Volkhonka. Znamenka. Lenivka. Walks through Chertolye

Readers of this book will take an exciting journey along the streets of an ancient district of Moscow, once whimsically called Chertol’ye. Today it is known as the museum quarter of Moscow. Three streets—Volkhonka, Znamyanka, and Lenivka—four lanes—Bolshaya and Malaya Znamenskie, Kolyazhny, and Lebyazhiy—and one embankment—the Kremlin Embankment—form a fascinating historical and cultural route.

Here are stories about architectural monuments and their creators/architects: Bazhenov, Tön, Vitberg, Zholtovsky, Iofan. Also included is a chronicle of the construction and destruction of houses, as well as the history of the lives of the people connected with them. These are artists: Tropinin, Serov, Ostroukhov; writers: Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Ostrovsky; performers: Sobinov, Astangov, Zhivokini, Lensky; musicians, scholars, collectors: the Shchukins, Tsvetaev, Zilbershtein. And also—recollections by contemporaries about Pasternak, Eisenstein, Meyерхольд, Solzhenitsyn, Mayakovsky. You will find answers to many interesting questions of Moscow history by reading this book.