The oldest street in Moscow: Arbat

Located in the historical center of Moscow, arbat It is without doubt one of the most famous and beloved streets in the city.

The Arbat was first mentioned in the Moscow chronicles in 1493. That was the year Moscow was engulfed by a great fire, believed to have been caused by a candle in one of the Arbat churches.

The name of the Arbat is believed to have originated either from an old Russian word meaning "mountainous land", or from the Arabic word "arbad" for "suburb«. In fact, the Arbat used to be a neighborhood where merchants and artisans came.

In fact, the names of the side streets across Arbat are a testament to that, such as "Plotnikov," which means "carpenter," and "Denezhny," or "money lane."
However, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Arbat came to symbolize terror for many Russians.

And the task was to look for traitors, and it was from Arbat Street that the orders were issued for the torture and execution of alleged enemies of the Tsar.

In the 18th century, Arbat Street became the most aristocratic and literary neighborhood in Moscow. The famous Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin lived there with his wife, Natalia Goncharova. The building where he now resided is a museum. A statue of the couple outside it reminds passersby of their history.

Elaborate facades abound in the Arbat area. Another pre-revolutionary house around the corner of the museum is decorated with a sculpted frieze depicting Pushkin, along with two other famous writers - Nikolay Gogol and Tolstoy, surrounded by mythological muses.

Some say that the frieze was commissioned to decorate Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, but the playful scenes were rejected by the Puritans the founder of the museum and found his home on Arbat Street.

During Soviet times, Arbat Street was a busy highway, but in the 1980s road traffic it was closed, making the Arbat pedestrian promenade a popular and a meeting place for musicians and street performers.

Along Arbat Street is also the monument to the poet Okudzhava Bulat, who dedicated a series of songs with affection to the street. Nearby is a wall that stands as a monument to singer Viktor Tsoy, one of the pioneers of Russian rock, who died in a car accident in 1990.

These days, the Arbat still has a vibrant and artistic air to it, with plenty of souvenir shops, street artists, and painters to be found. Whether you want a traditional Russian hat, a Russian doll, or just a walk.


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  1.   flowers said

    very well explained! Arbat is one of the most beautiful streets in moscow, interesting, lively and cultural. Needless to say, there are two very cheap and quality Russian chain restaurants where you can taste many Russian specialties: blinis (crepes) at Teremok, and many other things such as shashlik (skewers), pelmeni (dumplings), cotlet (battered) and of course borsch, in the Mu mu.