New Arbat

New Arbat is one of the most recognizable streets of the Russian capital, located in the central district between the Kremlin and the Moskva River embankment. This wide thoroughfare connects Arbat Gates Square with Freedom of Russia Square and serves as an important transport artery of the city. The street stretches parallel to the famous pedestrian Old Arbat, forming together with it a kind of triangle of historic development. The development of this urban space dates mainly to the 1960s, when Soviet architects were bringing to life ambitious plans for modernizing the capital. Today New Arbat attracts tourists and Muscovites with a combination of Soviet architectural heritage, modern shopping centers, historical museums and a lively urban atmosphere.

Historical past of the street: from tsarist times to the present day

Pre-Petrine era and pre-revolutionary period

Before the large-scale reconstruction of the mid-20th century, the area of today’s New Arbat had a completely different appearance. In the time of Ivan the Terrible, the courtyards of the oprichniki and the tsar’s kennels were located here, which gave its name to the legendary Dog Square. From the second half of the 17th century these lands were occupied by settlements of craftsmen — chimney sweeps, stove-makers and other specialists who served the tsar’s court. By the 18th century, proximity to the Kremlin had made the area attractive to the aristocracy. Noble mansions and estates appeared, which were gradually replaced by tenement houses. Among the lost historical sites, a particularly painful loss was the disappearance of the mansions of the poet Aleksey Khomyakov and the writer Sergey Sobolevsky, with whom Alexander Pushkin stayed for six months in 1826.

Construction of the Soviet thoroughfare

The idea of laying a wide highway through the historic center of Moscow arose as early as 1935 in accordance with the master plan for the reconstruction of the capital. The project envisaged the creation of a high-speed government route connecting the Kremlin with the western districts of the city. However, the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War postponed the implementation of the plan for two decades. In May 1962, T-34 tanks without turrets or guns drove onto Arbat Square — this was how construction of the new highway began. In a short time, from 1962 to 1963, a road was laid connecting Kutuzovsky Avenue with the Garden Ring. Construction required the demolition of numerous pre-revolutionary buildings and residential houses. The following disappeared from the map of Moscow:

• Dog Square with its historic mansions
• Krechetnikovsky Lane, named after the tsar’s hunting birds
• Numerous lanes with characteristic names — Khlebny, Stolovy, Skatertny, Nozhovy

The new street received the official name Kalinin Avenue in honor of Mikhail Kalinin, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. City residents, however, unofficially called it New Arbat, which became its official name in 1994.

Architectural features and urban planning solutions

The famous “book houses”

The calling card of the street became four 26-storey administrative buildings on the odd-numbered side, whose shape resembles open books. People nicknamed them “Mishka’s books” after the chief architect of the project, Mikhail Posokhin. Initially, these blocks were intended to house ministries and had two underground levels for car parking. The architect conceived an original effect: the illuminated windows were supposed to form short words such as “USSR”, “CPSU”, “1 MAY” or the digits of the coming year. This idea was implemented in 1970 and made an impression on contemporaries.

Residential high-rises and innovative solutions

On the even-numbered side of the street, five 25-storey residential towers were built. The first floors of all the buildings were occupied by a long stylobate — a continuous row of shops and catering establishments stretching for 800 meters from the Garden Ring to Arbat Lane. A unique urban-planning solution was an underground tunnel about one kilometer long and 9 meters wide, designed for delivering goods to the shops. The entrances were located from the side of the lanes, which made it possible to relieve surface traffic and create wide sidewalks for pedestrians. This approach was uncharacteristic of Soviet architecture of those years and gave New Arbat a European look.

Main attractions of New Arbat

Church of Simeon Stylites — a monument of the pre-Petrine era

The only surviving building of the 17th century on New Arbat is the snow-white Church of Simeon Stylites, erected in 1679. The church is located at the intersection with Povarskaya Street and miraculously escaped demolition thanks to restoration architect Leonid Antropov, who literally threw himself in front of an excavator defending the ancient structure. In Soviet times the building was transferred to the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Nature, which used it for exhibitions of animals and birds. Believers hid the main icon of Simeon Stylites, and it returned to the church only after the collapse of the USSR. Today the graceful church with its kokoshnik gables against the backdrop of modern skyscrapers creates a striking architectural contrast.

Moscow House of Books

Since 1967, a legendary bookstore has operated in building No. 8, which was the largest in the Soviet Union. The sales floor area was 5,000 square meters, putting it among the leaders even among European bookshops. This iconic place continues to operate today, attracting literature lovers from all over the capital.

Oktyabr Cinema

At New Arbat, 24 is located the Oktyabr cinema and concert hall, which opened in 1967. The facade of the building is decorated with an impressive natural-stone mosaic on a revolutionary theme, which has been granted the status of a cultural heritage site. At the turn of the century, the cinema was thoroughly restored and turned into a modern multi-screen multiplex, while retaining the historic panel above the entrance.

Hermitage Theatre

Since 2016, the second stage of the Moscow Hermitage Theatre has been operating in building No. 11. Productions here are based on works by classic authors of world literature:

• Alexander Pushkin and William Shakespeare
• Nikolai Gogol and Jean-Baptiste Molière
• Mikhail Bulgakov and Gabriel García Márquez

Emilia Fedotova Mansion

Among the surviving historic buildings stands out a mansion built by engineer and architect Sergey Fedotov for his wife Emilia in the early 20th century. From 1923 the building became part of Maternity Hospital No. 7, where many famous people were born:

• Bard Bulat Okudzhava
• Science-fiction writer Kir Bulychev
• Actors Andrey Mironov and Aleksandr Shirvindt

After the maternity hospital closed in 1991, private establishments moved into the mansion.

Museums in the vicinity of New Arbat

A walk along the street can be complemented by visiting museums located in the immediate vicinity:

Mikhail Lermontov House-Museum

On Malaya Molchanovka Street behind the Church of Simeon Stylites there is a one-storey wooden mansion where the young Lermontov lived with his grandmother Elizaveta Arsenyeva from 1829 to 1832. The museum exhibition features the poet’s paintings with Caucasian landscapes, family portraits and authentic furniture of that era.

Marina Tsvetaeva House-Museum

In Borisoglebsky Lane, which leads onto New Arbat in front of the Oktyabr cinema, is located the Marina Tsvetaeva museum. In apartment No. 3 of building No. 6, the great poet lived from 1914 to 1922 with her husband Sergey Efron and their daughter Ariadna.

Museum of Dead Dolls

On Malaya Molchanovka, between the Lermontov and Tsvetaeva museums, there is an unusual exhibition — the “Museum of Dead Dolls”. The collection comprises 400 frightening exhibits, including famous characters from horror films — Chucky, Annabelle and Billy from the “Saw” franchise.

Nikolai Gogol House-Museum

On Nikitsky Boulevard near Arbatskaya metro station stands the mansion where the writer spent the last four years of his life as a guest of Count Alexander Tolstoy and his wife Anna Georgievna. Today the building houses a memorial museum and research library.

How to get to New Arbat

Metro

The easiest way to reach the street is by metro. At the beginning of New Arbat there are two stations named “Arbatskaya”:

• on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line (blue line)
• on the Filyovskaya line (light blue line)

It is important to note that the stations are not connected by a transfer passage. Closer to the western part of the street is “Smolenskaya” station on the same Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line.

Surface transport

Numerous bus routes run along New Arbat: “Arbatskiye Vorota” stop:

• Bus C511 (Zvezdny Boulevard — Krasnopresnenskaya metro station)
• Bus M2 (Vladykino metro station — Park Pobedy metro station)
• Bus M7 (Stakhanovskaya metro station — Park Pobedy metro station)
• Night bus N2

“Ploshchad Svobodnoy Rossii” stop:

• Buses M2, M7 and night bus N2

“Ulitsa Novy Arbat” stop:

• Bus B “Luzhniki” (to Luzhniki Stadium)
• Bus C910 (3rd Paveletsky Drive — Zubovskaya Square)

Interesting facts about New Arbat

Contemporaries had mixed feelings about the new thoroughfare. City residents often called it “Moscow’s false teeth” — a hint at the sharp contrast between the historic buildings and the modernist architecture. Writer Yuri Nagibin also used this expression, criticizing the high-rise buildings for their disharmony with the surrounding landscape. The street received the unofficial nickname “Three kilometers of Broadway” thanks to the abundance of fashionable venues. In the legendary café “Ivushka” shearling coats hung on the racks — a sign of the “golden” youth of those years, in the “Vesna” department store one could buy scarce imported goods, and in “Metelitsa” fashionable rock music played. A tragedy of the August 1991 coup is associated with the tunnel under New Arbat, when three people died there. A commemorative sign has been installed at this place.

New Arbat today

Modern New Arbat is a bustling street with a well-developed infrastructure, where architectural landmarks stand side by side with modern shopping centers. The ground floors of the buildings are occupied by numerous shops, cafés, restaurants and entertainment centers. The street remains one of the main transport arteries of the capital and a popular place for walks for both Muscovites and tourists. Despite the conflicting assessments of its architectural appearance, New Arbat has significant historical and cultural value as an example of Soviet urban planning of the 1960s and an important part of Moscow’s cityscape.