The incredible story of Tverskaya Street.

What places to visit in Moscow – history of Tverskaya street

What places to visit in Moscow while walking through the great city of Russia. Walking through Tverskaya Street in Moscow is a good option and knowing the history behind this ancient road. Moscow Tverskaya Street Tour has never been better.

Tour Tverskaya Street in Moscow

During your trip to Russia you cannot miss this opportunity to see a street with history hidden in its buildings.

In front of the Kremlin and the Red Square is the great Tverskaya street. An important street that from the twelfth century already connected Moscow with the city of Tver; and it was the center of social life in the capital.

At present, Tverskaya is a wide street full of huge Stalinist-style buildings, shops and banks.

For the tourist, at first glance it may seem like any main street; of those we can find in the center of all modern cities. However, Tverskaya hides a special story …

It all started in 1935 when the Moscow General Reconstruction Plan was implemented to reform the city and have a more socialist aspect.

Iósif Stalin decided that Tverskara street should be extended, as it must be wide enough to house the imposing Soviet military parades.

So two red lines were drawn on both sides; marking the territory and the distance at which the street should be widened. All interfering buildings had to be destroyed or displaced.

Yes, they have read well, displaced. They were Stalin’s orders. As you can see in the Soviet Union, things were done differently.

For this they began to build a complex system of structures under the buildings; in which they designed twelve long channels to implement beams, and then rails. The building must be moved through the rails with the help of a kind of giant skates that placed under the building and rolled it in the desired direction.

Attractions

The main attraction of the street is Tverskaya Square, which is about 200 years old and the monuments located there. In 1782, the architect Matvey Kazakov built a two-story palace for the governor general of the capital, Z. Chernyshev. In 1784, Yakov Alexandrovich Bruce became governor. He bought a house in the treasure of the Chernyshev family.

Since then, the Palace has become the seat of the governor general of Moscow. After the revolution, the Moscow Council was located in the building. Under the leadership of architect D. Chechulin, two floors of the building were built in the style of classicism. The building was moved deeper by 13.6 meters. Now in this building is the City Hall of the capital.

Ten years after the construction of the Provincial Palace, a square was placed in front of the building. Initially, a guard was established in the square. From 1912, the square was renamed Skobelevskaya in honor of General M. Skobelev, the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. There was a monument to the hero in the square. Later, a sculpture “Statue of Liberty” was erected on the site of this monument in honor of the adoption of the first Constitution of the RSFSR. The Skobelevskaya square was renamed Sovetskaya.

In 1947, it was decided to erect a monument in the square to the founder of the city, Yuri Dolgoruky. The winner of the competition was A. Orlov. When Yuri Dolgoruky’s sculpture project was completed, V. Stalin said the prince should “be riding a male horse.” Then the mare had to become a powerful horse. Yuri Dolgoruky is dressed in the armor of an epic hero.

The right hand points to the historic site of the city’s foundation. On the shield you can see the old heraldic emblem of the capital, which represents George the Victorious, defeating the dragon. The monument was presented on June 6, 1954. The monument to Yuri Dolgoruky has become one of the symbols of the capital. At the same time, the main square of the capital was returned to its original name.

Pushkin Monument

Everyone knows and loves the monument to A. Pushkin near the Russian cinema, made by the sculptor A. Opekushin. It was installed on June 14, 1881 on the opposite side of the square, in front of the Holy Monastery. In 1950, the monument was transferred to the place where the bell tower of the Holy Monastery was located, rotating it 180 degrees.

Next to the Moscow Art Theater, on a granite pedestal of one and a half meters, the only monument to A.P. Chekhov It was inaugurated in 1999 on the day of the centenary of the Moscow Academic Theater of Art, which bears the name of the writer. The architects M. Posokhin and M. Feldman and the sculptor M. Anikushin participated in the creation of the sculpture.

Among the attractions are interesting buildings such as the English Club, built at the end of the 18th century and the National Hotel.

Tourist information

Once here, in the center of the capital, you can visit the well-known Moscow Art Theater, which is not only a theater, but also a school-studio and a historical archive museum. The architect of the theater building is F.O. Shekhtel The rotating scene allows you to quickly change the stage. At the entrance you can see the electric lights and the high relief “Swimmer” of the sculptor Anna Golubkina. Cinema “Pushkinsky” – the main cinema of the country was inaugurated in 1961. After the reconstruction in 1997, when the screen and the room became huge, the cinema entered the ten largest in Europe.

Your living room is designed for 2057 seats. The main world premieres of films and the Moscow International Film Festival are held here. The main actors of our country, as well as Sophia Loren and Gina Lolobridge, Alain Delon and many other “stars” of world cinema have visited here.

As expected, the tenants were terrified … How could they move the colossal building where they lived and weighed 23,000 tons? “It will collapse and we will all die,” some thought.

So the government deliberately gave an erroneous date to reassure them; the date was so distant that the inhabitants already thought that such displacements were not going to take place; After all, the plan was crazy.

As a result, on March 4, 1939 at 2:40 a.m. while everyone was sleeping, a 20-ton elevator was placed under the building and the plan was carried out; they moved the first building 50 meters while their 500 neighbors slept peacefully.

When people woke up they couldn’t believe it. Building number 6, four stories high, was now located 50 meters further … The movement along the rails had been so smooth and fluid that they did not even wake up. They say that even a 6-year-old girl had built a tower of toy blocks the night before, and the next morning the tower was still intact.

After that event, when people could see that the process was safe, they began to move more and more buildings; in total about thirty blocks changed places and many others were demolished; but the goal of widening Tverskaya Street was finally fulfilled.

Well that’s the incredible story that Tverskaya hides. In our night tour we walk through the emblematic street to be able to see the monuments, the immense buildings calmly and to be able to enter the shops of interest such as the beautiful Eliseivski, quiet that this time will not move from site, let’s hope …

Tour on Tverskaya Street in Moscow accompanied by our guide in Spanish, it is more than just a tour.

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