contents: description - map - places - special facts - walking around
Kuznetsky Most - "The Moscow Downtown"
The city's downtown: shops, clubs, restaurants.
 Click on the highlighted Kuznetski Most / Kitai Gorod areas to see the map. |
Kuznetski Most is a small area between Tverskaya street, Kremlin, and Kitai Gorod (Lubyanka) and it's a downtown of Moscow. First of all, 'Kuznya' is a great place to walk: it is a real Moscow area, not a postcard at all, hectic busy streets neighbour tranquil lanes and courtyards with traditional architecture. There are also many very nice cafes, restaurants, clubs, and shops. If I choose where to meet people, where to sit in a cafe, where to walk and to get the feeling of the city, I choose this area. metro: Kuznetski Most (violet), Lubyanka (red), Teatralnaya (green); area: downtown |
What to Find There:
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Walking Around Kuznetsky Most:
Long time ago there were only half-broken low wooden houses in Kuznetski Most area, and it was the place where poor blacksmithes lived. Blacksmith is 'Kuznets' in Russia, hence the name. In the beginning of the street (on top) there was a bridge over a small river, later this river was put underground, so there's no bridge anymore.
About 200 years ago there was a rich Moscovitan noble buying this area. He immediately put away all the blacksmiths' houses and started to build a fancy new district. Just in few years he built up beautiful houses, with impressive ornaments, rich decoration, pools in the courtyards. Also, he opened some French boutiques in the area. That's when Kuznetski Most started to become fashionable. In a short time all the elite moved to this
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In the 20th century, when the communist times arrived, most of the buildings were given to government offices, some were given to soviet shops. The area became boring, the architecture was slowly deteorating, but nobody seemed to care.
Now, in the beginning of 90s, the area is being revived again: the buildings are being actively restorated (so the area looks a bit like a construction site for now at some places), there are many new cafes being opened, boutiques, shops. So I guess it's in fashion again. And there's a reason.
