For the third day in a row, there has been an opposition camp at Chistye Prudy in Moscow, which the participants themselves call “Occupy Abay.” The name comes from the Occupy Moscow Assembly that came to the ponds and from the monument to Abai Kunanbaev standing on the boulevard, under which the camp’s information center is located.

After the “March of Millions” in Moscow on May 6, groups of “angry citizens” began nightly walks along the boulevards in the center of Moscow. The “walkers” were pursued by riot police and over the next three days there were constant arrests.

On May 10, the opposition group was driven away from their gathering place on Lubyanka Square. Several dozen people reached Chistoprudny Boulevard and stopped here.

After the spontaneous organization of the camp, arrests of participants almost stopped. The number of participants, on the contrary, is increasing every day.

Who are they?

Bikbov separated the participants of the first night from those who came to the boulevard the next day. “Two days ago in the evening the intellectual elite of Moscow was here - journalists, translators, journalists, radio presenters, teachers. The most intellectually prominent people in the city gathered here. They didn't have a common idea. But they were prepared and informed. These were also producers and consumers of information content. They came to participate and write about it to inform others,” says Bikbov. “But the next day, when there was the largest meeting at that moment, those who are not often mentioned when talking about the composition of the protesters came: people of technical and manual labor. Of course, I won’t say that all of Moscow was present, but there was a mixture of representatives of various groups. They came to see what was happening and stayed.”

Bikbov is confident that Chistye Prudy has turned into “a place where the class meaning of what is happening is lost and the camp becomes a citywide institution.”

Bikbov noted the political discussions, discussions, and lectures organized by the camp participants. “This is a new communication space in Moscow. If the camp is not dispersed, its potential is very great.”

Public space

Sergei Reshetin, a public figure and trade union activist, also believes that the camp is an important experience for Moscow and Russia: “Previously, the street was not suitable for social and cultural life. Even for a small rally it was necessary to obtain permission and put up fences. Now people who previously kept all their thoughts inside themselves and perceived the city only as a road: how to get from point A to point B, they began to perceive the city as a public space.”

“It seems to me that a space is emerging where they begin to discuss what is happening, which previously could only take place on the Internet. Perhaps this is a prerequisite for the creation of grassroots structures that can control opposition leaders,” explains Reshetin.

Reshetin believes that the camp will attract even more participants. “I will assume that the authorities themselves do not know when they will want to bring riot police here. They change their tactics all the time, but now they seem to want to separate the main organizers of the protest by imprisoning Navalny and Udaltsov for 15 days. But, it seems to me, this only works for movement. Now a community of people is emerging who are beginning to understand themselves more than the individuals who go to rallies.”

Sergei Reshetin believes that, under favorable circumstances, the camp “can last all summer.”

"Occupy Moscow"

Isabel Myagkova, the initiator of the Occupy Moscow movement and an activist of the Russian Socialist Movement, met with a correspondent from the Russian Service of the Voice of America at the camp on Chistoprudny Boulevard.

“We came here because there are a lot of people here who want to do something, want to talk, there is a request for discussion here. We have formed working groups: on nutrition, on finance, on creative initiatives, on campaigning and a legal group,” says Myagkova
When asked whether the goals and objectives of the movement and the opposition gathered in the camp coincide, Isabel replied that the demands that the movement is now forming are supported by everyone who came to the camp, although “the majority of those gathered here are politically uneducated.”

“Our demands are not for the government; it does not even fulfill what is written in the Constitution,” summarizes Isabel Myagkova.

The other side of Moscow. The capital in secrets, myths and riddles Grechko Matvey

Chistye Prudy

Chistye Prudy

A little about the surrounding houses: the corner house No. 1 belonged to the merchant Gusyatnikov and survived the fire of 1812. Actress Glikeria Fedotova, Ostrovsky’s favorite actress, lived in house No. Za.

House No. 14 on Chistoprudny Boulevard amazes with its beauty: its entire façade is decorated with images of fantastic animals copied from medieval book miniatures. This is an apartment building that belonged to the nearby Trinity Church on Gryazekh, built in 1908–1909, a monument to “national” Art Nouveau. Initially, it was four stories high, and the top was added after the war, but respecting the style.

The legend about the founding of Moscow is connected with the ponds - and a rather scary one, it must be said: supposedly Moscow arose on blood, that is, on the site of a cruel and unjust murder. Boyar Stepan Ivanovich Kuchka lived here in the 12th century. One of his estates stood right here, on the ponds. It was quite well fortified, almost the same as the Kremlin: it was surrounded by an earthen embankment, a palisade and a ditch. The Kuchkovich family was very rich, almost in no way inferior to the Vladimir and Suzdal princes, and this, of course, could not but arouse their envy. According to legend, when Prince Yuri Dolgoruky was passing through these places, the boyar Kuchka met him, but, as it seemed to the prince, he did not show him proper honors. And then the prince ordered the boyar to be slaughtered.

The legend describes in detail how the killers overtook Kuchka, but he managed to deceive them and hide in dense thickets. However, the magpie gave him away with its chirping, and the villains, having discovered the unfortunate man, finished him off. Have you noticed that there are practically no magpies in Moscow? According to the same legend, Kuchka, dying, cursed this bird - and since then it has not flown into our city.

The killer's dead body was thrown into the ponds, which have since become known as Pogany. The prince left Kuchka's children alive, taking pity on their beauty and youth.

A few years later, Yuri Dolgoruky died - after dinner with another boyar, as noble and rich as Kuchka: apparently he did not wait until he was accused of lack of respect, and struck first. Death of Yuri's son, Andrei Bogolyubsky (he was so nicknamed after his residence in the village of Bogolyubovo Vladimir region), legend is also associated with the Kuchkovichs: Kuchka’s daughter Ulita, who became Andrei’s wife, with her brothers and a certain housekeeper Anbal Yasin, villainously killed her husband, avenging her father.

In this story, as in any legend, there are many inconsistencies: historians point out that by the time of his death Andrei was already married a second time - to a completely different woman of Ossetian origin. It was her close confidant who was the housekeeper with the strange-sounding name - Anbal Yasin, whom we will meet again while exploring Moscow.

Be that as it may, from then on Muscovites did not like Poganye Ponds and never considered them as a body of water from which they could get water. On the contrary, these ponds can serve as an illustration of what sewers were like in ancient times: all kinds of sewage and even waste from slaughterhouses were discharged into them. Over time, the ponds turned into stinking muddy puddles. Alexander Danilovich Menshikov also cleaned them out during the construction of the estate. And then they were renamed Chistye Prudy.

And here we come to another, not at all romantic topic of our excursions - the history of sewerage and water supply. Indeed, on the scale of a huge metropolis, the problem becomes global in nature, and it would be wrong, walking around Moscow, to admire only its beauty, leaving the issues of cleanliness and hygiene unattended.

The first attempts to dig canals to drain wastewater in Moscow date back to the 14th century: then a canal was dug from the Kremlin to Neglinka to drain sewage. But even after several centuries, the problem of cleanliness of streets and courtyards in cities was very acute: cities without sewers simply stank. Yes, they stank so much that the coachmen, approaching Moscow, noted the proximity of the city not with their eyes, but with their noses: “It smelled like Moscow!” - they said, sniffing.

Peter the Great issued a decree “On observing cleanliness in Moscow and on punishment for throwing litter and any droppings onto the streets and alleys.” “All garbage, manure and carrion” were supposed to be transported beyond Zemlyanoy Val, “to distant places” and covered with earth. Violators were punished severely: “for the first drive you will be beaten with batogs, for the next you will be beaten with batogs and a fine of five rubles, for the third drive you will be beaten with a whip and a penalty of ten rubles.” (That was a lot of money back then.)

But, despite the severity, this decree was poorly observed; Catherine the Second repeated the ban, but this did not improve the situation. Law-abiding Muscovites collected sewage in cesspools, from where it was scooped out by sewage goldsmiths and transported in tubs further out of the city. But the gold diggers had to be paid, so irresponsible townspeople constantly strove to dump the garbage somewhere out of sight, or dig a canal under the house to drain all the dirt into the nearby river. So Neglinka and Samoteka were completely ruined, and the Moscow River was pretty polluted. The rivers turned into stinking sewers - that’s why they were removed into pipes, turning them into a natural cesspool.

In 1874, engineer M.A. Popov first presented “design plans for the Moscow sewer system” to the Moscow City Duma, which were discussed for a long time, but were never approved. The construction of the sewer network began only in 1893 according to the design of engineer V.D. Kastalsky. But that was only the first stage - since then the sewerage system has been constantly being built and expanded, and today its total length is equal to the distance from Moscow to Novosibirsk.

At the intersection of Pokrovka and Chistoprudny Boulevard there is a squat two-story house. This is a hotel built by order of Paul the First by architect Stasov.

Nearby, at No. 19, is the apartment building of grain merchant F.S. Rakhmanov, which was built just when the construction of the first stage of the sewer system was coming to an end, i.e. at the very end of the 19th century. There is an inconspicuous door on the side; along a rather steep flight of stairs you can go down to... the oldest toilet in Moscow. The entrance to it is not from Pokrovka itself, but from the alley on the right side. This is the only one that has survived and is still operating out of ten “retiradas” (then the name of a public toilet) and 3 8 urinals opened under the mayor Nikolai Alekseev. Janitors helped Muscovites and guests of the capital indicate their location - this was their duty. But the reference books recommended “to the extent possible, avoid visiting retreats, since these places are mostly untidy,” and “stay in third-rate hotels, after giving the doorman or bellhop a tip.”

Opposite house number 22 is the former estate of the merchants Botkins.

Trolleybuses 25 and 45 and the tram “Annushka” run along the street, the route of which passes through the historical part of the city.

From Chistye Prudy we go to Pokrovka. As already mentioned, since the 17th century this was the “royal road” along which the sovereign traveled to his villages: Pokrovskoye-Rubtsovo, Preobrazhenskoye and Izmailovskoye. The road was supposed to be maintained in good condition, and it was even paved with logs, and at the end of the 18th century. - cobblestone.

However, near Poganye Ponds there was always impassable mud: here the Rachka River flowed from the ponds, which flowed into the Moskva River just above the mouth of the Yauza, at Moskvoretskaya embankment. Not only did sewage flow through it into the main river of the city, but it also regularly overflowed, flooding everything around. On the banks of the Rachka there is a church with a telling name - Trinity on Gryazekh. In 1741, Rachka overflowed especially heavily and washed away its foundation. Then, finally, the authorities came to their senses and urgently instructed the architect Ukhtomsky to enclose the harmful river in a pipe. During Soviet times, a new collector was built, and the river bed was changed - now it flows into the Yauza River near the Yauza Bridge. Between Khokhlovsky and Kolpachny lanes you can trace a noticeable depression - the old bed of the Rachka. Sometimes she reminds herself of herself in an unpleasant way. So, several years ago, a sinkhole formed on Yauzskaya Street - the cause, as it turned out, was the collapse of this collector.

The church, which Rachka constantly washed away, was then rebuilt many times and came to us in a dilapidated state: without a dome and a bell tower. It is surrounded by ancient, mostly two-story buildings.

Here - along the Boulevard Ring - the wall of the White City passed and stood the Pokrovsky Gate, which gave the square its name. Behind them stretched settlements:

Barashevskaya (barashevskaya were the servants responsible for erecting camp tents), Sadovaya and Kazennaya. There were many carriage, bread and vegetable shops here. Goods from them, as well as cargo from the Kursk station to the city center, were transported along Pokrovka.

The Churches of the Resurrection of the Word were built in Rus' in memory of the Renewal of the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord in Jerusalem. Since the original temple was erected on the site of real historical events, then, according to Christians, it could not be repeated in other places. Therefore, the temples of the Resurrection outside Jerusalem were built in the name of the Resurrection of the Word, that is, the feast of the consecration of the Jerusalem temple in 355 under Constantine the Great. There are several such churches in Moscow, and one of them is at Pokrovka, 26. The church has been known since 1620, but the building, the ruins of which have survived to this day, was erected in 1734, presumably by the architect Mordvinov. Now this house can hardly be mistaken for a church: the dome and bell tower have been demolished, and the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Region has settled in the remaining premises, which resemble a ship in design.

Until 1934, the dome of its high bell tower was decorated with a gilded crown carved from wood. They said that once in this church, brother and sister in love, who did not know about their relationship, got married. As the priest led them around the lectern, the wedding crowns suddenly fell from their heads, flew out of the window and landed on the church dome. This prevented incest.

Another legend connects this church and its unusual dome with the name of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and with the palace in white and blue colors standing nearby on the right side of Pokrovka, which is sometimes called the Winter Palace in miniature, or, much funnier and more incomprehensible, the “house-dresser” . It was built in the middle of the 18th century under Elizaveta Petrovna. Dmitry Ukhtomsky is often called his architect, but this has not been proven. The first owner of the house was Count Apraksin, famous for his victories in the war with Frederick the Great, then Prince Trubetskoy, and then the house was owned by Moscow University, where the 4th men's gymnasium was organized. Many people studied there famous people- the future creator of aerodynamics N. E. Zhukovsky, theater director K. S. Stanislavsky, philosopher Vladimir Solovyov... After the revolution, a hostel was equipped here, now it is an apartment building. It is interesting that until 1950 the house had stove heating.

These are the facts, but ancient legend says otherwise. They say that Elizaveta Petrovna gave this house to her secret husband, Count Alexei Razumovsky, and in the same house they celebrated their wedding. And the wedding took place in the neighboring church - the Resurrection of the Word. And on the dome of the church there was the real wedding crown of the empress.

But this, of course, could not be: the “house-chest” was built much later than the expected date of their wedding, Razumovsky never lived here, and the secret wedding took place in a completely different place. In response, lovers of legends cite one also semi-legendary episode, which supposedly happened in this house on Pokrovka. They say that after Catherine II ascended the throne, her favorite Grigory Orlov began to insist on a morganatic marriage, pointing to Elizabeth and Razumovsky as an example. Then Catherine sent Chancellor Vorontsov to Razumovsky on Pokrovka with a decree in which he was given the title of Highness as the legal spouse of the late empress. Razumovsky took the marriage documents out of the secret casket, showed them to the chancellor and immediately threw them into the burning fireplace, adding: “I was nothing more than a faithful slave of Her Majesty, the late Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, who showered me with benefits beyond my merits... Now you see, that I have no rights to this title."

But legends are legends, but secrets are Winter Palace there is plenty in miniature. There is an underground passage between the Church of the Resurrection and the palace. It is noteworthy that it leads somewhere further, most likely to the Menshikov Tower. What could this move serve for - either to hold secret Masonic meetings, or to hide the empress’s novel from prying eyes? There are more questions than answers.

Walking further along Barashevsky Lane, we come to another temple - Introductions to the Temple Holy Mother of God in Barashi. It was built at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries in the Moscow Baroque style. What was it not like in Soviet times: a warehouse, a factory, a hostel... Only a miracle, no less, saved the church from demolition. But, of course, all the interior decoration was looted. According to eyewitnesses, in 1948, for some reason, they began to break through the wall and found three niches, and in them were skeletons with golden crosses and golden crowns. NKVD officers immediately arrived and took away all the jewelry, and simply threw out the bones.

Barashevsky Lane overlooks the small Lyalina Square, named after the homeowner, a handsome captain, who also enjoyed the favor of Empress Elizabeth. Then along the old Lyalin Lane, past house number 20, where the inventor of the arc lamp Pavel Yablochkov lived, we will go out again to Pokrovka.

However, before moving on, it is worth telling more about Yablochkov and his invention. The Yablochkov Candle worked on the same principle as current arc welding. Actually, it was these candles that suggested the idea to welding inventor Nikolai Bernados. It is now that children are forbidden to look at electric welding, but previously such candles were used as lighting devices. The candle consisted of two rods separated by an insulating gasket made of kaolin - clay. Each of the rods was clamped into a separate terminal, an arc discharge was ignited at the upper ends, and the arc flame shone brightly, gradually burning the coals and evaporating the insulating material. The addition of various metal salts made it possible to change the color of the flame, making it less deadly. In 1876, these candles were a triumph at an exhibition in London, the candle became interested all over the world, and over the next few years, Yablochkov’s enterprise generated constant profits. His candles burned in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome and even in the royal palaces of Persia and Cambodia. It was a real triumph!

Unfortunately, it did not last long: after a few years, candles gave way to incandescent lamps. But Yablochkov continued to work, and his contribution to electrical engineering is invaluable. When at the end of his life he decided to buy back all his patents, their total value exceeded a million!

And if we remember the Freemasons in our excursion, we will point out that in Paris Pavel Nikolaevich was initiated into membership of the lodge, and later became its Worshipful Master.

The house on the corner of Lyalino Lane and Pokrovka - No. 38 is also associated with the name of the loving Elizabeth. One of the owners of the house, Prince Mikhail Vladimirovich Golitsyn (son of the mayor) wrote: “Our house on Pokrovka... was built around 1780 by my great-grandfather’s uncle Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, a famous favorite of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, who left the court during the accession of Catherine II and returned from foreign lands only at the end of the 1770s. They say that he did not know how the empress would receive him for his commitment to Peter the Third, and decided, like most disgraced and old nobles, to settle in Moscow.”

However, Shuvalov’s fears were not confirmed: wise Catherine did not remember the old things and made Ivan Ivanovich chief chamberlain. He remained in St. Petersburg, and gave the Moscow house to his nephew, Fyodor Nikolaevich Golitsyn, curator of Moscow University. This house became famous after the terrible fire of 1812 - it survived the fire, receiving the nickname “fireproof”.

Sometimes this house is called the house of the “Queen of Spades,” but this is incorrect: “Mustachioed Venus” Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna, nee Chernyshova, belonged to another branch of the Golitsyns and lived in St. Petersburg, on Malaya Morskaya.

The mansion is very beautiful and harmonious; its interiors were also rich and elegant. The memoirs of one of the Golitsyns, who described family life, have been preserved. This luxurious building had neither running water nor sewerage. To get water you had to go to the nearest water fountain (we will talk about them in detail), and all the sewage was poured into a cesspool, from where a goldsmith pumped it out. There was a well in the courtyard of the house, but the water in it was very unclean and was used only for “technical needs.”

From here it’s already a stone’s throw to the Garden Ring. At the very end of the street stands a lonely bell tower, left over from the demolished Church of John the Baptist in Kazyonnaya Sloboda (1772). After the roundabout, Pokrovka turns into Staraya Basmannaya and the road goes to Basmannaya and Nemetskaya Sloboda. It was there and even further that the royal palaces were located.

Some historians claim that the travel palace of Grand Duke Vasily the Third (father of Ivan the Terrible) is still preserved on Staraya Basmannaya Street. This is house number 15 - the Golitsyn estate. It turns out that during the construction of the estate in the 18th century, the architects did not destroy the more ancient building that stood on this site, but only rebuilt it and added to it. Unfortunately, it is now difficult to determine externally: the palace is rented by private individuals who do not allow anyone inside, and modern painters have worked on its facade so much that it is difficult to recognize its former appearance. But they say that white stone masonry from the 16th century has been preserved in the basements there.

In the direction of the nearest metro station - "Red Gate" - there are places so interesting that it makes sense to be distracted by them.

From Pokrovka we go along Chaplygina Street (formerly Mashkov Lane), where the founder of hydro- and aerodynamics lived in house No. 1A, in whose honor the street was renamed. The house is decorated with figures of plump cupids of a deathly gray color, producing a somewhat strange impression. Already in our time, a funny mansion has been attached to the house - the “egg house”, which evokes the most contradictory feelings among Muscovites: from rejection to delight.

Behind us were Mashkova Street and Furmanny Lane, so named because there was a cabman's yard here, and "furman" translated from German means cabman. In the same yard there were also fire trucks with pipe pumps, which is why the lane was sometimes called Trubny.

Bolshoi Kharitonyevsky Lane- one of the places in Moscow associated with the life of Alexander Pushkin. The Church of Chariton the Confessor - the only one in Moscow in the name of this saint, the lane was named after him - was demolished in 1935. Once upon a time there was an extensive palace garden settlement here - that is, vegetable gardens that supplied the palace with fresh vegetables and herbs. Since that time, the Yusupov Palace has been preserved, known as the stone chambers of clerk Alexei Volkov, the previous owner (complex of houses No. 13–21), which now houses the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Despite a number of reconstructions, the buildings generally retained the appearance of the 17th century, and many decorative decorations are partly original and partly repeating the old ones. Take the time to walk around the main house (No. 21) - from the courtyard it is more decorated than from the street.

In 1727, Peter II granted the palace “for service” to Prince G. D. Yusupov, a descendant of the Nogai khans. The Yusupovs valued this gift and did not give or sell it to anyone. The chambers remained their property for almost two hundred years, although in the second half of the 19th century the princes no longer lived here, having given the premises to a workhouse.

The lieutenant colonel's grandson, N.B. Yusupov, was a very rich and well-educated man; A.S. Pushkin dedicated the poem “To a Nobleman” to him. He owned a magnificent library, an art gallery, a collection of excellent statues and his own theater (he occupied house No. 24). Not only nobles, but also gifted artists and scientists came to his house. Balls, performances and musical and literary evenings were often held here.

Next to the courtyard of Prince B.G. Yusupov, closer to the Garden Ring, stood the courtyard of Chancellor Count A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin. Opposite the cramped ancient chambers, on the other side of the alley, there was a large three-story stone house, also owned by the Yusupovs and built specifically for organizing holidays and receiving guests. Near it was laid out an extensive regular park in the Versailles style. Little Sasha Pushkin often walked there, and later wrote:

...And often I sneaked away

Into the magnificent darkness of someone else's garden,

Under the arch is artificial porphyry rocks.

The coolness of the trees basked me there;

I loved the bright waters and the noise of the leaves,

And white idols in the shade of trees,

And in their faces is the stamp of motionless thoughts...

The Pushkins often moved from house to house, but did not leave the alley. They lived either in the Volkovs' house (No. 2), or rented an outbuilding of the Yusupovs' house, or in the house of Count Santi (No. 8) (in 1803–1807), or a little further away, on the corner of Maltsev (now Maly Kozlovsky) lane in the house Prince F. S. Odoevsky (father of the writer).

In 1812, almost all wooden houses burned down. The famous Yusupov Garden also burned down. But the ancient chambers withstood the merciless flames. After the fire, everything around was built with wooden houses, one of them stood for a very long time, even entering the 20th century (now there is a square on the site of this house). This dilapidated dwelling was nicknamed “Larinsky House” by people, suggesting that it was precisely this that Pushkin had in mind when describing Tatyana Larina’s arrival in Moscow:

...Now along Tverskaya

The cart rushes over potholes.

On this weary walk

An hour or two passes, and then

At Kharitonya's alley

Cart in front of the house at the gate

Has stopped. To the old aunt

The patient has been suffering from consumption for four years,

They came…

In fact, this house belonged to Ershov, considered the author of the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse.” Why "considered"? Not everything is so simple with this fairy tale! It is too similar to Pushkin’s, and Ershov himself subsequently never wrote anything even close to this creation. Pushkin was often very strapped for money and was sometimes forced to hide his income from creditors. Having studied the texts and relationships of the two poets, literary scholars have put forward a version that the real author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” is Alexander Sergeevich, and Ershov was just a figurehead whose name was used by agreement so that all the fees would not go to pay off debts.

In the same lane is Sukhovo-Kobylin estate(house no. 17).

Name Alexander Vasilievich Sukhovo-Kobylin known both for his wonderful comedies and for his involvement in a high-profile crime (the murder of his beloved). But those dramatic events took place in other houses, where the writer stayed much later (this will be discussed later), and his youth passed in this estate - and also not without incident.

The teacher of young Alexander and his sister Elizabeth was a young professor at Moscow University, Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin. A romance broke out between him and Elizabeth: she was delighted with his education and erudition, he considered her his most talented student. However, there was a serious obstacle between the young people: Elizabeth was a noblewoman, and Nadezhdin was the son of a village priest. The Sukhovo-Kobylins were categorically against this marriage. Elizabeth even tried to escape with her beloved, but this attempt failed, and her indignant brother challenged Nadezhdin to a duel. Nadezhdin refused, declaring that since, due to his non-noble origins, he was not worthy to become Elizabeth’s husband, then he should not shoot with her brother. Enraged by this answer, Sukhovo-Kobylin demanded that Nadezhdin get out of Moscow, threatening that otherwise he would shoot the impudent popovich, even if it meant Siberia. Under the current conditions, Nikolai Ivanovich chose to quit and go on a trip abroad.

Elizabeth was married to the French Count Salias de Tournemire. As it soon became clear, the nobility of the family was his only advantage. The couple lived together for eight years, and then the count was expelled from Russia for participating in a duel. He left alone, leaving his wife and three children as a “straw widow.”

Left alone, Elizaveta Vasilievna began to lead a completely emancipated life: she became interested in literature, began publishing and set up a salon in her house, which was visited by Turgenev, Ogarev, Granovsky, Botkin, Leskov...

You can finish the route here: go along the large Kozlovsky and Boyarsky lanes to the Krasnye Vorota metro station on the Garden Ring. The mansion also leads to the metro - this is the modern name given by the Bolsheviks, since the street abutted the Yusupovs' mansion. The old name is the Three Saints Dead End, after the Church of the Three Ecumenical Saints. There is another house here associated with the name of Pushkin. This is house number 4, which belonged to Avdotya Elagina. Now he is locked on the territory of the Research Institute of Electromechanics. And you can’t get into the dead end itself because the gate is always locked.

Avdotya Petrovna Elagina was considered a smart, beautiful and very original woman. A Slavophile, she hated Peter the Great, since she was a relative of Lopukhin, and because of this she rejected many of his innovations. In her house, nicknamed the “Elagin Republic,” E. Baratynsky, P. Vyazemsky, M. Pogodin, P. Chaadaev met. N. Gogol, A. Herzen, Aksakovs, T. Granovsky. After returning from Mikhailovsky, A.S. Pushkin began to visit here. At one time, the famous poet N. M. Yazykov lived with the Elagins. Pogodin wrote: “Evenings, lively and cheerful, followed one after another at the Elagins and Kireyevskys, behind the Red Gate.”

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From the book The People of Muhammad. Anthology of spiritual treasures of Islamic civilization by Eric Schroeder

After three days of confrontation with riot police, the opposition managed to gain a foothold on Chistye Prudy near the monument to the Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev. The authorities do not allow tents to be set up in the camp, but have come to terms with the fact that the opposition intends to spend the night on the city streets. The camp compares what is happening with the global Occupy movement, but cannot formulate a long-term strategy, writes Gazeta.ru.

By Thursday evening it became clear that the opposition street camp in the center of Moscow, in fact, took place even despite the absence of tents. The activists spent the last two nights right in the open air on Chistoprudny Boulevard, wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags. On Thursday, everyday issues were resolved: plans emerged to organize a WiFi network in the camp (it should be called “Putin the Thief”) and create voluntary squads responsible for security. By evening, the camp schedule appears on the trees: lectures “How to organize a strike?”, “How to organize an Internet telephone with reliable encryption?” and clearly unnecessary after three days of persecution and confrontation with riot police, a lesson on the topic “Paddy wagon: isn’t it scary?!” On the Twitter microblogging service, the camp has acquired an established hashtag - #OccupyAbai (at the time of news release, it ranks first among Russian hashtags and third among international hashtags).

In the afternoon, a commandant appeared at the camp: Ilya Yashin, a member of the Solidarity Bureau, was proclaimed in charge. Along with the right to manage the camp, Yashin received the “Left Front” asset from Sergei Udaltsov. They tell the following story: Udaltsov’s activists came to Yashin and said that he could give them any orders within the next 15 days. Satisfied Yashin immediately joked: “Okay, from this day on you are liberals and respect private property.”

By seven o'clock in the evening, citizens are arriving at the monument to the Kazakh poet, not yet ready to occupy the square around the clock. Along with them, creativity appears in the camp, characteristic of the “For Fair Elections” rallies on Bolotnaya Square. True, due to the ban on posters and any propaganda, this time we have to create in the genre of installations. Activist Mikhail Kirtser brought to Abai a dark red piece of liver, lovingly placed on a piece of paper with the caption “The livers of the protesters should be smeared on the asphalt.” Next to the “liver” stands and smiles FSB officer Alexey, nicknamed Smile, who supervises the opposition. One gets the feeling that he is also part of the installation.

“We have come to the format of an indefinite protest,” says Yashin, slowly gaining a crowd of supporters. “We were able to let the police understand that it was impossible to disperse us.” If you drive us away from one square, we will appear in another square. If you arrest some leaders, other leaders will appear. It is impossible to imprison everyone. And our main leader goes by the name Twitter.

A woman in dark glasses in the front row, looking at Yashin, shakes her head respectfully and seemed to want to say just one phrase: “What is it like?” All this time, Yashin continues to unsuccessfully open the “Drafts” page on Twitter. On Thursday, cell phone service in the square was slow.

The question "What now?" worries in one way or another everyone gathered at the Abai monument. No one can answer it by proposing a clear plan of action. The meeting at seven in the evening, announced in a group on Facebook, was supposed to determine the strategy for further actions of the opposition, which had won the right to stay on the boulevard as long as it wanted. However, no mass discussion of the plan took place either at seven or eight in the evening. Instead, camp residents and sympathizers continue to hang around the patch in front of the monument to the Kazakh poet, discussing what is happening with friends. One of the activists, when asked about the opposition’s further actions, answers me without a hint of irony: “In fact, I think two or three organizing committees will be formed that will somehow resolve the issues...”

At the beginning of ten, on the other side of the camp, away from the celebrities giving interviews, a group of unknown young people appears. They call themselves Occupy Moscow, following the example of the American protest movement Occupy Wall Street, which has found followers all over the world. In front of a crowd of 30-40 people on a dais stands a frail, dark-haired girl with a red ribbon tied in a bow at her collarbone - Isabel Magkoeva, a Japanese language teacher and activist of the Russian Socialist Movement, created last year. She doesn’t have enough voice to read the agenda to those gathered, so several loud young people in the crowd repeat the words behind her out loud. It's like an oath. Video bloggers running broadcasts are scurrying around a bunch of guys, one of them suddenly triumphantly interrupts the girl: “Occupy World has joined our broadcast!” Everyone hooted in greeting, and from that moment on the blogger began commenting on everything that was happening exclusively in English.

Young people start from scratch: they need an information center, agitation, propaganda, a camp charter and a group for solving everyday issues - for example, they need help in the kitchen. We will resolve some of the issues right now, and leave some for tomorrow for discussion at the assembly; activism takes time, so if someone doesn’t have it, please don’t get involved right away, the girl addresses the crowd.

In an interview with Afisha magazine, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry promised that the police would disperse him.” The activists intend to hold out in the camp at least until the expiration of the arrest period for Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny.

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Chistye Prudy is an amazing place! No matter how many years they exist, they always attract some kind of action, good and bad, positive and negative. Various events have always taken place here, small and large, but always historical. Walk along Chistye Ponds from the earliest past to the present day, read stories and look at many old photographs —> A.M. Vasnetsov. Foundation of Moscow Let's start with the fact that this is where Yuri Dolgoruky comes. It was in these places that Kuchkovo Field and the settlement of the boyar Kuchka were located. This is where the tragedy known to everyone from history textbooks occurred, when the boyar Kuchka “did not honor the Grand Duke with due honor,” for which he was killed, and his body, according to one version, was thrown into the Poganye Ponds, ironically now called Clean Ponds. According to another version, Pogany ponds were named in honor of the fact that in the pre-Christian era there were pagan temples here (and, as we know, there was a settlement in these places long before the advent of Dolgoruky and Moscow). Interestingly, with the installation of the monument to Abai Kunanbaev in 2006, paganism indirectly returned to the ponds. Two steppe idols stick out next to the monument, a reminder of the idols that once stood here According to another version, the ponds were called Pogany due to the fact that butchers from the Myasnitskaya Settlement (hence the name of the nearby large street) lived here until the time of Peter the Great and poured their production waste into the ponds. So how did the Poor Ponds suddenly become Clean? The fact is that the area became more and more prestigious, and butchers gradually left it. Ultimately, a large plot of land here fell into the hands of an associate of Peter I, Alexander Menshikov, who, of course, did not like the proximity to Poganye Ponds. Menshikov ordered them to be cleaned and henceforth called Clean. And so it happened. True, there is only one pond left, and even then it has moved to the boulevard; the original ponds were located in the block between Myasnitskaya and Pokrovka. But these possessions did not bring happiness to Menshikov either; the powers that be do not like Chistye Prudy. You can still see the bell tower of the Church of Gabriel the Archangel (Menshikov Tower) in Arkhangelsky Lane (view on Yandex panorama). The tower was conceived by Menshikov as the tallest building in Moscow, taller than Ivan the Great himself in the Kremlin, but when the work was not yet completed, a large thunderstorm occurred and lightning struck the unfinished bell tower. As they said, “Alexashka” was punished “in Moscow” for his pride, fell into disgrace and was exiled. The church was not completed under his watch. Yes, and have they completed it? We did a little finishing of everything! According to the original plan, the bell tower should have looked like this: But times passed, those in power changed, and ponds have always been a favorite vacation spot for townspeople Early 20th century. Skating rink on Chistye Prudy (Menshikov Tower in the background in the forests) Hockey on Chistye Prudy. 1912 The site where Abai Kunanbaev now stands has always been popular with children... …. was also popular among students: In 1912, for the anniversary, it was on Chistye Prudy that a wooden pavilion was opened for a panorama of the Battle of Borodino: Newspapers of that time vied with each other to write that several years before the anniversary celebrations, they managed to find as many as two living veterans throughout Russia and bring them to Moscow. Now the canvas can be seen on Kutuzovsky Prospekt in the pavilion of the 1960s In the 1930s, Chistye was also a favorite place for Muscovites to hang out. It is on the Pure Ones that the main character of the film “Foundling” lives and gets lost. Here you could take a boat ride. And in winter they filled the skating rink. Photos from the late 1950s, early 1960s Many famous Soviet films were filmed here: “I’m walking around Moscow” "Meeting place can not be Changed" “Belorussky Station” (restaurant on Chistykh) Igor Talkov sang about them Chistye Prudy is an amazing Moscow history, here it began in ancient times and continues to happen before our eyes.

Address: Chistoprudny Boulevard

How to get to Chistye Prudy: st. Chistye Prudy metro station

Chistye Prudy, or Clean Pond - now this name is given not only to the reservoir, but also to the entire nearby park area, as well as the area. If you look at the relief map of the area where Chistye Prudy is located, you can see that here is the top of a gentle hill. Often in such places there were swamps from which streams or small rivers flowed. In the case of Chistye Prudy, this was all true - the streams formed the Rachka River, which was a tributary of the Yauza.

As Moscow grew, this place was gradually drained and populated. When at the end of the 16th century the architect F.S. The wall of the White City was built with a horse on the site of ancient wooden fortifications; it cut off Rachka. It was impossible to build houses in front of the wall in the lowland, and in this lowland at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries a pond was formed.

At first it was Pogany Pond. There are three versions of the origin of this name. According to one of them, in this area the infidel Balts worshiped their pagan gods. Indeed, in ancient times, the word “filthy” (from the Latin “paganus” - pagan) did not mean something bad or dirty, it was the name given to pagans. Another interpretation of the name of the pond comes from an ancient legend, which takes us to the origins of Moscow. On the site of the future city, there used to be a village of boyar Stepan Kuchka, who did not respectfully enough receive Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. The angry prince ordered to kill Kuchka and drown his body in a pond, after which the pond received the nickname Pogany. It is known that a real tragedy is associated with this place. In July 1570, by order of Ivan the Terrible, 120 boyars and servicemen, whom the tsar accused of treason, were brutally executed after painful torture.

But the generally accepted version is that the Pogany pond began to be called because traders from nearby butcher shops and slaughterhouses located on Myasnitskaya Street dumped waste into it. In the heat, foul odors hovered over the pond, and the place was quite unpleasant. At the end of the 17th century, the mansion near the pond was acquired by the favorite and associate of Emperor Peter I, Prince Menshikov. Alexander Menshikov could not tolerate such a neighborhood next to his house. He cleared the ponds and forbade them to be polluted in the future. Soon the butchers were forced out of this area of ​​Moscow, because... Myasnitskaya ran to the palace village of Preobrazhenskoye and to the German settlement (Lefortovo), where Peter I and his entourage often went. From that time on, the ponds began to be called Clean. Now on the site of Menshikov’s once luxurious estate there is the Main Post Office, built in 1912.

In the past, ponds were a popular holiday destination at any time of the year. In winter they went ice skating, and in summer they went boating. Such famous athletes of the past as the world champion of 1910-1911 trained on the ice of Chistye Pond. Nikolai Strunnikov and European champion Vasily Ippolitov, as well as Yakov Melnikov.

Back in 1820, Chistoprudny Boulevard was built - the second longest after Tverskoy. The boulevard is 822 meters long; a quiet side road is separated from the busy main road by a lawn. Residents of Chistoprudny Boulevard belonged to a variety of social strata, which led to the heterogeneity of its development. On the inner side of the street, the Moscow nobility built their luxurious mansions, and on the outer side - wealthy townspeople and merchants, middle-class landowners.

In 1958, the boat station on Chistye Prudy was closed, in 1960 the banks were reinforced with stones, and in 1966 with concrete. Now only swans and ducks swim on the surface of the pond, which for the winter are moved to “winter apartments” equipped near Novodevichy Convent. During the years of Soviet power, Chistoprudny Boulevard was spared radical changes, and most of the buildings here belong to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the main architectural and cultural attractions of the boulevard is the building at number 19-a. The mansion was built for the cinema in 1912-1914 by architect R.I. Klein for the Colosseum cinema, and now it houses the famous Moscow Sovremennik drama theater.

In the 90s of the 20th century, Chistye Prudy acquired a reputation as a cult party place. Fans of informal music gathered here: rockers, punks, as well as bohemians and informals. Chistye Prudy often became the venue for various rallies and celebrations of sports victories. Many arrange a meeting near the monument to Griboyedov, located in the park on Chistye Prudy. In 1990, the metro station formerly known as Kirovskaya was renamed Chistye Prudy. In winter, the pond serves as a spontaneous skating rink for ice skaters. Now the pond is fed by water supply, and the Rachka River no longer exists.