Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
A lot has been said and written about the Boulevard Ring. This time we decided to ask local residents about it, not historians or local historians. What's the most important thing here? What is the symbol of the boulevard? Why is he personal to you? – we asked such questions to a variety of people. As a result, they learned how Pushkin came to visit the boulevard, Kramskoy painted “Moonlit Night,” architects built innovative housing, and Sholokhov’s horses frightened passers-by. And also about what interesting finds there are during renovation, how to receive wedding dryers as a gift, about the most original version of the origin of the name Sivtsev Vrazhek and much more.
Why is the boulevard crooked and the lobby glass?
The best place to start a walk along Gogolevsky Boulevard is from Kropotkinskaya. From here you can immediately see three details that claim to be a symbol of the place. Firstly, the slope of the boulevard, as a memory of the Chertorye stream, which flowed here and gave the name to the area. For example, the White City Gate, located on the site of the Prechistensky Gate Square, was originally called Chertolsky.
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
“It seems to me that the height difference is a symbol of Gogolevsky Boulevard,” says Pavel Kuznetsov, deputy director of the Museum of Architecture. Shchusev, as well as a local resident. “Every time I go down the stairs from one side of the boulevard to the other, I understand that if I dig, right below me is history, the remains of the wall of the White City. The second symbol is the above-ground pavilion of the Kropotkinskaya metro station (it was once called the Palace of Soviets). Initially, its arch was with glass coffering, and visually it could be classified as garden architecture, which combined perfectly with the greenery of the boulevard. Now the glass is painted over, but you can imagine how light the pavilion was before.”
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
The pavilion on the boulevard was built in 1933-35 according to the design of the architect Samuil Kravets on the site of the demolished Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Until 1957, the station bore the name “Palace of Soviets” - although the palace itself, for the sake of which the first Cathedral of Christ the Savior was demolished, was never built. And this is also a symbol of the place. But more on that a little further, at house no. 5.
general description
The beginning of Gogolevsky Boulevard is considered to be Prechistenskie Gate Square, the entrance to which is opened by an original arch. It should be noted that this square is also the beginning of the Boulevard Ring. You can get here using the metro, getting off at the Kropotkinskaya station. The boulevard ends at Arbat Gate Square. It descends in three terraces, starting from the internal, high passage and ending with the external, lower one.
Gogolevsky Boulevard (Moscow) is considered one of the most picturesque sections of the Boulevard Ring, rich in green spaces. Here you can see green maple, tall poplar, and quiet ash. During the linden flowering period, the aroma of this tree fills the entire boulevard.
Whom the mansions remember: Pushkin, Ton, Tretyakov
Rarely a passerby on the boulevard will not look at the small house No. 5 with carved columns. It was here that the architect who created the Cathedral of Christ the Savior lived. After the first, unsuccessful attempt to install it on the Sparrow Hills, Nicholas I personally chooses a new location and a new architect, his favorite, Konstantin Ton. Could the architect have guessed, staying in a mansion with carved columns while supervising the construction of the temple, that it would take 44 years of his life? A real long-term construction project of the 19th century... Fans of legends say that the temple was unlucky because for its construction the Alekseevsky convent was evicted from here... Therefore, it took a long time to build, and was demolished quickly, and then no projects stayed here for a long time.
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
If it is impossible to get into the Tonovsky mansion, then the next one is open to guests - it houses a branch of the Society for the Preservation of Monuments VOOPIK. The chairman of the society, Galina Malanicheva, spoke about how the most famous guest, Alexander Pushkin, visited here.
“A close friend of the poet, Pavel Nashchokin, lived here. Pushkin adored him and often stayed as a guest. He said in letters that Nashchokin is very hospitable, and that’s why there is noise, commotion, gypsies at home, everyone cares about him. “I’m tired, I’m tired,” he finished. Pushkin lived in a corner room, but, unfortunately, no memorial items have survived from there. After all, until the end of the 1970s there were residential apartments here, VOOPIK itself was involved in resettlement, the restoration project and its implementation. We hoped that maybe during the restoration something interesting would be found, manuscripts or things, but no. But if you remember the list of people who have been here, you’ll get a whole museum,” says Malanicheva.
The surviving mansions on the even side are also associated with art. For example, in house No. 6 lived the manufacturer, philanthropist and collector Sergei Tretyakov. Unlike his older brother, he collected paintings by foreign artists.
In 1873, the Tretyakovs’ “home” architect, Kaminsky, rebuilt the mansion to suit the needs of the collection and the tastes of the owner - it was then that the facade took on the appearance that has survived to this day.
One of the paintings hanging in the house was associated with the family of the philanthropist - Tretyakov’s second wife Elena Matveeva posed for “Moonlit Night”.
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The kingdom of artists and... again artists
Let's return to the boulevard and take a short walk, especially since by taking a walk we will become familiar with the beauty. Both in summer and winter (if health allows) artists exhibit their works here. Special stands appeared here in the 1990s, but exhibitions were held before. The first one was held here in 1974 by artist Alexander Popov, a few weeks before the famous “Bulldozer” exhibition in Belyaevo.
“It was August 25, 1974. In November 1972, I came out of the army, worked as a janitor on Arbat, then for a year at the Operetta Theater as a decorative artist. It was not possible to organize an exhibition at a well-known site. I loaded my works onto a cart with a bright awning, drove it through the streets of Moscow and rolled it onto Gogolevsky Boulevard. My friend and I stretched a rope between the trees at the level of human height, hung canvases on it, leaned hardboard sheets against the rope, placed a gramophone on the grass and twisted it: Utesov sang from the record “My dear Muscovites,” Popov recalls
Photo: Alexander Popov archive
“The exhibition featured about seventeen works from 1973-1974. Compositions: “Autumn Whirlwind”, “Roses Bloomed in the Night Garden”, “Bird Market”, others, made in tempera. There were oil paintings on canvas, graphics. Gradually, people walking along the boulevard, attracted by the sounds of the gramophone, began to gather at the site of the street opening day. Arbat residents relaxing on the boulevard gathered in circles near the paintings. Disputes and discussions arose. The spectators themselves tightened the weakened spring of the gramophone and changed the records…” says the artist.
Photo: Alexander Popov archive
“It seems to me that the vernissage is the symbol of the boulevard,” says one of the artists. “I’ve been here for about twelve years. The first time was very unusual, and everyone who decides to exhibit here goes through this feeling. Sometimes gallery artists even come here with their works specifically for testing. Because there is an audience walking along the boulevard who is interested, and those who will never go to an exhibition, but about your paintings they will say, “I can draw like that too.” But in general, here, on Gogolevsky, you can see the full color of bohemia. And the artists, poets, and musicians are quite famous...”, says the woman.
– Well, yes, if only the homeless people weren’t in the way! Just write that - there are artists and homeless people here! – her neighbor adds, after which he leaves somewhere.
“What can you do... And the homeless people have even become family, sometimes you don’t see me for a long time, you worry if something has happened...,” the artist says reconcilingly, after which she recalls something from her childhood, “my father grew up here on the boulevard, he recalled , how children swam across the Moscow River for a reward - substandard chocolate from the Red October factory. I remember how they took me to the Moscow swimming pool, and it was a little wild, there was such steam above it... I also remember that my father often visited Vasily Stalin’s house - my grandfather served with him and communicated with him after the war.”
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
The artist also talked about how the monument to Mikhail Sholokhov frightened local residents. When it was first installed, some of the horses were red and some were white. It was a symbol of the division of the country into red and white, before and after, which can also be seen on the bench not far from the writer’s boat. In winter, one of the residents, apparently absent from the city for a long time, was seriously frightened when she saw red ears sticking out of a snowdrift. But in general, according to the locals, they have already gotten used to the boat with Sholokhov, and have also become a local. He even looks at his house, in Sivtsev Vrazhek.
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Estate of Prince Obolensky
It is also impossible to ignore the famous estate on Gogolevsky Boulevard, where Prince Obolensky lived. It was built in the second half of the 18th century according to the design of the architect Klein especially for the prince, so that he would feel as comfortable as possible in the estate. However, then the owners of the estate constantly replaced each other, each of them demanded from the architects more and more new additions to the architecture of the building, the last of which was made in 1903. Therefore, the building has absorbed so many different architectural styles and looks very impressive. By the way, the Great Patriotic War Veterans Committee is now located in the building.
House-commune, or how to make a masterpiece on 34 square meters
Let's go back to the even side and take a closer look at house No. 8. This is one of the Moscow communal houses of the 1930s.
“The house was built for the “Exemplary Construction” cooperative - that is, the architects themselves who designed it were supposed to live in it,” explains Pavel Kuznetsov. “On the ground floor, where the Photo Center is now, there was an architectural bureau. The house, standing perpendicular to the boulevard, was intended for single and small-family residents. Look closely and you will see a second building behind it. It was built for families. On the roof of the first building there was a solarium and a place for walking (note, there are no balconies in the house - it was assumed that people should relax not individually, but collectively), and on the roof of the second there was a kindergarten. They were connected by a ladder. Now look at the small building in the courtyard - this is a communal building. It contained a club, a dining room, an icehouse, a laundry, and a gym. It turned out to be a complex from which you didn’t have to leave at all.”
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“From the outside, the building looks like a simple box, but don’t underestimate it. The ideas and layout that the architects put into it have survived many decades and are now becoming relevant and fashionable again. Judge for yourself - they were faced with the task of building cheap and comfortable housing. And they made the most of the space. The house has one corridor on two floors, and the apartments themselves are two- and three-story. The area of my home is only 34 square meters. But Moses Ginzburg, the ideological leader of the project of “transitional-type commune houses” and the author of the Narkomfin House on Novinsky Boulevard, argued that the main thing is not square meters, but cubic meters, says Pavel Kuznetsov, and adds, “this house, by the way, changed my life. When I moved here, I became interested in the avant-garde and architecture in general - and became an employee of the museum of architecture.”
Restaurants on Gogolevsky Boulevard
Walking down the street, you will certainly at some point want to stop and refresh your strength. And for this you will not need to urgently leave the avenue and look for transport to go somewhere to eat, because there are a huge number of different catering places located on the boulevard. And the best among them are:
- Khinkalnaya in house 23 offers guests a huge assortment of dishes of Georgian and Caucasian cuisine and a solid selection of excellent alcohol.
- The Baba Marta restaurant on Gogolevsky Boulevard at 8 is the only catering place in Moscow where you can taste real Bulgarian food, and there is also a separate children’s room where children can have a great rest under the watchful eye of the animators.
- The restaurant, together with the bar “Suitcase” in building 25, was opened under the leadership of the famous actor and director Oleg Menshikov and restaurateur Stepanov, who made this place a real paradise for gourmets, in which all dishes are prepared according to the recipes of ancient Siberian cuisine.
- Cafe Miles, located in building 2/18, allows you to enjoy a variety of dishes from all over the world in a cozy atmosphere accompanied by pleasant music.
- The Teremok pancake house in building 3 will delight all lovers of traditional Russian cuisine who want to taste delicious homemade food at affordable prices.
Tournaments on the boulevard, chess from space and the Moorish room
Behind the communal house are two wonderful mansions. House No. 10 looks a little contrasting. On the one hand, a sign with shackles and a laurel wreath reminds us of the Decembrists who gathered here at Mikhail Naryshkin’s place. Ryleev read “Dumas” here, Naryshkin and Pushkin’s friend Ivan Pushchin were arrested here. On the other hand, today the building is occupied by the Museum of Modern Art, and behind the classic facade you can see a huge monument - a bouquet of flowers and other art objects.
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
The next two houses, 14 and 16, are united by the monogram “A”. But on one of the buildings it is outside, on the other it is in the decoration of one of the rooms. It means the surname of the owners, merchants Alekseevs. The future famous mayor Nikolai Alekseev grew up in this house. Because of his mother's character, life here was quite strict. The servants were reprimanded if they knocked with forks, in the kitchen there were separate towels for knives, for plates, etc., and the piano was wiped with five different rags. However, what is more interesting is that when the piano was playing and performances were given, Stanislavsky periodically came into the house, because he was born Alekseev, the nephew of the owner of the house,
Since 1956, the house has been occupied by the Chess Association and the Chess Museum. Entrance is by appointment only, but it's worth stopping by. After the restoration, the living rooms and former ballrooms, the Moorish room, and the fireplaces of the 19th century were preserved in excellent condition.
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Museum director Tatyana Kolesnikovich shows the exhibits:
“Chess pieces are not only a sport, but also a reflection of culture and history. The sets “Napoleon against Frederick the Great”, “Austrians against Muslims” and “Russians against the Turks” speak volumes about this. The latter were made in a single copy for playing in the royal family; in the figure of the king it is easy to recognize Peter I. The features of the time are discernible in the “Collective Farm and City” set. The boat of the collective farm is a silo, industrialization is shown in urban figures (blast furnaces, wires). And the city’s pawns are actually children in gas masks. This is a chess set made by Gulag prisoners: from barbed wire, from matches and cardboard, and from wood. “Special purpose” chess is interesting. Cosmic ones move along the slots, they cannot be separated from the board. Nakhimov’s naval chess is filled with lead from below, so it does not fall when rocking.”
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Museum curator, chess player and historian Dmitry Oleinikov recalls that he went to the chess club while still a first-class student.
“Then I had no idea whose mansion it was, I was more interested in the fact that there was a library of books on chess, which were not available then. Chess has been played on the boulevard itself since around the 1960s, but initially it was not directly associated with the museum. It was just an ordinary residential area with the usual traditions of that time. People had such cardboards that were inserted into the gap in the back of the boulevard bench, set a chess clock, played blitz... Nowadays this contingent is rarely seen, but now our association organizes organized tournaments on the boulevard.”
“What is Gogolevsky Boulevard for me? So many things come to mind... From the monument to Gogol and Godnitsky’s poem “Two Gogols Neighbor in Moscow” to the memories of his youth. My girlfriend and I were once met here by some half-crazed poet who gave us engagement rings and a book of his poems, then asked for money for it. And, of course, the poems of our chess poet Ilyin with the words “From Kropotkinskaya to Arbat flows Gogolevsky Boulevard.”
Finds in the basements of the income house
If on the even side there have so far been mostly mansions, then on the left there is a sign of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries - apartment buildings. The most interesting story has house 29 - the income house of the Jerusalem Patriarchal Metochion, which belonged to the Church of the Resurrection of the Word in Filippovsky Lane. Father Alexey told about his story:
“The temple on this site was still under Ivan the Terrible. Then here was the country residence of Metropolitan Philip of Moscow, and he built a wooden church in honor of his heavenly patron, Apostle Philip. In 1688, a stone temple was built, and after the Napoleonic War it almost closed. However, at the same time, the Patriarch of Jerusalem turned to the Synod with a request to give a metochion, that is, a representative office in Moscow - and it was given precisely at our church.
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
Several apartment buildings were built around the church at the beginning of the 20th century. The fact is that rural churches lived off of vegetable gardens and orchards, while city churches lived off of donations and income. Plus, ministers and pilgrims themselves could live in such houses. After the revolution, the houses became ordinary apartment buildings, but the temple did not close. One of our parishioners, now deceased, told how she ran into it as a girl, and how the priest blessed her to go to the front in 1941. She went through the war, came back, and came here all her life. And when the income house on Gogolevsky several years ago began to be rebuilt once again, they found old cellars for coal and rails along which a horse dragged a trolley with coal into these cellars. After all, the heating was originally stove.”
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
The secret of whistles, iron drawing and local place names
On a sunny weekend, you will probably meet another interesting creative person on Gogolevsky - the whistle seller Victor. He wears a raspberry beret, teaches how to play whistles and treats customers with sweets. According to Victor, he spent his childhood here.
“I lived here in the post-war years. In the summer the boulevard was overgrown like a forest! Crowds of people were walking around, selling all sorts of things. And in winter we made a hill where Sholokhov is now, and rolled down to Sivtsev Vrazhk. Do you know why it is called that? My grandmother, a very simple woman, told us in childhood that Sivka-Burka lived there! And on the boulevard opposite the alley in ancient times there grew an oak tree with unusual birds. Of course, these were her fairy tales. But when I came here with my whistles, I first stood exactly in the place of that oak tree. And, imagine, I was recognized by two old ladies with whom we went to school together! They sometimes come here to chat with me,” says the artist.
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
Here, at school, an art teacher once came to us... She was wonderful. In a crimson long dress, with black hair... She brought an iron with her and said that we would draw it. But I didn’t take any measurements or construction, I just outlined the silhouette. “You don’t have to look at it, you have to draw the way you feel. Let it be an image." Then this lesson turned everything upside down for me! And I specifically wear a crimson beret in memory of her.
Happy New year!
Gogolevsky Boulevard also has its own original holiday. Its history began in the 1970s, when hippies began to appear at Gogol. It was a place of meetings, get-togethers, communication, ask (making money) and creativity. Sergei Solmi, artist, creator of the Love Street festival, recalls: “I remember it was here that I met Umka, Anna Gerasimova, poetess and musician. I needed some small money, and I went to see Gogol. She stood and played the guitar. I ask if you have one ruble? She says “I will give you three rubles, but you will come with me.” And she took me to meet the poet Andrei Bitov..."
Photo: hippy.ru
It was the hippies who came up with the idea of celebrating their own New Year on the boulevard on April 1st - Hippy New Year. April Fool's Day was chosen due to its historical specifics: in the USSR, representatives of this culture were considered abnormal and sent “to the madhouse.” Among the various folklore of April Fools' meetings, there is a second explanation for the date - they say, we are celebrating Gogol's Birthday!
Some interesting things about Gogolevsky Boulevard
Gogol Boulevard appears in many films. Thus, in the film “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears,” two scenes took place here. It is here that Katya Tikhomirova first meets Rudolf Rachkov, and here they meet 20 years later. Gogolevsky Boulevard, 10 building in particular, can be seen in the film “Pokrovsky Gate”, where scenes unfold near the house and along Nashchokinsky Lane of the boulevard. You can also see footage of Gogol Boulevard at the end of the film “Cold Summer of ’53,” when the main character of the film, Basargin, after a difficult conversation with the relatives of the lost goods, walks into the distance.
Gogol's bifurcation
If you look at the map of the Boulevard Ring, it is easy to notice that only Gogolevsky is named after a historical figure, and not a locality. And he was the only one who retained the Soviet-era renaming. Although “Gogol’s” history began here even before the revolution, in 1909. In honor of the centenary of the writer who lived nearby, a monument by Andreev was erected on the boulevard. “They will laugh at my bitter word,” might have come to people’s minds when the covers were removed. The monument turned out to be expressive, but very gloomy, depicting Gogol during a period of suffering and illness. “Sad” Gogol stood on the boulevard for just over thirty years. On the centenary of the writer’s death, it was changed to a new, more optimistic monument to Tomsky’s work. All that was left of the old one were the lanterns.
Photo: m24.ru/Lidiya Shironina
“Gogol’s humor is dear to us. Gogol’s tears are a hindrance. Sitting, he brought sadness. Let him now stand for laughter,” they said about the new monument. However, the old one is located literally a hundred steps from the new one, on Nikitsky Boulevard. But this is the next story...
Walk along Gogolevsky Boulevard
We will begin our Great Walk along the Boulevard Ring with a walk along Gogolevsky Boulevard. During it, we will walk the entire boulevard from Prechistensky Gate Square to Arbat Gate Square, get acquainted with the history of the boulevard, interesting facts related to it, and, of course, its sights.
We leave the Kropotkinskaya metro station. Exit is the last car from the center, following the sign “To Volkhonka Street”. Exit from the metro is via an underground passage; the western exit of the Kropotkinskaya station does not have a ground vestibule.
The main attraction of this area is undoubtedly the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, one of the main cathedrals of the capital. And, although the Temple itself is not located on the Boulevard Ring, we cannot ignore it. Let's come closer.
Walking along Volkhonka Street, on the opposite side we see the building of the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin.
Going down Vsekhsvyatsky Proezd, we see on the left the building of the State Art Gallery of Ilya Glazunov.
On the right is the square of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, in which a monument to Alexander II, the Liberator, is erected. To get a better look at it, let’s go down to the park, since the monument’s back is to Vsekhsvyatsky Proezd.
The square offers a magnificent view of both the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the monument to Alexander II, at the foot of which there is a fountain.
The sculpture of the emperor is located on a powerful granite pedestal surrounded by lions (a symbol of royal power, and also a symbol of dignity and fortitude). On the pedestal there is a bronze tablet that lists the merits of Alexander II: the abolition of serfdom, the introduction of a system of local self-government, military and judicial reforms, and the end of the many years of the Caucasian War.
We go down to Prechistenskaya embankment. On the left we see the towers of the Kremlin and the golden domes of its cathedrals.
On the right is the spit of Bolotny Island, with the monument “300th anniversary of the fleet” (Monument to Peter I) and the historical building of the “Red October” factory located on it.
But today our path lies in a completely different direction. After walking along the embankment, we go up Simonovsky Proezd.
In a small park there is a wooden chapel - the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Sovereign”.
The icon, after which the church is named, occupies a special place among Orthodox shrines. It is believed that it was revealed to the Orthodox people on March 2 (15), 1917, the day of the abdication of Nicholas II.
In 1990, a stone was installed at this place with the inscription: ““The foundation stone in the name of the Sovereign Mother of God - the forerunner of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which will be revived in this holy place.”
And in 1995 the chapel itself was built. Here services were held for the speedy revival of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, for the builders and benefactors.
Opposite the chapel is the Apartment House Z.A. Pertsova is an architectural monument of the early twentieth century in the Art Nouveau style.
Let's move on. The seventh house on Simonovsky Proezd is an unremarkable residential building in appearance, but it is known for the fact that writers Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov lived here.
We are located on Prechistensky Gate Square. On the left side we see a monument to Friedrich Engels.
Having crossed the pedestrian crossings to the other side of the square, we find ourselves at the beginning of Gogolevsky Boulevard. The arch of the eastern vestibule of the Kropotkinskaya station serves as a unique entrance to the boulevard. Let us remember that we were leaving from the western lobby.
On the left wall of the arch we see two memorial plaques at once.
One of them tells passers-by that until 1933, the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, built in 1493, stood on this site. The second concerns the metro station itself. It says that the lobby of the Kropotkinskaya station is an architectural monument of the twentieth century.
A continuation of the arch are two rows of one-story pavilions with small shops, cafes and cell phone stores.
Having passed them, we find ourselves on the boulevard itself. Before setting off, it’s worth saying a few words about its history.
In the 16th century, when the walls of the White City rose on the site of today’s Boulevard Ring, its southeastern slope was washed by the Chertory stream. In fact, Gogolevsky Boulevard was subsequently located in its place. And since the banks of the stream were of different heights (the inner one, from the side of the fortress, was steeper, and the outer one was flatter), the boulevard also has a three-stage relief. The internal passage is located on the top step, the boulevard itself is on the middle, and the external passage is on the bottom.
The former Prechistensky Boulevard received its modern name in 1924, the year of the 115th anniversary of the great Russian writer N.V. Gogol.
Interesting fact: the events of the Oscar-winning film “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears” take place on Gogolevsky Boulevard. The main character of the film, Katya Tikhomirova, and Rudolf Rachkov meet on the benches of this boulevard. This happens twice. At the very beginning of the film, and then, in the same place, twenty years later.
The architectural appearance of Gogol Boulevard took shape after the Patriotic War of 1812. Most of the buildings here are two or three stories high and date back to the 19th century. Only a few of them were built in the 18th or, conversely, in the 20th century.
One of these houses is located at the very beginning of the boulevard, house No. 4 - the City Estate of the Obolensky-Nekrasov princes, built by the architect R.I. Klein in the second half of the 18th century.
The next building behind it, house number 6, is the Zamyatin-Lvov-Tretyakov Estate. It is famous not so much for its architecture as for its history. The fact is that in 1873-92. the building housed the art collection of philanthropist S. M. Tretyakov.
But the building of house No. 8, building 1, although it does not stand out from the unified architectural appearance of the boulevard, was built after the October Revolution, in 1930. This is the so-called “commune house”, built for Soviet workers. Previously, in its place stood the Church of the Rzhev Mother of God, destroyed a year earlier.
Let's move to the odd side of the boulevard. Here, by the way, it’s worth mentioning that there are quite a lot of pedestrian crossings on Gogolevsky Boulevard (as well as on the entire Boulevard Ring), and we won’t have any problems crossing from one side of the street to the other.
Passing house number 5, we will look into Gagarinsky Lane. Here we will see a small two-story building. This is the Estate of P.V. Nashchokina. On its wall we will find a memorial plaque telling us that in 1831-1832 A.S. Pushkin lived here with his friend P.V. Nashchokina.
Let's return to the boulevard. Opposite house No. 10 on the boulevard there is a monument to Mikhail Sholokhov, a famous Soviet writer and Nobel Prize laureate.
The monument is a whole sculptural composition. In it, Sholokhov crosses the Don in a boat. And behind him are two groups of horses swimming in different directions.
According to the author of the work, sculptor A. Rukovishnikov, the horses symbolize the Red and White Armies, which are not on the same path. And in the middle is a sculpture of a little foal who doesn’t know who to swim for. Part of the composition is also a stone bench (the rest of the benches around the monument are ordinary wooden ones). It depicts scenes from the Civil War on both sides.
The monument is located against the backdrop of the Tsurikov Estate. It is famous for the fact that in the 19th century its owner was Mikhail Naryshkin, and secret meetings of the Decembrists took place here. Here the owner of the house and another Decembrist, Ivan Pushchin, were arrested. Passers-by are reminded of this by a memorial plaque depicting hands shackled.
Now this building houses the Union of Artists of Russia.
We move further along the boulevard. During the warm season, various exhibitions of paintings and photographs are regularly held here. Of course, free. In the distance we can already see the end of the boulevard and the monument to the one in whose honor it is named - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. However, the monument is located with its back to the boulevard, so let’s come closer and go around it from the front, from the Arbat Gate Square.
The history of the creation of this monument is worth telling separately. The sculpture by N. Tomsky was installed in 1951. However, there was already a monument to Gogol on the Boulevard Ring (and in exactly the same place). In 1909, in the year of the writer’s 100th anniversary, a monument to Gogol by sculptor N. Andreev was erected here.
However, Stalin never liked him. In that older sculpture, Gogol is depicted in a moment of heavy thought, gloomy and exhausted. This is not what a national hero should look like, according to the “leader of the peoples.” Therefore, in 1951 the sculpture was replaced. Now the great writer appears before passers-by stately, handsome and full of life.
Looking ahead, let's say that we will see each other again with the mentioned work of N. Andreev. It is located further along our route, on Nikitsky Boulevard. But more about this later, we will follow the sequence.
Coming out to the Arbat Gate Square, we suggest you deviate slightly from the route and turn left into Maly Afanasyevsky Lane. Having walked along it, we will find ourselves in Filippovsky Lane (it runs parallel to Gogolevsky Boulevard).
Here we will see the Church of the Resurrection of the Word (also known as the Church of the Apostle Philip), a valuable architectural monument preserved from the 17th century.
The Moscow Compound of the Jerusalem Patriarchate is also located here.
We return back to the Arbat Gate Square. We reach Znamenka Street and cross it at the pedestrian crossing. Two monumental multi-storey buildings on opposite sides of the roadway belong to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In house No. 19 there are various departments and departments of the ministry, and in house No. 14, which we approach after crossing the street, is the General Headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Next to it is the Temple of Boris and Gleb. A sign at the entrance states that the Temple was built in 1997.
A red building with an unusual shape is the lobby of the Arbatskaya metro station.
This could be the end of the first part of our walk, but we propose to explore a couple more attractions located in close proximity to the metro. Having gone around the metro building, we find ourselves in front of the Khudozhestvenny cinema.
A memorial plaque on its façade states that this cinema is one of the oldest cinemas in Moscow (opened in 1909), and the cinema building itself is an architectural monument protected by the state.
Near the entrance to the cinema there is a small memorial sign, similar to the Orthodox Church, but much smaller in size.
The inscription on it tells us that there was an ancient church here, built in the 15th century and destroyed in 1930. And it was called the Church of Boris and Gleb. Just like the Temple we passed a minute ago.
Thus, it is not difficult to guess that during the years of militant atheism, the Church of Boris and Gleb was destroyed, and after almost 70 years, it was recreated. But, since new buildings have appeared on the square over the years, and the Boulevard Ring highway has expanded significantly, it was not possible to build a church in the original location. Therefore, the construction site was chosen a little to the side.
Looking at the opposite side of the square, we can see two streets diverging from it.
Wide highway of New Arbat
and the pedestrian zone of Arbat Street, the so-called “Old Arbat”. You can familiarize yourself with it in detail in our “Walk along Old Arbat”.
And our walk is over here. We can go down to the Arbatskaya metro station or go to the second part of the Great Walk along the Boulevard Ring - Walk along Nikitsky Boulevard.
Print the walking route
