(in Soviet times - Bogdan Khmelnitsky
and Chemyshevsky Streets)
Metro Kitai-Gorod
Maroseika Street and its continuation, Pokrovka. developed near the roads to the Tsar's villages of Rubtsovo and Izmailovo. In the 17th century the Malorosslisky Embassy (the preserved area of No. 9), where Ukrainian Hetmen stayed during their visits to Moscow, was situated here. Malorossiya was the mediaeval name for the Ukraine. The street took its name from this house, and was known as Malorosseika which eventually became shortenedto its present name.
There was a long-standing tradition in Moscow that foreigners would settle in Maroseika. However, in the mid-17th century Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich evacuated foreigners from Moscow to the banks of the Yauza, where there was a German Settlement especially built for them.
Maroseika begins at Ilyinskiye Gates Square. In the shady square stands a Memorial to the Heroes of Plevna - a chapel in the shape of a huge bell. It was put up in 1877 in memory of the Russian grenadiers who fell in the battles near Plevna in order to liberate Bulgaria from the Turks. The architect Sherwood built the monument from subscriptions given by the heroes' comrades-in-arms.
Long ago this square was used by pancake sellers, and so sometimes people would call it Blinniki (pancakes), and this name was transferred to the white stone Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker at Blinniki on the left hand side (No. 5).
A little bit further down at No. 11 is an old house which was rebuilt in the mid-18th century from the chambers owned by the Naryshkin boyars of the 17th century. In the early 18th century a gymnasium was opened in this house by an immigrant from Riga, Pastor Glyuk. One of his servant girls there was a dark-browed beauty called Marta Skavronskaya. Later she went to work for his Highness Prince Menshikov, where she was noticed by Peter the Great. Very soon after that Marta Skavronskaya became the Empress Catherine 1.
In the 19th century the house was opened as a philanthropic society, and it had an alms house, a hospital for outpatients and a school for indigent girls.
Further down at the junction with Armyansky Lane one's eye is caught by the splendour of a bright blue palace with decorative moulding (No. 17). It was built to a design by Bazhenov for Colonel Khiebnikov. From 1793 the palace was the home of Field Marshal Count P. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, a hero of the Russo-Turkish war. The ceilings of the main rooms were decorated with paintings and moulded images of Rumyantsev's victories. For the first 25 years of the last century the house was owned by the field marshal's son, the famous statesman and diplomat Nikolai Rumyantsev, who moved here from St. Petersburg. Among his regular guests were the historian Karamzin, and the poets Zhukovsky and Vyazyemsky. Count Rumyantsev founded an important museum which later bore his name.
In the 1840s the palace was bought by the Grachevs, a family of rich merchants. To this day the gates to the palace bear an enigmatic inscription 'Free from Billeting'. It can be simply explained - the calculating merchants had made a payment for the construction of a barracks in Moscow, and so were relieved of the duty to feed and house soldiers.
Armyansky Lane leads off to the left, so called because of the existence of an Armenian settlement here many years ago. At No. 11 there is a magnificent three storey mansion which acquired its modern appearance after reconstruction by Kazakov in the 18th century. In 1809 it was bought by the Tyutchev family and was the childhood home of the famous poet F. Tyutchev.
On the opposite side Starosadsky Lane leads down to the hill named Ivanovskaya Gorka, and the lane takes its name Stariye Sady (Old Gardens) from the gardens of the grand princes which were laid out here long ago. Here at No. 9 you can find one of the few Moscow houses associated with Dostoyevsky. The house itself underwent major alterations at the beginning of this century by the architect Kozhevnikov, but it was originally built as a two storey mansion in the 18th century, facing at right angles to the street. It was once owned by the Kumanin family, who were related to Dostoyevsky. He would often visit them, and he described the house's hostess in his book The Idiot in the shape of the old lady Rogozhina.
In 1936 the house was opened as the State Public History Library with a rich store of books including the books of Zabelin, a historian of Moscow, and Chertkov's collections.
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