Alleys of Moscow. Along Mius and Novaya Sloboda to Bulgakov - from the life of old gateways
Capital things
It’s easy to get to Mayakovka and Bolshaya Sadovaya, where in building number 10, formerly 302 bis, “bad” apartment number 50 is located, from somewhere from Novoslobodskaya or Miusskaya squares it’s easy to get there by public transport. But why, if walking takes a little longer, and you’ll definitely get by without transfers. And you can see much more interesting things.
I would like to warn you right away that in this essay we will, I apologize, not look at all the most interesting things very carefully. And first of all, because much of it is quite banal, but it fully deserves a series of separate stories. They have yet to be written, but it’s time to talk about such objects as old Moscow gateways in this snowy, frosty winter.
Moscow gateways. Film directors have always loved them, for example, the three gateways in “The Romance of Lovers”; the heroes of many stories passed through them; in them, like Lazar Karelin in “Snake Catcher,” negative heroes attempted the lives of positive ones.
It seems that there are no less gateways, and also passage yards in Moscow than alleys. In the old Russian capital, unlike the northern one, there are not so many courtyards-wells, and the local gateways are friends with the courtyards.
Most often, it is not difficult to go almost anywhere with them - unless, of course, the road is blocked by fences of something secret, or already current - elite ones with electronic gates. But you can imagine them, the gateways, in themselves only through those who pass through them, and also through the houses, courtyards, streets and alleys that connect these gateways.
Both Tver and Yamsky
Miusy is an area adjacent to the lanes already presented by the author (Veskovsky and Vadkovsky are not even namesakes ), and there are almost no others left in it. There are only two Tverskaya-Yamsky lanes, three streets of the same name, from the second to the fourth, and several now nameless lanes.
It is from them that, as a result of Stalin’s reconstruction, many alleys and gateways remain, literally connecting everything in the area. And they are often in some ways more interesting than the streets and alleys. Without overestimating the quality and originality of the photographs, I suggest – look for yourself.
So, let's look into one of the first passages from Dolgorukovskaya Street, which from the Garden Ring leads to Butyrki, along Novoslobodskaya and Lesnaya streets. Let's do this next to the former Soyuzmultfilm building, which still hides behind itself the deep crimson brick church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Novaya Sloboda.
The temple has been under reconstruction for a long time, ever since the animators were moved next to the Television Center in Ostankino. But both to the left and to the right, it is impossible not to notice the advertised Italian quarter, which in fact has been there for several years.
However, it seems he never deserved a single kind word. And this is not surprising - the block is practically half-dead, the few apartments and apartments that someone did buy in it are not supported by anything worthy.
Neither nearby nor in the quarter hidden behind those very fences are there any cafes, restaurants or clubs, much less clinics, schools and whatever else people need in life. Leaving behind both the block and the entire former Novaya Sloboda, through several of those same gateways we emerge onto Fadeev Street.
Great names
Now the street, named after the legendary writer, who may never have been here, is no longer an alley; half of its length borders on the N. N. Burdenko Medical Center. But you can relax your soul on it in one of the best stores for artists with the beautiful name “Peredvizhniki”. He occupied half of the first floor of a Stalinist house with a luxurious arch in the left wing of the facade, which one would hardly call a gateway.
Shortly before the war, Fadeev Street was almost expanded into an avenue opening directly onto Miusskaya Square with the high-rise building of the House of Radio. The high-rise building was never built to replace the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was destroyed by a fascist bomb, but a couple of People's Commissariat buildings - the current Vneshtorg and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - still decorate the area. Like the adjacent modern National Museum of Musical Culture named after M. I. Glinka, it is not a masterpiece in architecture, but still.
The masterpieces are very close - they are listed at 5 Fadeeva, but they look directly at 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Lane. These are two buildings of the already mentioned Burdenko National Research Medical Center, which today specializes in neurosurgery.
The first of them is the main one, the work of the not-so-famous architect A.F. Meisner, which was recently very carefully restored, preserving decorative elements in the Art Nouveau style. The second is a restorative one, something like a sanatorium in the very center of Moscow. With spacious balconies that don't seem to be used even in summer.
The goal of our short trip is very close, and there are several routes to the current Triumphal Square, which used to bear the name of Mayakovsky. Although, who can explain why the renaming did not please the capital’s bureaucrats, it’s good that the monument has not yet been touched.
In order to take a shortcut, the public parading through courtyards and gateways resorts to a variety of tricks (pictured above). All roads here do not lead, of course, to Rome, but they definitely lead to the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, two theaters - Satire and Mossovet, as well as the cozy Aquarium garden. Well, to a bad apartment on Bolshaya Sadovaya too.
Although I am afraid that a good cafe, whose “Bulgakov” sign (in the photo) can be seen next to the entrance to the Interfax press center, will not last long. Why? Yes, because the location is not the best - on a noisy, gas-filled turnout above the Garden Ring tunnel, and the prices are off the charts, and it’s a bit far from Bulgakov’s places.
However, from this point to the worst 50th apartment in the former building 302 bis on Bolshaya Sadovaya Str., it’s about ten minutes or a little more. Well, from there it’s just a stone’s throw away to the Patriks, sorry, the Patriarch’s Ponds, or rather the pond, along Fyodor Shekhtel Square and Ermolaevsky Lane. But we will talk about these objects during our next walks.
In the meantime, just a little about the yard and the house with the very apartment of Berlioz and Styopa Likhodeev, which was occupied by Woland’s gang. The yard has been put in order, to the delight of the utility workers, and has been turned into an art object for fans of The Master and Margarita.
The house is in very good condition, at least from the outside, and the greenhouse on the third floor behind the luxurious modern window is impressive. The room itself, allocated for the theater-museum on the ground floor of building 10 or 302 bis, actually has no direct connection with the writer, although the real Behemoth cats (one of the first in the photo) settled there.
Almost everyone praises theatrical productions, not like the film versions of The Master and Margarita. The famous entrance with apartment No. 50 at the top, which also became a museum - a competitor to the theater-museum, was renovated more than once, getting rid of parties and indecent murals. And... to be honest, they completely eradicated the spirit of Bulgakov and his heroes.
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