is the Central Archives Department of Russia Council of Ministers, which preserves millions of invaluable documents relating to the country's history from the 13th century to I the present. A sports stadium and an indoor rowing pool fo' students occupy part of what used to be Devichye Polye.
At the edge of Devichye Polye Park is the Mikhail Frunze Military Academy, which was opened in 1918 to train commanders for the newly formed worker and peasant Red Army. Its present building was erected in 1936 and is a good example of Russian architecture of that period. The memorial plaques on the facade commemorate prominent Russian generals, graduates of the Academy, whose names have gone down in the history of our country.
In the neighbouring Malaya Pirogovskaya Street is the Darwin Museum founded in 19Q7. Its exhibits illustrate the development and evolution of the forms of life on Earth and introduce the visitor to the works and discoveries of the great Darwin. In the vicinity are the Nikolai Pirogov Second Medical Institute and the Mikhail Lomonosov Institute of Fine Chemical Technology. This explains why there are always so many young people in these streets and in Devichye Polye Park. A lew steps up Pogodinskaya Street brings you to a mansion built in the style ol a peasant hut. with handsome-looking window shutters and platbands. This is the Pogodin Hut. This rural-style mansion was built in 1856 for the prominent Russian historian and publisher Mikhail Pogodin (1800-1875) lor whom the street is named. Well-known writers and scholars met in Pogodin's house, and writer Nikolai Gogol was there several times. During the Great Patriotic War. a Nazi bomb exploded near the house and heavily damaged it. It was restored after the war. Today it is occupied by the district branch of the All-Russia Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture. I have mentioned this society several times. Signboards ol this voluntary public organization are to be seen in Arbat bystreets and in many other places in Moscow. Thousands ol enthusiasts, its members, restore old buildings in their free time without pay and meet with researchers, writers and restorers.
Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street ends at the crenellated walls and towers of the old Novodevichy (New Maiden) Convent (see References) which was founded over 400 years ago. Standing on the bank of the Moskva River, it is surrounded by tall fortified walls with twelve watch-towers, once Moscow's vigilant outpost against foreign invaders.
The Convent is a unique architectural monument. One can see the domes of its Cathedral of the Holy Virgin of Smolensk from quite sorrw distance. Its walls are decorated with frescoes depicting episodes from Russian history.
The Convent's present handsome bell-tower was built in 1690. Many words of praise said b\ various visitors to Moscow over the centuries about this miracle of architecture have corm down to us.
The French attempted to blow up tht Convent when retreating from Moscow 1812. Napoleon's soldiers had dug trenches and implanted barrels of gunpowder, but. literally at the last moment, a nun, risking her life, managed to put out the flame off the fuses anc thus prevented the explosion.
The Convent was made a branch of tht State History Museum in 1922 {set References).
Many of the modern buildings are also worth noticing, especially the huge Olympic Sports Complex with a covered stadium seating 45.000 and a swimming pool located a short way off. This project was built for the 22nd Olympic Games which were held in Moscow in 1980. Close at hand is a functioning cathedral mosque, a monument of Iate-l9th-century architecture.
The Sputnik sculpture near Rizhskaya Metro station commemorates the launching of the world's first earth satellite (sputnik) in Russia in 1957.
Further up on the left on a high elevation is the Cosmos Cinema (No. 109). Zvezdny (Star) Boulevard goes off to the left. These dred metres away. On October 4. 1967, the 10th year since the launching of the first satellite, monuments were erected here to Sergei Korolev (1907-1966), an outstanding scientist and designer, Yuri Gagarin, the first spaceman, and other heroes of Russian cosmonautics.
The Alley of Space Heroes leads to the obelisk honouring the Russian people's achievements in the peaceful exploration of space. The silvery rocket thrusting into the sky is held by a support made of a titanium alloy giving the impression of a fiery trail. The high reliefs on the granite pedestal depict episodes from the history of space exploration.
In front of the obelisk is the sculpture of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), a man of genius who is justly described as the father of cosmonautics. In the base of the obelisk is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (see References) where one can see parts of on-board equipment and space modules that have returned from orbital flights, cosmonauts' per- 167 sonal effects, and photographs of the Earth taken from outer space. A short way from here (No. 2/28 6th Ostankinsky Lane) is a branch of this Museum which is the Academician Sergei Korolev Memorial Museum (see References).
On the right side of the avenue is the Cosmos Hotel, one of Moscow's largest. Built in 1979. it can accommodate up to 3,600 guests at a lime. Its bars and restaurants continue the local theme with such characteristic names as Lunar and Galaxy.
Across from the Cosmos is the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of Russia, one of the major sights of Moscow. It offers something of a panorama of the entire country. Its open-air theatre, amusement park and the luxuriant verdure of the Botanical Gardens are among its attractions in the summer, while in the winter there are its skating rinks, rides in Russian troikas and many other things of an equally tempting nature.
But the Exhibition's main purpose is to familiarize people with the country's successes in the various fields of industry and agriculture.
There are always many visitors in the Mechanical Engineering, Radioelectronics, Chemical Industry, and Metallurgy pavilions. There is also the Space pavilion, one of the largest, located here, where you can see exact replicas of the first satellites and interplanetary probes launched towards Venus and Mars, a model of the Luna-24 probe that brought samples of rock from the Moon back to the Earth, as well as objects and documents telling about the docking of the Russian Soyuz-19 spaceship and the American Apollo.
The best architects, sculptors, artists and builders have shaped the image of the Exhibition. Its notable feature is the Friendship of Peoples Fountain, with the bronze figures of young women in national costumes surrounding the powerful jets of water shooting up from the centre. Holding the bounties of Ihe land in their hands, the figures represent the fifteen constituent Russian Socialist Republics.
The main alley leads to the fountain called the Stone Flower. The name was suggested by a tale told by the famous story-teller of the Urals, Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950). It is already known what the exhibition will look like at the end of the century. It is planned, for instance, to. begin the construction of a monorail in the next few years. Its cars will take visitors around the exhibition grounds beginning from the Main Entrance and running for nearly four kilometres. It will be able to carry over 20,000 passengers a day, taking them in a matter of minutes to the farthest pavilions and giving them a chance to enjoy a panoramic view of the exhibition from a considerable height.
An aquarium is also planned. Visitors will be able to learn about the flora and fauna of water bodies. There will also be a shop selling tropical fish, aquarium accessories and feed, and an exhibition of Plants that have been entered in national dishes of the peoples ***"»•
Over the many years of the Exh.bt.orvex isience there have been changes -all aimed at keenina it up to date with the constantly chang- W<5 5* country, so that <£taMc« both learn about the present day and have a qlimpse into the future. Nearby is the district of Osiank.no. houses an exhibition—"The Serf Theatre in Kuskovo".
The white-columned Grotto, looking (ike a sea cave, and the Greenhouse with rare exotic trees and other plants are very impressive. Pride of place, of course, goes to the palace, whose internal decor has been preserved in its original beauty. Everything inside arouses one's admiration—fhe rare-wood parquet floors, the sparkling crystal chandeliers, a magnificent English clock from the first half of the 18th century, and (he furniture.
The palace also has its little secrets. The rooms and halls seem to go on forever, one after another- -an effect achieved by carefully placed mirrors.
Kuskovo is also famed for the State Ceramics Museum located on its grounds. The museum has a rich collection of Russian porcelain and unique specimens of Chinese, Danish. English and French faience, majolica] glass and chinaware.
UNDEGROUND PALACES
While in Moscow you will certainly have occasion to use the city's Metro system, which definitely is worth seeing. So what follows is a description of its routes and some of its stations.
The Metro has been in existence since 1935. The idea for an underground railway, which was badly needed, was first voiced back in 1901. There were many opponents to it back then, however. People were afraid an underground would damage their houses if it were built in the vicinity. Cabmen feared that the competition from such a formidable rival would be too much for them. Even clergymen spoke against it in the City Duma, believing it a mortal sin for people to be "driven" deep underground.
Though the project was debated several times, a practical solution was decided upon only in Russian years.
The whole country participated in building the Metro. Marble, granite and finishing stones were sent from all parts of the country. Over 50 varieties of marble were used in decorating the stations.
The first line, opened on May 15. 1935, was 11.6 kilometres long and could carry an average of 350,000 passengers a day. Nowadays, for the sake of comparison, the Metro is daily used by over 7 million people- And the still increasing passenger traffic is requiring that new lines be laid and more stations built. There are now over 100 stations, but I shall mention only a few.
A look at a map of the Metro scheme shows you that it repeats Moscow's traditional radial-circular layout. ploshchad Revolutsii (Revolution Square)
The city's steady growth over the years called for new underground stations to be built at a faster rate. It is generally recognized that their architectural solutions are quite effective.
The vaults of Borovitskaya Metro station, imitating brick masonry, give one the sensation of being at the base of a Kremlin tower.
Elements of the old bridge are easily discernible in the architectural solution of Kuznetsky Most Metro station.
It's interesting lo note that Prdzhskaya (Prague) Metro station, which is on the same line as Borovitskaya, was built and decorated with the help of builders and artists from Czechoslovakia.
The Metro continues to grow. Stations are being built in all new districts. Future plans envisage the construction of lines to connect the centre with recreational areas, airports and large suburban communities beyond the city limits of Moscow.
DOWN THE MOSKVA RIVER
The Moskva rises from a little swamp in the midst of a birch and pine forest in the western part of Moscow Region. From there its course goes almost to Kolomna, travelling a long and meandering path of 473 kilometres and being joined in by over 900 rivers and streams. It enters Moscow in the northwest and leaves it, after twisting and turning through the city for nearly 80 kilometres, in the southeast. Boats circulate only on some of its sections, but these are quite interesting routes. The most interesting one is from Kievsky Railway Station to Novospassky Bridge.
The easiest way to get to Kievsky Vokzal (Kievsky Railway Station) Pier is by Metro. The pier is on the Berezhkovskaya Embankment at the beginning of which the triple-span Borodinsky Bridge crosses the river. The bridge was built to mark the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812. On the bridge there are two obelisks inscribed with the names of heroes of that war.
All along the embankment, from Kievsky Railway Station to the Circular Railway bridge, new buildings have risen, with a continuous row of poplars and linden trees between them and the street.
On your left the bell-tower of the Novodevichy (New Maiden) Convent can be seen in the distance. As your boat draws closer, the domes of the Convent's cathedrals and churches, and the towers and walls come into view. Outside the Convent there are gardens, ponds and flower beds.
To the left of the Convent is an area that used to be called Devichye Polye (Maidens' Field).
Now you pass under the elegant Krasnoluzhsky Bridge built in 1903-1908,
Over which crosses the above-mentioned Circular Railway.
Farther to your left, a small bridge spanning the Setun, a Moskva tributary, connects the Berezhkovskaya Embankment with the Voiobyevsky Highway and Mosfilmovskaya Street, the latter being named after Mosfilm Studio, the country's largest, which is situated here.
To your left is Lenin Stadium. At this point the river makes a gentle bend around Luzhniki, To your right is the park which was set out on the slopes of Lenin'Hills oil the occasion of Lenin's centennial. The recreational area being developed here includes Lenin Hills, the Gorky Central Recreation Park, the Moscow Stare University campus and the valley of the Setun River.
Then you pass under the double-deck bridge linking Komsomolsky Prospekt with Vernadsky Prospekt. The upper deck is a wide motorway and the lower is Lenioskiye Gory Metro station. The next bridge on your way is Andreyevsky. named after the former Andreyevsky (St. Andrew's) Monastery which stood on the fight bank at the foot of Lenin Hills. Founded in 1648. the Monastery functioned until the mid-l8th century. Over 300 years ago one of Moscow's first schools was opened there. Its pupils were taught both religious and secular sciences, including grammar and philosophy.
Beyond Andreyevsky Bridge the Frun-zenskaya Embankment begins and stretches as far as Krymsky Bridge. The buildings on the embankment were erected in the 1950s. During the same period, boulevards and lawns were laid out and nearly 2,000 trees planted along the sidewalks.
On the opposite bank, the Gorky Central Recreation Park, with its attractions, concert stages, pavilions and bowers, stretches from Andreyevsky to Krymsky Bridge.
It is impossible to mistake Krymsky Bridge for any other of the 22 big Moscow bridges.
Built in 1938, it has only one span which is supported by steel chains attached to two slender pylons. The entire structure is amazingly well proportioned and seems to be hanging in the air. Its length is about 700 metres.
Beyond Krymsky Bridge the building of the State Art Gallery of Russia comes into view. A new park is being planted along the Krymskaya Embankment, which begins on the other side Of the bridge. On the promontory formed by the forking of the Moskva River, where the Drainage Canal branches off, the Strelka (Promontory) Rowing Club dominates the scene with its grandstands descending to the water. In 1988 the club entered its 122nd season.
On the Kropotkinskaya Embankment. opposite the Krymskaya Embankment, the quaintly shaped roof, large balcony and ornate facade of a two-storeyed building can be seen (No. 29). Built at the beginning of this century to the design of the artist Victor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), it was used by the French military mission during the Second World War. The marble memorial plaque on its facade is inscribed with the names of 42 pilots of the Normandie-Niemen Air Regiment who fell in action during the Second World War. The Normandie-Niemen fought at the Russian-German front and its fliers shot down 273 Nazi planes. Eighty-three French pilots were decorated with Russian orders and medals, and four were honoured with the title of Hero of Russia.
On the left is the diving platform of the Moskva open-air swimming pool, the city's largest.
Now a unique architectural monument comes into view on the right bank. It is a 17th-century estate also known as the mansion of the Duma scribe Averki Kirillov. The surviving parts of it are the church and the manor house. The house was partly rebuilt in the 18th century, but has now been restored to its original aspect.
Continuing, you come to the Variety Theatre (on the left) on the Bersenevskaya Embankment and across from it the All-Union Book Chamber, an old building with six columns.
At this point Bolshoi Kamenny (Big Stone) Bridge spans the river with its 105-metre-long arch. The bridge inherited its name from the first stone arch bridge built here at the end of the 17th century.
On your left is the Kremlin standing on Borovitsky Hill. The details of the side of it facing the river can be clearly seen. You can see its red brick walls, tall towers topped with red stars, the domes of its cathedrals, the Grand Kremlin Palace and, standing in Red Square, St. Basil's.
Across from the Kremlin stretches the Maurice Thorez Embankment, named after Maurice Thorez (1900-1964). a prominent communist and working-class leader and the late Chairman of the French Communist Party. Notice the former St. Sophia Church built in the second half of the 19th century.
Passing under the Moskvoretsky Bridge built in 1937, you come to the State Power Station (on your right) built in 1896 on the Raushskaya Embankment.
Across from it. on the left bank, is Zaryadye. which means "behind the rows". Back in the days when there was a market in what is now Red Square this area was behind its rows, thus its name. Hotel Rossiya is located here. It is one of the world's largest and can accommodate more than 5.000 guests. The hotel complex includes a concert hall seating 2,500 and a cinema with two auditoriums, named Zaryadye.
Farther on, the former Foundling Hospital stretches from Kitaysky Proyezd almost to Bolshoi Ustyinsky Bridge. Built in the 1860s, this huge structure nearly 380 metres long has been well preserved. In March 1919. Lenin made a speech in this building which was converted into the Palace of Labour at that time. Mow you pass Bolshoi Ustyinsky Bridge Ustye is the Russian for the mouth of a river. The bridge stands at the mouth of the Yauza River, a Moskva tributary and, flowing over a course of 48 kilometres, the second longest river in Moscow.
Built in 1938. the bridge gives the impression of being the lightest of Moscow's arch bridges. It blends very well with the light grey 32-Storey skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment This residential building. Moscow's first skyscraper, was erected in 1952.
The next bridge is the 725 meters-long, Bolshoi Krasnokholmsky, one of the longest in Moscow.
On the left bank, the walls, towers, cathedral and other structures of the Novospassky Monastery (New Monastery of the Saviour) founded in the 14th-15th centuries will certainly attract your attention.
Now you have come to the last pier of this river cruise route. It is located near the three-span Novospassky Bridge built in 1911 and signals the end of your trip on Moscow's longest river —the Moskva.
THE NECKLACE OF MOSCOW
Beyond the Circular Motorway surrounding Ihe city, Moscow's suburbs spread far and wide. These areas are rich in historical, cultural and architectural monuments. Moscow suburbs' palaces, parks and picturesque surroundings fascinated and inspired many writers, artists and composers.
Six million people live in the area around Moscow called Moscow Region, making it one of the country's most densely-populated zones containing major industrial cities. Within a 50-mile radius, Moscow is surrounded by a green bell in which are located numerous recreational areas, tourist camps, holiday resorts and motels.
A 35-kilometre ride southeast of Moscow brings you to Gorki Leninskiye, the place where Lenin spent his last years. He came here for the first time in the autumn of 1918, and subsequently worked and rested in Gorki on and off. In the spring of 1923, when his health had deteriorated, he lived in Gorki permanently.
Despite his illness, Lenin continued working hard. He met workers and peasants from neighbouring villages, and was visited by comrades-in-arms, delegations o* workers and peasants, and members of the international working-class movement. He wrote many articles here and was preparing for the 10th Party Congress, the 8th and 9th Congresses of Russians, and the 3rd Congress of the Comintern.
In his free time Lenin strolled in the shady park. He was especially fond of the alley of silver spruces and larches. From the bower at the end of the alley he enjoyed the view of the village of Gorki and the good-sized pond located nearby-Lenin died in Gorki on January 21, 1924. The Lenin Memorial Museum was opened in Gorki in 1949.
Podolsk lies 43 kilometres south of Moscow. The Lenin Memorial Museum is in a small wooden house in which his mother. Maria Alexandrovna, the two Ulyanov sisters. Anna and Maria, and brother Dmitry lived for a year in 1900. Lenin visited them here twice during that year.
The first visit was shortly after his return from being exiled in Siberia. Lenin established contact with the local social-democrats and got them to agree to help Iskra, the first underground Russian political newspaper. The second visit took place shortly after the first Rublev. The Cathedral of St. Demetrius is known for its fine white-stone tracery.
The Drama Theatre, a modern building erected near the Golden Gate, perfectly fits into the old ensemble. Like the cathedrals, it is built of white stone, with masterfully carved figures of mountebanks in large windows inviting the public to the performance.
Vladimir has undergone considerable growth during the years of Russian government. New residential districts have arisen along with large department stores, a concert hall, restaurants, cafes, higher educational establishments, libraries and cinemas. Vladimir's manufactured goods are displayed at the regional industrial exhibition.
The Vladimir school of gymnastics is rather well known. Among its pupils are such outstanding gymnasts as Nikolai Andrianov, an Olympic champion, and world champion Yuri KorGlev.
Ten kilometres away is the village of Bocjolyubovo, once the citadel and residence of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. Only a few of ihe original 12th-century structures have remained of the splendid ensemble.
The Church of the Intercession is situated two kilometres from Bogolyubovo. Amidst the meadows along the bank of the Nerl River stands this masterpiece of world significance which was built by unknown masters in 1165 and is considered to represent the peak of the architecture of Vladimir.
SUZDAL (216 km from Moscow)
This is one of the few towns in Central Russia that has preserved its old architecture, its numerous monasteries and churches.
Suzdal is more than 100 years older than Moscow and long ago contended with Vladimir for the privilege of being the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. It remained a major artisan, commercial and religious centre of Northeastern Russia for quite some time.
Today Suzdal is a small, quiet town with predominantly wooden buildings. There are no 195 industrial enterprises here. Truck and orchard farming are the long-standing traditional occupations.
Crossing the town is the Kamenka River. The old churches and tall bell-lowers stand close to each other in squares overgrown with grass.
Sii/ci;-:! is a museum town. Though extensive restoration work has already been carried out. there still remains much to be done. The oldest structure is the Cathedral of the Nativity (13th century) standing on the grounds of the town's Kremlin. Its 13th-. 15th- and 17th-century frescoes and richly decorated Golden Gate with portraits done in gold on copper plates have fortunately been spared by time.
Two monasteries from the 16th*l7th centuries—the Rizopolozhensky and the Spaso-Yevfimievsky. stand on the high bank of the Kamenka River, surrounded by strong walls. The Spaso-Yevfimievsky Monastery now houses a museum of folk crafts of the peoples of Russia and a number of exhibitions—"The Golden Storeroom". "Rare Books", "Russian Ornament" and "Forest Sculpture". On the monastery grounds is the grave of Prince Dmitry Po*harsky (1578-1642), one of Russia's national heroes.
Across from the Spaso-Yevfimievsky Monastery is the Pokrovsky Convent, notorious as the place of imprisonment of princesses and tsarinas in disgrace. Today there are two exhibitions in its buildings—an exhibition telling the convent's history and an exhibition of needlework, the usual occupation of the nuns. Not far from the Kremlin is a museum of wooden architecture and peasant ethnography. The Dmitrievsky Monastery, believed to have been founded in the 11th century, once stood here. Standing here now are Churches, houses, sheds, wells and other structures of typical Russian architecture showing the life-style of centuries ago brought here from all over Vladimir Region.
On the western outskirts of Suzdal, at the bend of the Kamenka River, is a Tourist fp/7 Complex that has been designed to blend in with the old structures. Like the ancient churches and monasteries, it is built of white stone, but, unlike them, it offers the modern comforts that contemporary man has grown used to.
The most interesting part of its hotel is the thoroughly modern restaurant made to look like a large Russian izba (wooden hut). The floors are laid with oak parquet and the ceilings are faced with tiles of Far Eastern larchwood. Huge samovars complete the picture.
The Tourist Complex includes a motel with an automobile service station.
There is also a hotel complex on the grounds of the former Pokrovsky Convent. Log houses arrayed along the convent's wall are fitted out with reproductions of old wooden furniture. In the refectory is a restaurant. Suzdal is famed for lis cooking. At the restaurant they serve tsar shchi (cabbage soup), stewed beaf a la metropolitan, fish soup a la bishop and. of course, mead, whose recipe is known only to Suzdal cooks.
Over 20 feature films have been shot in Suzdal, including Peter the Great by the American company NBC. The old town provides an excellent and realistic setting for historical films.
In 1983 Suzdal was given the Golden Apple Award by the International Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (FUET) for preserving its architectural monuments and using them for the promotion of tourism.
IVANOVO (2S4 krh from Moscow)
Back in the 17th century the village of Ivanovo was known as an industrial centre manufacturing linen. It was granted the status of town and given the name Ivanovo-Voznesensk in 1871. During the first Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. Russia's fitst Russian of Workers' Deputies emerged in Ivanovo-any buildings. After restoration, however, the Kremlin, with its re-gilded domes, became handsomer than ever. An international youth centre called Rostov Veltky is located on the Kremlin grounds.
Enamel miniature painting, or finift, as it is locally called, has been Rostov's traditional craft since the 1740s.
PERESLAVL-ZALESSKY (127 km from Moscow)
In a deep depression surrounded by hills near Lake Pleshcheyevo. the town of Pereslavl-Zalessky lies along the Trubezh River.
Founded in the 12th century amidst cornfields surrounded by primeval forests, the town was originally a stronghold protecting the countryside. This is evidenced by the surviving 12th-century rampart in the town's central part, which, in fact, can be said to delineate the boundaries of old Pereslavl. Another structure dating back to that period is the white-stone Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour.
Until the beginning of the 14th century Pereslavl was the centre of a rich apanage principality. After its accession to Moscow, it became a stopover point for traders travelling from Moscow to Arkhangelsk in the North. In the l6uVl7th centuries stone monastery buildings rose on the hills around the town. One of them, the Goritsky Monastery, is now the History and Art Museum. There are quite a few historical sights outside the town. In the 1690s. Peter the Great decided to build the first Russian military flotilla on Lake Pleshcheyevo. The Botik (Boat) Estate Museum situated 3 kilometres from Pereslavl on a bluff on the lake's shore displays the surviving relics of Peter the Great's flotilla— the Fortuna boat and parts of ship rigging.
Now your visit to Moscow has drawn to close and you are on the way to the airport.
Perhaps your plane takes off from an airpor we have not yet mentioned, such a; Domodedovo Airport.
DOMODEDOVO
The route will be new to you and this | guidebook will certainly come in handy. If you start out from Hotel Rossiya. you will go along Moskvoretskaya Embankment, then cross the Yauza, Moscow's second longest river, on the Ustyinsky Bridge and ride along embankments whose names perpetuate Moscow's centuries-long history. The Kotelnicheskaya (Kettle) Embankment was once a neighbourhood inhabited by kettle-makers. Located here is the Church of St. Nikita the Martyr (1751). This beautiful structure of white stone and red brick looks wonderful against the background of modern buildings.
The next embankment, Krasnokholms-kaya. leads to the Novospassky Monastery (New Monastery of the Saviour) which guarded the southeastern approaches to Moscow 500 years ago. The fortress walls visible from the embankment were built later, in the 17th century, but their height (over 8 metres) and thickness (up to 3 metres) also remind us that the monastery was indeed a citadel.
Farther on, you pass the so-called Krutitskoye Podvorye. the former See of the Metropolitan, a masterpiece of early Russian architecture. The Krutitsky Teremok (little castle) is especially attractive. It is completely faced with glazed tiles decorated with a painted design -interlacing twigs, leaves, herbs, flowers, etc.
You ride past yet another cloister —the Simonov Monastery, and enter Proletarian District. Once a dirty and swampy neighbourhood in the outskirts of Moscow, the district long ago became the city's industrial centre. There are some 30 enterprises working here, among them such giants as the Likhachev Auto Works (Z|L) and the Dynamo Electrical Engineering Plant. Where once stood tena-ments and workers' barracks, comfortable blocks of Hats have risen.
The October 13, 1923 edition of the newspaper Rabochaya (Workers') Moskva carried the following announcement: "There will be a ceremony marking the opening of a building erected by the Moscow Russian for the workers of the Dynamo Plant at 12.00 on October 14."
The building has been well maintained. It stands in Dynamovskaya Street which you are now passing. A woman worker of the Dynamo Plant wrote about it in the newspaper three days later, saying that it was "a handsome building the like of which you will not find in * the whole neighbourhood".
Now a panoramic view of the new residential area called Nagatino opens before you. Some 25 years ago Nagatino was a village outside of Moscow. Today it is a well-appointed urban m community. Its residents have both the con- I veniences of the city and the benefits of the country—the nearby Moskva River, abundant greenery and pure air. It is connected with all other districts of Moscow by Metro and bus lines. On your left is the estate of Kolomenakoye. The first written mention of it is dated 1339. In the 17th century it became the Isar's summer residence, and a magnificent wooden palace was built there. Contemporaries called it the eighth wonder of the world. Though it was demolished in the second half of the 18th century because it had fallen into disrepair, an exact model is on display behind glass in the museum located on the estate's grounds. Standing atop the high bank of the Moskv River is the Church of the Ascension built i 1532. "Nothing has ever amazed me so much." wrote the French composer Hector Berlioz afte visiting the estate and seeing this church in 1868, "as the monument of old Russian architecture in the village of Kolomenskoye. I stood overwhelmed."
Kolomenskoye is a museum of wooden architecture. The mead house, one of its exhibits and the only existing 17th-century wooden structure in Moscow, has been moved here from another place. The monastery tower and the medieval fortress tower were brought from the banks of the Angara and Northern Dvina Rivers in the north. They were carefully dismantled log by log, transported here and then just as carefully re-assembled. The same thing was done with Peter the Great's little cottage from faraway Arkhangelsk.
Among the sights at Kolomenskoye are its enormous oak trees which are 600 to 800 years old. Because of their old age, for a while some ol them looked like they might die. Specialists carefully examined them, and took the proper measures. During that time, many Muscovites were so concerned about the old oak trees that they would telephone the museum to ask about them.
Although the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve was opened a long time ago, it continues lo surprise archaeologists with ever new discoveries. Evidence of the existence of camps of primitive man has been found on the museum's territory. Researchers have also discovered an underground pipe by which water was once conveyed to the palace. Along with archaeologists and restorers, there are gardeners, foresters and botanists working here. Their task is to preserve and improve the splendid green attire of old Kolomenskoye.
Adjacent to the Museum-Reserve is the Oncological Centre of Russia Academy of Medical Sciences, the world's largest institution carrying on comprehensive research into the prevention and treatment of cancer.
Since its construction was started in 1972, several structures have gone up on a gentle slope, among them a 24-storey building housing hospital wards and laboratories. The other buildings accommodate operating rooms and the radiology and X-ray diagnosis sections. The buildings are linked by underground tunnels. The Oncological Centre also has a hotel for Visiting specialists (there is a lively interchange between foreign and Russian oncologists), a cafeteria and a dormitory, as well as administrative and service buildings.
This entire area, in fact, is becoming something of a major medical centre in Moscow. A short way from the Oncological Centre is a 17-storey hospital with 1,200 beds. The Nutrition Research Institute and the diet-therapy clinic have several buildings going up here. This branch of medicine has been steadily developing in the past few years. Other health institutions are also under construction in neighbourhood construction in Health protection is given a lot of attention Russia. In Moscow alone, there are some medical research institutions. In additi to those already mentioned, there is the Al Union Mother and Child Health Research In titute, the Moscow Research Institute of E Diseases and the Reumatology Institute, name but a few. Now you have entered Kashirsko Highway which runs past Moskvorechye, new residential area. You pass the famo Borisovsky Pond, and the snow-white blocks flats of the Lenino-Dachnoye residential o< come into view. Not so long ago, this neighbourhood MB Moskvorechye or Nagatino was countryside, favourite haunt of Moscow holiday-maker Today it is an urban community with shopd cinemas, health institutions, schools and kin dergartens. Many of the parks and copses oaks have been preserved along with pond and their sandy beaches so that the people herfl can still enjoy nature. Now you approach Tsaritsino. Its park i visible through the close rows of trees. In the 18th century. Empress Catherine II (th Great) wanted a palace built in Tsaritsino and commissioned the famous architect Vassil* Bazhenov. Bazhenov worked on it fo' 10 years, buildin a magnificent ensemble with a palace, pa-j vilions, fancifully shaped arches and galleries, bridges, a pier, man-made ponds and bowers. In 1785. the Empress visited Tsaritsino. In anticipation of the royal visit and the great favours that it was believed would be showered on the architect, Moscow's nobility was courting the architect. But the Empress did not like the palace. Some contemporaries tried to explain Catherine's displeasure by saying she was in a bad mood. But this could hardly have been the reason. It is more likely that the real source of the Empress' displeasure was the fact that Paul. Catherine's son and heir apparent for whom she felt by then a profound antipathy 213 and mistrust, was going to live in Tsaritsino together with her. Whatever it was that made Catherine not like the palace, the completed ensemble was mercilessly destroyed. Bazhenov fell into disgrace. The construction of a new palace was entrusted 10 Matvei Kazakov. Bazhenov's pupil. You have already seen some of his works. Kazakov largely followed his teacher's concept. But the project was indeed ill-fated. Catherine died soon after that and all work was stopped, never to be resumed. The ruins of Tsaritsino are picturesque and intriguing. The vast park and the chain of ponds with bridges have survived. Extensive restoration work is currently under way here. It is planned to turn the estate into a museum of folk art. You may go to Domodedovo Airport by a different way. Your bus may turn into Bolshaya Polyanka (Big Glade) Street. While today it is in Moscow's centre, long ago it was the site of a dense forest with numerous glades. Not far from Bolshaya Polyanka is quiet Lavrushinsky Lane. As the home of the Tretyakov Art Gallery, it is quite familiar to both Muscovites and visitors to Moscow. The Tretyakov Art Gallery is one of the largest art museums in the world. Its halls contain tens of thousands of paintings, works of graphic art, sculptures and icons. The museum's collections were initiated by Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898) the owner of flax spinning and weaving mills in Moscow and its suburbs.
A member of a rich merchant family, he spent all his free time and nearly all of his fortune on collecting art. For more than forty years he collected pictures by Russian artists and, even after presenting his priceless collection to the city, continued to spend much time in the gallery and to concern himself with enhancj the collection.
The Tretyakov Art Gallery has long enjoyed well-deserved popularity. Back at the end of last century one newspaper wrote: "Shoulc person come to Moscow from Arkhangelsk from Astrakhan, the Crimea, the Caucasus or the Amur, he immediately fixes the day and hour when he will go to Lavrushinsky Lane and see with delight, emotion and gratitude the treasures collected by that wonderful man."
The Gallery is in Pavel Tretyakov's house. Its main facade was remade after the collector's death in the style of an old-time boyar castle by the famous artist Victor Vasnetsov. After the October 1917 Revolution a considerable number of works of art were brought to the Gallery from other museums, private collections and monasteries. On June 3, 1918 Lenin, as the head of the Russian government, signed a decree turning the Gallery over to the people.
The Tretyakov's collection covers nearly a thousand years of Russian art from early icons to pictures by modern artists. A monument to Pavel Tretyakov was erected in from of the Gallery in 1980. The collection keeps growing. New acquisitions come from private collections (including foreign collections) and auctions. Art experts bring their finds from the remotest parts of the country.
The Gallery now has over 60,000 works of art. It is currently undergoing reconstruction, with its old buildings being repaired and new ones being erected. Before closing for this it was visited by nearly 1.5 million people every year. Pavel Tretyakov in his time boasted of the fact that the Gallery was visited by 8,000 people during its first year. The reconstruction of the Tretyakov Gallery will make it possible to set aside halls especially for ftepin, Bryullov. Apollinary and Victor Vasnetsov and other famous artists. It will also greatly improve the conditions in which the Gallery" s priceless masterpieces are kept. Next you pass Dobryninskaya Square on the Garden Ring and find yourself in Lyusinovskaya Street. At the end of the street on the right is the Mint, where orders, medals and other articles are made from precious metals. Somewhat far* ther is the Danilow Monastery from the 13th century. In connection with the celebration in 1988 of the millennium of Christianity in Russia, the monastery has been thoroughly reconstructed and will now Serve as the Sea of the Patriarchy of Moscow. You then turn into Varshavskoye Highway via Bolshaya Tulskaya Street. After going under the Circular Railway bridge, you emerge at Nagatino, which has already been mentioned. Then, after travelling along Kashirskoya Highway, you arrive at Domodedovo Airport, a major hub connecting the capital of Russia with the country's eastern and southeastern regions.
HOW TO COME TO RUSSIA
Most foreigners travel in Russia with help of Intourist, the Russian tourist agency w divisions in more than 150 Russian citi Intourist maintains business relations wj some 800 tourist agencies abroad arrangi trips to Russia.
Detailed information and assistance are provided by Intourist's publicity and informatioJ agencies in most European countries and in th capitals of the USA, Canada, Japan and oth countries.
If you are coming to Russia on busin you can avail yourself of the services o> Sovincentr, the Russian tourist firm servicin businessmen.
Everyone entering and leaving Russia is] required to fill in a customs declaration indicating the amount of cash you have and thei jewellery items of gold or other precious metals and gems.
It is prohibited to take in or out of the country: munitions (except for hunting guns and their ammunition), narcotics, gold and other precious metals in nuggets or coins, and works of art constituting part of the national wealth.
MONEY AND FORMALITIES
The Russian national currency unit is the rouble. Russian money, bonds or lottery tickets may not be taken in or out of the country. Unlimited amounts of foreign currency and payment documents (traveller's checks, etc.) are allowed to be brought into the country as long as they are declared at customs.
The State Bank of Russia and the Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of Russia have an extensive network of exchange offices at hotels, camping sites, railway stations, sea and air terminals, and border checkpoints. Exchange offices are open during working hours. At some hotels and border checkpoints, as well as at some sea and air terminals they work round the clock. The exchange rate is established by the Slate Bank of Russia.
The selling or exchanging of currency with private individuals is prohibited by law.
HOTELS
Moscow has both large hotels, such as the Rossiya, which can accommodate more than 5,000 guests, or the Cosmos (3.600 guests), and little cosy ones-—the Berlin, for instance. There are old hotels which opened at the beginning of the century (Metropot and Nationale). and ones that have been recently built. In a word, Moscow has hotels to satisfy any taste. Many of them are in the city's centre, close to places of interest, museums and theatres. The hotels removed from the centre ate located near Metro stations.
Checkout time in Russian hotels is 12 p.m. Intourist hotels have a service bureau where you can order guided sightseeing excursions in Moscow or its environs, or guided excursions to museums and exhibitions; book tickets to the theatre, to a concert or sporting event; reserve table at a restaurant; order a taxi; put through long-distance telephone call; and rent a ca The service bureaus are open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
At the hotel you will find a post office. | news-stand, a souvenir booth, a hairdresser*! and barbershop, a beauty parlour, shops fcJ shoe repair and mending garments, a dnl cleaners and other services.
Below are the addresses of the main MoscovB hotels. Intourist hotels are marked by asterisks.
The old church at the corner of|
The name "Arbat" is also applied lo 0,. neighbourhood surrounding the street itself. dii the Arbat by-streets that you have just passed-L. each one unique and remarkable in its OVVP way.
The memorial museums dedicated to Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Hertzen. Sergei Aksakov composer Alexander Scriabin, and sculpiof Anna Golubkina tell about important social and cultural events that took place here.
Arbat Street is still in the process of being restored. Unfortunately, much has been irretrievably lost. Some architectural solutions ol the past years were so ill-chosen that they have not only obliterated some of old Arbat, but totally ruined it. There are those, however, who have risen for the defence of Arbat and are convinced that by combining their efforts it wil be possible to preserve this old nook of Moscow and resurrect its unique look Significantly, visitors to Moscow and Muscovites who have long been away from home make a point of calling at Arbat soon after their arrival-
Our starting point is the building in which the country's highest body of authority, Russia Supreme Russian, has its reception office. Across from it is a big light grey building with columns. The inscription in large golden characters over the main entrance reads: "Lenin State Library".
The history of the library goes back to the mid-19th century when the famous book col-| lector and bibliophil Nikolai Rumyantsev transferred his library and collection from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Special premises were set aside for this purpose—a splendid white-stone mansion built in 1786 by the great architect Vassily Bazhenov. Many other educated people of that time — scholars, generals, writers, patrons of literature and the arts, etc—presented their book collections to the future library. Four hundred books, 145 an unheard-of wealth fot that time, came from Vladimir Fadeichev. a self-educated peasant from a village near the old town of Yaroslavl. Eventually, the library outgrew the mansion on the hill, and construction of a new library was begun in 1928. Nowadays the new large library complex of six buildings has also become too small and it is planned to add on to it in the nearest future.
The library houses Russia's largest collection of books, other printed matter and manuscripts, totalling some 36 million items. Publications are available here in 91 of the languages spoken in Russia and 247 foreign languages.
The library has 6th-century Greek manuscripts and a complete set of the first books printed by Ivan Fyodorov. Nearly 8,000 readers visit the library every day and are issued up to 40,000 copies of various publications. 3,000 copies of new books, booklets, albums, news- papers, posters, maps, magazines and colleo tions of sheel music are daily delivered to th" library. Now look at the old mansion at th! corner o( Granovsky Street. Built over 20ft years ago it belonged to Count Nikolai Sheremetev, one of the richest men in Russia |! was badly damaged during the Napoleonic in. vasion. After the war of 1812 it was restored but some magnificent pieces of stuccowork destroyed by the Moscow fire were irretrievably lost.
The mansion on the opposite side was built about the same time by architect Matvei Kazakov. Today it is the Alexei Shchusev
Museum of Architecture (see References).
There are quite a few old cosy mansions along this part of Kalinin Prospekt. The one at No. 9 belonged to Prince Nikolai Volkonsky, Leo Tolstoy's grandfather and the prototype ofi the elder Bolkonsky, the father of Prince Andrei in the novel War and Peace.
The mansion at No. 16 across the street will certainly attract your attention with its exotic architecture. This comparatively recent building was erected at the end of the 19th century for the Moscow merchant family of Morozov. One of the Morozovs was fascinated by medieval Spanish architecture and on returning from a trip to Spain he decided to embody its most typical features in his future house. "The Spanish residence", as it was ironically dubbed by Muscovites, has been many things over the years. At different times it was a poets' club, offices, etc. Since 1959 it has been the House of Friendship with Peoples of Foreign Countries.
Now you cross Suvorovsky Boulevard of the Boulevard Ring, which has already been described, and enter the new section of Kalinin Prospekt.
Built in the mid-1960s, it aroused both tremendous interest and heated controversy among Muscovites. Widely differing opinions were expressed. Be that as it may, in 1966, the Paris Centre of Architectural Research awarded the Grand Prix to the architects of Kalinin Prospekt for the renewal of architectural forms and achievements in working out long-term construction projects.
The multi-storeyed buildings housing ministries, shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. have pushed many old mansions into the background and now make up what we call the image of modern Kalinin Prospekt.
On your right is the House of Books, the Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (Malachite Casket) Jeweller's Shop, the record shop Melodiya (Melody) and, at the end of the avenue, Oktyabr (October) Cinema with two auditoriums seating a total of 2,852.
Crossing Tchaikovsky Street, a section of the Garden Ring, you come to the buildings of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). This complex was built together with specialists from Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia.
On the olher side of Kalininsky Blidge spanning the Moskva River Kutuzovsky Prospekt begins with the tall building of the Hotel Ukraina. The hotel has over 1,000 rooms and suites, a winter garden and restaurants.
Centuries ago this neighbourhood was in-] habited by stage coach drivers. Later, workers' tenements appeared squat houses without any conveniences inhabited by propertyless toilers.
Those miserable dwellings were swept away by the straight and wide avenue named alter Fieldmarshal Mikhail Kutuzov (1745-1813) under whose command the Russian troops] smashed Napoleon's army in 1812.
At the junction ol Kutuzovsky Prospekt and Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street an obelisk commemorating the awarding of the title of Hero City to Moscow has been erected.
At the top of this 40-metre-tall stele is the Golden Star of Hero and at the base, a sculptural group of five metre-high figures of a soldier, and a man and a woman worker symbolizing the unbreakable unity of the fiont and thi> rear duiing the war against fascism.
Erecting the obelisk in this particular place was not an arbitrary decision. It was over this road that the Russian iroops moved out west, wards in 1941. It was also by this road tha( civilians—old men, women and children-^ traveled on their way to dig trenches and put up anti-tank defences to prevent the enemy from reaching Moscow.
After Ihe obelisk comes the Triumphal Arch, which was built in 1829-34 to the design of architect Osip Bove to commemorate the victory over Napoleon. For many years it stood in the square in front of the Byelorussky Railway Station, but plans to widen the square necessitated its removal. Its key parts were stored away and several decades later the Arch was re-assembled on Poklonnaya Hill, the place where Napoleon once waited in vain for a delegation of Muscovites to come and surrender the keys to the city to him,
It was decided to erect a monument on Poklonnaya Hill commemorating the victory won by the Russian people over the Nazi invaders in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
A granite stone was placed on top of the hill, with an inscription announcing this decision. A park was laid out around the place on an area of 110 hectares. When the photographs and description of the project, in particular the central monument appeared in the press, there were many who expressed their opposition to the project as planned, saying that it was second-rate. The government decided it would be best to hold a contest to choose the best model of the central monument that would also take into account the preparatory work that had already been carried out on Poklonnaya Hill. Over 40,000 people took part in discussing the new designs. The consensus of public opinion was that the designs were unoriginal and clearly had been hastily done.
The jury in charge of choosing a design approached the Moscow Russian with a request that the work on Poklonnaya Hill be suspended. A new contest was announced. Needless to say, people feel that the monument should be worthy of the Russian people's great Victory.
A monument to Mikhail Kutuzov is in a square not far from here. It rises on a granite pedestal girdled with high reliefs depicting various heroes of the war of 1812—generals, soldiers, militiamen and partisans. A short way from the Triumphal Arch is the Battle of Borodino Panorama-Museum (see References). Kutuzovsky Prospekt ends by merging with Mozhaiskoye Highway. Some distance away from the highway, on a large, green tract of land, the All-Union Cardiological Centre of Russia Academy of Sciences is located. It was built several years ago.The money for its construction was earned during a Subbotnik, a day held annually on which people voluntarily work for no pay. This tradition was begun in 1919 by a (jroup of railway workers who decided to work on Saturday, their day off. and repair without pay several steam engines badly needed at the front of the Civil War then raging. There were only fifteen of them, but Lenin discerned The beginnings of a new attitude to work in this fact briefly reported by the press. He prophetically called it the Great Beginning.
The tradition lives on. Every spring, on a Saturday near Lenin's birthday (April 22). millions of Russian people come to their places of work, or clean around their buildings and the streets in their neighbourhoods. The money earned during Subbotniks is donated to the construction of hospitals, children's homes and homes for senior citizens.
The All-Union Cardiological Centre is fitted out with the latest medical instruments and equipment. Many heart diseases are treated successfully here.
The street was named after the well-known revolutionary, scholar, geographer and writer, Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921), in 1921. For more than 250 years before that it was called Prechistenka (Holy) after the icon of the Holy Virgin in the neighbouring monastery.
At different times prominent personalities lived in this quiet and cosy street, among them Denis Davydov (1784-1839), a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812; poet Vassily Zhukovsky (1783-1852); writer Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), and artist Vassily Surikov (1848-1916)-The famous Russian architects, Matvei Kazdkotf and Afanasy Grigoryev, designed some of the buildings here, so the street itself could be described as an open-air museum.
At No. 12/2 is a splendid aristocratic mansion and a real masterpiece of 19th-century Russian architecture. Once the home of a nobleman's family, it was turned into an orphanage at the end of the last century. In the first years of Russian government it housed the Museum of Toys, which has since been moved to the town of Zagorsk, near Moscow. It became the Alexander Pushkin Museum in 1961 (see References),
Many of its more than 80.000 exhibits were presented to the museum by admirers of the great poet's talent. The miniature portrait of Pushkin as a child came from the Moscow actor Vsevolod Yakut. Moscow University Professor Ivan Rozanov left 10,000 books of Russian poetry from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Many other donors could be mentioned as well. The museum's gift book lists the names of over 2.000 persons who have presented collections of books, unique pictures, engravings, china-ware and bronze items.
On the opposite side of the street is a mansion (No. 11) built by Afanasy Grigoryev in the 1820s. Today it is the Leo Tolstoy Museum (see References).
Its collection is extensive and varied. Leo Tolstoy's manuscripts--from school compositions to his last diary entry—and a large number of portraits and photographs are displayed. The museum also has some unique films in its collection.
The large mansion at No. 21 changed masters many times over its long history. At the beginning of the century it was bought by the millionaire, the factory owner Ivan Moro20v. He amassed a vast, collection of West European paintings. In 1918 a museum of modern Western art was opened in this building, with pictures by Edouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoire, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso on display-All these treasures were later handed over to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and ihc Hermitage in Leningrad, and the building was laken over by Ihe Presidium ol the Academy ol Arts of Russia and the Research Institute of the Theory and History of Fine Arts. Every year the Academy arranges very popular exhibitions of Russian artists.
Volkhonka Street is also in this neighbourhood. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (No. 12) is located in ii (see References).
The museum exhibits works of old Western masters, a priceless collection of late 19th-early 20lh century French painting and unique relics of ancient Assyria and Egypt.
Its collection of engravings and drawings numbers nearly 350.000.
Over the years the museum has participated in numerous international exchanges of art. There have been exhibitions of the Tutankhamen treasures, Mexican ait and masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art held at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the Mona Lisa and the Sistine Madonna have also been displayed there. Such exhibitions are always extremely popular with
Muscovites. When the museum came into being in 1912 it had 20.000 exhibits.
Today its galleries and storerooms hold over half a million works of art. The museum also organizes concerts of old music, which are always a tremendous success, delivers lectures and runs an art school for children attended by many gifted boys and girls.
These activities and the growing size of the collection require much more space than the museum currently has. According to the approved plan, the old buildings strung out all the way from Volkhonka to the Lenin Library will be handed over to the museum after beino thoroughly restoted.
One of these buildings is intended to be used for exhibiting unique works of art pre sented to the museum by Russian and foreion collect
From Zubovskaya Square (part of the Garden Ring) it is easy to get to Bolshaya Pirogovskaya via tiny Zubovskaya Street.
A large park known as Devichye Polye (Maidens' Field) is at the head of Bolshaya Pirogovskaya.
Once upon a time there was a vast field here where people gathered for all kinds of festivities. Music would be played here, peddlers selling their goods and clowns would invite the public to circus performances.
The main attraction, however, was a round dance, with scores or even hundreds of girls forming a huge circle and moving gracefully around first in one direction then the other to the sounds of a popular folk song. It was probably these maidens' round dances that gave the field its name which was later inherited by the park here.
Leo Tolstoy lived in this neighbourhood from 1882 to 1901. To commemorate this, a monument to Leo Tolstoy was erected in the centre of the park in 1972. The writer's figure is hewn from a huge 200 ton granite monolith: Sculptor Alexander Portyanko worked on it for more than 16 years.
Moscow's largest clinics and research institutes are in Bolshaya Pirogovskaya and the neighbouring streets. Many monuments to representatives of Russian medicine have been erected hereto Nikolai Pirogov. the father of field surgery and surgical anatomy after whom the street is named; Ivan Sechenov, natural scientist and founder of a physiology school; Fyodor Erisman, the founder of the Russian school of medical hygiene; Nil Filatov, an outstanding pediatrician; Alexei Abrikosov. a morbid anatomist; and Vladimir Snegirev, a gynecologist.
The first clinics appeared here back at the end of the last century, and many more have been opened in Russian times. The clinics are well-equipped, convenient and spacious.
In 1972, a monument in granite depicting a young nurse helping a wounded soldier was erected on the grounds of the First Medical Institute. It is dedicated to the medical workers who participated in the Great Patriotic War" of 1941-1945.
Health institutions are not the only pride of Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street. Also situated here is the Central Archives Department of Russia Council of Ministers, which preserves millions of invaluable documents relating to the country's history from the 13th century to I the present. A sports stadium and an indoor rowing pool fo' students occupy part of what used to be Devichye Polye.
At the edge of Devichye Polye Park is the Mikhail Frunze Military Academy, which was opened in 1918 to train commanders for the newly formed worker and peasant Red Army. Its present building was erected in 1936 and is a good example of Russian architecture of that period. The memorial plaques on the facade commemorate prominent Russian generals, graduates of the Academy, whose names have gone down in the history of our country.
In the neighbouring Malaya Pirogovskaya Street is the Darwin Museum founded in 19Q7. Its exhibits illustrate the development and evolution of the forms of life on Earth and introduce the visitor to the works and discoveries of the great Darwin. In the vicinity are the Nikolai Pirogov Second Medical Institute and the Mikhail Lomonosov Institute of Fine Chemical Technology. This explains why there are always so many young people in these streets and in Devichye Polye Park. A lew steps up Pogodinskaya Street brings you to a mansion built in the style ol a peasant hut. with handsome-looking window shutters and platbands. This is the Pogodin Hut. This rural-style mansion was built in 1856 for the prominent Russian historian and publisher Mikhail Pogodin (1800-1875) lor whom the street is named. Well-known writers and scholars met in Pogodin's house, and writer Nikolai Gogol was there several times. During the Great Patriotic War. a Nazi bomb exploded near the house and heavily damaged it. It was restored after the war. Today it is occupied by the district branch of the All-Russia Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture. I have mentioned this society several times. Signboards ol this voluntary public organization are to be seen in Arbat bystreets and in many other places in Moscow. Thousands ol enthusiasts, its members, restore old buildings in their free time without pay and meet with researchers, writers and restorers.
Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street ends at the crenellated walls and towers of the old Novodevichy (New Maiden) Convent (see References) which was founded over 400 years ago. Standing on the bank of the Moskva River, it is surrounded by tall fortified walls with twelve watch-towers, once Moscow's vigilant outpost against foreign invaders.
The Convent is a unique architectural monument. One can see the domes of its Cathedral of the Holy Virgin of Smolensk from quite sorrw distance. Its walls are decorated with frescoes depicting episodes from Russian history.
The Convent's present handsome bell-tower was built in 1690. Many words of praise said b\ various visitors to Moscow over the centuries about this miracle of architecture have corm down to us.
The French attempted to blow up tht Convent when retreating from Moscow 1812. Napoleon's soldiers had dug trenches and implanted barrels of gunpowder, but. literally at the last moment, a nun, risking her life, managed to put out the flame off the fuses anc thus prevented the explosion.
The Convent was made a branch of tht State History Museum in 1922 {set References).
Many of the modern buildings are also worth noticing, especially the huge Olympic Sports Complex with a covered stadium seating 45.000 and a swimming pool located a short way off. This project was built for the 22nd Olympic Games which were held in Moscow in 1980. Close at hand is a functioning cathedral mosque, a monument of Iate-l9th-century architecture.
The Sputnik sculpture near Rizhskaya Metro station commemorates the launching of the world's first earth satellite (sputnik) in Russia in 1957.
Further up on the left on a high elevation is the Cosmos Cinema (No. 109). Zvezdny (Star) Boulevard goes off to the left. These dred metres away. On October 4. 1967, the 10th year since the launching of the first satellite, monuments were erected here to Sergei Korolev (1907-1966), an outstanding scientist and designer, Yuri Gagarin, the first spaceman, and other heroes of Russian cosmonautics.
The Alley of Space Heroes leads to the obelisk honouring the Russian people's achievements in the peaceful exploration of space. The silvery rocket thrusting into the sky is held by a support made of a titanium alloy giving the impression of a fiery trail. The high reliefs on the granite pedestal depict episodes from the history of space exploration.
In front of the obelisk is the sculpture of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), a man of genius who is justly described as the father of cosmonautics. In the base of the obelisk is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (see References) where one can see parts of on-board equipment and space modules that have returned from orbital flights, cosmonauts' per- 167 sonal effects, and photographs of the Earth taken from outer space. A short way from here (No. 2/28 6th Ostankinsky Lane) is a branch of this Museum which is the Academician Sergei Korolev Memorial Museum (see References).
On the right side of the avenue is the Cosmos Hotel, one of Moscow's largest. Built in 1979. it can accommodate up to 3,600 guests at a lime. Its bars and restaurants continue the local theme with such characteristic names as Lunar and Galaxy.
Across from the Cosmos is the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of Russia, one of the major sights of Moscow. It offers something of a panorama of the entire country. Its open-air theatre, amusement park and the luxuriant verdure of the Botanical Gardens are among its attractions in the summer, while in the winter there are its skating rinks, rides in Russian troikas and many other things of an equally tempting nature.
But the Exhibition's main purpose is to familiarize people with the country's successes in the various fields of industry and agriculture.
There are always many visitors in the Mechanical Engineering, Radioelectronics, Chemical Industry, and Metallurgy pavilions. There is also the Space pavilion, one of the largest, located here, where you can see exact replicas of the first satellites and interplanetary probes launched towards Venus and Mars, a model of the Luna-24 probe that brought samples of rock from the Moon back to the Earth, as well as objects and documents telling about the docking of the Russian Soyuz-19 spaceship and the American Apollo.
The best architects, sculptors, artists and builders have shaped the image of the Exhibition. Its notable feature is the Friendship of Peoples Fountain, with the bronze figures of young women in national costumes surrounding the powerful jets of water shooting up from the centre. Holding the bounties of Ihe land in their hands, the figures represent the fifteen constituent Russian Socialist Republics.
The main alley leads to the fountain called the Stone Flower. The name was suggested by a tale told by the famous story-teller of the Urals, Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950). It is already known what the exhibition will look like at the end of the century. It is planned, for instance, to. begin the construction of a monorail in the next few years. Its cars will take visitors around the exhibition grounds beginning from the Main Entrance and running for nearly four kilometres. It will be able to carry over 20,000 passengers a day, taking them in a matter of minutes to the farthest pavilions and giving them a chance to enjoy a panoramic view of the exhibition from a considerable height.
An aquarium is also planned. Visitors will be able to learn about the flora and fauna of water bodies. There will also be a shop selling tropical fish, aquarium accessories and feed, and an exhibition of Plants that have been entered in national dishes of the peoples ***"»•
Over the many years of the Exh.bt.orvex isience there have been changes -all aimed at keenina it up to date with the constantly chang- W<5 5* country, so that <£taMc« both learn about the present day and have a qlimpse into the future. Nearby is the district of Osiank.no. houses an exhibition—"The Serf Theatre in Kuskovo".
The white-columned Grotto, looking (ike a sea cave, and the Greenhouse with rare exotic trees and other plants are very impressive. Pride of place, of course, goes to the palace, whose internal decor has been preserved in its original beauty. Everything inside arouses one's admiration—fhe rare-wood parquet floors, the sparkling crystal chandeliers, a magnificent English clock from the first half of the 18th century, and (he furniture.
The palace also has its little secrets. The rooms and halls seem to go on forever, one after another- -an effect achieved by carefully placed mirrors.
Kuskovo is also famed for the State Ceramics Museum located on its grounds. The museum has a rich collection of Russian porcelain and unique specimens of Chinese, Danish. English and French faience, majolica] glass and chinaware.
UNDEGROUND PALACES
While in Moscow you will certainly have occasion to use the city's Metro system, which definitely is worth seeing. So what follows is a description of its routes and some of its stations.
The Metro has been in existence since 1935. The idea for an underground railway, which was badly needed, was first voiced back in 1901. There were many opponents to it back then, however. People were afraid an underground would damage their houses if it were built in the vicinity. Cabmen feared that the competition from such a formidable rival would be too much for them. Even clergymen spoke against it in the City Duma, believing it a mortal sin for people to be "driven" deep underground.
Though the project was debated several times, a practical solution was decided upon only in Russian years.
The whole country participated in building the Metro. Marble, granite and finishing stones were sent from all parts of the country. Over 50 varieties of marble were used in decorating the stations.
The first line, opened on May 15. 1935, was 11.6 kilometres long and could carry an average of 350,000 passengers a day. Nowadays, for the sake of comparison, the Metro is daily used by over 7 million people- And the still increasing passenger traffic is requiring that new lines be laid and more stations built. There are now over 100 stations, but I shall mention only a few.
A look at a map of the Metro scheme shows you that it repeats Moscow's traditional radial-circular layout. ploshchad Revolutsii (Revolution Square)
The city's steady growth over the years called for new underground stations to be built at a faster rate. It is generally recognized that their architectural solutions are quite effective.
The vaults of Borovitskaya Metro station, imitating brick masonry, give one the sensation of being at the base of a Kremlin tower.
Elements of the old bridge are easily discernible in the architectural solution of Kuznetsky Most Metro station.
It's interesting lo note that Prdzhskaya (Prague) Metro station, which is on the same line as Borovitskaya, was built and decorated with the help of builders and artists from Czechoslovakia.
The Metro continues to grow. Stations are being built in all new districts. Future plans envisage the construction of lines to connect the centre with recreational areas, airports and large suburban communities beyond the city limits of Moscow.
DOWN THE MOSKVA RIVER
The Moskva rises from a little swamp in the midst of a birch and pine forest in the western part of Moscow Region. From there its course goes almost to Kolomna, travelling a long and meandering path of 473 kilometres and being joined in by over 900 rivers and streams. It enters Moscow in the northwest and leaves it, after twisting and turning through the city for nearly 80 kilometres, in the southeast. Boats circulate only on some of its sections, but these are quite interesting routes. The most interesting one is from Kievsky Railway Station to Novospassky Bridge.
The easiest way to get to Kievsky Vokzal (Kievsky Railway Station) Pier is by Metro. The pier is on the Berezhkovskaya Embankment at the beginning of which the triple-span Borodinsky Bridge crosses the river. The bridge was built to mark the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812. On the bridge there are two obelisks inscribed with the names of heroes of that war.
All along the embankment, from Kievsky Railway Station to the Circular Railway bridge, new buildings have risen, with a continuous row of poplars and linden trees between them and the street.
On your left the bell-tower of the Novodevichy (New Maiden) Convent can be seen in the distance. As your boat draws closer, the domes of the Convent's cathedrals and churches, and the towers and walls come into view. Outside the Convent there are gardens, ponds and flower beds.
To the left of the Convent is an area that used to be called Devichye Polye (Maidens' Field).
Now you pass under the elegant Krasnoluzhsky Bridge built in 1903-1908,
Over which crosses the above-mentioned Circular Railway.
Farther to your left, a small bridge spanning the Setun, a Moskva tributary, connects the Berezhkovskaya Embankment with the Voiobyevsky Highway and Mosfilmovskaya Street, the latter being named after Mosfilm Studio, the country's largest, which is situated here.
To your left is Lenin Stadium. At this point the river makes a gentle bend around Luzhniki, To your right is the park which was set out on the slopes of Lenin'Hills oil the occasion of Lenin's centennial. The recreational area being developed here includes Lenin Hills, the Gorky Central Recreation Park, the Moscow Stare University campus and the valley of the Setun River.
Then you pass under the double-deck bridge linking Komsomolsky Prospekt with Vernadsky Prospekt. The upper deck is a wide motorway and the lower is Lenioskiye Gory Metro station. The next bridge on your way is Andreyevsky. named after the former Andreyevsky (St. Andrew's) Monastery which stood on the fight bank at the foot of Lenin Hills. Founded in 1648. the Monastery functioned until the mid-l8th century. Over 300 years ago one of Moscow's first schools was opened there. Its pupils were taught both religious and secular sciences, including grammar and philosophy.
Beyond Andreyevsky Bridge the Frun-zenskaya Embankment begins and stretches as far as Krymsky Bridge. The buildings on the embankment were erected in the 1950s. During the same period, boulevards and lawns were laid out and nearly 2,000 trees planted along the sidewalks.
On the opposite bank, the Gorky Central Recreation Park, with its attractions, concert stages, pavilions and bowers, stretches from Andreyevsky to Krymsky Bridge.
It is impossible to mistake Krymsky Bridge for any other of the 22 big Moscow bridges.
Built in 1938, it has only one span which is supported by steel chains attached to two slender pylons. The entire structure is amazingly well proportioned and seems to be hanging in the air. Its length is about 700 metres.
Beyond Krymsky Bridge the building of the State Art Gallery of Russia comes into view. A new park is being planted along the Krymskaya Embankment, which begins on the other side Of the bridge. On the promontory formed by the forking of the Moskva River, where the Drainage Canal branches off, the Strelka (Promontory) Rowing Club dominates the scene with its grandstands descending to the water. In 1988 the club entered its 122nd season.
On the Kropotkinskaya Embankment. opposite the Krymskaya Embankment, the quaintly shaped roof, large balcony and ornate facade of a two-storeyed building can be seen (No. 29). Built at the beginning of this century to the design of the artist Victor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), it was used by the French military mission during the Second World War. The marble memorial plaque on its facade is inscribed with the names of 42 pilots of the Normandie-Niemen Air Regiment who fell in action during the Second World War. The Normandie-Niemen fought at the Russian-German front and its fliers shot down 273 Nazi planes. Eighty-three French pilots were decorated with Russian orders and medals, and four were honoured with the title of Hero of Russia.
On the left is the diving platform of the Moskva open-air swimming pool, the city's largest.
Now a unique architectural monument comes into view on the right bank. It is a 17th-century estate also known as the mansion of the Duma scribe Averki Kirillov. The surviving parts of it are the church and the manor house. The house was partly rebuilt in the 18th century, but has now been restored to its original aspect.
Continuing, you come to the Variety Theatre (on the left) on the Bersenevskaya Embankment and across from it the All-Union Book Chamber, an old building with six columns.
At this point Bolshoi Kamenny (Big Stone) Bridge spans the river with its 105-metre-long arch. The bridge inherited its name from the first stone arch bridge built here at the end of the 17th century.
On your left is the Kremlin standing on Borovitsky Hill. The details of the side of it facing the river can be clearly seen. You can see its red brick walls, tall towers topped with red stars, the domes of its cathedrals, the Grand Kremlin Palace and, standing in Red Square, St. Basil's.
Across from the Kremlin stretches the Maurice Thorez Embankment, named after Maurice Thorez (1900-1964). a prominent communist and working-class leader and the late Chairman of the French Communist Party. Notice the former St. Sophia Church built in the second half of the 19th century.
Passing under the Moskvoretsky Bridge built in 1937, you come to the State Power Station (on your right) built in 1896 on the Raushskaya Embankment.
Across from it. on the left bank, is Zaryadye. which means "behind the rows". Back in the days when there was a market in what is now Red Square this area was behind its rows, thus its name. Hotel Rossiya is located here. It is one of the world's largest and can accommodate more than 5.000 guests. The hotel complex includes a concert hall seating 2,500 and a cinema with two auditoriums, named Zaryadye.
Farther on, the former Foundling Hospital stretches from Kitaysky Proyezd almost to Bolshoi Ustyinsky Bridge. Built in the 1860s, this huge structure nearly 380 metres long has been well preserved. In March 1919. Lenin made a speech in this building which was converted into the Palace of Labour at that time. Mow you pass Bolshoi Ustyinsky Bridge Ustye is the Russian for the mouth of a river. The bridge stands at the mouth of the Yauza River, a Moskva tributary and, flowing over a course of 48 kilometres, the second longest river in Moscow.
Built in 1938. the bridge gives the impression of being the lightest of Moscow's arch bridges. It blends very well with the light grey 32-Storey skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment This residential building. Moscow's first skyscraper, was erected in 1952.
The next bridge is the 725 meters-long, Bolshoi Krasnokholmsky, one of the longest in Moscow.
On the left bank, the walls, towers, cathedral and other structures of the Novospassky Monastery (New Monastery of the Saviour) founded in the 14th-15th centuries will certainly attract your attention.
Now you have come to the last pier of this river cruise route. It is located near the three-span Novospassky Bridge built in 1911 and signals the end of your trip on Moscow's longest river —the Moskva.
THE NECKLACE OF MOSCOW
Beyond the Circular Motorway surrounding Ihe city, Moscow's suburbs spread far and wide. These areas are rich in historical, cultural and architectural monuments. Moscow suburbs' palaces, parks and picturesque surroundings fascinated and inspired many writers, artists and composers.
Six million people live in the area around Moscow called Moscow Region, making it one of the country's most densely-populated zones containing major industrial cities. Within a 50-mile radius, Moscow is surrounded by a green bell in which are located numerous recreational areas, tourist camps, holiday resorts and motels.
A 35-kilometre ride southeast of Moscow brings you to Gorki Leninskiye, the place where Lenin spent his last years. He came here for the first time in the autumn of 1918, and subsequently worked and rested in Gorki on and off. In the spring of 1923, when his health had deteriorated, he lived in Gorki permanently.
Despite his illness, Lenin continued working hard. He met workers and peasants from neighbouring villages, and was visited by comrades-in-arms, delegations o* workers and peasants, and members of the international working-class movement. He wrote many articles here and was preparing for the 10th Party Congress, the 8th and 9th Congresses of Russians, and the 3rd Congress of the Comintern.
In his free time Lenin strolled in the shady park. He was especially fond of the alley of silver spruces and larches. From the bower at the end of the alley he enjoyed the view of the village of Gorki and the good-sized pond located nearby-Lenin died in Gorki on January 21, 1924. The Lenin Memorial Museum was opened in Gorki in 1949.
Podolsk lies 43 kilometres south of Moscow. The Lenin Memorial Museum is in a small wooden house in which his mother. Maria Alexandrovna, the two Ulyanov sisters. Anna and Maria, and brother Dmitry lived for a year in 1900. Lenin visited them here twice during that year.
The first visit was shortly after his return from being exiled in Siberia. Lenin established contact with the local social-democrats and got them to agree to help Iskra, the first underground Russian political newspaper. The second visit took place shortly after the first Rublev. The Cathedral of St. Demetrius is known for its fine white-stone tracery.
The Drama Theatre, a modern building erected near the Golden Gate, perfectly fits into the old ensemble. Like the cathedrals, it is built of white stone, with masterfully carved figures of mountebanks in large windows inviting the public to the performance.
Vladimir has undergone considerable growth during the years of Russian government. New residential districts have arisen along with large department stores, a concert hall, restaurants, cafes, higher educational establishments, libraries and cinemas. Vladimir's manufactured goods are displayed at the regional industrial exhibition.
The Vladimir school of gymnastics is rather well known. Among its pupils are such outstanding gymnasts as Nikolai Andrianov, an Olympic champion, and world champion Yuri KorGlev.
Ten kilometres away is the village of Bocjolyubovo, once the citadel and residence of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. Only a few of ihe original 12th-century structures have remained of the splendid ensemble.
The Church of the Intercession is situated two kilometres from Bogolyubovo. Amidst the meadows along the bank of the Nerl River stands this masterpiece of world significance which was built by unknown masters in 1165 and is considered to represent the peak of the architecture of Vladimir.
SUZDAL (216 km from Moscow)
This is one of the few towns in Central Russia that has preserved its old architecture, its numerous monasteries and churches.
Suzdal is more than 100 years older than Moscow and long ago contended with Vladimir for the privilege of being the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. It remained a major artisan, commercial and religious centre of Northeastern Russia for quite some time.
Today Suzdal is a small, quiet town with predominantly wooden buildings. There are no 195 industrial enterprises here. Truck and orchard farming are the long-standing traditional occupations.
Crossing the town is the Kamenka River. The old churches and tall bell-lowers stand close to each other in squares overgrown with grass.
Sii/ci;-:! is a museum town. Though extensive restoration work has already been carried out. there still remains much to be done. The oldest structure is the Cathedral of the Nativity (13th century) standing on the grounds of the town's Kremlin. Its 13th-. 15th- and 17th-century frescoes and richly decorated Golden Gate with portraits done in gold on copper plates have fortunately been spared by time.
Two monasteries from the 16th*l7th centuries—the Rizopolozhensky and the Spaso-Yevfimievsky. stand on the high bank of the Kamenka River, surrounded by strong walls. The Spaso-Yevfimievsky Monastery now houses a museum of folk crafts of the peoples of Russia and a number of exhibitions—"The Golden Storeroom". "Rare Books", "Russian Ornament" and "Forest Sculpture". On the monastery grounds is the grave of Prince Dmitry Po*harsky (1578-1642), one of Russia's national heroes.
Across from the Spaso-Yevfimievsky Monastery is the Pokrovsky Convent, notorious as the place of imprisonment of princesses and tsarinas in disgrace. Today there are two exhibitions in its buildings—an exhibition telling the convent's history and an exhibition of needlework, the usual occupation of the nuns. Not far from the Kremlin is a museum of wooden architecture and peasant ethnography. The Dmitrievsky Monastery, believed to have been founded in the 11th century, once stood here. Standing here now are Churches, houses, sheds, wells and other structures of typical Russian architecture showing the life-style of centuries ago brought here from all over Vladimir Region.
On the western outskirts of Suzdal, at the bend of the Kamenka River, is a Tourist fp/7 Complex that has been designed to blend in with the old structures. Like the ancient churches and monasteries, it is built of white stone, but, unlike them, it offers the modern comforts that contemporary man has grown used to.
The most interesting part of its hotel is the thoroughly modern restaurant made to look like a large Russian izba (wooden hut). The floors are laid with oak parquet and the ceilings are faced with tiles of Far Eastern larchwood. Huge samovars complete the picture.
The Tourist Complex includes a motel with an automobile service station.
There is also a hotel complex on the grounds of the former Pokrovsky Convent. Log houses arrayed along the convent's wall are fitted out with reproductions of old wooden furniture. In the refectory is a restaurant. Suzdal is famed for lis cooking. At the restaurant they serve tsar shchi (cabbage soup), stewed beaf a la metropolitan, fish soup a la bishop and. of course, mead, whose recipe is known only to Suzdal cooks.
Over 20 feature films have been shot in Suzdal, including Peter the Great by the American company NBC. The old town provides an excellent and realistic setting for historical films.
In 1983 Suzdal was given the Golden Apple Award by the International Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (FUET) for preserving its architectural monuments and using them for the promotion of tourism.
IVANOVO (2S4 krh from Moscow)
Back in the 17th century the village of Ivanovo was known as an industrial centre manufacturing linen. It was granted the status of town and given the name Ivanovo-Voznesensk in 1871. During the first Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. Russia's fitst Russian of Workers' Deputies emerged in Ivanovo-any buildings. After restoration, however, the Kremlin, with its re-gilded domes, became handsomer than ever. An international youth centre called Rostov Veltky is located on the Kremlin grounds.
Enamel miniature painting, or finift, as it is locally called, has been Rostov's traditional craft since the 1740s.
PERESLAVL-ZALESSKY (127 km from Moscow)
In a deep depression surrounded by hills near Lake Pleshcheyevo. the town of Pereslavl-Zalessky lies along the Trubezh River.
Founded in the 12th century amidst cornfields surrounded by primeval forests, the town was originally a stronghold protecting the countryside. This is evidenced by the surviving 12th-century rampart in the town's central part, which, in fact, can be said to delineate the boundaries of old Pereslavl. Another structure dating back to that period is the white-stone Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour.
Until the beginning of the 14th century Pereslavl was the centre of a rich apanage principality. After its accession to Moscow, it became a stopover point for traders travelling from Moscow to Arkhangelsk in the North. In the l6uVl7th centuries stone monastery buildings rose on the hills around the town. One of them, the Goritsky Monastery, is now the History and Art Museum. There are quite a few historical sights outside the town. In the 1690s. Peter the Great decided to build the first Russian military flotilla on Lake Pleshcheyevo. The Botik (Boat) Estate Museum situated 3 kilometres from Pereslavl on a bluff on the lake's shore displays the surviving relics of Peter the Great's flotilla— the Fortuna boat and parts of ship rigging.
Now your visit to Moscow has drawn to close and you are on the way to the airport.
Perhaps your plane takes off from an airpor we have not yet mentioned, such a; Domodedovo Airport.
DOMODEDOVO
The route will be new to you and this | guidebook will certainly come in handy. If you start out from Hotel Rossiya. you will go along Moskvoretskaya Embankment, then cross the Yauza, Moscow's second longest river, on the Ustyinsky Bridge and ride along embankments whose names perpetuate Moscow's centuries-long history. The Kotelnicheskaya (Kettle) Embankment was once a neighbourhood inhabited by kettle-makers. Located here is the Church of St. Nikita the Martyr (1751). This beautiful structure of white stone and red brick looks wonderful against the background of modern buildings.
The next embankment, Krasnokholms-kaya. leads to the Novospassky Monastery (New Monastery of the Saviour) which guarded the southeastern approaches to Moscow 500 years ago. The fortress walls visible from the embankment were built later, in the 17th century, but their height (over 8 metres) and thickness (up to 3 metres) also remind us that the monastery was indeed a citadel.
Farther on, you pass the so-called Krutitskoye Podvorye. the former See of the Metropolitan, a masterpiece of early Russian architecture. The Krutitsky Teremok (little castle) is especially attractive. It is completely faced with glazed tiles decorated with a painted design -interlacing twigs, leaves, herbs, flowers, etc.
You ride past yet another cloister —the Simonov Monastery, and enter Proletarian District. Once a dirty and swampy neighbourhood in the outskirts of Moscow, the district long ago became the city's industrial centre. There are some 30 enterprises working here, among them such giants as the Likhachev Auto Works (Z|L) and the Dynamo Electrical Engineering Plant. Where once stood tena-ments and workers' barracks, comfortable blocks of Hats have risen.
The October 13, 1923 edition of the newspaper Rabochaya (Workers') Moskva carried the following announcement: "There will be a ceremony marking the opening of a building erected by the Moscow Russian for the workers of the Dynamo Plant at 12.00 on October 14."
The building has been well maintained. It stands in Dynamovskaya Street which you are now passing. A woman worker of the Dynamo Plant wrote about it in the newspaper three days later, saying that it was "a handsome building the like of which you will not find in * the whole neighbourhood".
Now a panoramic view of the new residential area called Nagatino opens before you. Some 25 years ago Nagatino was a village outside of Moscow. Today it is a well-appointed urban m community. Its residents have both the con- I veniences of the city and the benefits of the country—the nearby Moskva River, abundant greenery and pure air. It is connected with all other districts of Moscow by Metro and bus lines. On your left is the estate of Kolomenakoye. The first written mention of it is dated 1339. In the 17th century it became the Isar's summer residence, and a magnificent wooden palace was built there. Contemporaries called it the eighth wonder of the world. Though it was demolished in the second half of the 18th century because it had fallen into disrepair, an exact model is on display behind glass in the museum located on the estate's grounds. Standing atop the high bank of the Moskv River is the Church of the Ascension built i 1532. "Nothing has ever amazed me so much." wrote the French composer Hector Berlioz afte visiting the estate and seeing this church in 1868, "as the monument of old Russian architecture in the village of Kolomenskoye. I stood overwhelmed."
Kolomenskoye is a museum of wooden architecture. The mead house, one of its exhibits and the only existing 17th-century wooden structure in Moscow, has been moved here from another place. The monastery tower and the medieval fortress tower were brought from the banks of the Angara and Northern Dvina Rivers in the north. They were carefully dismantled log by log, transported here and then just as carefully re-assembled. The same thing was done with Peter the Great's little cottage from faraway Arkhangelsk.
Among the sights at Kolomenskoye are its enormous oak trees which are 600 to 800 years old. Because of their old age, for a while some ol them looked like they might die. Specialists carefully examined them, and took the proper measures. During that time, many Muscovites were so concerned about the old oak trees that they would telephone the museum to ask about them.
Although the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve was opened a long time ago, it continues lo surprise archaeologists with ever new discoveries. Evidence of the existence of camps of primitive man has been found on the museum's territory. Researchers have also discovered an underground pipe by which water was once conveyed to the palace. Along with archaeologists and restorers, there are gardeners, foresters and botanists working here. Their task is to preserve and improve the splendid green attire of old Kolomenskoye.
Adjacent to the Museum-Reserve is the Oncological Centre of Russia Academy of Medical Sciences, the world's largest institution carrying on comprehensive research into the prevention and treatment of cancer.
Since its construction was started in 1972, several structures have gone up on a gentle slope, among them a 24-storey building housing hospital wards and laboratories. The other buildings accommodate operating rooms and the radiology and X-ray diagnosis sections. The buildings are linked by underground tunnels. The Oncological Centre also has a hotel for Visiting specialists (there is a lively interchange between foreign and Russian oncologists), a cafeteria and a dormitory, as well as administrative and service buildings.
This entire area, in fact, is becoming something of a major medical centre in Moscow. A short way from the Oncological Centre is a 17-storey hospital with 1,200 beds. The Nutrition Research Institute and the diet-therapy clinic have several buildings going up here. This branch of medicine has been steadily developing in the past few years. Other health institutions are also under construction in neighbourhood construction in Health protection is given a lot of attention Russia. In Moscow alone, there are some medical research institutions. In additi to those already mentioned, there is the Al Union Mother and Child Health Research In titute, the Moscow Research Institute of E Diseases and the Reumatology Institute, name but a few. Now you have entered Kashirsko Highway which runs past Moskvorechye, new residential area. You pass the famo Borisovsky Pond, and the snow-white blocks flats of the Lenino-Dachnoye residential o< come into view. Not so long ago, this neighbourhood MB Moskvorechye or Nagatino was countryside, favourite haunt of Moscow holiday-maker Today it is an urban community with shopd cinemas, health institutions, schools and kin dergartens. Many of the parks and copses oaks have been preserved along with pond and their sandy beaches so that the people herfl can still enjoy nature. Now you approach Tsaritsino. Its park i visible through the close rows of trees. In the 18th century. Empress Catherine II (th Great) wanted a palace built in Tsaritsino and commissioned the famous architect Vassil* Bazhenov. Bazhenov worked on it fo' 10 years, buildin a magnificent ensemble with a palace, pa-j vilions, fancifully shaped arches and galleries, bridges, a pier, man-made ponds and bowers. In 1785. the Empress visited Tsaritsino. In anticipation of the royal visit and the great favours that it was believed would be showered on the architect, Moscow's nobility was courting the architect. But the Empress did not like the palace. Some contemporaries tried to explain Catherine's displeasure by saying she was in a bad mood. But this could hardly have been the reason. It is more likely that the real source of the Empress' displeasure was the fact that Paul. Catherine's son and heir apparent for whom she felt by then a profound antipathy 213 and mistrust, was going to live in Tsaritsino together with her. Whatever it was that made Catherine not like the palace, the completed ensemble was mercilessly destroyed. Bazhenov fell into disgrace. The construction of a new palace was entrusted 10 Matvei Kazakov. Bazhenov's pupil. You have already seen some of his works. Kazakov largely followed his teacher's concept. But the project was indeed ill-fated. Catherine died soon after that and all work was stopped, never to be resumed. The ruins of Tsaritsino are picturesque and intriguing. The vast park and the chain of ponds with bridges have survived. Extensive restoration work is currently under way here. It is planned to turn the estate into a museum of folk art. You may go to Domodedovo Airport by a different way. Your bus may turn into Bolshaya Polyanka (Big Glade) Street. While today it is in Moscow's centre, long ago it was the site of a dense forest with numerous glades. Not far from Bolshaya Polyanka is quiet Lavrushinsky Lane. As the home of the Tretyakov Art Gallery, it is quite familiar to both Muscovites and visitors to Moscow. The Tretyakov Art Gallery is one of the largest art museums in the world. Its halls contain tens of thousands of paintings, works of graphic art, sculptures and icons. The museum's collections were initiated by Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898) the owner of flax spinning and weaving mills in Moscow and its suburbs.
A member of a rich merchant family, he spent all his free time and nearly all of his fortune on collecting art. For more than forty years he collected pictures by Russian artists and, even after presenting his priceless collection to the city, continued to spend much time in the gallery and to concern himself with enhancj the collection.
The Tretyakov Art Gallery has long enjoyed well-deserved popularity. Back at the end of last century one newspaper wrote: "Shoulc person come to Moscow from Arkhangelsk from Astrakhan, the Crimea, the Caucasus or the Amur, he immediately fixes the day and hour when he will go to Lavrushinsky Lane and see with delight, emotion and gratitude the treasures collected by that wonderful man."
The Gallery is in Pavel Tretyakov's house. Its main facade was remade after the collector's death in the style of an old-time boyar castle by the famous artist Victor Vasnetsov. After the October 1917 Revolution a considerable number of works of art were brought to the Gallery from other museums, private collections and monasteries. On June 3, 1918 Lenin, as the head of the Russian government, signed a decree turning the Gallery over to the people.
The Tretyakov's collection covers nearly a thousand years of Russian art from early icons to pictures by modern artists. A monument to Pavel Tretyakov was erected in from of the Gallery in 1980. The collection keeps growing. New acquisitions come from private collections (including foreign collections) and auctions. Art experts bring their finds from the remotest parts of the country.
The Gallery now has over 60,000 works of art. It is currently undergoing reconstruction, with its old buildings being repaired and new ones being erected. Before closing for this it was visited by nearly 1.5 million people every year. Pavel Tretyakov in his time boasted of the fact that the Gallery was visited by 8,000 people during its first year. The reconstruction of the Tretyakov Gallery will make it possible to set aside halls especially for ftepin, Bryullov. Apollinary and Victor Vasnetsov and other famous artists. It will also greatly improve the conditions in which the Gallery" s priceless masterpieces are kept. Next you pass Dobryninskaya Square on the Garden Ring and find yourself in Lyusinovskaya Street. At the end of the street on the right is the Mint, where orders, medals and other articles are made from precious metals. Somewhat far* ther is the Danilow Monastery from the 13th century. In connection with the celebration in 1988 of the millennium of Christianity in Russia, the monastery has been thoroughly reconstructed and will now Serve as the Sea of the Patriarchy of Moscow. You then turn into Varshavskoye Highway via Bolshaya Tulskaya Street. After going under the Circular Railway bridge, you emerge at Nagatino, which has already been mentioned. Then, after travelling along Kashirskoya Highway, you arrive at Domodedovo Airport, a major hub connecting the capital of Russia with the country's eastern and southeastern regions.
HOW TO COME TO RUSSIA
Most foreigners travel in Russia with help of Intourist, the Russian tourist agency w divisions in more than 150 Russian citi Intourist maintains business relations wj some 800 tourist agencies abroad arrangi trips to Russia.
Detailed information and assistance are provided by Intourist's publicity and informatioJ agencies in most European countries and in th capitals of the USA, Canada, Japan and oth countries.
If you are coming to Russia on busin you can avail yourself of the services o> Sovincentr, the Russian tourist firm servicin businessmen.
Everyone entering and leaving Russia is] required to fill in a customs declaration indicating the amount of cash you have and thei jewellery items of gold or other precious metals and gems.
It is prohibited to take in or out of the country: munitions (except for hunting guns and their ammunition), narcotics, gold and other precious metals in nuggets or coins, and works of art constituting part of the national wealth.
MONEY AND FORMALITIES
The Russian national currency unit is the rouble. Russian money, bonds or lottery tickets may not be taken in or out of the country. Unlimited amounts of foreign currency and payment documents (traveller's checks, etc.) are allowed to be brought into the country as long as they are declared at customs.
The State Bank of Russia and the Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of Russia have an extensive network of exchange offices at hotels, camping sites, railway stations, sea and air terminals, and border checkpoints. Exchange offices are open during working hours. At some hotels and border checkpoints, as well as at some sea and air terminals they work round the clock. The exchange rate is established by the Slate Bank of Russia.
The selling or exchanging of currency with private individuals is prohibited by law.
HOTELS
Moscow has both large hotels, such as the Rossiya, which can accommodate more than 5,000 guests, or the Cosmos (3.600 guests), and little cosy ones-—the Berlin, for instance. There are old hotels which opened at the beginning of the century (Metropot and Nationale). and ones that have been recently built. In a word, Moscow has hotels to satisfy any taste. Many of them are in the city's centre, close to places of interest, museums and theatres. The hotels removed from the centre ate located near Metro stations.
Checkout time in Russian hotels is 12 p.m. Intourist hotels have a service bureau where you can order guided sightseeing excursions in Moscow or its environs, or guided excursions to museums and exhibitions; book tickets to the theatre, to a concert or sporting event; reserve table at a restaurant; order a taxi; put through long-distance telephone call; and rent a ca The service bureaus are open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
At the hotel you will find a post office. | news-stand, a souvenir booth, a hairdresser*! and barbershop, a beauty parlour, shops fcJ shoe repair and mending garments, a dnl cleaners and other services.
Below are the addresses of the main MoscovB hotels. Intourist hotels are marked by asterisks.