The area near the Belorussky Train Station is one of the most interesting historical places in Moscow. Changed beyond recognition over the past centuries, it still preserves the memory of the past of the capital.
Moscow layout: cities and ramparts
Moscow, founded in 1147 by Yuri Dolgoruky, one of the most ancient centers of Russia. It has a radial ring or concentric layout. In the center is the Kremlin - an old Russian fortress with defense towers. According to ancient Russian traditions, no one settled on the territory of the fortress. There was only a garrison guarding the fortress.
Residents built their houses near the walls. These houses constituted a posad, which over time was enclosed by a fortress wall or rampart. Posad grew and gradually went beyond the ring shaft. The newly rebuilt part of the city was again protected by an annular rampart or fortress walls.
So, initially Moscow had a defense system of 4 serf rings. After the fortress wall of the Earth City burned down, residents poured instead of it an earthen rampart that performed the same function. In 1742, at the initiative of the Chamber College, which was in charge of the Russian Empire, the Chamber College was built. Shafts were ring earthen embankments with ditches and outposts (guard posts) that defined the boundaries of the city or its parts.
The chamber-collegiate shaft was built to replace the erected merchant company selling vodka, the strengthening - Kompaneysky shaft. The company wall blocked the smuggling of vodka into the city. It quickly deteriorated and was taken apart. And the newly rebuilt Kamer-kollezhsky shaft did not give the opportunity to transport a large number of various goods duty-free to Moscow. 37 outposts were built along the rampart.
Tverskaya Zastava in Moscow: the formation of the square
Tverskaya Zastava Square was formed in front of the Belorussky Train Station . Railways connected Moscow with many cities in Europe.
This square appeared in the XVIII century, when the Tver outpost of the Kamer-Kollezhsky shaft was being erected. The road to Tver passed through the rampart, which became very popular in the 18th century. A large amount of goods was transported along the highway, which required the settlement of customs relations between merchants and Moscow. It was decided to build a Tverskaya outpost on the Kamer-Kollezhsky shaft. When regional duties were abolished, the outpost was used by city police to control migration. Near the Tverskaya outpost, on the side of the capital, was located the Yamskaya Sloboda, and on the outside - the village.
In 1864, the border of Moscow along the Kollezhsky shaft was officially determined, the Moscow territories were transferred to the management of the Moscow district administration and the Duma, and the lands beyond the outpost - to the zemstvo.
Triumphal gates of the Tver outpost
There is information in the publications that in 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte fled through the Tverskaya outpost from burning Moscow. Two years later, it was decided to restore on the square near the outpost of the burnt wooden Triumphal Gate, built even under Peter I, but Alexander I imposed a ban on construction. Only twenty years later, here, by decree of Nicholas I, a gate was erected, already made of stone. They became a monument to victory in the war with Napoleon. The famous architect Osip Bove adjusted the arch.
Keeping the traditions of the ancient Roman era in its appearance, the building was completed according to all the canons of classical ancient architecture. The Arc de Triomphe was made of white stone, mined in the hills near Krylatsky, and cast iron used for columns. It is decorated with the chariot of Glory, drawn by six horses, high reliefs and sculptures, designed by sculptors Ivan Vitali and Ivan Timofeev. The relief images - a woman warrior killing a dragon with a spear, a battle near the Kremlin walls, sculptural images of Roman soldiers in tunics - symbolize the power of Russian weapons, courage and bravery, patriotism of the Russian people.
Among the high reliefs there is also an image of Emperor Alexander I, represented in the guise of the Roman emperor, which caused displeasure of the Russian church, led by Metropolitan Filaret.
In connection with the installation of the gates, the square changed its name to Starotriumfalnaya, and received the second name - “Square of the New Triumphal Gate”.
Tverskaya Zastava Square: Prospects
Recently, according to a decision made by the mayor of the city, Sergei Sobyanin, and the Moskomekspertiza project, due to the fact that the square at the Belorussky railway station is an important transport hub in the capital, tram lines will be laid here . Previously, until 2008, trams ran across the square from Lesnaya Street to the station, but were dismantled. They decided to keep the historical route. In addition, in the perspective of reconstruction of the Tverskaya Zastava, it is planned to restore the area in accordance with its former appearance.
One of the important points of the reconstruction project is large-scale landscaping of the area: planting a large number of trees, breaking down lawns. As well as the modernization of its lighting system. It is also planned to return to the square a monument to the writer Aleksey Maximovich Gorky, dismantled in 2005 in connection with reconstruction work on the square.