Boulevard Ring
Encyclopedia
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...
's second centremost ring road
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
(the first is formed by the Central Squares of Moscow
Central Squares of Moscow
The Central Squares of Moscow consists of a chain of squares around the historical Moscow Kremlin and Kitai-gorod areas of central Moscow, Russia. These squares and avenues connecting them form the innermost ring road in Moscow open to regular traffic...
running along the former walls of Kitai-gorod
Kitai-gorod
Kitay-gorod , earlier also known as Great Posad , is a business district within Moscow, Russia, encircled by mostly-reconstructed medieval walls. It is separated from the Moscow Kremlin by Red Square. It does not constitute a district , as there are no resident voters, thus, municipal elections...
). Boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
s form a semicircular chain along the western, northern and eastern sides of the historical White City
Bely Gorod
Bely Gorod is the central core area of Moscow, Russia. The name comes from the color of its defensive wall, which was erected in 1585-1593 at the behest of tsar Feodor I and Boris Godunov by architect Fyodor Kon...
of Moscow; in the south the incomplete ring is terminated by the embankments of Moskva River
Moskva River
The Moskva River is a river that flows through the Moscow and Smolensk Oblasts in Russia, and is a tributary of the Oka River.-Etymology:...
. Plans to properly terminate the ring through Yakimanka
Yakimanka District
Yakimanka District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia. Population: It is named after the former church of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne...
and Zamoskvorechye districts, proposed in 1935, did not materialise and periodically resurface in city planners' discussions.
The first of the boulevards, Tverskoy Boulevard
Tverskoy Boulevard
Tverskoy Boulevard is one of the main thoroughfares in central Moscow. It is a part of the Boulevard Ring and begins at the end of the Nikitsky Boulevard, at the crossing with Nikitsky Street. The boulevard ends at the Pushkin Square and Tverskaya Street, one of the busiest places in Moscow...
, emerged in 1796 but the whole ring was developed in 1820s, after the disastrous 1812 fire
Fire of Moscow (1812)
The 1812 Fire of Moscow broke out on September 14, 1812 in Moscow on the day when Russian troops and most residents abandoned the city and Napoleon's vanguard troops entered the city following the Battle of Borodino...
.
History
The Ring replaced the medieval walls of the White CityBely Gorod
Bely Gorod is the central core area of Moscow, Russia. The name comes from the color of its defensive wall, which was erected in 1585-1593 at the behest of tsar Feodor I and Boris Godunov by architect Fyodor Kon...
in the 1820s. The wall itself was razed in 1760, and despite the royal decrees to keep the site clear, the area was soon built over with private and state property. The Fire of Moscow
Fire of Moscow (1812)
The 1812 Fire of Moscow broke out on September 14, 1812 in Moscow on the day when Russian troops and most residents abandoned the city and Napoleon's vanguard troops entered the city following the Battle of Borodino...
destroyed many of those buildings, allowing the city planners to replace them with wide green boulevards.
In the 20th century, the width of the Boulevard Ring was expanded, as the formerly paved areas along the Pokrovsky Boulevard
Pokrovsky Boulevard
Pokrovsky Boulevard is a major boulevard in the central part of Moscow running from Clean Ponds to Vorontsovo Pole Street, including Yauzsky Boulevard....
and Strastnoy Boulevard
Strastnoy Boulevard
Strastnoy Boulevard, , is a major boulevard in Moscow. It begins in the Tverskoy District by Pushkin Square, Tverskaya Street and Tverskoy Boulevard. The boulevard ends at Petrovka Street, although east of Petrovka, it becomes Petrovsky Boulevard, where it heads to Clean Ponds. The Strastnoy...
were planted with trees. Plans to complete the ring through Zamoskvorechye
Zamoskvorechye
Zamoskvorechye District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug in Moscow, Russia. Population: The district contains the eastern half of historical Zamoskvorechye area , and the territories of Zatsepa Street and Paveletsky Rail Terminal south of the Garden Ring...
never materialized, however.
List of boulevards
The Boulevard Ring consists of the following chain of boulevards and squares (clockwise, west to east):
- Prechistenskye Gates Square
- Gogolevsky BoulevardGogol BoulevardGogolevsky Boulevard is a boulevard in Kitay-gorod, Moscow, Russia, named after the writer Nikolai Gogol.The boulevard begins next to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and is the beginning of the Boulevard Ring. The boulevard runs north-east and ends at the Arbat Square, from where it continues...
- Gogolevsky Boulevard
- Аrbat Gates Square (in 1925–1993 – part of Arbatskaya Square)
- Nikitsky BoulevardNikitsky BoulevardNikitsky Boulevard, Russian: Никитский бульвар, is a boulevard in central Moscow, Russia. The boulevard is a part of the Boulevard Ring, connecting Arbat Square with Nikitskie Vorota square at the crossing with the Nikitsky Street...
- Nikitsky Boulevard
- Nikitsky Gates Square
- Tverskoy BoulevardTverskoy BoulevardTverskoy Boulevard is one of the main thoroughfares in central Moscow. It is a part of the Boulevard Ring and begins at the end of the Nikitsky Boulevard, at the crossing with Nikitsky Street. The boulevard ends at the Pushkin Square and Tverskaya Street, one of the busiest places in Moscow...
- Tverskoy Boulevard
- Pushkinskaya Square
- Strastnoy BoulevardStrastnoy BoulevardStrastnoy Boulevard, , is a major boulevard in Moscow. It begins in the Tverskoy District by Pushkin Square, Tverskaya Street and Tverskoy Boulevard. The boulevard ends at Petrovka Street, although east of Petrovka, it becomes Petrovsky Boulevard, where it heads to Clean Ponds. The Strastnoy...
, with parallel Putinkovsky Lane as its outer segment
- Strastnoy Boulevard
- Petrovsky Gates Square
- Petrovsky BoulevardPetrovsky BoulevardPetrovsky Boulevard, , is a major boulevard in Moscow. It begins at the Petrovsky Gates Square and ends at Trubnaya Square, completing the link of Boulevard Ring between Strastnoy Boulevard and Rozhdestvensky Boulevard....
- Petrovsky Boulevard
- Trubnaya Square
- Rozhdestvensky (Nativity of Mary) BoulevardRozhdestvensky BoulevardRozhdestvensky Boulevard, , is a major boulevard in Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia...
- Rozhdestvensky (Nativity of Mary) Boulevard
- Sretensky Gates Square
- Sretensky BoulevardSretensky BoulevardSretensky Boulevard is a major boulevard in central Moscow of important cultural significance, a part of the Boulevard Ring encircling the centre of the city...
- Sretensky Boulevard
- Turgenevskaya Square
- Chistoprudny Boulevard
- Pokrovsky Gates Square
- Khokhlovskaya Square
- Pokrovsky BoulevardPokrovsky BoulevardPokrovsky Boulevard is a major boulevard in the central part of Moscow running from Clean Ponds to Vorontsovo Pole Street, including Yauzsky Boulevard....
- Yauzsky Boulevard
- Pokrovsky Boulevard
- Yauza Gates Square
See also
- Garden RingGarden RingThe 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....
in Moscow - Third Ring Road in Moscow
- MKADMKADMKAD 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...
in Moscow