The city of Nizhny Novgorod has an ancient history, founded in 1221. In the USSR period (from 1932 to 1990) it was called Gorky. The city is located in the central part of the East European Plain, at the place where the two great rivers join - the Oka and the Volga.
Nizhny Novgorod is divided into the left-bank and right-bank sides of the Oka River, conditionally they are called the upland and river parts. And the Volga River separates the city from the Bor district. Many attractions have been preserved in the central part, and one of them is the well-known square of Nizhny Novgorod called Minin and Pozharsky.
general characteristics
The square is located in the central part of the city and connects several streets together:
- Verkhne-Volzhskaya embankment;
- Minin;
- Bolshaya Pokrovskaya;
- Barbaric;
- Zelensky congress;
- Ulyanova.
The central square of Nizhny Novgorod is located in the southeast of the upland part of the historical memorial site - the Kremlin. On the street itself there are many historical monuments, unique buildings and city fountains. Celebratory city events are held on the square, and road traffic is blocked on holidays.
History
Minin and Pozharsky Square in Nizhny Novgorod initially had a different name - Verkhnyaya Posadskaya, then Verkhnebazarnaya. The name was because all the land routes of the settlement converged here, and bargaining was located here, which fully met the needs of the inhabitants of the upper part of the city.
As soon as the stone Annunciation Cathedral appeared (before that there was a wooden church), in 1697, the area was already called the Annunciation Cathedral.
A regular development plan for this part of the city appeared only in 1770. Until this time, people randomly built up their homes around the Dmitrievskaya Tower of the Kremlin with their houses. A plan was drawn up to petition the provincial authorities in the St. Petersburg "Commission on Construction", from 1768. According to the document, the square was supposed to have a trapezoidal shape, and all the houses adjoining it had to be stone, including those that would be located on adjacent streets.
The reconstruction of the square began only after 9 years, in 1779. On adjacent streets, demolished wooden structures and began to build stone. But, private houses along the lateral parts of the so-called trapezoid were not demolished, but they were not allowed to be repaired until the beginning of the 19th century, so that in the future, due to unsuitability, they were dismantled.
Soviet period
After the communists arrived, in 1917, two adjacent squares were united:
The result is the modern square of Nizhny Novgorod, but with a completely different name - Sovetskaya.
The Annunciation Cathedral and the Church of St. Alexei Metropolitan were badly damaged, all the utensils were stolen, and shopkeepers were located inside. As a result, in the 30s, two shrines were demolished. They even demolished the monument to Alexander II, which was installed literally on the eve of the start of the revolution.
In the period from 1935 to 1937. a new development plan for the area was being developed. It was supposed to change the shape to radial, by demolishing part of the towers and walls of the Kremlin. But these plans could not be realized: the Second World War began.
The appearance of the monument to Minin Kuzma
In the midst of the war, in 1943, they decided to erect a monument to Minin Kuzma on the square . The goal of this project was to boost the morale of the local population. The monument stood until 1985. In the same year he was transferred to restorers in the village of Balakhna.
The new monument to Minin in the main square of Nizhny Novgorod appeared only in 1989. It was created by a whole team of sculptors.
Modernity
As in the whole country, as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed, small architectural forms began to appear in the central parts of cities. Minin Square in Nizhny Novgorod was no exception. Photos of that period are terrifying, all the beauty of architecture and monuments faded. But with the onset of the 2000s, stalls gradually began to disappear from the street.
Monuments and tourist places
Naturally, the most important attraction is the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. On the square are:
- bust of Minin Kuzma;
- a monument in the center of Kuzma Minin Street;
- Monument to Valery Chkalov;
- sculpture of the City (from bronze).
On the square itself and in the immediate vicinity are interesting places that you should definitely visit:
Exhibition complex | The building was built in 1841, and since 1974, an exhibition complex has been operating on the ground floor |
Museum of A. S. Pushkin | Despite the fact that the poet was only once in the city, and then passing through, a museum was opened in honor of this event. |
The Kremlin also houses an art museum in the Dmitrov Tower. And the central architectural element of the square is the fountain, which was erected in 1847. At that time, he served as a source of water, since the upper settlement always felt a shortage of drinking water. It was moved and restored several times in 1990 and 2007.
In 2009, the administration of Nizhny Novgorod considered a project for the reconstruction of the area. The document provided for the construction of an entertainment center under the street, as well as the restoration of lost architectural monuments. What will happen next - time will tell.