Patriarshy Ponds
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Patriarshy Ponds (Russian Патриаршие пруды, nickname Patriki - Патрики) is an affluent residential area in downtown Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. For the last 200 years, there has been only one pond, although, as the name of Trekhprudny Pereulok (Трехпрудный переулок, literally Three-Pond Lane) suggests, there used to be more. The area of the existing pond is 9,900 square meters; the depth is about 2 meters.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origin
The district is named after the seventeenth century Patriarch's Goat Sloboda (Патриаршая Козья слобода) located on the Goat Marsh (Козье болото). This marsh once connected by a brook to the Presnya River west; by 1739, when the first topographic map was compiled, the brook disappeared and the marsh separated from Presnya. People considered the swamp as an anomalous zone; apparently this caused a proverb "Фома поспешил, да людей насмешил – увяз на Патриарших" ("Thomas has hastened, but made people laugh - he sticked in Patriarshy").
[edit] 19th century
The pond acquired its present shape and was cleaned up in 1830-1831, a part of a plan to rebuild Moscow after the Fire of 1812. The buildings around the pond were wooden; stone consruction proceeded slowly through the second part of nineteenth century. In winters, Russian Gymnastic Society operated a skating rink on the frozen pond. At the turn of the century, cheap rental buildings around the pond were occupied by the University students, and in December 1905 the area, held by left-wing student militia, became a war zone. The Ponds also housed Moscow's first hospital for the children (the Filatov Hospital, which later relocated to nearby Garden Ring).
[edit] Modern history
In the 1930s-1950s, the remaining lowrise buildings were torn down. Two most important Soviet-era buildings were The House of Lions, a luxurious residence for Red Army Marshals (1945, designed by Zholtovsky workshop) and the 1935 Aviazhilstroy Apartments, a yellow postconstructivist high-rise by Vladimir Vladimirov (the building, conceived by Panteleimon Golosov, was completed in part. See original design). The boathouse on the ponds was built in wood in 1946, and rebuilt in stone in 1980s.
In 2000-2002, controversial Patriarch Apartments were built (design by Sergei Tkachenko); this 13-story building, crowned with a 1/50 scale model of Tatlin's Tower is also known as Alla Pugacheva home. The pond was drained in 2003-2004, when existing Google Maps photographs were taken.
 The pond |
 Statue of Ivan Krylov, by Andrei Drevin |
 Houses and the pond. |
 A Christmas tree in front of The Patriarch |
[edit] Bulgakov legacy
The Pond is one of the main settings of Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. The monuments to Bulgakov and to Ivan Krylov have been erected near the pond. Master and Margarita begins with a tram accident by the pond, although there was no regular tram service and no permanent tram tracks around the pond, ever. Bulgakov was not mistaken: for a short time in 1930s, there was a temporary service track, used as a night storage.
[edit] Public transportation access
The nearest subway station, normally, is Mayakovskaya. Its eastern exit is closed for the whole 2007, so Pushkinskaya and Tverskaya station may be more convenient. There are no trams and no buses anymore.
[edit] References
- Russian: П.В. Сытин, "Из истории московских улиц", М, 1948, стр.186-189
- Russian: Explanation of Bulgakov tram paradox tram.ruz.net
