Ulitsa Prechistenka
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In the times of Ivan the Terrible, Ulitsa Prechistenka was just a simple cart-track between the Kremlin and Novodevichy Monastery. It was called Bolshaya Chertolskaya. A long time ago there used to be a turbulent little stream running to the Moscow River along the bottom of a deep ravine where Gogolevsky Boulevard is now. It used to cause the people of Moscow no end of trouble, especially anyone who wanted to get from the suburbs to Bely Gorod or vice versa. “The Devil dug that ravine!” cursed the people of the town as they struggled across narrow wooden bridges. So that’s why they called the stream “Chertory” or Dug by the Devil, and the road nearest to it Bolshaya Chertolskaya.
In the old times, people travelled on Bolshaya Chertolskaya to pray in Novodevichy Convent which had the Smolensk icon of the Mother of God. Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great, considered it blasphemous to go on a religious procession along a road with the devil’s name. On his orders Bolshaya Chertolskaya was renamed as Prechistenka in honour of the Prechistaya or Immaculate Holy Mother.
Prechistenka has an inestimable amount of architectural monuments, both young and old. At the start of the street there are the White Chambers built in the 17th century and opposite the Prechistenskaya Pharmacy which has been here since the 18th century. Further on the luxurious Khrushchev-Seleznyov house which now houses the Pushkin Literary Museum, the elegant Konshina House which is now the House of Scientists with lions on its gates, the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, the former Polivanov Gymnasium. You are not going to be able to count them all.
Prechistenka like Ostozhenka is a very prestigious street. Download our GPS-tour of Prechistenka and you won’t miss any sights on this special street.
In the old times, people travelled on Bolshaya Chertolskaya to pray in Novodevichy Convent which had the Smolensk icon of the Mother of God. Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great, considered it blasphemous to go on a religious procession along a road with the devil’s name. On his orders Bolshaya Chertolskaya was renamed as Prechistenka in honour of the Prechistaya or Immaculate Holy Mother.
Prechistenka has an inestimable amount of architectural monuments, both young and old. At the start of the street there are the White Chambers built in the 17th century and opposite the Prechistenskaya Pharmacy which has been here since the 18th century. Further on the luxurious Khrushchev-Seleznyov house which now houses the Pushkin Literary Museum, the elegant Konshina House which is now the House of Scientists with lions on its gates, the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, the former Polivanov Gymnasium. You are not going to be able to count them all.
Prechistenka like Ostozhenka is a very prestigious street. Download our GPS-tour of Prechistenka and you won’t miss any sights on this special street.
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