Chkalovskaya Stairs in Nizhny Novgorod

Chkalovskaya Staircase is an architectural landmark of Nizhny Novgorod. The huge staircase starts near the building of the Medical Academy near the St. George Tower of the Kremlin, and its foot is located near the war memorial of the Boat “Hero”, on the bank of the Volga River. Externally, the Chkalov Staircase looks like a giant figure eight, which is decorated with elegant balustrades, tetrahedral obelisks and bas-reliefs. It is laid along the steep right bank of the river – the Volga escarpment, between the Alexander and Governor’s Gardens, connecting the Upper Volga and Lower Volga embankments.

.

Video: Chkalovskaya Stairs

Contents

Highlights

The flights of stairs are so imposing that they are visible even from space. And the expressive contours of the staircase have turned into one of the most recognizable landmarks of the Volga city. The number of steps on its marches is not the same, there are 560 steps along the arc. Chkalovskaya staircase has no handrails, so small children and the elderly people descending and even more so climbing it is given with difficulty.

.

At the beginning of the descent there is a monument to Valery Chkalov. This place is very popular with the people of Nizhny Novgorod and tourists coming to the city, because it offers an excellent view of the Volga floodplain, the arrow of the Oka and the Volga and the opposite bank of the river, where the city of Bor. There are also two observation platforms on the descent, from which you can admire the surroundings.

.

The last time the staircases were restored in 2013, so the Chkalovskaya Staircase has quite an attractive appearance. Groups of schoolchildren, parents with children and tourists stroll along it every day. It is often visited by newlyweds who want to capture their happiest day against the background of the balustrades. Sports races are regularly held on the Chkalovskaya Stairs, and crowded concerts are held at its foot.

.

How the Chkalovskaya Staircase was built

In the 30-40s of the XIX century in Nizhny Novgorod it was decided to build a new street. It was designed along the top of the Volga slope and named Verkhnevolzhskaya Embankment. During the laying of the roadway, the high right bank of the river was reinforced with sod, and the ravines of small streams flowing into the Volga were filled with earth. The Volga slope was completely leveled, and it acquired its modern appearance.

.

In the upper part of the Chkalovskaya staircase nowadays there is an observation platform. At the beginning of the XIX century here were the remains of the buildings of the old Proiskhodenskaya cloister. During the construction of the embankment dilapidated monastery buildings were demolished, leveled in their place and paved with cobblestones. To enable horse-drawn carriages, wagons and pedestrians to get from the Volga slope to the river, a gentle slope was laid, called “St. George’s exit”. This name was given to the new paved road by the tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin standing next to it.

.

In the 30s of the last century, the population of the USSR lived under the impression of records, which one after another set brave pilots. First, Soviet airplanes flew across the country to the Far East. And after a while, the legendary crew under the command of Valery Chkalov overcame more than 8.5 thousand kilometers and landed on the territory of the United States. The pilots were universal idols, and their names never left the pages of newspapers.

.

Just a year after the unique flight Chkalov died, and it became a nationwide grief. The Soviet people suffered a tragedy, in honor of the hero opened monuments, and his name was called streets and squares of cities. The city authorities of Nizhny Novgorod (then – Gorky) did not stand aside. In 1939, they proposed to immortalize the memory of Chkalov and put a monument to the brave pilot on the Volga escarpment.

.

The city also decided to build a new descent to the river. According to the plan, the staircase in Gorky was to be three times larger than the Potemkin staircase in Odessa. But the large-scale construction of a long descent did not have time to unfold, as the war began.

.

Despite the difficulties, the city authorities began construction in 1943, when it became clear that the course of hostilities has turned, and the Soviet army began to liberate the country from invaders. The Germans on the fronts were retreating, night bombing of the city stopped, and it was possible to establish a peaceful life. In Gorky began to restore factories and revived construction sites frozen by the war.

.

The authorship of the Chkalov staircase project belonged to an architect from Gorky, Alexander Alexandrovich Yakovlev, and two architects from Moscow – Vladimir Oskarovich Munz and Lev Vladimirovich Rudnev. Representatives of the City Executive Committee went to Moscow with the project. Despite the fact that in the middle of the war the country needed money as never before, the state allocated the necessary funds for the construction. Such a decision coincided with the victory of the USSR in the heavy Battle of Stalingrad.

The erection of the Chkalov Stairs began at the end of May 1944. The bulk of the earthwork and construction work was done by captured German soldiers. But in the construction took part and the inhabitants of the city. In order for a long staircase to appear on the Volzhsky descent, the state spent a huge amount for those times – 7.76 million rubles.

.

Finally, in 1949, the new descent to the Volga was inaugurated. The staircase was planned to be named in honor of the battle of Stalingrad – “Stalingradskaya”, but the residents of the city began to call it “Chkalovskaya”, and this name stuck.

.

When the big construction project was over, the head of the city’s executive committee, Alexander Shulgin, found himself under investigation. He was accused of embezzlement of public money, stripped of his party ticket, office and convicted. Against Shulgin used the materials of the “Leningrad case”, which imprisoned many party and government officials. Shulgin served time in one of the Murmansk camps. When Stalin was gone, the criminal case was reviewed, Shulgin was released and fully rehabilitated for lack of corpus delicti.

.

Monuments near Chkalovskaya Stairs

At the place where the descent begins, there is a monument to the famous pilot Valery Pavlovich Chkalov. Curiously, the Nizhny Novgorod residents themselves speak about this monument briefly – “VHR”. It appeared on the Volga slope in 1940. The authors of the project of the monument were architects I. G. Taranov, V. S. Andreev and state prize-winning sculptor I. A. Mendelevich.

.

Interestingly, Isaac Abramovich Mendelevich had the opportunity to be friends with Valery Pavlovich Chkalov. Together with the pilot, they came to the site near St. George’s Tower and, examining the open space, decided that it was ideal for a monument to the writer Maxim Gorky, whose name during the Soviet era Nizhny Novgorod bore. However, when Chkalov died, it was decided to put a monument to the fearless pilot here.

.

Cast in bronze, the sculpture rises on a cylinder-shaped pedestal and rests on three steps. Originally, the statue bore an inscription-dedication to the “Stalin Falcon”. But when the state debunked Stalin’s cult of personality, these words were erased.

The platform near the monument is an excellent place to view the surrounding area. At the foot of the “HPV” stand binoscopes. These are stationary binoculars, through which you can look at the Volga in detail. To look through the binoscope for 100 seconds, you need to put 10 rubles into the coin receiver.

.

At the foot of the Chkalovskaya Stairs is a war memorial Boat “Hero”, opened in 1985. On a pedestal made of granite stands a battle boat, which has an interesting history. The Matvey Bashkirov barge came off the slipway in 1916. Later, the river vessel was renamed “Volgar” and used during the battles of the Civil War.

.

This is not the end of the combat biography of the boat. “Volgar” had to fight and during the Great Patriotic War. He helped our troops to keep the defense at Stalingrad, and in the year of the 40th anniversary of Victory he was turned into a monument. Today, Nizhny Novgorod newlyweds have established a tradition of taking memorable photos near the monument and leaving colored ribbons on the rowing shafts.

.

How to get there

The Chkalovskaya Staircase is located in the Nizhny Novgorod district of the city, to the northeast of the Kremlin walls. To get to its lower rungs, you can use city bus number 5 or route cabs number T117, T42. You need to go to the stop “Boat “Hero”” on the Nizhnevolzhskaya embankment. It is not difficult to come here by private car. However, it should be taken into account that the parking lot at the monument is free only in the morning.

.

To the observation platform at the beginning of the descent from the Chkalovskaya stairs come by buses № 4, 19, 40, 45, 52, 58, 90 and cabs № T2, T24, T40, T45, T60, T69, T85, T90, T97 (stop “Square Minin and Pozharsky”).

.