An Old Description of the Districts of Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod stands at 56° 20' latitude and 61° 30' longitude at the confluence of the Oka with the Volga, at a distance of 1063 versts from St. Petersburg and 390 from Moscow.

It is one of the finest of the Volga Region cities, the first among them for the beauty of its situation and the most remarkable of all the towns of inner Russia for its fair.

In 1855 it had 30 789 inhabitants, of whom 17 927 were male, including: clergy — 2331 (counting 1517 persons studying in the seminary and the ecclesiastical schools); nobles: hereditary — 226, personal — 410; children of ober-officers — 330; clerical servants — 249; raznochintsy — 840; honorary citizens: hereditary — 10 (among them declaring capital in the 1st guild — 1, in the 2nd — 7, in the 3rd - 2), personal — 38; merchants — 472 (of the 1st guild — 1, of the 2nd — 31, of the 3rd — 440), schismatics on temporary rights — 6 (in the 1st guild — 1, in the 3rd — 5); townsmen — 4805, at the full assessment — 4446, at half — 31, exempt — 328; guild craftsmen — 1155, at the full assessment — 1106, exempt - 49; internal guard — 1190; the fair detachment — 56; the engineering department — 75; gendarmes — 32; artillerymen at the arsenal — 50; the police detachment — 240; cantonists — 2440; retired soldiers — 349; peasants: state — 341, appanage — 209, seigneurial — 860; servants of the monasteries and of the bishop's house and their children — 65; household serfs — 1065; foreigners — 26.

Apart from the Alexandrovskaya sloboda, which lies on the left bank of the Oka, Nizhny Novgorod lies entirely, and very picturesquely, on the right hilly banks of both rivers and forms as it were a peninsula.

The sheer height of its hills reaches 37 sazhens. Within its bounds there are 881 desyatinas 210 sazhens of land under buildings, gardens and kitchen gardens, 30 desyatinas 975 sazhens of unusable land, and 847 desyatinas 520 sazhens under pasture, in all 1758 desyatinas 1705 sazhens. By its natural situation the city is divided into three parts: the upper, the lower and the trans-Oka one, and by the police division into four: Kremlevskaya 1, Kremlevskaya 2, Rozhdestvenskaya and Makaryevskaya, of which the last, besides part of the city itself, contains the Alexandrovskaya sloboda and the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.

The The Kremlin, set along the hill, joins the Upper Part of the city with the lower one. Stone churches in Nizhny Novgorod — 40, of them in the city itself: cathedrals — 3 (one episcopal, one belonging to the military department and one having a parish), parish churches — 20, house churches — 7, cemetery churches — 2, edinoverie churches — 2 (one parish and one cemetery), Evangelical — 1; in the Alexandrovskaya sloboda: parish — 1, cemetery — 1; at the fair: cathedral — 1, house church — 1, Armenian Gregorian — 1; monasteries — 3 (two for men and one for women); chapels — 8 (one in the Kremlin, five in the lower part of the city, one in the Alexandrovskaya sloboda and one near the Pechersky monastery); a mosque of the Sunni rite (at the fair) — 1.

In 1855 there were stone houses — 254, wooden ones -2089, in all 2343. Among them: state-owned — 33, public — 6, belonging to the clergy — 22, private - 2282 (of which 1110 were insured against fire in all three companies); a theatre (at the fair); shops — 770; wine cellars — 2; barracks — 5; guardhouses — 2; an arsenal, a powder magazine, a prison castle; police booths — 33; street lamps — 393; a monument to Kozma Minin and Prince Pozharsky, a Water Supply System in Nizhny Novgorod, a tap, or mechanical well, a basin.

Streets, lanes and lines — 128, among them: paved with stone — 38, with wood — 1, with iron ore — 1; a highway — 1; on them brick and wooden-block pavements for 5 versts. The chief streets are: Rozhdestvenskaya, Ilyinskaya, Bolshaya and Malaya Pokrovskaya, Dvoryanskaya, Alekseyevskaya, Varvarskaya, Bolshaya and Malaya Pecherskaya, Osypnaya; there are three embankments: Nizhnyaya, Blagoveshchenskaya and Verkhnyaya. There are nine squares, besides those of the Kremlin: Blagoveshchenskaya, or Verkhnebazarnaya, Sennaya, Teatralnaya, Osharskaya, Kovalikhinskaya, Novaya, Sofronovskaya, Blagoveshchenskaya — the lower one, Zhivonosnovskaya. The first six are in the upper part of the city and the last three in the lower; of them the Blagoveshchenskiye and Teatralnaya are paved.

There are five artificial paved descents joining the upper part of the city with the lower: the Kremlevsky, the Zelensky, the Pokhvalinsky, the Georgiyevsky and the Pechersky; besides these the upper part is joined to the lower by the Gremyachy, Nikolsky and Grebeshkovsky descents; by Ilyinskaya and Pochainskaya streets; by the Uspensky and Sergiyevsky ravines and by several lanes. There are seven dams, or earthen bridges: the Lykova across the Pochaina, the Varvarskaya, the Osypnaya, the Pokrovskaya across the Kovalikhinsky brook, two Petropavlovskiye and the Ostrozhnaya across the ravines. There is one pontoon bridge, across the Oka, to join the city with the fair: it is opened on 25 June and taken down at the end of September. There are two ferries: the Borovskoy across the Volga and the Kunavinsky across the Oka.

There are three toll gates: the Moskovskaya in the Alexandrovskaya sloboda, the Kazanskaya at the end of Bolshaya Pecherskaya and the Arzamasskaya at the end of Bolshaya Yamskaya. Through the first one drives out to Vladimir, Moscow and the other towns that lie beyond Moscow from Nizhny, and also to Kostroma and the towns beyond it; through the second — to Kazan, Vyatka, Perm and Siberia; through the third — to Simbirsk, Penza, Ryazan, Tambov and the towns beyond them.

There are six ponds: the Cherny (with a garden) between Alekseyevskaya, Osypnaya and Osharskaya Square streets; the Ostrozhny near the prison castle; the Zvezdin in the Kovalikhinskaya rampart; the Petropavlovsky by Novaya Petropavlovskaya street; the Pokrovsky near the Pokrovskaya dam and the Mironositsky by the church of the Myrrh-Bearing Women.

There are six state-owned and public gardens: in the The Kremlin, at the house of the military governor, the English one on the Volga Otkos, the Chernoprudsky around the Black Pond; at the Martynovskaya hospital, at the Appanage office and at the school for the children of chancery servants; private ones — 336; of these the gardens belonging to Countess A. G. Tolstaya and to the bishop's house are remarkable for their size, the first lying along Alekseyevskaya street and Gruzinsky lane, the second along Malaya Pecherskaya.

There is one boulevard; it girdles the outer wall of the Kremlin on the eastern, southern and western sides and extends for almost a verst and a half.

The value of all the private estates of Nizhny Novgorod according to the assessment register reaches 2 545 606 rubles.

The income of the city amounts yearly to more than 150 000 rubles, namely (in 1854):

from the city quit-rent items — 7695

from the houses and shops belonging to the community — 11 261

from the immovable property of the inhabitants — 12 400

from manufacturers and traders — 14 771

from contracts, promissory notes and other deeds, and also from the stamping of weights and from lotteries —

20 968

from the excise and tax-farming commission agency — 1171

from the fair — 13 585

from the property of the inhabitants for the upkeep of the barracks — 3995

from goods passing by the water route — 39 003

from insurance companies — 6497

from petty revenues — 1378

from a one-time grant — 17 64

In all 150 364

Of this sum the following was spent:

on the upkeep of:

the offices and officials of the city administration — 23 345 rubles 87 kopecks

the police detachment ~ 3 683 rubles 85 kopecks

the fire brigade — 7 861 rubles 53 kopecks

the educational and charitable institutions — 1 280 rubles

the water supply — 5 130 rubles

on the renting of premises for the city government offices — 4 650 rubles 73 kopecks

the outward improvement of the city — 5 303 rubles

the repair of the walls and towers of the Kremlin — 857 rubles 15 kopecks

the lighting of the streets — 3 685 85 kopecks

the payment of the city debts and the building up of a reserve capital — 78 981 rubles

the issue of lodging money to persons of the military department — 706 rubles

petty expenses — 3 010 rubles

extraordinary ones — 8 919 rubles

In all 147 413 rubles 98 kopecks

Besides the ordinary government offices there are in Nizhny Novgorod: the Alexandrovsky Bank of the Nobility; the Appanage and the Fair offices; the Navigation Court and the Trade Deputation; also there lives in Nizhny the head of the 3rd stretch of the II section of the V district of the ways of communication.

There are twelve educational institutions: the Theological Seminary, the Provincial Gymnasium, the Alexandrovsky Institute of the Nobility, the Mariinsky Institute for Noble Maidens, the school for the children of chancery servants, the Theological District School, the Civil District School, one theological parish school and three civil ones, two children's shelters. In all twelve institutions there are 88 teachers and 2456 pupils.

There are seven libraries: one at the seminary, one at the gymnasium, one at the Alexandrovsky Institute, one at the Mariinsky Institute, one public one at the gymnasium and two private ones.

There are three printing houses: one at the Provincial Board, one private and one at the theatre.

There are two lithographic works: one at the provincial printing house and one private.

There are two charitable institutions: the prison guardianship committee and the city almshouse.

Correctional ones — three: the workhouse, the house of correction and the convict company.

Hospitals — 5,

Pharmacies — 3,

Hotels and taverns — 26,

Eating houses — 10,

Renskovye wine cellars — 7,

Confectioners' shops — 3 (two permanent and one during the summer in the English Garden),

Bucket shops for the sale of wine — 2,

Drinking houses — 20,

Commercial bathhouses — 2.

Works — 32, among them:

rope works — 5,

brickworks — 7,

steel works — 2,

breweries — 3,

candle works — 3,

soap works — 1,

vodka works — 1,

bell works — 1,

wax-bleaching works — 1,

wax-candle works — 2,

hat and felt-boot works — 2,

malt works — 1,

printed-linen works — 1 (these works employ, on the average, up to 1000 people).

Offices:

brokers' — 8,

of agents of fire insurance companies — 3,

for the free sale of salt — 2.

Companies:

for the marine, river and overland insurance of goods and transports — 2,

steamship companies — 4,

stagecoach and transport companies — 2,

doctors — 20,

midwives — 2,

brokers of the Navigation Court — 2,

cabmen's stands — 13,

cabmen — up to 525.

Markets are held in Nizhny Novgorod twice a week: on Wednesday and on Friday.

Grain, oats and hay are traded chiefly on Sennaya square, and foodstuffs — on the square of the inner courtyard of the Verkhnebazarny public house, in the lower part of the city near the Ivanovskiye gates and in Zhivonosnovskaya street. In winter trade is carried on upon the ice of the Oka, where booths, storehouses, coaching inns, a tavern and a drink stall are put up.

The following is brought to these bazaars in the course of a year: rye from 4,000 to 10,000 chetverts, wheat from 3,000 to 7,500 chetverts, rye flour from 10,000 to 35,000 kuls, wheat flour from 7,000 to 16,000 sacks, oats from 13,000 to 15,000 chetverts, various grits from 2,500 to 9,000 chetverts. Besides this, there is also delivered to Nizhny by water: rye flour up to 160,000 kuls, wheat flour up to 97,000 sacks, rye up to 50,000 chetverts, wheat up to 55,000 chetverts, various grits up to 6,500 chetverts, oats up to 185,000 chetverts. The main outlet for these products is the upriver towns', lying both along the Volga and along the Oka.

Up to 4,500 vessels and up to 700 rafts arrive at the Nizhny Novgorod wharf, and up to 5,000 vessels depart. The value of the incoming and outgoing goods amounts to 45,000,000 roubles in silver.

In the course of a year there are 17 religious processions in Nizhny Novgorod.

From the Cathedral of the Transfiguration:

On 6 January, the day of the Theophany of the Lord, to the Volga for the blessing of the waters.

On the feast of Mid-Pentecost to the fountain, for the blessing of the waters.

On the day of the Ascension of the Lord to the Pechersky Monastery.

On the first Sunday of the Fast of Saints Peter and Paul to the Blagoveshchensky Monastery, and then, by way of the Pokhvalinsky Descent, Malaya Pokrovskaya and Alekseevskaya streets, back to the kremlin.

On the second Sunday of the Fast of Saints Peter and Paul along Varvarskaya Street, Kovalikhinskaya Square, Martynovskaya Street and the Upper Embankment.

On 24 June to the church of John the Forerunner, the one on the Lower Bazaar.

On 24 July to the church of Saint George.

On 8 November to the cathedral of the Archangel Michael.

From the Fair Cathedral of the Procession of the Cross:

On 25 June to the pontoon bridge, for its blessing.

On 15 July to the fair flags, for their blessing.

On 25 July around the whole fair.

On 1 August, the day of the Procession of the Precious Wood, to the Oka for the blessing of the waters.

On 25 August to the fair flags for the celebration of a thanksgiving service on the conclusion of the fair trading.

From the church of the Ascension:

On 8 July to the church of the Kazan Mother of God, the one at the Exaltation of the Cross Convent.

On 20 July to the church of the Holy Prophet Elijah.

From the church of the Vladimir Mother of God around the Kunavinskaya Sloboda:

On the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit.

On the day of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross.

Besides these processions, there is also performed a religious procession in honour of the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God, brought from the Oransky Monastery, which lies 60 versts from Nizhny. Of this procession, as of the icon of the Vladimir, or, from the place of its name, the Oranskaya Mother of God, an account will be given in the description of the Exaltation of the Cross Convent.

There are two clubs in Nizhny: one at the Assembly of the Nobility and one kept by Mr. Gunter; in the latter there are dancing evenings and masquerades in winter.

A theatre exists permanently in the town; it is at present housed in a private building; masquerades are also given in it from time to time.

For summer promenading the English and Chernoprudsky gardens are open; besides this there are six more public festivities, of which an account is given below (see chapter IV of this part).. The Nizhny Novgorod kremlin, as was said above, is laid out along the hill; it stands in the northern part of the town, almost at the very midpoint of its extent along the rivers Oka and Volga. Beyond it, on the south-eastern side, lies Blagoveshchenskaya, or Upper Bazaar, Square, forming an irregular semicircle built up with private two-storey houses, the buildings of the gymnasium and the Post Office, the Main Upper Bazaar house of the town society and the house of the peasant Bugrov, in which the theatre is housed.

To the north it opens with a broad avenue leading out onto the Upper Embankment, or the Volga Slope; besides this, four streets run from it: to the south-east Tikhonovskaya and Varvarskaya, to the south Alekseevskaya and Pokrovskaya, and to the south-west the Zelensky Descent and Terrace; the western side of the square is occupied by the wall of the kremlin, with which the square is connected by the Dmitrovsky Gates.

On the square there are two churches: the Church of the Annunciation, opposite the gymnasium, and that of Saint Alexis the Metropolitan, opposite the public house; near the first church, somewhat to the north, a fountain has been built, and opposite the Post Office the cab drivers stand.

This square is not large, but one can rarely meet its like in provincial capitals: all the buildings surrounding it are of stone and very handsome, especially the gymnasium and the public house, of which the first faces, besides the square, Tikhonovskaya and Varvarskaya streets. In the middle it is three storeys high, with a belvedere for meteorological observations; its architecture is plain but elegant; the public house extends along the square and Alekseevskaya Street for three storeys, and along Pokrovskaya for two: its first and second storeys are occupied by shops, and in the upper one living rooms are arranged; the second storey is surrounded by a gallery with arches; in the living rooms are housed: the Chamber of the Civil Court, the Building Commission, the courts, District and Zemsky, and the Craftsmen's Board; in the shops, on the side of Pokrovskaya Street, they trade in tea, sugar, grocery and saddlery goods, porcelain ware and other things, on the Alekseevskaya side partly in grain goods and in the same things as on the Pokrovka side, excepting saddlery; while on the side of the square the shops are almost all taken up with the storing of goods.

But the finest building on the square and even in the whole town is Bugrov's house, which faces, besides the square, Pokrovka and the Zelensky Terrace: it is of three storeys, with two balconies, one of them on the Pokrovka side, the other on the side of the square, and beneath the latter a porch has been built. Both balconies and the porch are adorned with bronze railings. The architecture of this house is exceedingly light and graceful, it recalls the manner of Count Rastrelli. This house was built to the design of the Nizhny Novgorod town architect N. I. Uzhumetsky-Gritsevich.

On Blagoveshchenskaya Square, in the house of the merchant Volkov, are to be found: a post station with a hotel and the shop of Ostatoshnikov with ladies' goods and certain articles of gentlemen's toilet, as well as tobacco and cigars; in the house of the commerce councillor's wife Perepletchikova are housed: the hotel of the merchant Lopashev and the shop with woollen and fancy goods of the merchant Bryzgalov.

Pokrovka is the liveliest of the streets of the upper part of the town. It passes over the Pokrovskaya Dam and the New Square and ends near the Exaltation of the Cross Convent; from it there run to the right: Osypnaya Street, the Lykov Descent; the lanes Bolotov and Myshkin, Malaya Pokrovka and several so-called new streets; to the left, Osypnaya and Dvoryanskaya streets, the Gruzinsky and Kholodny lanes, the Kovalikhinskaya Osyp, Novaya Petropavlovskaya Street and others.

Along the length of Bolshaya Pokrovka there are three churches: the Nikolskaya, the Pokrovskaya and the Lutheran. The Nikolskaya church stands on the right, at the northern end of Pokrovka, on the small area between the street and the Zelensky Terrace; the Pokrovskaya on the left side, at the corner of Kholodny Lane, and the Lutheran on the right, near Malaya Pokrovka.

Of the noteworthy buildings, besides the public house and Bugrov, there are on Pokrovka also the following: on the right side another house belonging to the town society, the house of the Assembly of the Nobility and the house of the honorary citizen V. K. Michurin. The first stands by the Lykov Descent, it is of two storeys; its lower part is of stone, the upper of plastered wood; the chairman of the Treasury Chamber now lives in it, and before the building of the military governor's house in the kremlin the quarters of the head of Nizhny Novgorod Province were here. In 1834 the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich was pleased to stay in this house.

The house of the Assembly of the Nobility stands opposite the public house, at the corner of Dvoryanskaya Street. It is of stone, of two storeys, with a belvedere; its bel étage is occupied by state rooms, and below are housed: the Alexandrovsky Bank of the Nobility, the Assembly of Nobility Deputies, the chancellery of the provincial marshal of the nobility and the Mediation Commission. Michurin's house stands next to the house of the Assembly of the Nobility, nearer to Blagoveshchenskaya Square; it is of one storey, of plastered wood, and is remarkable in that in 1817 the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich resided in it. At that time this house belonged to Mr. Ulyanin.

Of the other stone houses of Bolshaya Pokrovka, remarkable for their architecture are the two three-storey houses standing on the right side of the street and belonging to the Nikolskaya church, the houses of the merchant Kemarsky and of Messrs. Yusupov and Bazhenov, and on the left, the houses of the honorary citizeness Galkina and the merchant Lopashev.

Bolshaya Pokrovka may be divided into two parts, the old and the new; the old lies between Blagoveshchenskaya Square and the Pokrovskaya Dam; in Nizhny it has the same significance that Kuznetsky Most and Tverskaya have in Moscow.

Beneath the theatre, or Bugrov's house, is a café-restaurant kept by Egorov, the foremost Nizhny Novgorod artist in the line of gastronomy, and Medvedev's shop, in which one may obtain haberdashery goods, coachmen's clothing, ladies' headdresses, tobacco, cigars and the like. One house away from the theatre, in his own house, lives the eldest of the Nizhny Novgorod clockmakers, I. T. Tikhanovsky. His wall clocks, going for a year and more on one winding, have been known to Nizhny for over thirty years. Next door to Tikhanovsky, also in his own house and likewise for over thirty years, S. I. Perepletchikov trades in woollen and fancy goods.

In the houses belonging to the Nikolskaya church are housed the tobacco and cosmetics shops, and that of Tselovanyev and Shatin with haberdashery and other goods; in this same shop there is a large choice of hats, caps, ladies' and gentlemen's footwear, as well as wallpapers, mouldings and the like.

At the corner of Osypnaya, in Stepanov's house, are housed the hairdressing establishment of Golovanov and the diamond-cutter Seleznev, and along Osypnaya to the right, in her own house, Madame Kupresova, in imitation of Sichler and Lebour, turns scraps of velvet, satin, glacé, blonde lace, ribbons and so forth into marvellous coiffures and bonnets that delight the Nizhny Novgorod belles of the middling sort, who likewise find that the mantillas and dresses which come out of Madame Kupresova's workshop are perfect enchantment.

In Kemarsky's house the agreeable is joined with the useful, namely: the confectioner's shop of the householder himself together with his lending library; while in another of his houses are von Gollen's bakery and Bogomolov's lithography and printing house. In winter furs are sold in Kozhelev's shop, situated in Yusupov's house, by the Lykov Descent, and there too is Strepetov's best hairdressing establishment.

Between the Lykov Descent and Bolotov Lane, in Bazilevsky's house, is housed Meledin's lending library, the best of the private libraries of Nizhny Novgorod: in it one may find not only all the journals and all the productions of the most recent literature, but also a vast collection of books and journals of the last century, among which there are a great many rare editions. It has in all up to 1,700 titles, in 2,100 copies and 5,000 volumes.

In Bolotov Lane, likewise not far from Pokrovka, there lives in his own stone house the tailor Zevakin, with whom clothes are ordered for the most part by substantial people and chiefly by the dandified merchantry. Zevakin long ago made himself a good reputation by his craftsmanship. In this same lane lives the silversmith Telogreinov, the foremost of the Nizhny Novgorod silver masters.

Opposite the Pokrovskaya church, in the house belonging to Mr. Ryumin, is the office of the excise tax-farming commission agency, and next to the Lutheran church, in the house of Mr. Arapovsky, is housed the administration of the First Kremlin district.

On the left side of Pokrovka, going from the public house, the first notable establishment is Michel's confectionery, housed in the wing of Sverchkov's house; in it one may take luncheon of various pirozhki, rasstegai and so forth, and regale oneself with various confectionery productions. Not long ago the Nizhny Novgorod fashionables chiefly frequented this establishment, but now they more often frequent Egorov's café-restaurant.

In Sverchkov's house itself is housed Tselovanyev's shop with tea, sugar, tobacco and cigars, and next to it, at the corner of Osypnaya, is the hotel of the merchant Lopashev, in his own house. From it, across Osypnaya, in Krutikov's house, is a shop with grocery goods and Sverchkov's wine cellar, and above lives the clockmaker Zolotukhin, better known as an excellent engraver of seals on stone. His work is the equal of the best of that kind produced in Russia. Next to Krutikov's house, in Zavarov's house, is Pendrin's shop; in it the assortment of goods is likewise varied: here are sold haberdashery articles, gentlemen's hats, tobacco, cigars, cosmetics.

In the same house live the furniture maker Kitaev, the gold- and silversmith Lvov and Monsieur Gansen, the Nizhny Novgorod Kahn, who has earned by his conscientiousness and by the taste with which all the articles of gentlemen's toilet come out of his workshop the universal confidence of the Nizhny Novgorod public: the Nizhny Novgorod dandies chiefly order their clothes from him.

The hotel of the merchant Barbatenkov, though it stands on Dvoryanskaya Street, may also, from the nearness of its situation, be reckoned among the establishments of Pokrovka.

Past Dvoryanskaya, in the second house from the corner, lodges the mechanic Zeiblits.

Past the crossroads formed by Malaya Pokrovka and the Kovalikhinskaya Osyp lies the Pokrovskaya Dam, joining the old part of Pokrovskaya Street with the new; beyond the dam lies the New Square, on the right side of which has been built the three-storey stone house of the convict company, beyond it the building is already of wood and inconsiderable; to the right run various streets connecting with Bolshaya Yamskaya, and to the left the streets pass on to the Petropavlovskoe and Lutheran cemeteries. There, in Novaya Petropavlovskaya Street, is Schneieberg's greenhouse, in which the whole year round one may obtain various plants in flower.

Besides the shops and craft establishments named, there are on Bolshaya Pokrovka several more clockmakers, silversmiths, diamond-cutters, bookbinders, milliners, tailors, bootmakers, cap makers and others, and several shops, stores, wine cellars, bakeries, hairdressers and the like, as well as two cab stands: one on Dvoryanskaya and the other in Kholodny Lane.

Osypnaya Street to the right leads out onto the Lykova Dam, to the basin, but at its end there is no longer any passage for carriages: there one can only go on foot, and that with difficulty, by the paths laid along the hill; the Lykov Descent also comes out there.

The Lykova Dam, built across the Pochayna in 1839 in place of the bridge that existed as early as the beginning of the 17th century312, joins Bolshaya Pokrovskaya with Mironositsky Lane, and by means of it with Pochainskaya, Ilyinskaya and Sergievskaya streets. On the right side of this dam is the basin, into which several springs flowing from the Pochainsky ravine have been gathered, and on the left, the smithies, onto which Bolotov Lane comes out; Myshkin Lane likewise abuts on the Pochainsky ravine.

Malaya Pokrovka is wide, but bent in the middle. The buildings on it are mostly wooden, but of good architecture. Mr. Ulybyshev, the well-known European connoisseur of music, lives on it in his own house. This street connects with Ilyinskaya, Grebeshkovskaya and [Bolshaya Yamskaya|Bolshaya Yamskaya]]. Behind Malaya Pokrovka, to the north, opposite its very bend, a ravine begins, and it is there, from under a stone, that the brook runs out which the founder of Nizhny Novgorod named the Pochayna River in memory of the Kievan localities. At first it flows openly along the ravine, then, on Pochainskaya Street, it disappears into pipes laid to the Volga. There is a legend that in the last times this little brook will so abound in waters that it will flood all of Nizhny!

Alekseevskaya Street runs almost parallel to Bolshaya Pokrovka and ends at the Kovalikhinskaya escarpment. On it (as was said above) the building of the Post Office comes out on the left, and on the right the Main Public Building, adjoined by another stone block, also public, in the upper storey of which the police are housed, and below — shops with various goods.

Next to the second block of the public building stands the three-storey stone house of the honorary citizen Michurin — the largest structure of all the private buildings of the upper part of the city; it houses the Chamber of State Properties and, temporarily, the Treasury Chamber, a restaurant, several shops and other establishments. The side facade of this house and the rear facades of the public buildings form a square, in the middle of which stands a one-storey stone building, also belonging to the town society, built, judging by the style of its exterior ornaments and the vaults inside, hardly later than the beginning of the 18th century. This house formerly belonged, as did the whole plot occupied by the public buildings, to the Kokorev merchants, well known in Nizhny at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century for their extensive trading operations315.

This square is called the Mytny Dvor. Here in spring, summer and autumn they trade in poultry, fish, greens and other provisions; here too open the meat shops set in the rear facade of the second public building. Farther along Alekseevskaya, at the corner of Dvoryanskaya Street, again on the right-hand side, is a two-storey stone house also belonging to Michurin; in it are a restaurant and commercial baths, into which water is conveyed by pipes from the fountain.

On the left-hand side of Alekseevskaya Street, from the Post Office to Osypnaya, runs a row of handsome stone houses, with shops below selling grain, leather and other goods. From Osypnaya almost to Dvoryanskaya the whole space is taken up by the railing of the garden better known by the name of the Black Pond; the pond itself lies in the middle of the garden. On the passage connecting Alekseevskaya Street with Osharskaya, opposite the southern side of the garden, stands a small, neat, two-storey stone house, in summertime always provided with a lightning rod, the only one in Nizhny Novgorod on a private building; this house belongs to the academician P. P. Vedenetsky, whose brush, as that of an excellent portraitist, is highly valued by the people of Nizhny Novgorod. Mr. Vedenetsky also supplies Siberia and the north-eastern provinces with the works of his studio in great numbers. U

Having passed the Black Pond, opposite Michurin's house, or the baths, in Krasheninnikov's house is the District Administration of State Peasants. The remaining part of the street, consisting of two blocks, is occupied by the house and garden of Countess A. G. Tolstaya. The countess's house stands on a knoll, set back somewhat from the street; it is of one storey, but its dimensions, for a wooden building, may be called enormous. A single glance at it gives the idea that it was once the dwelling of a grandee of Catherine's time. The main facade of the house is adorned with a terrace, in front of which grows a row of birches.

Countess Tolstaya's garden, with shady lime and birch avenues and a multitude of fruit trees, is separated from the house by Gruzinsky Lane and occupies more than a verst in circumference. In the thirties it was a place of promenade for the Nizhny Novgorod public; there was a confectioner's shop in it; in its vauxhall, later burnt down, music played on holiday evenings and the educated class of Nizhny Novgorod danced.

Alekseevskaya Street (Dzerzhinskogo) is crossed by Osypnaya, Dvoryanskaya and Gruzinsky Lane, while Kholodny Lane and the Kovalikhinskaya escarpment end at it.

Gruzinsky Lane begins on Bolshaya Pokrovka, opposite Bolotov Lane, and ends on Osharskaya Street. It received its name from the above-mentioned house and garden of Countess Tolstaya, which formerly belonged to her father — actual chamberlain and knight of the 2nd class of the Order of St. Vladimir, Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Gruzinsky, a descendant of the Georgian king Vakhtang318. In this lane is the parish Ilyinskoye school.

Neither on the escarpment, which forms a kind of embankment along the ravine, nor in Kholodny and Gruzinsky lanes are there any noteworthy buildings.

In the middle of Kholodny Lane begins Studenaya Street; it crosses the escarpment, the causeway, Novaya Petropavlovskaya and other streets and ends at the city boundary; the buildings on it are likewise unremarkable, but it existed as early as the 16th century, as is evident from the Nizhny Novgorod sotnaya charter.

Varvarskaya Street, passing across the Varvarskaya and Ostrozhnaya causeways, runs up against the prison castle; on it are: the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, the Alexandrovsky Institute for the Nobility, the pharmacy of V. E. Evenius, the office of the Society for Marine, River and Overland Insurance, and the office of the broker Bolotov. The Church of St. Barbara stands on the right-hand side of the street, by the causeway; the two buildings of the Alexandrovsky Institute occupy the whole space from the Post Office to Osypnaya Street; Mr. Evenius's pharmacy is housed in his own enormous stone house, opposite the institute. It was opened in 1780 by the father of its present owner and was at that time the only one in the whole Nizhny Novgorod province. The office of the Society for Marine, River and Overland Insurance is housed in the house of the merchant Bolotov, standing on the right, past the church; his broker's office is there too.

Besides the houses of the institute and of Evenius, there are on Varvarka several more stone ones, of which noteworthy for their size are those belonging to the Treasury Chamber (formerly the salt administration) and to the merchant Dubitsky: the first at the corner of Osypnaya, and the second — opposite the causeway.

Between Alekseevskaya and Dvoryanskaya streets runs Osharskaya Street; it begins on Osypnaya near the eastern side of the Black Pond and passes across Dvoryanskaya Street and Osharskaya Square to the city boundary; not far from its end, on the left, stands the cemetery edinoverie church. There are only three stone houses on this street, of which noteworthy for size and architecture is the three-storey one belonging to Zaytseva: it stands on the left-hand side of the street, opposite the pond.

On this same street, on the right, between Dvoryanskaya and Gruzinsky Lane, is the wooden house of Mr. Zverev (Zverev), in which Catholicos Anthony, Tsarevich of Georgia, lived for several years and died. Right by Osharskaya Square, in the house of Mr. Chirkov, standing in the courtyard, the Second Children's Shelter is housed.

Osharskaya Square is not large and is unpaved; on it are several shops, an inn, a wine cellar and a drinking house.

Until 1855 this drinking house stood in the middle of the square and from of old bore the name of Oshara (disambiguation). From it both the square itself and the street are called Osharskiye. Probably this sharp name was given to this drinking house by Russian shrewdness, which knows how to characterize everything and everyone truly, precisely because in the days of old artists of their own sort used to rifle the pockets of its merrymaking visitors near it; which was very convenient: here was already the end of the city, an empty waste, as they say.

Nowadays the house formerly occupied by the Oshara has been pulled down, and on this spot it is proposed to build a fountain, into which water will be conveyed either from the water supply or from the springs flowing in the ravines not far from the city, which will be a true blessing for the inhabitants of this part of the city, who are in need of good water.

Osharskaya Square is connected with Varvarskaya Street by Mistrovskaya and Staraya Petropavlovskaya streets. The first received its name because on it lived for many years and died in 1849, in his own house, Major General Ivan Ivanovich Mistrov, a veteran of the times of Catherine II, who took part in many campaigns and battles: he served under Prince Potemkin and beneath the banners of Suvorov; he fought the mountaineers in the Caucasus and the confederates in Poland and had the honour of conveying the famous Kosciuszko to St. Petersburg.

Staraya Petropavlovskaya Street begins at Varvarskaya, passes across Osharskaya Square, crosses Osharskaya Street and joins Novaya Petropavlovskaya at the lane running from the Kovalikhinskaya escarpment and the southern end of Alekseevskaya Street. This lane comes out on Vsesvyatskaya Square, beyond which lies the Petropavlovskoye cemetery.

Beyond Novaya Petropavlovskaya, to the right, new streets are laid out in parallel and diametrical fashion, running towards Bolshaya Pokrovka; beyond them to the south-east, near the Petropavlovskoye cemetery, is the Lutheran cemetery, laid out in the manner of a public garden.

Tikhonovskaya Street, according to the new plan, is to run between Osypnaya and Malaya Pecherskaya, cross Bolnichnaya, Martynovskaya and Proviantskaya streets and end in Spasskaya Street; but it is not entirely opened up: between Osypnaya and Bolnichnaya its middle is taken up by houses and gardens. On it, in that part which lies between Blagoveshchenskaya Square and Osypnaya, on the right stands the Church of St. Tikhon of Amathus, and on the left-hand side, diagonally opposite the church, the wooden house of Mr. Keleynikov, formerly belonging to Mr. Averkiev; it is remarkable in that in 1812 and 1813 the famous historiographer Karamzin lived in it. On the same side of the street is the two-storey stone building of the district school, facing both Tikhonovskaya Street and Malaya Pecherskaya, with which, near it, Osypnaya connects. In the second part of Tikhonovskaya Street, on the right, at the corner of Martynovskaya, the side facade of the house of the Board of Public Charity comes out, and the garden with hothouses, also belonging to the department of the board.

Between Tikhonovskaya and Varvarskaya Street streets, from the Varvarskaya causeway itself to the city boundary, runs Kovalikhinskaya Street. It goes along the ravine in which the Kovalikhinsky brook, mentioned in the chronicles and old deeds of Nizhny Novgorod, formerly flowed. This ravine begins to the south-west of Bolshaya Pokrovka and has several offshoots; it passes between Novaya Petropavlovskaya and the Kovalikhinskaya escarpment through Countess Tolstaya's garden and other private gardens, and also across Osharskaya, Dvoryanskaya and Varvarskaya streets. Along the middle of Kovalikhinskaya Street a ditch has been made for the run-off of spring and rain water, and also of the water released, when in excess, from the Black Pond, for which purpose underground pipes have been laid from the pond to the ditch.

With Varvarka, Kovalikhinskaya Street is connected by Kastalsky and Martynovsky lanes and by Martynovskaya and Zamkovskaya streets, and with Tikhonovskaya by Bolnichnaya and Martynovskaya; besides this, Kovalikha (disambiguation) is cut across by the streets running from Zamkovskaya to the embankment: Proviantskaya, Spasskaya and Kizevetterovskaya. Kovalikhinskaya Square lies on a slope; it is unpaved, and therefore in spring and autumn it is almost impassable; part of the buildings of the old workhouse comes out onto it.

Bolnichnaya Street runs from Kovalikha to the Upper Embankment; it crosses Tikhonovskaya, Bolshaya Pecherskaya and Zhukovskaya; on it, between Kovalikha and Tikhonovskaya, on the right is the Alexandrovskaya almshouse, and on the left the workhouse.

Martynovskaya Street, beginning at the Ostrozhnaya causeway and passing across Kovalikhinskaya Square, crosses the same streets as Bolnichnaya, and likewise ends at the embankment, by the Martynovskaya hospital; on this street, between the square and Tikhonovskaya Street, is the school for the children of clerical servants, housed in the three-storey stone building of the Board of Public Charity, and next to it, in a wooden house, is the board itself.

The buildings both in Bolnichnaya and in Martynovskaya streets are almost all wooden, but neat and rather handsome.

Proviantskaya, Kizevetterovskaya, Spasskaya and other streets lie in the same direction as Bolnichnaya and Martynovskaya; the buildings in them are generally wooden and unremarkable.

Osypnaya, passing across Pokrovka, Alekseevskaya and Varvarskaya, joins Malaya Pecherskaya (at the crossing of Tikhonovskaya), while Malaya Pecherskaya, passing by the Theatre Square and crossing Zhukovskaya Street, ends at the Upper Embankment, opposite the very place where the Korovy Vzvoz formerly was, done away with during the last laying out of the city.

On Osypnaya most of the houses are of stone, of which the largest is Tomas's, containing Teikner's pharmacy, and the handsomest is Belokopytov's; both are near Pokrovka. On Osypnaya, between Varvarskaya and Tikhonovskaya, Ya. M. Bolotov, agent of the office of the First Transport Establishment, lives in his own house.

Malaya Pecherskaya on the left-hand side, beginning from the house of the district school up to Zhukovskaya Street, is taken up by the garden of the bishop's house; the house itself stands some 20 sazhens from the street. This is an extensive building of two storeys; its main facade, turned to the south, is adorned with two porticoes, on which balconies are built; on the north side the Cross Church in honour of the Resurrection of Christ is attached to this house.

From the gates of the bishop's house, or the Theatre Square, in the direction of the east, Bolshaya Pecherskaya begins; it runs between Tikhonovskaya and Zhukovskaya and, crossing Sennaya Square, ends at the Kazanskaya barrier. The buildings on it are neat, but almost all wooden: there are fewer than ten stone houses; of these the most remarkable is that of the Appanage Office. This house, though of two storeys, is enormous in its dimensions: of its kind it is the only building in the whole city. Near it a small stone chapel has been built in memory of the fact that the regimental church of the Nizhny Novgorod infantry regiment, quartered in Nizhny in the last century, stood there. At this chapel part of the prayer service is performed during the religious procession that takes place on the second Sunday of Peter's Fast.

Of the private houses of this street, remarkable for the beauty of their architecture are the houses of Messrs. Veselovsky and Sheremetev: the first on the right-hand side of the street and at the corner of Malaya Pecherskaya, the second — somewhat farther on, on the other side. Beyond the Kazanskaya barrier lies the Soldatskaya Sloboda.

Zhukovskaya Street runs in the same direction as Bolshaya Pecherskaya Street, and likewise crosses Sennaya Square; in the east it ends level with the Kazan tollgate, and to the west it comes out onto the avenue running from Blagoveshchenskaya Square to the Upper Embankment. The buildings along it are for the most part wooden; the southern facades of the main buildings and wings of the Mariinsky Institute and the Martynov Hospital face onto it; beside the latter there is a tap, or mechanical well, which is filled with water, as is the fountain standing on the square, from the water main. In Trushenikov's house, at the western end of Zhukovskaya Street, almost opposite the consistory, is the office of the steamship company trading under the name "Polza". The eastern end of this street was until recently still called Panskiye Bugry, probably because in olden times the German Quarter lay below the hill.

Sennaya Square lies between Bolshaya Pecherskaya and Zhukovskaya Streets, at their eastern end, opposite the Mariinsky Institute; under the new plan it is designated for abolition.

The Upper Embankment begins opposite the Georgievskaya Tower of the kremlin, on the very spot where the Proiskhozhdensky Monastery formerly stood, and runs downstream along the river as far as the city boundary.

At its western end, on the open ground adjoining Zhukovskaya Street, stands the church of St George the Victorious. Among the notable buildings on the embankment are the premises of the Martynov Hospital and of the Mariinsky Institute for Noble Maidens — the latter not yet finished; also handsome are the houses of Mr Grigoryev, where the office of the steamship company trading under the name "Merkury" is located, and of the merchants Vezlomtsev and Koptev.

Opposite Bolnichnaya Street, to the left down the slope, the English Garden begins; it links the Upper Embankment with the Lower one. Besides this, the Upper Embankment is joined to the Lower by two descents, the Georgievsky and the Pechersky; the first begins at the boulevard, the second at the end of the city. Each of these descents extends about a verst; they come together at the waterworks built on the bank of the Volga, close by the Borovsky ferry itself.

The avenue joining the Upper Embankment with Blagoveshchenskaya Square is built up on its left side (going from the embankment) with private houses and with the buildings of the consistory and the seminary — the latter of three storeys, of majestic architecture, with a portico adorned by columns of the Tuscan order; along the right side of the avenue run the kremlin wall and the boulevard. Opposite the seminary there is a gate in the wall, called the Kremlin Gate: it leads straight to the house of the military governor. In 1621 there was a square here, and at the beginning of the last century — the streltsy streets. The Zelensky Descent begins between Bugrov's houses (the theatre) and the Kremlin Boulevard; above it, on the terrace adjoining Nikolsky Lane, which comes out onto Osypnaya, there stands, among other buildings, a three-storey stone house belonging to the Transfiguration Cathedral of Nizhny Novgorod; it is remarkable as much for its enormous size as — or even more than — for the beauty of its architecture.

The Zelensky Descent, extending almost a verst, is laid out excellently: it is exceedingly gentle, and therefore very convenient for hauling heavy carts up the hill; above it on the right rises the kremlin, bordered by the boulevard, and on the left is the hill with its terrace, which drops down the cliff in a steep step into the Pochainsky ravine. The Zelensky Descent comes out onto the Lower Bazaar somewhat above Rozhdestvenskaya Street, right by the church of the Kazan Mother of God.

Rozhdestvenskaya Street, better known under the name of the Lower Bazaar, begins on the western side of the kremlin at the Ivanovsky Gate, crosses Sofronovskaya Square and ends at Nizhnyaya Blagoveshchenskaya, or Gremyachaya Square, near the Kunavino ferry, or the point at which the pontoon bridge begins that is laid across during the fair. Its length is more than a verst; partly it is paved with stone, and partly a metalled road has been laid along it.

If Bolshaya Pokrovka is compared with Kuznetsky Most and Tverskaya, then Rozhdestvenskaya Street may be compared, and with greater justice, with Moscow's Ilyinka. In the beauty of its buildings and in the throng of people Rozhdestvenskaya Street is the best of all the streets of Nizhny Novgorod; on it and near it is concentrated the chief commercial and industrial activity of the city, namely: the trade in grain, salt, iron, rope and tackle and so forth; on it are situated the Navigation Court, the chancellery of the head of the 3rd District of the 2nd Section of the 5th Okrug of Ways of Communication and Public Buildings, the offices of the Volga and the Kama-Volga steamship lines, of the free sale of salt of the owners of the Usolye and Lenva works, of the sale of metals of Messrs Demidov, the brokers' offices, those of the First and Sixth transport and stagecoach companies, most of the town's hotels, eating houses, wine cellars, coaching inns, barbers' shops and other establishments; many craftsmen also live here, tailors, bootmakers and others.

There are four churches on Rozhdestvenskaya Street: St John the Forerunner, the Life-Giving Trinity, Sts Kosmas and Damian, and the Synaxis of the Mother of God, or the Stroganov church; the last three have small chapels attached to them; on this same street stands the Spasskaya chapel.

There are few wooden buildings here, no more than five houses, plus the block of shops called the Posadsky Market; all the other buildings are of stone, huge, mostly of two and three storeys; their architecture is on the whole good, and that of some is even elegant. Among the most remarkable of them are the two blocks of the merchants' arcade and the houses of the merchant Shushlyaev and of Countess Stroganova: the first of these houses is on the left side of the street, next to the church of the Synaxis of the Mother of God, and behind it, up the hill, lies a garden that in summer lends the house itself much beauty; the second stands on the right side of the street, a little beyond the church.

Rozhdestvenskaya Street is linked with the upper part of the city, apart from through the kremlin, by the Kremlin Boulevard, the Zelensky Descent, Pochainskaya, Ilyinskaya and Suyetinskaya Streets, Kazansky and Troitsky Lanes, the Uspensky and Sergiyevsky ravines, several lanes running from the church of the Synaxis of the Mother of God, and the Gremyachy and Pokhvalinsky Descents; and with the embankment — by two passages and by Troitsky, Kozmodemyansky and Rozhdestvensky Lanes, and by Sofronovskaya Square.

The first building on Rozhdestvenskaya Street on the left side is the Spasskaya chapel, standing between the boulevard and the church of St John the Forerunner; the church itself, surrounded by a small terrace, stands somewhat above the street, by the Zelenskaya hill. From the church begins the first block of the merchants' arcade: it is of two storeys, with galleries; the gallery of the lower storey is set with arches, and the upper one is adorned with a colonnade; the second block, separated from the first by a passage, has the same architecture as the first, but is of three storeys.

Behind the first block is the Small Moskatelny (chandlery) Row, and behind the second the Kholshchevy (linen) Row, likewise of stone and of two storeys.

In the first block of the merchants' arcade, on the street side, is the Great Moskatelny Row, but the trade there is more in tea, sugar and in part in Tula wares, and also in porcelain, hardware and mirrors; besides this there is a shop in it with silver and haberdashery goods. In front of it along the street stand the little tables of the money changers, and on the side facing the Small Moskatelny Row is the Small Iron Row. The shops of the upper storey of this block are taken up with the storage of goods.

The trade in chandlery goods proper is carried on in the Small Moskatelny Row, where paper and other stationery supplies are also sold.

The lower storey of the second block is occupied by shops with horse-collar and harness goods, while in the middle storey and part of the upper one they trade in woollen cloth, silk fabrics, printed cottons and the rest of what is known as red, or "panskiy", goods. Here the shop of the merchant Burmistrov and of the heirs of the Lamonovs is reckoned the best for the choice of goods, sold at fixed prices. The Nizhny Novgorod fashionable ladies of the merchant estate prefer this shop to all others of its kind, and even to the very shops of Perepletchikov and Bryzgalov.

The passage between the blocks leads to the Zelensky Descent and to Pochainskaya and Ilyinskaya Streets, at whose junction stands the church of the Kazan Mother of God. In the shops built onto this church they trade in felted goods: hats, boots and so on; shops of the same kind are to be found beneath the houses standing at the end of the Zelensky Descent. Near these houses the draymen take their stand, and on the open ground on the southern side of the church — the cabmen known by the name of "Vanka".

In line with the second block of the merchants' arcade, across Kazansky Lane, stands the house donated by the commercial councillor F. P. Perepletchikov for the benefit of the poor townsmen of the city; its upper part is occupied by a hotel, its lower by stalls selling rope and tackle. Next to this house is a government house, the former Wine Yard; it now houses the bucket-trade shop of the excise-farming commission. It must be supposed that the salt yard was also here, opposite which in 1767 a landing stage was built, where the delighted inhabitants of Nizhny Novgorod welcomed the Empress Catherine II. Further on is the house of the merchant's widow Panina, or the Panin lodging house (formerly the Bedarev one), and next to it the church of the Trinity, whose western facade looks out onto Troitsky Lane; in its annexe are a chapel, a trade in wax candles and the offices of brokers. Further on, beyond the lane, are the offices of the Kama-Volga steamship line and of Messrs Demidov, and Gieseke's pharmacy. From here Sofronovskaya Square begins.

To the right of the kremlin, Rozhdestvenskaya begins with the Posadsky Market, which on its other side comes out onto Kozhevennaya Street; this market consists of two blocks of wooden, single-storey, dirty shops, in sharp contradiction to the handsome buildings surrounding it. Under the new plan these blocks are designated for demolition, and stone ones are proposed to be built in their place. On the Rozhdestvenskaya Street side of the Posadsky Market they trade in tea, sugar and groceries, and on the Zhivonosnovskaya side — in all manner of odds and ends, old iron, balalaikas, cheap tobacco and books.

From the Posadsky Market a passage runs down to the embankment; beyond it, along Rozhdestvenskaya Street, in two houses, are hotels and shops with groceries and other goods; on the open ground in front of this house the hackney cabmen take their stand, and at its end are the belfry and the remains of the church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker. In the shops built onto this church they trade in old clothes, sheepskins, sheepskin coats, short sheepskin jackets, caps, lambswool felt hats, boots, shoes and leather goods.

Across the second passage, which also runs down to the embankment, the Harness Row is laid out in the shape of the letter "П", but most of the shops in it are taken up with the storage of iron; they also trade in felted and knitted goods, ready-made footwear, caps, peaked caps and the like. Opposite this row, on the open ground, a flea market is held on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Adjoining the Harness Row is the Shchepnoy (wooden-ware) Row, in which is the shop of the honorary citizens the brothers Pyatov, the well-known Nizhny Novgorod rope and tackle manufacturers. Further on, beneath the houses of the merchant A. I. Zaplatin, the manufacturing councillor Rukavishnikov, the honorary citizens the Pyatovs and the appanage peasant Bugrov, a wholesale trade in iron is carried on.

On the upper storey of the Pyatovs' house, at the corner of Troitsky Lane, is Yermolayev's hotel, and in the same house is the office of the Sixth transport and stagecoach company. Next to Bugrov's house stands Nesterov's house, which contains lodgings for travellers and the householder's own wine cellar. This cellar has long since gained a reputation in Nizhny for the quality of its wines and the moderation of its prices. One house away from Nesterov's is the church of Sts Kosmas and Damian with a chapel and a house for the clergy; its eastern facade looks out onto Kozmodemyansky Lane, and its western onto Sofronovskaya Square.

Sofronovskaya Square took its name from the house of the merchant Sofronov that stood on it, formerly well known in Nizhny Novgorod for his trade. This square was not large, but at the latest laying out of the city it was enlarged; at present it forms a parallelogram, open to the north-west, towards the embankment. Hackney cabmen take their stand on it, and in the springs (in March and April) there is stacked upon it the heavy cordage produced at the Nizhny Novgorod factories for the sheymas and kosyaks322 used on horse-driven haulage machines and capstan steamers; in autumn they trade on it in apples, watermelons and other fruit and vegetables brought in boats and on carts, and throughout the whole year — in pottery; here too the retail sale of state salt is carried on in a specially built little shop.

The whole side of Sofronovskaya Square between Rozhdestvenskaya Street and the embankment, opposite the church, is occupied by the house of the merchant Blinov with shops, where the householder has set up a horse-driven mill for grinding Elton salt, in which he carries on a considerable trade.

Beyond the square, on the left side of Rozhdestvenskaya Street, stands the church of the Synaxis of the Mother of God, with a chapel in the church house; above the church, up the hill, is the house of Count Stroganov, where his office for the affairs of the salt works is located, and there too, in a separate wooden house, is a hospital for his own peasants who come from Perm province with the salt caravans. In the courtyard of the stone Stroganov house one can see the remains of the foundation of the house in which Peter the Great and Catherine I stayed in 1722.

At the end of Rozhdestvenskaya Street, in the house of Messrs Lazarev, is the office for the sale of iron. Opposite the church of the Synaxis of the Mother of God, on the right side of the street, in Blinov's house, is the office of the Volga steamship line, and further on, in the house of the Princes Golitsyn, the Main Office of the free sale of salt; while at I. M. Bubnov's hotel, in Michurin's house, the last one towards the Kunavino ferry, is the office of the transport and stagecoach company of the well-known Korovin.

Bubnov's hotel prides itself on its table and its rooms, the latter let very dear during the fair, namely: for 2 rooms from 2 to 5, and for three from 8 to 10 silver roubles a day.

On Nizhnyaya Blagoveshchenskaya, or Gremyachaya Square, there are a stand of hackney cabmen and several little shops with bread and kalachi, and during the fair there are also a Cossack guardhouse and little shops, besides the bread ones, with berries, apples and various victuals. From this square, straight opposite Rozhdestvenskaya Street, begins the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda, and to the left the Pokhvalinsky Descent comes out.

The Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda formerly belonged to the Annunciation Monastery of Nizhny Novgorod, then was taken into the treasury, probably in 1700, and in 1711 Peter the Great granted it to Menshikov323; with Menshikov's fall it again became state property. The Empress Elizabeth Petrovna presented it to General Roslavlev; Catherine II, in consequence of the complaints raised against Roslavlev by the peasants, bought it from him for 73,000 roubles, at the same time ordering the inhabitants of the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda to be styled peasants of Her Imperial Majesty and to deliver their dues into her own hands, for which purpose, until the empress's very death, ten elected men from among the sloboda peasants were sent to St Petersburg every year. In the reign of the Emperor Paul I the peasants of the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda received permission from the government to enrol in the merchant guilds and the townsmen's society324. For the people of Nizhny Novgorod, and indeed for all Russians in general, this sloboda is remarkable in that Kozma Minin passed in it the days of his pre-historic life.

The Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda comprises several streets and lanes; they lie partly below the hill and partly on the hill, halfway up which stands the Annunciation Monastery. The main part of the sloboda, or the embankment, extends more than a verst; it is paved in places with wood, in places with stone. During the spring rise of the water the lower storeys of its houses are flooded every year.

In 1712 the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda was almost entirely destroyed by fire; the same misfortune befell it exactly a century later, in 1812, then it burned several times more and, finally, in 1855. After that fire the buildings on it remained for the most part of stone and handsome; there are fairly large houses of elegant architecture, such as [the houses] of the honorary citizens the Vyakhirevs and the Nenyukovs; the latter is remarkable also because it stands, as is supposed, on the spot where Minin's house once stood.

In this sloboda stands the Church of St John the Forerunner; it stands at the upper end of the sloboda, along a lane, somewhat up the hill, on a level open space.

In the sloboda there are an inn, several small shops, the office of Princess Butero-Radali, which manages the sale of salt and iron from the princess's works, a vodka distillery and breweries. The inn, belonging to the merchant's widow Vereninova, occupies her own house, which faces the square; the Butero-Radali office is next to the inn, likewise in the princess's own house; the vodka distillery is in the ravine near the Grebeshkovsky Descent, and the breweries: Sosnin's halfway up the hillside, Barbatenkov's at the upper end of the sloboda, on the bank of the Oka.

The sloboda is joined to the upper part of the town by the Nikolsky and Grebeshkovsky descents; the first runs from the western side of the monastery, the second begins at the vodka distillery; but both these descents are inconvenient, especially the latter: it runs along a sharp spur of the hill called the Grebeshok.

The houses of the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda belong almost all to merchants and townsmen and bring their owners considerable income: here in the spring and during the fair lodgings are taken chiefly by out-of-town traders engaged in the grain, salt and bast trades, and also by shipowners.

This part of the town differs sharply from its other parts — it has the character of a wharf: in the spring and throughout the whole navigation season its embankment is crowded with barge haulers, horse-drivers, dock porters and other working folk; bustling shop clerks and busy boatmen dart about, and with measured tread walk the "Dombeys of the Russian cast".

The manners and customs of the inhabitants of the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda also have their peculiarity: all its dwellers are exceedingly generous with bows to acquaintances and strangers alike and love of an evening to sit in pleasant company on the benches set up by the gates and on the very bank of the river, and to talk of business great and small. The chief theme of their conversation is the prices of grain and other goods in the town, and equally up-river and down, that is, in Rybinsk, Piter, Moscow, Kaluga and the lower wharves, and the prices for the carriage of freight and for the hire of workmen, horse-drivers, pilots and everything else pertaining to trade and shipping. Householders and lodgers appear at these gatherings without constraint, without ceremony, one dressed in a dressing gown, and another in even less.

The fair sex of the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda also loves street gatherings; for this they collect in little knots by the gates and hold forth about this and that, partly also about prices (the commercial and industrial character is in the blood of the inhabitants of the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda without distinction of sex or age), and partly about "women's affairs and other matters".

From Michurin's house, which faces, besides Rozhdestvenskaya Street, Lower Blagoveshchenskaya, or Gremyachaya, Square and the Oka, there begins, downstream, the embankment, built up, like Rozhdestvenskaya Street, with stone houses; it ends at the old Borovsky ferry, where two barrack blocks have been built.

A little above the barracks, right by the kremlin wall, stands the Church of the Life-Giving Spring. Near this place stood the Zachatyevsky Monastery, founded in the 14th century by the Nizhny Novgorod princess Anastasia Ivanovna.

A little below the barracks, on the Volga, are the wharf offices of the Kama-Volga Steamship Company and of the company under the firm of "Merkury", at which the steamers put in from the opening of navigation until the fair.

Beyond the barracks the bank of the Volga is unimproved and empty; only beneath the ruined part of the kremlin wall, like birds' nests, cling a few small dilapidated houses, marked under the new plan for demolition — here at the beginning of the 17th century stood one of the Streltsy slobodas. The waste ground joins, near the Borovsky ferry, the English Garden. Formerly on this spot there were streets called the Panskie — the dwelling of captive Lithuanians who, having received their freedom from Khabar Simsky, remained in Nizhny, and of Livonians resettled from Dorpat by Ioann IV. These streets joined the Pecherskaya Sloboda; in them stood the Church of St Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, abolished at the latest reordering of the town. This church has been designated to be built on Sennaya Square. The Panskie streets were joined to the Upper Embankment by the Korovy Descent, likewise abolished at the latest reordering of the town, and which had existed, as tradition holds, since the founding of Nizhny Novgorod.

From the Church of the Life-Giving Spring to the Posadsky Market, alongside the kremlin wall, runs Upper Zhivonosnovskaya Street, built up with stone houses, among which the house of the commerce councillor's wife Perepletchikova, standing opposite the Posadsky Market itself, is remarkable for its architecture. For its design Mr Kizevetter, then town architect in Nizhny, received the highest expression of gratitude.

On this same street is the inn of the merchant Frolov, better known under the name of "the police-master's rooms"; it is preferred by the visiting merchantry above the other Nizhny Novgorod inns. Between it and the Posadsky Market lies the Obzhorny Row, in which in the spring the barge haulers and other working folk drink an immeasurable quantity of kvass and eat thousands of poods of corned beef, liver, beef heads, dried pike-perch and so on and so forth.

In the shops on Zhivonosnovskaya Street they trade chiefly in old iron, and also in tea, sugar, groceries, soap, game and the like.

In the lane running from this street straight from the Obzhorny Row down to the Volga are the live-fish shops of the Nizhny Novgorod merchant Vodovozov, who carries on a considerable trade in live fish to Moscow and Petersburg.

Between Upper Zhivonosnovskaya Street and the embankment lies Lower Zhivonosnovskaya Street; on it are the public baths, which face the embankment; baths near this place existed as early as the beginning of the 14th century, as is evident from the Sotnaya charter. From Lower Zhivonosnovskaya Street, between the embankment and Rozhdestvenskaya Street, are laid out the rows: the Fish, the Meat, the Flour and others; there too they trade in free salt, leather goods and the like.

Beyond the Saddlery Row, on Magistratskaya Street, stands the house of the town society, in which are housed: the town duma, the magistracy, the Orphans' Court and the Verbal Court.

Among the traders of the Lower Bazaar, known for their enterprise are the honorary citizens the Pyatov brothers, the manufacture councillor M. G. Rukavishnikov, the merchants D. G. Gorbachev, A. I. Zaplatin, the Shchelokov brothers, Koptev, Vezlomtsev, Bolotov, Grebenshchikov, Priezzhev, Muratov, Pushnikov and the heirs of the Zmeitsyns.

The Pyatov brothers and Gorbachev trade in the products of their own rope and rigging factories. The former, besides selling to private persons, supply their wares to the Black Sea ports; they also have a steel works; Gorbachev is engaged in the large-scale purchase of grain at the lower wharves and its delivery on his own horse-driven boats to the upper Volga; Rukavishnikov is known for the production of excellent steel at his own works and for an extensive trade in iron; Zaplatin and the Shchelokovs trade in tea and sugar; Koptev and Vezlomtsev in grain goods: the fine wheat flour ground at their mills in considerable quantity is reckoned the best in Nizhny; Bolotov's shop is the only one in Nizhny where one can buy silver, gold and diamond articles; Grebenshchikov is the most considerable dealer in groceries; Priezzhev, Muratov and Pushnikov carry on a large trade in felt-boot goods.

The tailors living in the lower part of the town are not renowned for their art: they clothe the modest trading estate, which lays no claim to fashionable style, deftness of cut or neatness of work, but loves only cheapness; the bootmakers of the Lower Bazaar, on the other hand, surpass their brethren of the Upper Bazaar; foremost among them in craftsmanship are the Puzanov brothers, who in 1849 presented their work at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition.

Rozhdestvenskaya Street is enlivened with people all the year round, but from the beginning of spring (from March) the movement on it increases; near the gostiny dvor crowds of barge haulers and other working folk appear seeking work, among whom the pilots stand out by their dignified air, their deep voices and their bright sashes; there too appear shipowners in search of cargoes for their vessels and of workmen to hire, and freighters, that is, wholesale dealers in grain, salt and other goods, suppliers and contractors and their clerks — to engage vessels for the carriage of goods. The shops of the Pyatovs and Gorbachev serve as the meeting point of the chief freighters and shipowners, while the inns of Ermolaev (above the tackle rows) and of Bubnov (in the Fish Row, and also facing the embankment) are the place where many trading deals are concluded. The latter inn is the best for its table and its wines of all those in the lower part of the town.

As spring advances, Rozhdestvenskaya Street and the whole lower part of the town in general become still more populous. When the Oka and the Volga break up, steamers, vessels and boats at once appear on the rivers, the embankments are covered with thronging people, trade and shipping seethe; here too of an evening songs ring out, balalaikas and concertinas sound and the stamping of the trepak is heard; those scenes come alive of which one was portrayed in mighty, inimitable speech by Gogol in his "Dead Souls". Of the Zelensky Descent enough has been said above; of the Kremlin Boulevard it will be said in its proper place.

Pochainskaya Street begins between the Zelensky Descent and Ilyinka by the Kazan Church; rising up the hill, it comes out by the Church of the Myrrh-Bearing Women into Mironositsky Lane, which runs from the Lykova Dam to Ilyinka. At its upper end, on the right, not far from the church, there still survives that stone two-storey house in which in 1695 Peter the Great spent a whole week on his way to Azov; this house now belongs to the Messrs Polts. Besides this historical monument, Pochainskaya Street is remarkable in another respect: on it were born and passed their infancy the saints of God Euthymius of Suzdal and Macarius of Zheltovody.

Ilyinskaya Street begins from the same place as Pochainskaya, and at first runs to the south-west, and then turns to the south and, at the so-called Ilyinskaya barrier, where formerly was the end of the town and the toll-gate, or, by the name then used, the barrier, joins Bolshaya Yamskaya.

The greater part of Ilyinka runs uphill; on it are two churches, of the Holy Prophet Elijah and of the Ascension of the Lord, the first not far from the Church of the Kazan Mother of God, at the turning of the street, on the right-hand side, the second in the middle of the length of Ilyinka, on the left. On this same street are the Mariinsky Institute for Noble Maidens and the First Children's Shelter. The greater part of the buildings of Ilyinka is of stone; almost all the houses belong to the merchantry. Few craftsmen live here, and there is not a single tavern nor a single eating house; in a word, this street is quiet and as respectable as a merchant's wife paying a visit or out for a stroll.

In historical respect there is remarkable on it the house of the merchant G. A. Pushnikov, standing on the left-hand side as one goes up, opposite Mironositsky Lane; in this house the grandfather of the present owner, the Nizhny Novgorod burgomaster Pushnikov, had the good fortune in 1722 to receive an exalted guest, the Father of the Fatherland, Emperor Peter the Great. Among the more recent buildings of Ilyinka the remarkable houses are: that of the honorary citizeness Akifieva, that of the First Children's Shelter and that of the heirs of the merchant Rychin; all these houses are in the upper part of the street: the first a little above the Ascension Church; it draws the attention of those passing on foot and in carriages by the single sheets of plate glass in its windows and by the bronze railing, gilded here and there, which separates it from the street — both the one and the other unique in the whole town. The house of the shelter stands on the same line; its architecture is plain, but exceedingly light and graceful, and seems lighter and more graceful still by comparison with the house of Rychin's heirs standing almost opposite, in whose façade the fantasy of the architect Kizevetter has combined stateliness of proportion with a countless multitude of cunningly devised ornaments.

In Rychin's house the Mariinsky Institute is temporarily housed.

Kazansky and Troitsky lanes come out on Ilyinka, the first a little above the Kazan Church, the second by the Church of St Elijah; but along the latter communication with Ilyinskaya is only on foot. Onto Ilyinka also comes out the Uspensky ravine, near the very place where it is crossed by Sergievskaya Street, which begins to the left of Ilyinka and, running westward, crosses it and Telyachya Street and abuts on the Sergievsky ravine.

Between Ilyinka and Telyachya, on Sergievskaya Street, stands the Church of St Sergius of Radonezh — the former monastery on Petushkovo. There are several good stone houses here.

To the right of the Church of St Elijah begins the Uspenskaya embankment, which under the new plan it is proposed to extend by means of bridges built on arches across the Uspensky and Sergievsky ravines to the Gremyachaya hill, or as far as the Pokhvalinsky Descent. From it Uspensky Lane runs to Ilyinka; in it, on a level open space, stands the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Opposite this church, in Makarovsky's house, are housed the offices of the First Fire Insurance Company and of the marine and river insurance company under the firm of "Nadezhda". Among the houses of Uspensky Lane two stone ones are remarkable, the building of which dates, judging by the architecture, to the beginning of the 18th century.

Opposite the Church of the Ascension runs Voznesenskaya Street; it, like Sergievskaya, crosses Telyachya and abuts on the Sergievsky ravine, while to the left, beyond the church, begins Plotnichny Lane, which, crossing Sergievskaya Street, ends in Mironositsky Lane, opposite Pochainskaya Street.

Bolshaya Yamskaya ends at the Krestovozdvizhensky Monastery, or the Arzamas toll-gate. It is paved partly with stone, partly with iron ore; the buildings on it are unremarkable and wooden, excepting a few stone houses at the end nearest to Ilyinka. Of these the best is that of the merchant's widow Vereninova, in which an inn is housed. On Bolshaya Yamskaya there are many small general shops and a wine cellar.

To the right of the Barrier continues Malaya Pokrovka, and opposite it, beyond Telyachya, begins the street to Grebeshok; it comes out, as mentioned above, on the Grebeshkovsky Descent. On its left-hand side runs a ravine that ends in the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda, by the vodka distillery; in this ravine flows the Zhandarmsky spring, which took its name from the old gendarme stables that stood on the left side of the ravine. The water of this spring is clear, light and pleasant to the taste; it was supplied for the use of the Empress Catherine II when Her Majesty was pleased to be in Nizhny in 1767. Her Majesty found that the water of this spring is not inferior to that of the Neva.

To the right off Grebeshkovskaya Street run Telyachya, Pokhvalinskaya, the Pokhvalinsky Descent, Nikolskaya, Nikolskaya Old and Nikolskaya New. Telyachya Street crosses Voznesenskaya and Sergievskaya and joins Suetinskaya Street, which comes out at the Soborobogoroditskaya Church. The buildings on Telyachya, excepting a few stone houses, are wooden and unremarkable. On the left-hand side of this street is the wooden one-storey house of the merchant Kurochkin, formerly belonging to a pupil of Kulibin, the clockmaker Pyaterikov, who in 1797 had the good fortune to repair the stopped watch of the Emperor Pavel Petrovich, when the sovereign was pleased to be in Nizhny. The generous monarch, learning that Pyaterikov had no house of his own, granted him 500 roubles. With this money Pyaterikov built a house, and so long as he and his heirs owned it, there was displayed on the house a black plaque with an inscription in gold letters: "This house is from the bounty of the Monarch".

Pokhvalinskaya Street is poor in its buildings: on it, apart from the Church of the Praise of the Mother of God, standing on the right, there is nothing remarkable. To the north this street comes out on the Sergievsky ravine, or the Gremyachaya hill; with Sergievskaya and Voznesenskaya streets it is joined by the Bushevaya hill and by a lane lying parallel with Telyachya Street and coming out to the south into Voznesenskaya and to the north into Telyachya streets; to the left Pokhvalinskaya Street is joined, by way of a lane, with the Gremyachy Descent.

The Pokhvalinsky Congress begins next to Pokhvalinskaya Street and ends, as said above, at the square by the Kunavinsky ferry crossing. It was laid along a ravine known in olden times as Gremyachy: both the ravine and the hill itself were called Gremyachy after the spring that ran through the ravine and rumbled — babbled quite loudly. At the end of the descent stands the chapel of Saint Alexius the Metropolitan.

The Nikolskiye streets come out to the edge of the hill that stands above the Annunciation Monastery; between them stands the church of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker on the Ridges. Formerly this part of the town, in the times of the patriarchate, also belonged to the Blagoveshchenskaya settlement. Beyond the ravine that runs alongside Grebeshkovskaya Street lie, lengthwise, crosswise and askew, new streets, such as: Malaya Yamskaya, Malaya Pokhvalinskaya, Malaya Nikolskaya, Arkhangelskaya and others, and beyond them already stretches a field where rope factories have been set up, but the main of these establishments are located beyond the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery, to the left of the Arzamas road.

An Old Description of the Districts of Nizhny Novgorod

See also