Category:Pokrovka

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Pokrovka crosses the boulevard ring between Chistoprudny and Pokrovsky boulevards. At first Pokrovka was a small countryside road with a river Rachka, which was constantly bursting its banks and leaving everywhere a lot of mud and silt. This unattractive road led to Rubtsovo and Izmailovo, favourite estates of many Russian tsars, and later many grandees from the tsars’ retinue settled here. Obliging noblemen tried to make royal trips as pleasant as possible, that is why Pokrovka was "ennobled", the road was paved and new beautiful houses were built. In the end of the 19th century noblemen were ousted by merchants, and countless shops and little markets flooded the area. When Kursky railway station was opened in 1860s, Pokrovka became cluttered with cheap hotels, inns and workshops.

Some signs of Pokrovka’s "noble" past are preserved till now. Magnificent blue-white palace (No.22), often called "the chest of drawers", is a rare sample of Elizabethan baroque designed by architect Ukhtomsky. A very intriguing legend is connected with this mansion. According to it, Tsarina Elizabeth presented this marvellous house to her secret husband Count Alexey Razumovsky as a wedding gift. The royal wedding took place in a nearby Church of the Assumption (No.26), which is in ruins today. Another story tells that Alexander Pushkin used to take dancing classes in this “chest of drawers”, which by then belonged to his relatives Trubetskie. In 1861 a gymnasium opened here; it brought up such outstanding students as the Father of modern theatre Konstantin Stanislavsky and the founder of Soviet aviation Nikolay Zhukovsky.

Pokrovka originally was longer, but in the 17th century it was divided into two parts, one of them kept the old name, the other became Maroseyka.

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