Arbat Street
Encyclopedia
The Arbat is an approximately one-kilometer long pedestrian street in the historical centre of Moscow
. The Arbat has existed at least since the 15th century, thus laying claim to being one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russia
n capital. It forms the heart of the Arbat District of Moscow. Originally the street formed part of an important trade route and was home to a large number of craftsmen.
In the 18th century, the Arbat came to be regarded by the Russian nobility as the most prestigious living area in Moscow. The street was almost completely destroyed by the great fire during Napoleon's occupation of Moscow
in 1812 and had to be rebuilt. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it became known as the a place where petty nobility
, artists, and academics lived. In the Soviet period, it was the home of many high-ranking government officials.
Today the street and its surroundings are undergoing gentrification
, and it is considered a desirable place to live. Because of the many historic buildings, and the numerous artists who have lived and worked in the street, the Arbat is also an important tourist attraction.
. Arbatskaya square is also the meeting point of the Boulevard Ring
and Vozdvizhenka Street . The part of this square which is adjacent to the Arbat is called Arbat Gate , as it is the site of one of the ten gates of the old city wall. The wall, which stood from the 16th to the 18th century, followed the path of the current Boulevard Ring. From this point the Arbat runs southwest, with a dozen side streets leading off, and ends at Smolenskaya Square , which intersects with the Garden Ring
. Continuing on from the Arbat in a westerly direction is the eight-lane Smolenskaya Street . This street changes its name several times within the city limits, ultimately crossing the MKAD
ring road, and becoming the M1 highway
to Smolensk
, Minsk
and Warsaw
.
Until the middle of the 20th century, the Arbat remained part of the main road from the Moscow Kremlin westwards. In the 1960s a parallel road, the New Arbat was built, and took on this function. The New Arbat with its wide sidewalks and 1960s tower blocks has no sidestreets. Two decades later the Arbat was made into the first pedestrian zone in Moscow. In order to avoid confusion with the New Arbat, people began to refer to the Arbat as the Old Arbat .
The original meaning of the place name Arbat is unknown. There are several hypotheses:
Thus an oriental origin of the word Arbat is generally held to be more likely than a Russian origin. This hypothesis is possibly lent some extra weight by the existence of an Arbat Street in Kolomna
, 100 km southeast of Moscow. As this town was often attacked by the Golden Horde
it is supposed that the street was named under their influence.
, and thus via Poland with other areas of Europe. This location attracted craftsmen to the Arbat, and they set up shop here en masse. This period is recalled in the names of some of the side streets off the Arbat, for example Plotnikov Lane , i.e. "Carpenters' Lane", Serebryanyi pereulok , i.e. "Silver Lane". As well as the workshops of craftsmen, there were also a great number of churches on the Arbat, along with some houses of merchants and clergy.
During the reign of Ivan IV of Russia
("the Terrible"), the Arbat had a less salubrious connotation. It was here that the infamous bodyguards of the Tsar, the Oprichina, had their headquarters. It was from here that orders were issued for mass executions and torture of alleged traitors to the crown. In Alexey Tolstoy's
historical novel Ivan the Terrible we find the following interpretation of the atmosphere of the period, "News of the fearsome plans had spread throughout Moscow, and a deathly silence reigned. The shops were closed, the streets empty, and only occasionally one heard the galloping horses of the messengers of the Tsar, who had come down to the Arbat, to his favourite palace."
After the death of Ivan the Terrible, and the dissolution of the Oprichina, the Arbat's significance as a trade route began to grow again. Not only merchants travelled this route, but also Tsar
s, along with their messengers and soldiers. Foreign invaders too used the Arbat when attacking the Kremlin, and when retreating in defeat. Time and again the Arbat proved important to the defence of the Kremlin: From its eastern end, the volunteer army of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky
delivered a decisive blow to the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian
Field Marshal Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
. In the 16th and 17th centuries, three regiments of Streltsy
troops were stationed on the Arbat, to better defend the Kremlin.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the neighbourhood was graced with elegant churches, notably the one featured in Vasily Polenov
's celebrated painting A Courtyard in Moscow (1879).
." In 1793 about 33 of the 56 houses on the Arbat belonged to nobility or to civil servants. Amongst the nobles who had houses built for them on or near the Arbat were such celebrated families as the Tolstoys, the Gagarins, the Kropotkins, the Galitzine
s and the Sheremetevs. Nevertheless, despite its proximity to the Kremlin and to the seat of power, the district was considered to be tranquil, almost rural. By this period there was hardly any manufacture on the street, and also less trade than in other parts of Moscow.
However the Arbat continued to serve as the most important way into and out of Moscow towards the west. During Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812
, French troops led by Joachim Murat
used the street to get to the Kremlin. This event is mentioned in Leo Tolstoy
's epic novel War and Peace
, written 50 years afterwards.
The fire lit during the battle for Moscow in 1812 destroyed large parts of the predominantly wooden city, and also decimated the Arbat. The results of the energetic period of rebuilding in the 1810s can still be seen today, in the surviving houses of the Empire style, which was characteristic for the period. Towards the end of the 19th century, the style changed to Art Nouveau
, with many luxury apartment buildings being built in this manner. These buildings, with as many as six or seven floors, were technologically remarkable for the period, and fitted with all modern conveniences. Around a dozen are still to be seen along the Arbat today. In the last years of the 20th century and the first of the 21st they were all renovated and made into plush domiciles or offices.
In the second half of the 19th century the Arbat also moved away from being a purely aristocratic part of town, and became a popular place for artists to live. This was mainly due to the fact that a large number of the poets, thinkers, musicians and actors who had shaped Russia's cultural life came from the middle and lower nobility, sometimes from impoverished noble families. It was around the Arbat that Russia's intelligentsia
began to develop, largely made up of young educated nobles who were not afraid to criticize society. Alexander Pushkin lodged in one of its mansions for a short time, and there is a statue of him and his wife, Natalie, in front of this house. Another famous inhabitant was the writer Andrey Bely, many of whose novels feature impressionist portrayals of the area. Thus over time the Arbat lost its richest noble inhabitants, who preferred the splendid districts around the Kremlin and Tverskaya Street
over the would-be rural idyll of the Arbat. By the turn of the century the Arbat had become popular with the middle classes, and academics, doctors and lawyers settled in the area.
s were introduced, which were replaced 30 years later by trolleybus
es (electric buses which get their power from overhead lines similar to those of a tram). For this reason the previous cobbles were replaced with an asphalt surface. In 1935 Moscow's first Metro station
opened on Arbatskaya Square. The fact that the Arbat remained part of the road between Moscow and Smolensk facilitated trade, and made the Arbat into a busy shopping street with a large number of renowned boutiques. The most intense business activity took place near the western end of the street at the beginning of the 20th century: on the site of today's Smolenskaya Square, a large farmers' market used to take place, the Smolensky Rynok . Furthermore, in 1899 Kiev Station
was built, a few hundred metres to the west of the Arbat, which further increased the influx of traders from Ukraine
and Southeastern Europe into Moscow via the Arbat.
After the October revolution
of 1917, the Bolsheviks confiscated private property on the Arbat, as they did elsewhere in Russia, and made the buildings property of the state. Nevertheless, the street did not immediately lose its reputation as a haunt for artists. Through the 1920s this began to change, as mass immigration from the countryside into the capital put enormous pressure on housing. For this reason, the previous apartment buildings were made into kommunalka
s, apartments where more than one family lived together. Furthermore, the area served more and more to accommodate the high-ranking functionaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
. This period is described in Anatoli Rybakov's novel Children of the Arbat
(} This is the reason for the plain accommodation buildings in the side streets off the Arbat, some of which replaced earlier, more archtecturally significant buildings. Furthermore, most of the Arbat's churches were demolished, including that of St Nicholas, regarded as one of the finest examples of Godunov
style. For visiting functionaries a luxury hotel was also built near the Arbat, the Arbat Hotel in Plotnikov Street. Some buildings were also renovated or built in the constructivist style. Probably the most original monument to this new trend is the Melnikov Mansion.
In the early 1980s the Arbat, which had been a busy street for traffic, was closed off and made into the first pedestrian zone of the Soviet Union
. This happened at the same time as the construction of a new Ministry of Defence building on Arbatskaya Square, which required a great number of communications pipes and wires to be laid beneath the Arbat. The renovation of the street and many of its historical buildings was completed in 1986. During Perestroika
, the street was a gathering place for informal youth movements (like hippies or punks
), as well as street musicians and artists. Viktor Tsoi
's wall in one of the Arbat side-streets (Krivoarbatskiy Pereulok
) remains a curious monument to those turbulent years. To this day, Russian youth frequently gather on the Arbat to play the songs of Tsoi and other Russian songwriters. However, the overall appearance of the Arbat is dominated by street artists, souvenir stalls and shops, restaurants, cafés and bars.
, and poet, Bulat Okudzhava
, who wrote several poignant songs about the Arbat. The Arbat is home to the headquarters of oil company TNK-BP
- a modern building at the beginning of the street. It also contains numerous restaurants, including The Hard Rock Cafe. Many of these restaurants are geared towards visitors to Moscow and are considered by many residents to be over-priced and of low quality compared to those in other parts of the city. There are also a few restaurants and cafes that cater to the working population and middle class; these include Kruzhka
, Praim, and Mu-Mu
's.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. The Arbat has existed at least since the 15th century, thus laying claim to being one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n capital. It forms the heart of the Arbat District of Moscow. Originally the street formed part of an important trade route and was home to a large number of craftsmen.
In the 18th century, the Arbat came to be regarded by the Russian nobility as the most prestigious living area in Moscow. The street was almost completely destroyed by the great fire during Napoleon's occupation of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1812 and had to be rebuilt. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it became known as the a place where petty nobility
Petty nobility
Petty nobility is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by Nobles/Knights around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local community that were given tax exemption for taking care of services like for example guard duties of local primitive...
, artists, and academics lived. In the Soviet period, it was the home of many high-ranking government officials.
Today the street and its surroundings are undergoing gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
, and it is considered a desirable place to live. Because of the many historic buildings, and the numerous artists who have lived and worked in the street, the Arbat is also an important tourist attraction.
Location and route
The Arbat is in the historic centre of Moscow. It begins at Arbatskaya square , 800 metres west of the walls of the Moscow KremlinMoscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
. Arbatskaya square is also the meeting point of the Boulevard Ring
Boulevard Ring
The Boulevard Ring is Moscow's second centremost ring road . Boulevards form a semicircular chain along the western, northern and eastern sides of the historical White City of Moscow; in the south the incomplete ring is terminated by the embankments of Moskva River...
and Vozdvizhenka Street . The part of this square which is adjacent to the Arbat is called Arbat Gate , as it is the site of one of the ten gates of the old city wall. The wall, which stood from the 16th to the 18th century, followed the path of the current Boulevard Ring. From this point the Arbat runs southwest, with a dozen side streets leading off, and ends at Smolenskaya Square , which intersects with the Garden Ring
Garden Ring
The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring , is a circular avenue around the central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to be the city ramparts surrounding Zemlyanoy Gorod in the 17th century....
. Continuing on from the Arbat in a westerly direction is the eight-lane Smolenskaya Street . This street changes its name several times within the city limits, ultimately crossing the MKAD
MKAD
MKAD is a ring road encircling the City of Moscow.The acronym is a transliteration of the Russian МКАД, for Московская Кольцевая Автомобильная Дорога .The growth of traffic in and around Moscow in the 1950s made the city planners realise Russia's largest metropolis...
ring road, and becoming the M1 highway
M1 highway (Russia)
The Russian route M1 is a major trunk road that runs from Moscow through Smolensk before reaching the border with Belarus. The length is . The highway runs south of Odintsovo, Kubinka, Mozhaysk, Gagarin, north of Vyazma, through Safonovo and Yartsevo...
to Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
, Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
Origins and Etymology
The Arbat is one of the oldest surviving streets in Moscow. Exactly when it came into existence is not recorded, but it is mentioned in a document of 28 July 1493. The document describes a fire which started in the wooden Church of Nicholas on the Sand . The fire spread throughout Moscow, devastating large areas of the city, which consisted for the most part of wooden structures.The original meaning of the place name Arbat is unknown. There are several hypotheses:
- Probably the most widespread hypothesis states that the name comes from the ArabicArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
word أرباض arbāḍ, meaning 'suburb' or 'outskirts'. This fits with the fact that from the 16th century the area surrounding the Arbat did form the outer district of the city, the Kremlin being the city centre. However, there is disagreement over how an Arabic word came to be used to name a Moscow street. Some local historians explain this with reference to the frequent attacks of the Crimean KhanateCrimean KhanateCrimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
against Moscow in the 15th and 16th centuries, linked with the fact that a large number of Arabic loan words had entered the Turkic languages, including TatarTatar languageThe Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
by this point.
- Another hypothesis links the word Arbat with the TatarTatar languageThe Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
word arba, i.e. "cart". This is explained either by reference to the significance of the Arbat as a trade route, and thus used by traders and their carts, or by the possible existence of a workshop in the area which produced carts.
- In the 19th century the historian and archaeologist Ivan Yegorovich Sabelin proposed a purely Russian origin for the street name. According to him, the word Arbat derives from the adjective gorbat, i.e. "bumpy", which corresponds to the uneven nature of the land on which Moscow is built. However, this theory is disputed, as in fact the land on which the Arbat is located is flatter than much of the city.
Thus an oriental origin of the word Arbat is generally held to be more likely than a Russian origin. This hypothesis is possibly lent some extra weight by the existence of an Arbat Street in Kolomna
Kolomna
Kolomna is an ancient city and the administrative center of Kolomensky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva and Oka Rivers, southeast of Moscow. The area of the city is about . The city was founded in 1177...
, 100 km southeast of Moscow. As this town was often attacked by the Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
it is supposed that the street was named under their influence.
15th to 17th century
As early as the 15th century the Arbat formed the first part of a road which linked Moscow - predominantly the Kremlin - with the western regions of the Grand Duchy of MoscowGrand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....
, and thus via Poland with other areas of Europe. This location attracted craftsmen to the Arbat, and they set up shop here en masse. This period is recalled in the names of some of the side streets off the Arbat, for example Plotnikov Lane , i.e. "Carpenters' Lane", Serebryanyi pereulok , i.e. "Silver Lane". As well as the workshops of craftsmen, there were also a great number of churches on the Arbat, along with some houses of merchants and clergy.
During the reign of Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
("the Terrible"), the Arbat had a less salubrious connotation. It was here that the infamous bodyguards of the Tsar, the Oprichina, had their headquarters. It was from here that orders were issued for mass executions and torture of alleged traitors to the crown. In Alexey Tolstoy's
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy
Count Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, often referred to as A. K. Tolstoy , was a Russian poet, novelist and playwright, considered to be the most important nineteenth-century Russian historical dramatist...
historical novel Ivan the Terrible we find the following interpretation of the atmosphere of the period, "News of the fearsome plans had spread throughout Moscow, and a deathly silence reigned. The shops were closed, the streets empty, and only occasionally one heard the galloping horses of the messengers of the Tsar, who had come down to the Arbat, to his favourite palace."
After the death of Ivan the Terrible, and the dissolution of the Oprichina, the Arbat's significance as a trade route began to grow again. Not only merchants travelled this route, but also Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
s, along with their messengers and soldiers. Foreign invaders too used the Arbat when attacking the Kremlin, and when retreating in defeat. Time and again the Arbat proved important to the defence of the Kremlin: From its eastern end, the volunteer army of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky
Dmitry Pozharsky
For the ship of the same name, see Sverdlov class cruiserDmitry Mikhaylovich Pozharsky was a Rurikid prince, who led Russia's struggle for independence against Polish-Lithuanian invasion known as the Time of Troubles...
delivered a decisive blow to the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian
Poland-Lithuania
Poland–Lithuania can refer to:* Polish–Lithuanian union from 1385 until 1569* Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 until 1795See also: Polish-Lithuanian...
Field Marshal Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was a famous Lithuanian military commander and one of the most prominent noblemen of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.-Biography:...
. In the 16th and 17th centuries, three regiments of Streltsy
Streltsy
Streltsy were the units of Russian guardsmen in the 16th - early 18th centuries, armed with firearms. They are also collectively known as Marksman Troops .- Origins and organization :...
troops were stationed on the Arbat, to better defend the Kremlin.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the neighbourhood was graced with elegant churches, notably the one featured in Vasily Polenov
Vasily Polenov
Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists.-Biography:...
's celebrated painting A Courtyard in Moscow (1879).
18th and 19th centuries
By the 19th century at the latest the growth of Moscow meant that the Arbat was now in the centre of the city rather than at its edge, and so it became an ever more desirable place to live. In 1736 about half the street was destroyed in yet another fire, but by the second half of the 18th century it was already being described as the "Moscow Boulevard Saint-GermainBoulevard Saint-Germain
The Boulevard Saint-Germain is a major street in Paris on the Left Bank of the Seine river. It curves in a 3.5 kilometer arc from the Pont de Sully in the east to the Pont de la Concorde in the west and traverses the 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements...
." In 1793 about 33 of the 56 houses on the Arbat belonged to nobility or to civil servants. Amongst the nobles who had houses built for them on or near the Arbat were such celebrated families as the Tolstoys, the Gagarins, the Kropotkins, the Galitzine
Galitzine
For Orthodox clergyman and theologian, see Alexander Golitzin.The Galitzines are one of the largest and noblest princely houses of Russia. Since the extinction of the Korecki family in the 17th century, the Golitsyns have claimed dynastic seniority in the House of Gediminas...
s and the Sheremetevs. Nevertheless, despite its proximity to the Kremlin and to the seat of power, the district was considered to be tranquil, almost rural. By this period there was hardly any manufacture on the street, and also less trade than in other parts of Moscow.
However the Arbat continued to serve as the most important way into and out of Moscow towards the west. During Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...
, French troops led by Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
used the street to get to the Kremlin. This event is mentioned in Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's epic novel War and Peace
War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
, written 50 years afterwards.
The fire lit during the battle for Moscow in 1812 destroyed large parts of the predominantly wooden city, and also decimated the Arbat. The results of the energetic period of rebuilding in the 1810s can still be seen today, in the surviving houses of the Empire style, which was characteristic for the period. Towards the end of the 19th century, the style changed to Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
, with many luxury apartment buildings being built in this manner. These buildings, with as many as six or seven floors, were technologically remarkable for the period, and fitted with all modern conveniences. Around a dozen are still to be seen along the Arbat today. In the last years of the 20th century and the first of the 21st they were all renovated and made into plush domiciles or offices.
In the second half of the 19th century the Arbat also moved away from being a purely aristocratic part of town, and became a popular place for artists to live. This was mainly due to the fact that a large number of the poets, thinkers, musicians and actors who had shaped Russia's cultural life came from the middle and lower nobility, sometimes from impoverished noble families. It was around the Arbat that Russia's intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
began to develop, largely made up of young educated nobles who were not afraid to criticize society. Alexander Pushkin lodged in one of its mansions for a short time, and there is a statue of him and his wife, Natalie, in front of this house. Another famous inhabitant was the writer Andrey Bely, many of whose novels feature impressionist portrayals of the area. Thus over time the Arbat lost its richest noble inhabitants, who preferred the splendid districts around the Kremlin and Tverskaya Street
Tverskaya Street
Tverskaya Street , known as Gorky Street between 1935 and 1990, is the main and probably best-known radial street of Moscow, Russia. The street runs from the central Manege Square north-west in the direction of Saint Petersburg and terminated at the Garden Ring, giving its name to Tverskoy District...
over the would-be rural idyll of the Arbat. By the turn of the century the Arbat had become popular with the middle classes, and academics, doctors and lawyers settled in the area.
20th century and today
In the first two decades of the 20th century comfortable new apartment buildings were built on the Arbat, which still contribute to the overall appearance of the street. The main inhabitants were now well-off academics, as well as a small number of artists. The Arbat's transport connections were also improved in the first half of the 20th century. In 1904 electric tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s were introduced, which were replaced 30 years later by trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es (electric buses which get their power from overhead lines similar to those of a tram). For this reason the previous cobbles were replaced with an asphalt surface. In 1935 Moscow's first Metro station
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
opened on Arbatskaya Square. The fact that the Arbat remained part of the road between Moscow and Smolensk facilitated trade, and made the Arbat into a busy shopping street with a large number of renowned boutiques. The most intense business activity took place near the western end of the street at the beginning of the 20th century: on the site of today's Smolenskaya Square, a large farmers' market used to take place, the Smolensky Rynok . Furthermore, in 1899 Kiev Station
Kievsky Rail Terminal
The Kiyevsky Rail Terminal is one of the nine rail terminals of Moscow, Russia. It is the only railway station in Moscow to have a frontage on the Moskva River....
was built, a few hundred metres to the west of the Arbat, which further increased the influx of traders from Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Southeastern Europe into Moscow via the Arbat.
After the October revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
of 1917, the Bolsheviks confiscated private property on the Arbat, as they did elsewhere in Russia, and made the buildings property of the state. Nevertheless, the street did not immediately lose its reputation as a haunt for artists. Through the 1920s this began to change, as mass immigration from the countryside into the capital put enormous pressure on housing. For this reason, the previous apartment buildings were made into kommunalka
Kommunalka
A communal apartment or kommunalka appeared in the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, as a product of the “new collective vision of the future” and as a response to the housing crisis in urban areas. A communal apartment typically consisted of an apartment shared between two to...
s, apartments where more than one family lived together. Furthermore, the area served more and more to accommodate the high-ranking functionaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
. This period is described in Anatoli Rybakov's novel Children of the Arbat
Children of the Arbat
Children of the Arbat is a novel by Anatoli Rybakov that recounts the era in the Soviet Union of the build-up to the 'Congress of the Victors', the early years of the second Five Year Plan and the circumstances of the murder of Sergey Kirov prior to the beginning of the Great Purge.Principally...
(} This is the reason for the plain accommodation buildings in the side streets off the Arbat, some of which replaced earlier, more archtecturally significant buildings. Furthermore, most of the Arbat's churches were demolished, including that of St Nicholas, regarded as one of the finest examples of Godunov
Godunov
Godunov is a Russian surname.Godunov can refer to the following:Two Tsars of Russia and their kin:** Tsar Boris Fyodorovich Godunov a regent of Russia from 1584 to 1598 and then tsar from 1598 to 1605...
style. For visiting functionaries a luxury hotel was also built near the Arbat, the Arbat Hotel in Plotnikov Street. Some buildings were also renovated or built in the constructivist style. Probably the most original monument to this new trend is the Melnikov Mansion.
In the early 1980s the Arbat, which had been a busy street for traffic, was closed off and made into the first pedestrian zone of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. This happened at the same time as the construction of a new Ministry of Defence building on Arbatskaya Square, which required a great number of communications pipes and wires to be laid beneath the Arbat. The renovation of the street and many of its historical buildings was completed in 1986. During Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, the street was a gathering place for informal youth movements (like hippies or punks
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
), as well as street musicians and artists. Viktor Tsoi
Viktor Tsoi
Viktor Robertovich Tsoi ; 21 June 1962 – 15 August 1990) was a Soviet rock musician, leader of the band Kino.He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Russian rock and has many devoted fans across the countries of the former Soviet Union even today...
's wall in one of the Arbat side-streets (Krivoarbatskiy Pereulok
Krivoarbatskiy Pereulok
Krivoarbatsky Lane is a small side street near the Arbat Street. It is most notable for its curved form and the Wall of Viktor Tsoi, a Russian musician. This street is also notable for some informal youth gatherings....
) remains a curious monument to those turbulent years. To this day, Russian youth frequently gather on the Arbat to play the songs of Tsoi and other Russian songwriters. However, the overall appearance of the Arbat is dominated by street artists, souvenir stalls and shops, restaurants, cafés and bars.
Attractions
Since 1986, the Arbat has been dotted with distinctive street lanterns. It has several notable statues, including one to Princess Turandot in front of the Vakhtangov Theatre and another to Soviet-era folk singer, bardBard (Soviet Union)
The term bard came to be used in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, and continues to be used in Russia today, to refer to singer-songwriters who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment, similarly to beatnik folk singers of the United States...
, and poet, Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He was one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author song"...
, who wrote several poignant songs about the Arbat. The Arbat is home to the headquarters of oil company TNK-BP
TNK-BP
TNK-BP is a major vertically integrated Russian oil company. It is Russia's third largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil company in terms of reserves and crude oil production...
- a modern building at the beginning of the street. It also contains numerous restaurants, including The Hard Rock Cafe. Many of these restaurants are geared towards visitors to Moscow and are considered by many residents to be over-priced and of low quality compared to those in other parts of the city. There are also a few restaurants and cafes that cater to the working population and middle class; these include Kruzhka
Kruzhka
Kruzhka is a chain of "beer restaurants" in Moscow. The name is Russian for "mug".-Style:Kruzhka restaurants can usually be identified outside by their orange КРУЖКА signs, which are often illuminated and difficult to miss...
, Praim, and Mu-Mu
Moo Moo Restaurants Russia
Moo-Moo is a chain of buffet restaurants in Moscow, Russia.Moo-Moo operates as a cafeteria-style restaurant and as such can be considered a fast food restaurant. The entire menu is self-service, and includes a wide variety of meats , vegetables, soups, breads, and desserts. Several Moo-Moo...
's.