Every house, like every person, has its own fate and, as a rule, its own unique story. This book is about little-known, “hidden” Moscow—with its legends, family secrets, and moving tales, its mystical fantasies and romantic dreams. Thanks to them, Moscow comes alive, and old houses reveal their soul. After reading it, for example, you will learn what a Moscow manor was nicknamed “The House of the Russian Faust,” “Moscow Versailles,” “The Labyrinth of Minotaur,” where the legendary palace of “the French rakes” is located, the most luxurious in old Moscow—what palace is considered the most mysterious, and which one has earned the fame of the “main house of the Silver Age.”
After walking through the streets of the capital, you will learn not only the “unofficial” history of old palaces and refined mansions—their signs and symbols—but also the mysterious fates of their inhabitants. They say that mystical houses have a special aura. Random people don’t become their residents—manors choose their owners themselves. From the pages of this book, you will discover many romantic secrets, including who of the famous Moscow beauties hid under the name “Miledi,” “Venus with a Whip,” “Princess of the Night”; who are Madame “Felyusha,” the “Fiery Angel and the Witch Renata”; and where in Moscow the birds of paradise live—Phoenix, the sweet-voiced Sirin, and the herald of the gods, the bird of happiness, Gamayun.
Irina Sergievskaya is a wonderful historian and guide—a person for whom Moscow is not just the capital of Russia or a place of residence, but the greatest love in life. Her book “Romantic Moscow” will open for readers a new, previously unknown Moscow—its secrets and mysteries.