Old Arbat

Arbat (Stary Arbat) is one of Moscow's oldest streets, a pedestrian zone about 1,250 metres long running between Arbatskiye Vorota Square and Smolenskaya Square, in the stretch between Prechistenka and Novy Arbat. The earliest chronicle mentions of the area date to the 15th century, and for decades the street has remained a symbol of Moscow's bohemian life, with street musicians, artists and souvenir stalls.

History

The name "Arbat" is documented from 1475 in the form "Orbat"; historians disagree on its origin, tracing it either to the Turkic word "arba" (cart) or the Arabic "arbad" (suburb). In the 15th-16th centuries the area beyond the Arbat Gate was called "Vspolye" — unbuilt land on the city's edge. The buildings suffered heavily in the fire of 1812 during Napoleon's invasion and were rebuilt afterwards.

In the late 19th century a horse-drawn tram began running along Arbat, replaced by an electric tram in 1908. In 1909 the Khudozhestvenny cinema opened on Arbatskaya Square, one of the first buildings in Moscow built specifically for film screenings: in 1931 it hosted the premiere of the first Soviet sound film, "The Road to Life". The street took its present pedestrian form in 1974-1986, designed by architects of Moscow's general plan institute and Mosproekt-2: traffic was closed off, the roadway paved with cobblestone, and the pedestrian zone laid out.

What to see

Arbat retains a number of buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Melnikov House in Krivoarbatsky Lane is a landmark of Soviet avant-garde architecture, built in 1929: two intersecting cylinders of different heights, with the rear facade cut by 124 hexagonal windows that earned the building the nickname "honeycomb house". The Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre traces its history to 1913, when a group of students formed a drama studio; a monument to its founder was unveiled next to the theatre in 2020. The Praga restaurant building occupies the apartment house of Vera Firsanova, where a tavern first opened in the 1870s. The Transfiguration Church "na Peskakh" is known from the early 18th century; the stone church of 1711 burned in the fire of 1812, in Soviet times the building housed the puppet-film unit of the Soyuzmultfilm studio, and it was returned to believers in the 1990s.

Literary and musical Arbat

Alexander Pushkin and Natalia Goncharova rented an apartment on the second floor of an Arbat mansion for several months after their wedding in 1831; in 1999, on the wedding anniversary, a monument to the couple was unveiled opposite the poet's house-museum. Poet and songwriter Bulat Okudzhava bought an apartment on Arbat in 1943 with his first literary fee, after being discharged from the front wounded; his monument was unveiled in 2002. On house No. 37 on Arbat, facing Krivoarbatsky Lane, the Tsoi Wall has stood since 1990 — it appeared after the death of musician Viktor Tsoi and has since been covered with inscriptions and quotes from the band Kino's songs. In 1999, following the example of Hollywood's walk of fame, a Russian "walk of stars" was laid out on Arbat.

Getting there

Closer to the start of Arbat, near Arbatskiye Vorota, is Arbatskaya metro station of the Filyovskaya line; five minutes' walk away is the station of the same name on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line. At the opposite end of the street, on Smolenskaya Square, are the Smolenskaya stations of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya and Filyovskaya lines. Buses and trolleybuses run along the neighbouring streets: the nearest stops are "Arbatskiye Vorota" and "Dom Knigi" on Novy Arbat at one end of the pedestrian zone, and "Smolenskaya Ploshchad" at the other.