05/05/2016
So let's walk along the Arbat pavement and find out where Lev Tolstoy had dinner, where Alexander Pushkin spent his honeymoon and where Bulgakov's Margarita flew on the broom.
From the 19th century Arbat becomes one of the most aristocratic street in Moscow together with Povarskaya street. You can see an interesting video about this street on our channel.
Tolstoy, Rastopchin, Gagarin, Dolgorukiy, Cheremetiev, Golitsyn - all these noblemen lived here. Small mansions in empire style, wooden houses surrounded by gardens, but practically no shops.
The origin of the word Arbat is a mystery. Maybe it comes from the word arba -cart and maybe from the arabic word rabat -suburbs.
The street starts from the Arbat square. There is a cinema theatre Khudogestvenniy here - one of the oldest cinemas in Russia. It was opened in 1909 and then rebuilt by architect Shekhtel.
Arbatskaya metro station, that faces the square, has a shape of a five pointed star. This building is one of the first symbols of the Moscow metro.
From the end of the 19th century Arbat gets its contemporary look with several floor apartment houses, hotels, restaurants and shops. The names of its owners become popular, Filippov’s bakery, Shustov’s vines, Einem’s sweets.
Merchant Semen Tararikin openes Praga inn. We’ve told about this famous restaurant in our video about Povarskaya street.
Right here Chekov celebrated the premiere of his Seagull, Tolstoy read his novels. Poet Vladimir Mayakovsky liked to go here, when Praga became Мosselprom canteen.
In 1930s-1950 Arbat becomes the main government route. Stalin drives here to Kremlin every day, and the street itself is under the constant supervision of the secret police. Anatoliy Rybakov wrote about this times of arrests and repressions in his book "The children of Arbat " And here is the house where the action of the novel takes place.
Arbat becomes the first walking street in Moscow and the most popular one only 30 years ago.
Since the times of Perestroika Arbat becomes the centre of spontaneous concerts, actors playing in the street, poets reading their poems, singers, professional and unprofessional performing in a couple of meters of each other. Tents with souvenirs, book markets, painters were at every step of the street.
Last year the authorities banned the informal culture on Arbat, and the music stopped here.
Let's continue our walk- this building in soviet classicism style is the Vakhtangov drama theatre. Its history started in 1913 with the theatre studio, opened by the pupil of Stanislavskiy Yevgeny Vakhtangov. In 1926 the studio became a theater and the theatrical school - today it is the famous Schuka. Its graduates are many well known russian actors and directors.
As I told before from the 19th century some sеveral floor apartment houses appeared on Arbat. This impressive building in neo gothic style was built in 1913 by order of Anna Filatova. It is considered that Bulgakov's Margarita smashed the apartment of Latunski right here.
This 6 floor mansion was built only for 6 months, and in the beginning of the 20th century it was a real skyscraper!
From 1992 the house of Filatova is the Actors house. And it has its symbol: 2 knights on the corner tower on the height of the 4th floor. Not many people look so high to mention these fearsome guardians. But they still lean on their swords and watch the people who walk along Arbat.
And this house was a home of Alexander Pushkin! Opposite the house, which is now a museum, there is a sculpture of the poet and his beautiful wife Natalia Goncharova.
It represents the happiest period in Pushkin's life. Right here the young couple spent their honeymoon after the wedding. Pushkin said that he was absolutely happy at this time, and maybe because of that he didn't write a single line!
Now our walk along Old Arbat is over, but there are so many interesting things that wait ahead!
Subscribe to our channel, follow the updates, like us it the social nets! And don't forget to leave your comments and wishes what places you would like to see next time, bye!
***
Want to know more about Moscow? Subscribe to our channel. Find more stories.
►https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxz2YwXTh1D6_k8WpfOUenQ?sub_confirmation=1
***
Please share videos with friends on social networks. We will be very grateful!
***
Subscribe to our pages on social networks:
►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moscow.video
►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moscow.travel.guide
***
Link to this video: https://youtu.be/E4oV8_6EFp4
