Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod

Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street is one of the main and oldest streets of Nizhny Novgorod. The historic thoroughfare is laid out in the Nizhny Novgorod district. It begins near the walls of the ancient Kremlin, on the square named after Minin and Pozharsky, and runs southeast past Teatralnaya and Gorky squares to Lyadova Square.

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Video: Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod

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Highlights

The street stretches for 2.23 kilometers. More than half of the street, the part that runs north from Maxim Gorky Square, has the status of a pedestrian zone. Nizhny Novgorod residents and tourists come here to walk around the historical center, admire the picturesque facades of buildings and beautiful monuments, look in stores and souvenir stores, as well as spend time in cozy cafes and restaurants.

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Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street is considered to be almost the oldest in the city. It appeared in the Middle Ages and originally bore the name of Bolshaya Nikolskaya. As the main city artery the street was formed in the XVIII century. It received its modern name in the 1820s in memory of the Church of the Intercession, which has not survived to this day. The old temple was destroyed in the 1930s, when the state actively fought against religion.

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How the street was built up

Historians found the first mention of the street in the documents of the 1620s. According to the Nikolskaya tower of the Novy Ostrog, the road through the city was called Bolshaya Nikolskaya and led towards Moscow.

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In 1767, during a trip along the Volga River, Catherine II visited Nizhny Novgorod. After the visit of the Russian empress, the city authorities developed a new urban plan, providing for straightening of streets and a strict neighborhood layout. In the 1790s the old street was reconstructed and it began to lead to the Dmitrov Tower of the Kremlin. It should be said that in those days wooden houses prevailed in Nizhny Novgorod, and there were very few brick buildings.

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In the early XIX century, according to the general plan of regular development in the city center began to erect buildings of stone. On the “noble” street appeared the estates of the Nizhny Novgorod governor, rich princely families, generals, vice-governor and major city officials. Therefore, ordinary residents were not allowed here very willingly.

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Before the All-Russian Exhibition, which was held in the city in 1896, Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street was decorated with a luxurious building of the Nicholas Theater, and showed it to the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, who came to Nizhny Novgorod. And by the 300th anniversary of the celebration of the Romanov dynasty in 1913, the State Bank was erected in the central part of the street, which nowadays has the status of a historical and architectural monument of the federal level.

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After the establishment of Soviet power, the street was renamed in honor of Y.M. Sverdlov, but Nizhny Novgorod residents called it simply “Sverdlovka”. The historic name of the ancient street was returned only in the 1990s.

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The pedestrian zone along the historic street appeared in the 1980s. In 2004, the historic thoroughfare was extensively reconstructed. The roadway was neatly paved with paving stones, the facades of buildings facing the street were restored and expressive bronze monuments were placed along the pedestrian routes.

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Today Nizhny Novgorod’s “Arbat” is very popular. The street is especially crowded in the evening, when all the stores and cafes are open, and on the sidewalk you can see performances by street musicians and artists.

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Historic buildings

For more than 100 years, the neo-Russian mansion of the State Bank, which looks like a princely terem and a European medieval castle at the same time, has been considered the most beautiful building on the street. It is located in house No. 26, in the place where Gruzinskaya Street comes to Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street. The author of the unusual structure was a talented Russian architect V. A. Pokrovsky. A. Pokrovsky.

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The picturesque building is not in vain considered an outstanding architectural monument. It is unique not only outside, but also inside. Visitors can see the museum of the bank’s history, the reception room of its director and spacious interiors of the operating room with huge chandeliers.

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In the house number 30 on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street is the Vvedenskaya Church. In the 1860s it served as the house church of the diocesan women’s school. Recently the Vvedenskaya Church has been restored, and today it is open for believers and tourists on any day from morning to evening.

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House No. 39A is occupied by the Nizhny Novgorod Puppet Theater. This house was built in 1912 according to the project of the famous Russian architect Fyodor Osipovich Shechtel. The Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court nowadays works in House No. 17. A beautiful two-story mansion, the facade of which is decorated with columns and a strict triangular pediment, was erected in 1896.

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Monuments

Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street passes near the square named after Maxim Gorky, where there is a green square and a monument to the writer. The seven-meter bronze figure was created by sculptor Vera Mukhina and appeared here in 1952.

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In front of the building of the city university there is a bust of Academician Nikolai Nikolayevich Bogolyubov. And on Theater Square attract attention monuments to the natives of Nizhny Novgorod – the famous actor Evgeny Alexandrovich Evstigneev and Russian writer Nikolai Alexandrovich Dobrolyubov. It is worth looking at the theater school standing here, on the ledge of which a bronze cat “hangs”.

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On the pedestrian section of the street there are expressive sculptures of the “Postman”, “Fashionista in front of the mirror”, “Butler”, “Governess with a boy”, “Merchant”, “Noble couple”, “Photographer with a dog”, “Fiddler Boy”, “Merry Goat” and “Townsman”. There is even an unusual monument “Spoon of Taste” in this part of the city, which is not bypassed by any amateur photographer.

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How to get there

The northern part of Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street can be reached by buses and shuttle buses (stop “Minin and Pozharsky Square”). In the area of Oktyabrskaya Street, streetcars No. 1, 2 and 21 pass by Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street. It is easy to walk to Gorky Square from Gorkovskaya metro station. South of Gorky Square, the street becomes a roadway, and several buses and shuttle buses run along it.

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