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Kuznetski
Most area in Moscow
contents:
description - map - places - special
facts - walking around
The city's downtown: shops, clubs, restaurants.
Click on the highlighted Kuznetski Most / Kitai Gorod areas
to see the map. |
Kuznetski
Most is a small area between Tverskaya street, Kremlin, and
Kitai Gorod (Lubyanka) and it's a downtown of Moscow. First
of all, 'Kuznya' is a great place to walk: it is a real Moscow
area, not a postcard at all, hectic busy streets neighbour tranquil
lanes and courtyards with traditional architecture. There are
also many very nice cafes, restaurants, clubs, and shops. If
I choose where to meet people, where to sit in a cafe, where
to walk and to get the feeling of the city, I choose this area.
metro:
Kuznetski Most (violet), Lubyanka (red), Teatralnaya (green);
area: downtown |
| Accommodation: |
| Hotels: Ararat
Park Hyatt, Mariott hotel, Metropol
hotel (from $250),
Budapest hotel (from $150), self-catering: Kremlin
apartment |
| Eating
Out: |
| Restaurants: Jagannat (vegeterian), Elki
Palki (russian), PR
Ogi (european). Cafes: Cofemania,
CoffeeBean, Cafe In, Zen Cafe, Shokoladnitsa,
Cafe Tun (24h
- outside
of Kuznetski Most metro) |
| Internet
Access: |
| Internet
cafes (open hours): NetBuffet (24h), Kuznetski
Most, 12 (10-24), NetCity,
Wi-fi access: Mariott hotels, Ararat-Park-Hyatt, Cafemania
cafe, |
| Entertainment: |
Clubs: Karma
club (dance), Hungry
Duck (get drunk).
Theaters: Bolshoi Theater, MKHAT
Tchekhova (drama) |
| Sightseeing: |
sights:
(in
the direction from the Kremlin) - Teatralnaya square,
Bolshoi Theater, Karl Marx monument
museums:
exhibition halls: Maly (small) Manezh. literature:
Ex Libris |
| Shopping
& Services: |
| Health:
US Dental Care, 36,6 Pharmacy; Laundry: California
Cleaners; Money: GUTA Bank, Alpha Bank. Photo:
FotoLab Professional. Printers: see Kitai
Gorod area; Shopping / Music: Archi's shop (cheap
CDs, casettes); Shopping / Books: English books
store; Shopping / Food: Jagannat; Shopping / Clothes:
TSUM department store, and boutiques along Kuznetski
Most street |
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Long time ago there were only half-broken low wooden houses in Kuznetski
Most area, and it was the place where poor blacksmithes lived.
Blacksmith
is 'Kuznets' in Russia, hence the name. In the beginning of the street
(on top) there was a bridge over a small river, later this river
was
put underground, so there's no bridge anymore.
About 200 years ago there was a rich Moscovitan noble buying this
area. He immediately put away all the blacksmiths' houses and started
to build a fancy new district. Just in few years he built up beautiful
houses, with impressive ornaments, rich decoration, pools in the courtyards.
Also, he opened some French boutiques in the area. That's when Kuznetski
Most started to become fashionable. In a short time all the elite
moved to this
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area, and those who wasn't so fast were coming here to make some shopping
and to sit in many of the restaurants and cafes around.
In the 20th century, when the communist times arrived, most of the
buildings were given to government offices, some were given to soviet
shops. The area became boring, the architecture was slowly deteorating,
but nobody seemed to care.
Now, in the beginning of 90s, the area is being revived again: the
buildings are being actively restorated (so the area looks a bit like
a construction site for now at some places), there are many new cafes
being opened, boutiques, shops. So I guess it's in fashion again.
And there's a reason.
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