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.
Starosadsky Lane gives a wonderful view onto the magnificent towers of the Ivanovsky Convent. Its Cathedral Church of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist gave its name to the convent. It was founded in the first half of the 16th century possibly by Yelena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible, in honour of his name-day. Or it may be that Ivan himself founded it in honour of his accession to the throne. The site of the cloisters was very appropriate for convent life, for although it is at the city centre it is in the midst of very quiet little streets where there was nothing to disturb the nuns' solitude.
It may well be that this seclusion enabled the authorities to secrete behind the convent's innocent walls women who were involved in criminal or political activities. Such women would be brought straight from the Investigation Department of the Secret Chancellery at the dead of night.
The mysterious nun Dosifeya languished almost as a prisoner within the convent for many years. She lived in total isolation in her cell, and she was even taken to worship at night, and the service would be conducted for her alone behind locked doors. In fact, the name Dosifeya concealed the Princess Tarakanova who was considered to be the daughter of Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna and Count Razurnovsky. Catherine the Great regarded her as a threat to her hold on the Russian throne, and so gave orders that she be confined. Dosifeya died in 1810, and she was buried in Novospassky Monastery, the Romanovs' family vault, which only serves to support the conjecture of her noble birth.
The convent was also the place of confinement for Darya Saltykova - 'torturer and murderer' of her serfs. She was incarcerated here by order of Catherine the Great, and lived here for the last 33 years of her life, firstly in the damp convent basement, and later in a cramped cell. The long years she spent in these conditions did not change her character in the least, and through the bars of her window she could be heard desperately abusing the visitors who had come to take a look at this dreadful harridan.
The convent's gloomy history continued even in this century. From 1918 it served as a transit prison for the Cheka and later for the NKVD (forerunners of the KGB). By choosing their moment people detained were very occasionally able to throw a note out of the window to give their relatives some news of their condition. They had to rely on the conscientiousness of passers-by for their messages to be received.
On the steep Ivanovskaya Gorka rises the elegant white Church of St. Prince Vladimir in Stariye Sady. It is one of the oldest in Moscow and was built in the early 16th century by the Italian architect Aleviz Novy, who also designed the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin.
From its junction with Armyansky Lane Maroseika becomes Pokrovka Street (in Soviet times - Chernyshevsky) and continues to the Garden Ring. The street takes its name from the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God, which stood here up to the second half of the 18th century. The street has been almost untouched by reconstruction, and this narrow, winding street typical of old Moscow takes us back through the centuries to a different age.
Kolpachny Lane leads off from the right, taking its name from the kolpashni-ki who lived here years ago. They were craftsmen who made hats for men - kol-paky. On the left of this street there is a splendid mansion in the modernist style, and it is reminiscent of a mediaeval castle (No. 5). It was built in the early years of this century, perhaps to a design by Freidenberg, for the manufacturer Andrei Knopp. who was the son of the famous Moscow industrialist. Andrei's father, Lev Knopp. was a supplier of the latest machinery for Moscow's textile factories. There was a saying at that time: 'Where there's a church there's a priest, where there's a factory, there's Knopp.' He was awarded the title of Baron for his commercial services in Russia, while his sons built themselves luxurious homes on Kolpashny Lane. Knopp's second son Fyodor lived next to his brother at No. 10.
The old white stone chambers of the 17th century were the residence of the notorious Ukrainian Hetman Mazeppa. His name became synonymous with treachery, for at a decisive moment in the Northern war he changed sides and joined the forces of the Swedish King Charles XII.
Returning to Pokrovka, we can see a rather unimpressive little square. Up to 1929 the wonderful Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God stood here. It was known as 'the eighth wonder of the world' because of the splendour of its domes reaching heavenwards, and the delicate lace tracery of their mouldings. Napoleon himself was lost in wonder at the church's beauty, and placed it under special guard to protect it from thieves and fire. The church had been built in the 17th century by the serf architect Pyotr Potapov with funds provided by the merchant Sverchkov. His own white stone house - Sverchkov's Chambers - is a masterpiece of mediaeval Moscow architecture, and can be seen in the courtyard of No. 6 on Sverchkov Lane. In 1922 Lunacharsky suggested that the adjoining Uspensky Lane should be renamed after the serf architect, and ever since then it has been known as Potapovskv Lane. Unfortunately respect for the serf did not extend to respect for his creation, and in the 1920s the church was mindlessly destroyed.
Without a doubt, the main attraction on Pokrovka is the unusual beauty of the palace in white and blue tones at No. 22. It is described by Muscovites as 'the chest of drawers house', and it was built between the second half of the 18th century by an unknown master in the school of V. Rastrelli. It is an almost unique example in Moscow of Elizabethan baroque, and is often described as 'Moscow's Winter Palace' in miniature. There is an old story that this house was presented by the Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna to her secret husband Count Aleksei Razurnovsky, and that they celebrated their wedding here. The service was conducted in the neighbouring Resurrection Church, of which today only ruins can be seen (No. 26). Up to 1934 the cupola on the bell tower was decorated with a golden imperial crown. There were many interesting stories about the crown. It was said that the church was the scene of a wedding between brother and sister who did not know of their blood relationship. When the priest led them to the lectern, their weddings crowns suddenly fell away from their heads and flew out of the window, settling on the church's cupola. In this way Providence prevented an incestuous marriage.
There was also a story that it was the actual wedding crown of the Empress Yelizaveta on the cupola. Another tale has it that Yelizaveta was married to Razurnovsky in the village of Perovo, outside Moscow, and that later a service of thanksgiving took place at the Resurrection Church. In memory of this service for the royal family the crown was placed on the church's cupola. After Yelizaveta's death, Count Razurnovsky continued to live in the palace on Pokrovka. It is believed that when Catherine the Great discovered the relationship of her predecessor to Razumovskv, she conferred on him the title of His Imperial Highness. On reading the decree in the marble bedroom of his palace, Razumovskv took out his wedding papers, which were covered in pink satin, kissed them, and then tossed them into the fire. He informed the Empress's messenger that he had been an unworthy slave of Yelizaveta, and did not merit the abundance of favours being showered upon him, and that no further evidence of his marriage to the former Empress remained. So he prudently declined to accept the royal favours and the imperial title.
The first attested owners of the palace were the Apraksin family, and then the Trubetskiye Princes. Dancing lessons were given in their house and it was here that Pushkin learned to dance as a child. The young Fyodor Tyutchev lived nearby in Armyansky Lane, and he was also brought to the Trubetskoi house for dancing lessons.
In 1861 the house was opened as Gymnasium No. 4, and among its former students are Stanislavsky, and N. Zhukovsky, the pioneer of Russian aviation. The house is now used as a scientific institute.
From Pokrovka we can turn into Lyalin Lane, named after a gentleman who owned a house here in the 18th century. From here Maly Kazyonny Lane (in Soviet times - Mechnikovsky Lane) leads off to the left and runs parallel with Pokrovka. It is named after the Kazyonnaya Sloboda (Treasury) located here in the 17th century, which served as a storage place for the Tsar's property.
On the left side of the lane is a house (No. 5) built at the turn of the 18th century by an architect of the Kazakov school. Initially it was a country residence for V. Naryshkin, but later it was owned by Ivashov, an associate of the military commander Suvorov. In the mid-19th century it was opened as a hospital for the poor. At that time the well-known doctor F. Gaaz lived and worked here, and it was he who collected donations to set up the hospital.
Gaaz was known in Moscow as 'the saintly doctor' because of his philanthropic nature. There was also a saying about him: 'Gaaz never refuses'. As well as hi? tireless work in the city's hospitals, he was chief doctor for all Moscow's prisons. It was through Gaaz's efforts that the barbarous practices for dealing with prisoners were abolished: shaving off half the hair of women and exiles, and the use of an iron bar to which the prisoners were fettered in a row. At his demand, the crude iron shackles were covered in leather.
Gaaz also made a contribution to the development of medical science. He was an excellent scholar, and spent several years studying mineral sources in the Caucasus, through which he discovered the curative properties of the waters in Pyatigorsk and Yessentuki.
In 1909 in the courtyard a memorial statue was erected to Gaaz, sculpted by Andreyev. The sculptor took no payment for his creation out of respect for this fine doctor's excellent work. The pedestal bears the words of doctor Gaaz's motto: 'Try only to do good'.
