8 unusual arches to be installed on City Day in Moscow

Tverskaya Street in Moscow will turn into a time machine on City Day. On September 5, a unique retrospective will unfold here, telling about the three-century history of Russia, “Triumphal Moscow”. Along the entire street from Pushkinskaya to Manezhnaya Square, copies of triumphal arches up to 10 meters high will be recreated, erected at different times in honor of great events: from the time of Peter I to the Soviet period.

Costumed consultants will work near the arches and tell about the life, customs and military traditions of each of the eras. So, men will be able to smelt bullets and practice fencing, and ladies will be able to learn makeup lessons and complex hairstyles with ships and bouquets from the time of Catherine II. At each site, you can taste dishes and drinks from past eras.

(Total 8 photos)

1. Red gate

In the Elizabethan era, the famous Red Gate arch was built in Moscow, after which the square and the metro station are named in Moscow. Originally built of wood, these gates have been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. After they once again burned down, in 1753 they were recreated from stone. In this, almost unchanged form, the Red Gates stood until 1927, until they were demolished to expand the Garden Ring.

2. Triumphal Gate of Prince Menshikov

In 1710, in honor of the Poltava victory, seven triumphal gates were built in Moscow at once. One of the arches is in honor of Prince Alexander Menshikov, who played a key role in this victory. The triumphal arch of Prince Menshikov was installed at Chistye Prudy, near Myasnitskaya, at his court. Unique images of these gates have survived to our times, according to which they will be recreated at the Triumphal Moscow festival.

3. Figured (Grape) gate

Figured (Grape) gates are dedicated to the victory in the Russian-Turkish war. Built back in 1776 on the territory of the Tsaritsyno palace and park ensemble, today this arch is one of the few surviving examples of “Russian Gothic”.

4. Moscow triumphal gates

Another famous triumphal arch in Russian history is dedicated to the great victory over Napoleon. These are the Moscow Triumphal Gates, first built in 1834 on Tverskaya Zastava Square, and then recreated on Kutuzovsky Prospekt near Victory Park. Today, this gigantic majestic composition 28 meters high is one of the main monuments of Moscow. The very first copy of this arch of the 1834 model will be recreated at the Triumphal Moscow festival.

5. Nikolaevsky (Pig-iron) gates

Many arches were built in honor of peaceful, but significant events for that era. So, in 1838, the Nicholas Gate was reproduced in Moscow, the original of which was erected in St. Petersburg, as a gift from Emperor Nicholas I to his mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, on her birthday. As a sign of gratitude, she decided to name the gate in honor of her son - Nikolaev. These gates, which received the second name "Cast Iron", were included in the ensemble of the Kuzminki estate, which at that time belonged to the princes Golitsyn.

6. Arched memorial to Alexander II

Another "peaceful" arch at the "Triumphal Moscow" festival will be a copy of the arched memorial to Alexander II, which was erected in the Kremlin at the end of the 19th century. The monument was popular with Muscovites. The Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper wrote in those years: “More than a month has already passed since the opening of the monument to Emperor Alexander II, and yet every day you see all the same lines around it, almost crowds of people.” In the spring of 1918, the statue of the emperor was removed, in 1928 the monument was completely destroyed by the Bolsheviks.

7. Arch "Bonding of the city with the countryside"

Destroying old monuments, the Bolsheviks erected their memorials and triumphal arches dedicated to the great achievements of the Soviet system. The festival will present one of them, dedicated to the bond between the city and the countryside. This arch does not belong to monumental construction, but rather to agitational art. The project of the arch is an allegorical reflection of the then popular embodiment of the new economic policy: the union of the proletariat and the peasantry, “the bond between the avant-garde, the proletariat and the broad peasant field,” as Lenin wrote about it.

8. Heroes Arc

Remembering the Soviet era, one cannot ignore the greatest victory of the Russian people - the victory in the Great Patriotic War. In the midst of the war, in 1942, the newspaper "Literature and Art" announced a competition for the creation of a project for a monument to the heroes of the war. The construction was planned after the end of the war. The competition commission received more than 90 works. But, unfortunately, not a single Arch of Heroes was built. This historical injustice will be corrected at the Triumphal Moscow festival and one of the projects will be brought to life. The monumental Arch of Heroes designed by architect L.N. Pavlov, who proposed to erect this monument on Red Square.