Manezhnaya Square (Manezhka)
Manezhnaya Square is located in the oldest part of Moscow, next to the Kremlin. This area was developed already in the XII century. Since that time, the development of the territory of the future square began.
General information
Once on the site of the modern square was a swamp, which is associated with the legend of Dmitry Donskoy’s horse. It is said that some traitor stole his favorite horse from the prince and sold it to the Tatars, and they cut the favorite’s throat and threw it into the swamp right under the Kremlin walls. However, the corpse of the horse did not drown, but remained lying on the surface, reminding Donskoy daily of the grievous loss. For some time the prince even avoided leaving through the Resurrection Gate, just to avoid seeing his faithful friend. This terrible sight made an impression on the traitor himself – he threw the gold received from the Tartars into the swamp with the killed horse. Since then this swamp was called “Horse Place” for a long time. People believed that the spirit of the horse settled in the area forever. And that is why it is believed that Manezhnaya Square can bring both good luck in money matters and failure: the horse in Russia served as both a symbol of wealth and a sign of ruin.
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After the great fire of 1493, the territory near the Kremlin walls was freed from buildings for fire safety purposes. But already in the XVI century there was a settlement of Streltsy, which existed until the end of the XVII century.
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In the XVI century the Moiseevsky monastery was founded here. In 1765 it was abolished, and a little later its buildings were dismantled. The small square that appeared on the site of the former monastery was named Moiseevskaya Square at the end of the 18th century.
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The manege was built here in 1817 in honor of the 5-year anniversary of Russia’s victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, designed by A. A. Betancourt. Called then “Exertsirgauz” (house for exercises), it was intended for military drill.
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The entire space surrounding the Manege building and Moses Square was built up mostly with small buildings. Several alleys ran between the buildings.
In 1883, in honor of the victory in the war with Turkey, the Chapel of Alexander Nevsky was built on Moiseevskaya Square, which was demolished in 1922.
.After 1917, the Manege served as a garage for government vehicles. In 1932, demolition of the buildings around the Manege began due to the construction of the subway. Within a few years, the entire space in front of the building was completely cleared, and by 1938 a large square called Manezh Square was formed.
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On the opposite side of Manezh, the building of the Moscow Hotel was built in 1935.
.Since 1957, Manezh has been continuously used for exhibitions, expositions and other public events. In 1967, in honor of the anniversary of the October Revolution, the square was renamed. A stone was placed in its center on the site of a future monument, which was never erected.
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In the 1990s, the reconstruction of Manezh Square began. The Okhotny Ryad shopping complex was built here, and the square itself became pedestrianized.
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In 1995, a monument to Marshal Zhukov was erected on the square.
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In 2004, a fire destroyed the Manege building, which was soon rebuilt. In the same year, the building of the hotel “Moscow” was demolished, and in its place a new one was erected. Now various exhibitions, fairs, concerts and other events are held here.
.Visitors
- Address: Manezhnaya Square, 1
- Nearest metro: Okhotny Ryad, Lenin Library, Borovitskaya .
- Телефон: +7(495)645-92-77
- Website: www.moscowmanege.ru
