Arbat Street
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You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (January 2017) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Smolenskaya | |
Coordinates | 55°45′4″N 37°35′46″E / 55.75111°N 37.59611°E |
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Arbat Street (Russian
In the 18th century, the Russian nobility came to regard the Arbat as the most prestigious living area in Moscow. Almost completely destroyed by the great fire of 1812 associated with Napoleon's occupation of Moscow, the street required rebuilding. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it became known as a place where petty nobility, artists, and academics lived. In the Soviet period, it housed many high-ranking government officials.
As of 2016[update], the street and its surroundings are undergoing gentrification, and it is considered[by whom?] a desirable place to live. Because of the many historic buildings, and due to the numerous artists who have lived and worked in the street, the Arbat has also become an important tourist attraction.
Location and route
The Arbat is in the historic center of Moscow. It begins at Arbatskaya square (Арбатская площадь), 800 metres west of the walls of the
.Until the middle of the 20th century, the Arbat remained part of the main road from the Moscow Kremlin westwards. In the 1960s a parallel road, the
History
Origins and etymology
The Arbat is one of the oldest surviving streets in Moscow. Exactly when it came into existence is not recorded, but a document from July 28, 1493 mentions it.[1] The document describes a fire which started in the wooden Church of Nicholas on the Sand (Церковь Николы на Песках). The fire spread throughout Moscow, devastating large areas of the city, which consisted for the most part of wooden structures. The original meaning of the
Several hypotheses attempt to explain it:
- Probably the most widespread hypothesis states that the name comes from the
- Another hypothesis links the word Arbat with the Tatar word arba, i.e. "cart". This is explained either by reference to the significance of the Arbat as a trade route, and thus used by traders and their carts, or by the possible existence of a workshop in the area which produced carts. In a vernacular sense, the word Arbat means neighbourhood or residential area in Tatar languages.
- In the 19th century the historian and archaeologist Ivan Yegorovich Sabelin proposed a purely Russian origin for the street name. According to him, the word Arbat derives from the adjective gorbat, i.e. "bumpy", which corresponds to the uneven nature of the land on which Moscow is built.[8] However, this theory is disputed, as in fact the space where the Arbat is located is flatter than much of the city.
- The word Arbat is also found in Persian language (Persian: ارباط). A village which is called Arbat exists in Iran.
A non-Russian origin of the word Arbat is generally held[
15th to 17th century
As early as the 15th century the Arbat formed the first part of a road which linked Moscow — predominantly the Kremlin — with the western regions of the
During the reign of
After the dissolution of the Oprichnina, and the death of Ivan the Terrible, the Arbat's significance as a trade route began to grow again. Not only merchants travelled this route, but also Tsars, along with their messengers and soldiers. Foreign invaders also used the Arbat when attacking the Kremlin, and when retreating in defeat. Time and again the Arbat proved important to the defence of the Kremlin: From its Eastern end, the volunteer army of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky delivered a decisive blow to the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Field Marshal Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. In the 16th and 17th centuries, three regiments of Streltsy troops were stationed on the Arbat, to better defend the Kremlin.[11]
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the neighbourhood was graced with elegant churches, notably the one featured in Vasily Polenov's celebrated painting A Courtyard in Moscow (1879).
18th and 19th centuries
By the 19th century at the latest the growth of Moscow meant that the Arbat was now in the centre of the city rather than at its edge, and so it became an ever more desirable place to live. In 1736 about half the street was destroyed in yet another fire,
However the Arbat continued to serve as the most important way into and out of Moscow towards the West. During Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812, French troops led by Joachim Murat used the street to get to the Kremlin. This event is mentioned in Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace, written 50 years afterwards.
The fire lit during the battle for Moscow in 1812 destroyed large parts of the predominantly wooden city, and also decimated the Arbat. The results of the energetic period of rebuilding in the 1810s can still be seen today, in the surviving houses of the
In the second half of the 19th century, the Arbat also moved away from being a purely aristocratic part of town, and became a popular place for artists to live. This was mainly due to the fact that many of the poets, thinkers, musicians and actors who had shaped Russia's cultural life came from the middle and lower nobility, sometimes from impoverished noble families. It was around the Arbat that Russia's
20th century and today
In the first two decades of the 20th century comfortable new apartment buildings were built on the Arbat, which still contribute to the overall appearance of the street. The main inhabitants were now well-off academics, as well as a small number of artists. The Arbat's transport connections were also improved in the first half of the 20th century. In 1904 electric
After the
In the early 1980s the Arbat, which had been a busy street in terms of traffic, was closed off and made into the first
Attractions
Since 1986, the Arbat has been dotted with distinctive street lanterns. It has several notable statues, including one to Princess Turandot in front of the
See also
- Azabu-Jūban district in Minato ward, very similar location positioned nearby to the center (very slightly to the south from it) of Japan's capital.
Notes
- ^ Immanuil Levin, p.;3
- ^ "Москва татарская - история появления тюркских названий столичных улиц". Кукла в подарок (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-08-07.
- ^ "The Steppe | geographical area, Eurasia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
- ^ "The Amerikan Steppes - Research, The University of York". www.york.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
- ^ Steppe Nomads and Russian Identity: The (In)Visibility of Scythians, Mongols and Cossacks in Russian History and Memory, Katherine A. Maximick
- ^ "When the Arabs met the Vikings: New discovery suggests ancient links". The National. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
- ^ marshrut-turista.ru; accessed on 15 Aug 2009 (Russian) Archived October 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ stariyarbat.ru: Origin of the name; accessed on 15 August 2009 (Russian) Archived April 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Neighbourhood | Home". www.vstrechinaarbate.com. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- ISBN 3-8118-0023-X(German)
- ^ stariyarbat.ru: The Arbat: From ancient times to the 18th century; accessed on 17 August 2009 (Russian) Archived March 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Yevgeni Yurakov, Rambler, 5 June 2006; accessed on 18 August 2009 Archived August 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
References
- Immanuil Levin (Иммануил Левин). Arbat. Odin kilometr Rossii. (Арбат. Один километр России). Galart, 2nd Edition, Moscow 1997, ISBN 5-269-00928-5. (Russian)
- Alexej Konstantinowitsch Tolstoj. Iwan der Schreckliche. Moewig, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-8118-0023-X(German)
External links
- Media related to Arbat Street at Wikimedia Commons
- History of the Arbat (Russian)