Aquarium Café was a catering establishment that operated in Nizhny Novgorod from the 1990s until the early 2010s in a two-story building at 9 Universitetsky Lane, near the Lobachevsky University building on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street.[1] The building was owned by Lobachevsky University.[1]

History of the building

The café operated from the 1990s, after which the building was declared an unauthorized structure and fell into disrepair.[1] From 2013 the property stood empty — the building went unused for about twenty years.[2][1] At various times Lobachevsky University considered options for using the site: the university intended to house its own press center and classrooms there, and later to create a cultural and exhibition space with a museum, which would become an additional "point of attraction" for residents and visitors of Nizhny Novgorod.[2][1] In January 2026 the university's rector, Oleg Trofimov, described the concept as a venue for communication where visitors could learn about the university's development and history.[1]

Reconstruction and new function

In 2026 the building underwent a major renovation — on July 10 of that year the renovation project received a positive opinion from Glavgosekspertiza (the state expert review authority); the customer was Lobachevsky University, and the design documentation was prepared by the Nizhny Novgorod company Kaskad LLC.[1] Before the opening, the building and the adjacent grounds were put in order.[1]

On November 4, 2026, the regional information center "TASS Volga Region" opened in a renovated pavilion — the eighth in the agency's regional network.[3][2] The ceremony was attended by TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov, Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Sergey Kirienko, the President's Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District Igor Komarov, State Duma deputies Yuri Stankevich and Artyom Kavinov, and City Duma Speaker Yevgeny Chintsov.[2][4] Its proximity to the Institute of Philology and Journalism of Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (UNN) was described as conceptual: Governor Nikitin especially noted the opportunity for students to complete journalism internships here.[2][1] The center's team is headed by Aleksandr Kolchugin; in addition to news work, the venue is intended for press conferences and video links, and is open to businesses, public organizations, and bloggers.[1]

Sources

  1. Biznes News. Vremya zarabatyvat — TASS opened an information center in a former cafe near UNN
  2. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — TASS information center starts operating in the former Akvarium cafe in Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod News
  3. Vremya N — Regional information center "TASS Volga Region" opened in Nizhny Novgorod
  4. Otkrytyy Nizhny — TASS Volga Region office opened in Nizhny Novgorod near the UNN Institute of Philology and Journalism