Arbat Street

The Arbat, commonly known as Old Arbat, is one of Moscow's most famous streets, 1.2 kilometers long, connecting Arbatskiye Vorota Square with Smolenskaya Square. The name dates back to the 15th century: it is first mentioned in a chronicle under the year 1475, though there is no definitive explanation of its origin — among the theories put forward are the Turkic word "arba" (cart), the Arabic "rabad" (suburb), and other hypotheses. Originally, "Arbat" referred to the entire area west of the Kremlin, while the street itself served at various times as the start of the ancient road to Mozhaysk and Smolensk.

After a severe fire in 1736, Arbat was rebuilt, and from that time it became one of Moscow's most aristocratic streets, home to members of noble families — the Tolstoys, Golitsyns, Trubetskoys, and Sheremetevs. After the fire of 1812, the district acquired its characteristic appearance: small one- and two-story mansions with mezzanines, surrounded by gardens. It was to Arbat, in February 1831, that Alexander Pushkin brought his young wife Natalia Goncharova — a memorial apartment of the poet is open today in their former home. Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, and other prominent figures of Russian culture also lived on or visited the street at various times. By the end of the 19th century, hereditary aristocracy gave way to the raznochintsy intelligentsia, and shops, tenement buildings, and restaurants appeared on the street.

In the 1920s–1930s, Arbat's appearance changed in the spirit of constructivism, and the former mansions were turned into cramped communal apartments. During the Great Patriotic War, an air raid destroyed the nearby Vakhtangov Theatre; in 1943 the future poet and bard Bulat Okudzhava moved to Arbat, later becoming one of the street's foremost chroniclers in Soviet culture.

Arbat's transformation into a pedestrian zone took place between 1974 and 1986, designed by architects Mikhail Posokhin, Alexei Gutnov, Zoya Kharitonova, and their colleagues: underground utilities were replaced, building facades were restored, and cobblestones were laid in place of asphalt. The renovated pedestrian street, with its retro-style lampposts, opened in 1986 and quickly became a magnet for street musicians and artists. Today Arbat still holds a monument to Bulat Okudzhava by sculptor Georgy Frangulyan, and the street remains one of the main tourist routes of Moscow's historic center.