Maryina Roshcha District

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Data
Status:	District
City:	Moscow
Area:	4,67 km²
Population:	40,194 (2002 Census)
Population density:	8,606 pers/km²
Postal code:	113000-119000

Coat of arms

Location in Moscow

Maryina Roshcha (Russian: Марьина Роща, lit. Mary's Grove) is a district within North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia. Historical area of Maryina Roshcha, which emerged in middle of nineteenth century on site of Sheremetev family lands, retained its low-rise, country style until the 1960s.

Maryina Roshcha should not be confused with the recently developed Maryino District of Moscow's South-Eastern Administrative Okrug.

1 History
2 Notable cultural and educational facilities
3 Public transportationa access
4 External links

[edit] History

This section is based on P.V.Sytin's "History of Moscow Streets" (1948)

Village of Maryino (Mary's), also known as Boyarkino, appears in official registers since 1678 with a population of 102 in 22 households. Maryino and the adjacent Ostankino village and park were owned by Cherkassky family. In the middle of eighteenth century, the last Princess Cherkassky married count P.B. Sheremetev, and the lands passes to Sheremetev family possession. The main north-south street of the area, Sheremetevskaya, is still named after the landlords of the past.

After the Great Fire of 1812 the groves between Moscow and Maryino were cut for timber, but quickly recovered and became a popular picnic destination. Entertainment established the name of Maryina Roshcha (Mary's Grove) as a toponym independent of the old Maryino village. Vasily Zhukovsky wrote a romantic poem of the same name; his version of Maryina Roshcha etymology is pure fiction, just like the legend linking Maryina Roshcha to a female highway robber called Marya).

Between 1851 and 1882, railroad construction isolated Maryina Roshcha from Moscow (south) and Ostankino (north). In 1880s, a French real estate developer (Поземельное Общество, Pozemelnoye Obshestvo) signed a long-term lease with Sheremetev family, cut the trees and levelled the area for cheap lowrise construction, creating the rectangular grid of streets and alleys that still exists today. They, however, did not care to set up water supply or sewage. Proximity of railroads quickly attracted industrialists like Gustav List, who built factories on the edges of Maryina Roshcha. Wooden houses were occupied by workers of these factories, including an ethnic minority of Mordvin laborers, who settled in the area in 1901. Existing orthodox church of Unexpected Joy (photographs) was built through public subscription in 1899-1904 and operated continuously through Soviet age.

Mariyna Roshcha, located outside of Moscow city limits, was unadequately policed by the country administration. This attracted a lot of shady persons, and the area was considered a criminal ghetto, especially after World War I and Russian Civil War, when law-abiding men where drafted and perished in the army, and the Bolshevik administration expropriated all livestock from the residents. The area remained unsafe until 1960s. Post-WWII Maryina Roshcha underworld was featured in The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed mini-series.

Stalin's master plan of 1935 proposed building a north-south highway through Maryina Roshcha, which would lead to demolition of nineteenth-century housing. This plan did not materialize; wooden Maryina Roshcha was demolished gradually in 1960s, and the remains of it were cleared in late 1970s, preparing for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Last remaining tram lines were closed in 2002 (see 2002 photographs [1] [2]), when the district's southern boundary was converted into Third Ring highway.

[edit] Notable cultural and educational facilities

[edit] Public transportationa access

Moscow Metro plans to expand Lyublinskaya Line to Maryina Roshcha in 2009. Until then, the district is accessible by Savyolovskaya, Rizhskaya (south) and Alexeyevskaya (north) stations.