Khitrovka

Chitrowka (Russian Хитровка ) is a former district of Moscow. It consisted of about 1820 to 1930 in the vicinity of Chitrowskaja Square ( Хитровская площадь ), who was also known as Chitrow market. Nowadays, stands on the site of the market ( Podkolokolny -Gasse 11a) a school, but the district is otherwise remained remarkably well preserved as architectural ensemble of the 19th century.

History

After the great fire of 1812, the area was broke and in 1823 bought the son of Prince Kutuzov, General Nikolai Sacharowitsch Khitrovo, the close of which was domiciled to build the plot there a market. The land was freed by the fire ruins, leveled and fenced with poplars ( some of them still stand today ). The planned meat and vegetable market was never realized because Chitrowos death in 1826 interrupted the company. The course was only occasionally used until the 1860s as a market before Christmas.

Then there was a job fair for casual workers. Many farmers who had come from the countryside to the city, sought their fortunes, and those who did not found it remained near the square, in the pubs and the infamous night shelters. The area gradually became the epitome of poverty and crime, next to the elegant Soljanka Street and the business district Kitai -Gorod.

In the 1920s, the surrounding brothels were closed and in place of the market a school (later the College for Electromechanics No. 55) built. The " cesspool " of Chitrowka was drained it.

Chitrowka in the literature

In the second half of the 19th and early 20th century, the area was regularly visited by writers such as Leo Tolstoy, Gleb Uspensky and Tatjana Schtschepkina - Kupernik. A special monument put him Vladimir Giljarowski ( in seedy bars, clubs and artists Klausen: morals images from the old Moscow), Maxim Gorky ( The Lower Depths ) and Konstantin Stanislavsky. The authority responsible for Chitrowka police station is connected with the name of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Ehrenburg: Both were sitting here at different times and processed later this stay in their works.

More recently, the district appeared frequently in detective novels by Boris Akunin. The stories often lead detective Erast Fandorin in the the eerie shadow world of Chitrowka.

Monuments

Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs in Kulischki

Church of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker in Podkopai

The previous night shelters Petropawlowski the Alley

The former College of Electromechanical No. 55 (2010 demolished).

To Chitrowka around, on the slopes of St. John the hill, you will find the St. John the Precursor Monastery and Saint - Vladimir -in- the - old - gardens - church. A little further, in the Starossadski Lane, stands the Lutheran St. Peter and Paul Church. The neighborhood was largely spared from the demolition of the Soviet period and still exudes the old-fashioned charm of an otherwise defunct Moscow.

Structural threat

Although at present two applications to protect the district and the entire hill as historical monuments, to examine a construction project threatens to destroy the neighborhood: The Don's Stroj Group plans to build in place of the college an office building. The project has been described by experts with the following words: "The building is neither the volume nor on the height, nor by the architectural solution satisfactory."

The rejected by the experts project, however, appears to be realized without correction, leading residents and lovers of the district to protest, as the area was so far remained largely intact as a unit. With the demolition of the College in January 2010, the construction of a modern building in the theoretically protected historic environment is emerging.

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