New Arbat Avenue (russian: link=no, Новый Арбат) is a major street in Moscow running west from
Arbatskaya Square
Arbatskaya Square or Arbat Square () is one of the oldest squares of Moscow, located on the junction of Gogolevsky Boulevard, Znamenka Street and Arbat Gates Square (in 1925–1993 – part of Arbatskaya Square).
The square is home to the Arbats ...
on the
Boulevard Ring
The Boulevard Ring (russian: Бульва́рное кольцо́; transliteration: ''Bulvarnoye Koltso'') is Moscow's second innermost ring road (the first is formed by the Central Squares of Moscow running along the former walls of Kitai-gorod ...
to Novoarbatsky Bridge on the opposite bank of the
Moskva River
The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centra ...
. The modern six-lane avenue (originally named Kalinin Prospekt in 1968–1994), along with two rows of high-rise buildings, was constructed between 1962 and 1968, and was literally cut through the old, narrow streets of the
Arbat District
Arbat District (russian: link=no, район Арбат) is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population:
The district extends from central Mokhovaya Street west to Novoarbatsky Bridge over th ...
.
Within the Garden Ring
![New Arbat Avenue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/New_Arbat_Avenue.jpg)
A modern avenue running parallel to the picturesque
Arbat Street
Arbat Street (Russian ), mainly referred to in English as the Arbat, is a pedestrian street about one kilometer long in the historical centre of Moscow, Russia. The Arbat has existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the o ...
was first envisioned in
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
's 1935 Master Plan, however the project was delayed by the outbreak of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and work did not begin until the late 1950s. The first stage of the project, the Novoarbatsky Bridge, was completed in 1957. Between 1957 and 1963, the city redeveloped land on the opposite (western) bank of the
Moskva, creating the beginning of
Kutuzovsky Prospekt
Kutuzovsky Prospekt (russian: Куту́зовский проспе́кт) is a major radial avenue in Moscow, Russia, named after Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, leader of the Russian field army during the French invasion of Russia. The prospekt ...
, and completing the main part of New Arbat by 1968.
The southern side of the avenue (excluding the historical buildings of the Praga Restaurant and the Grauerman Nursery near Arbat Square) is dominated by a series of V-shaped, 26-storey office built atop a long two-storey structure housing restaurants, retail establishments and two underground levels for storage and delivery. Despite the government's public statements against gambling, more than half of this space was for a long time occupied by casinos. On July 4, 2009, a new government ban restricted gambling to four permitted zones, effectively putting an end to the industry in Moscow; the Novy Arbat casinos have subsequently either closed or morphed into entertainment centers and restaurants.
The northern side, has five narrow 26-storey apartment towers positioned perpendicularly to the avenue. The space between the towers is occupied by (west to east):
* The Oktyabr cinema, built 1965 and restructurated by Atelier Achatz Architekten in 1998
* A row of "old" office buildings, actually built in 1996 using fragments of historical structures
* A row of genuine early 20th century buildings, although these have been heavily rebuilt
* The Moscow House of Books, the city's largest bookstore. The
Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...
Memorial House stands right behind itone of the few surviving single-story wooden houses built after the
1812 Fire.
Native Muscovites sometimes refer to the office blocks as "the dentures".
Beyond the Garden Ring
The short stretch beyond Novoarbatsky Bridge is lined with Stalinist apartment buildings; a five-story
postconstructivist block on the south side was recently torn down and replaced with luxury apartment buildings.
* The tallest building, the 31-storey
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (, ; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, CEMA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along wi ...
tower, was completed in 1965–1970
* The grounds of the US Embassy are located just north from Comecon tower
* The
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, the seat of Russia's government, stands on the embankment west of the US Embassy
* The new embassy of UK stands on the embankment south of the avenue
Popular culture
* A scene in the 1986 sci-fi film ''
Kin-Dza-Dza!
''Kin-dza-dza!'' (russian: link=no, italics=yes, Кин-дза-дза!) is a 1986 Soviet film released by the Mosfilm studio and directed by Georgiy Daneliya, with a story by Georgiy Daneliya and Revaz Gabriadze.
Plot
The story begins in 1980s M ...
'' was filmed on the Avenue, at
Gallery
NewArbat1999.jpg, New Arbat Avenue in 1999
Парад на Новом Арбате 9 мая 2008 года 1.jpg, May 9
Events Pre-1600
* 328 – Athanasius is elected Patriarch of Alexandria.
*1009 – Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy.
*1386 – England and Portugal formally rati ...
parade in 2008
Парад на Новом Арбате 9 мая 2008 года 3.jpg, Church of Simeon Stylites
Newarbat.jpg, The varied architecture on the Northern side of New Arbat Avenue
New Arbat Street 00041.jpg, New Arbat Avenue in 2013
New Arbat Ave.jpg, New Arbat Avenue in the evening, 2014
Black Star Burger на Новом Арбате в Москве (апрель 2017).jpg, The queue to the Black Star Burger restaurant, 2017
References
* Александров, Ю.А., "Силуэты Москвы", М, 1978, стр.135-141
External links
{{coord, 55, 45, 08, N, 37, 35, 28, E, region:RU_type:landmark_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title
Streets in Moscow
Arbat District