This is second in length only to Tverskoi. It is the site of the famous Chistiye Prudy (Clean Ponds), which were made by damming the river Rachka. which once flowed along the walls of the White City. A long time ago this area was lived in by butchers, and there was a slaughterhouse close by. The off-cuts from the butchers' trade flowed down to the nearby little ponds, and so they were known as 'the Stinking Puddle', or 'the Stinking Ponds'. In the early 18th century Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov settled in the area. He was an associate and friend of Peter the Great, and naturally, a man of his stature had no desire to live next to a stinking puddle, so he ordered that it be cleaned up. From that day onwards the ponds were clean, and became known as 'Clean Ponds'.
In 1918, in accordance with the plan for sculptural propaganda, a monument to Mikhail Bakunin, the ideologue of Russian anarchism, was put up at Myasnitskiye Gates. It was made by the sculptor Kovalyov, and with Lunacharskv's support, it was executed in the abstract-futuristic manner. Using this style, the sculptor hoped to express the revolutionary's rebellious spirit. However, the work was a monumental failure, for on its erection and after only part of the scaffolding had been removed, cab horses would shy up at it. The anarchists made a protest and demanded that it should be taken down because it insulted the memory of their teacher, while workers wrote an angry newspaper article entitled: 'Take this Scarecrow away!' and so the offending statue was removed with due haste. Many years later, in 1959, a splendid monument to Griboyedov was erected. It was made by Manuilov, and it stands at the very beginning of the boulevard.
Arkhangelsky Lane (in Soviet times - Telegrafny) leads off to the left. The elegant cupola of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel, also known as Menshikov's Tower, which stands here, can be seen from the boulevard. In old Moscow it was known as 'the sister to Ivan the Great's Bell-tower.' It was built for his own use in the early 18th century by Prince A. Menshikov.
The wooden church of the Archangel Gabriel in Myasniky is mentioned as early as 1551. It is said that when visiting Polotsk, Menshikov obtained an Icon of the Polotskaya Mother of God, painted according to legend by St. Luke himself. On returning to Moscow, he ordered the architect Zarudny to build a new church where the wooden one then stood. It was to be in the form of a high tower, which was a novelty, for in Rus only church bell-towers could be of such a height. It was said that Peter the Great himself designed the church. The cupola was crowned with the gilded sculpture of an angel with a cross. Menshikov's tower turned out almost a full metre higher than Ivan the Great's Bell-tower, and in those days such an excess was very strictly prohibited. Further, Menshikov's church had a chiming clock which had been bought in London at great cost, and this was also something out of the ordinary for Moscow churches. People looked upon all this as the manifestation of the prince's arrogance, and thought that one day he would get his comeuppance.
Menshikov was not destined to enjoy his luxurious palace for very long. Peter the Great ordered him to move to the new capital St. Petersburg, where he was appointed governor. The Moscow church remained uncompleted, the clock broke down. and the massive upper storey threatened to collapse.
On 13 June 1723 after evening service, the priest of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel sat down in the porch for a rest. then suddenly kelled over and died. On the following day, when his body was being taken to the church for the funeral, a cloud suddenly appeared above the church, three peals of thunder rang out, and with the last a bolt of lightning set fire to the cupola. A terrible fire raged for two hours, and it was impossible to pour water on it because of the tower's great height. The upper part of the tower was completed gutted, and the 50 bells collapsed to the ground, crushing many people who were trying to save the church's possessions from the fire. After the fire the Polotskaya Icon was taken to a side-chapel, and in 1726 Menshikov, now seriously ill, asked for it to be brought to him. Menshikov recovered, and the icon remained in his private chapel in his palace on Vasilevsky Island.
In 1717 Menshikov was exiled, and the icon went missing. Menshikov's property on Myasnitskaya was transferred to 'the brilliant prince' Alexander Kurakin, and at the end of that century, to Moscow Post Office.
The Archangel Church remained uncompleted. It was only in 1787 that the famous Freemason Gavriil Ismailov, who lived nearby, restored it after the fire damage. It was then that the spiral cupola was added, and it has the appearance of a lighted candle. The church was decorated with masonic symbols and emblems, and it was not until 1852 that Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) ordered their removal.
In 1806 Klyucharev, director of Moscow's post office, built the Church of St. Feodor Stratilat right next to Menshikov's Tower. It was designed by the architect Yegotov, and was known as the 'winter' church because it was heated. It now accommodates the Moscow residence of the Antiokh Orthodox Church.
