The Chkalov Staircase is the longest set of steps on the banks of the Volga. The staircase, whose outline resembles a figure eight or the infinity symbol, leads from the Kremlin down to the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment. On the viewing platform at the top of the structure stands a monument to the famous Soviet pilot Valery Chkalov. The staircase has 560 steps. The number of steps depends on the counting method: 442 if only the straight section is counted, 560 if all the side half-rings are included; the number of steps in the right and left half-rings also differs, which is what produces discrepancies when people count them on their own.[1]
History
The idea of building the staircase first occurred to Alexander Shulpin, deputy chairman of the city executive committee, as early as 1939.
The idea was stunningly impressive: the city center would be linked to the river, and the difference in elevation was almost three times greater than on the famous Potemkin Stairs in Odessa.
The war prevented the plan from being carried out. But Shulpin did not forget the idea, and on one of his business trips to Moscow in 1943 he took with him for approval a design by the Leningrad architects Yakovlev, Rudnev, and Mints — a staircase running down the Volga escarpment. By what means is unknown, but Shulpin managed to achieve the nearly impossible: he obtained consent to allocate funds for construction, and in that same year, 1943, the staircase was laid down in honor of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Gorky, as a city that had suffered seriously from bombing and contained a major military-industrial complex, was receiving at that time quite a lot of funds and workers, which were supposed to be used for reconstruction work. On Shulpin's orders, even German prisoners of war were brought in for the construction.
In 1949 construction was completed, and the staircase, descending in two enormous rings, connected the upper part of the city with the embankment. However, it turned out that the Chkalov Staircase was one of the most expensive projects in the USSR — 7 million 760 thousand rubles. Alexander Shulpin was accused of squandering public money, removed from his post as mayor, expelled from the Party, and arrested in connection with the nationally notorious political Leningrad Affair. Shulpin was released and rehabilitated only after the death of Stalin.
Related links
- Chkalov Staircase — video guide by NNOV.RU
source lost
The page no longer opens, and there is no copy in the web archive — neither we nor they managed to save it. We are leaving the address where it used to be: the information in the article is based on it.
http://www.nnov.ru/videoguide/chkalov/
Choice of Location and Name
Until the mid-1940s, the area where the staircase now stands was called the Volga Otkos and was one of the most popular places for townspeople to relax [2].
The staircase was originally planned to be built somewhat farther to the right. Alexander Shulpin, chairman of the city executive committee, moved it to the monument to Valery Chkalov, his friend; specialists later noted that this needlessly brought the structure closer to the medieval kremlin [2].
Moscow allocated the money for construction in honor of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, and the staircase was supposed to be named the Stalingrad Staircase. The name in honor of the pilot was established through the efforts of the same Shulpin [2].
The project presented by Shulpin in Moscow in 1943 was the work of the Leningrad architects A. A. Yakovlev, L. V. Rudnev, and V. O. Munts [2].
After reconstruction, the staircase was reopened on August 1, 2021 [2].
See also
- The Hero motor boat
Reconstruction of 2020–2021
When work began, the condition of the structure was clearly unsatisfactory: the parapet was collapsing, the stairs themselves and the brickwork were worn out, and there was no architectural and artistic lighting. The stairs are decorated with bas-reliefs depicting weapons and heroic symbols — the St. George ribbon, the five-pointed star, and the hammer and sickle.[3] This was stated by Timofey Shulga, Chief of Staff of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Government [2].
The reconstruction was divided into two stages. The first was completed at the end of 2020: emergency measures were carried out to reinforce the slope, and 27 bored piles, each twenty meters deep, were installed on the upper platform [2].
In the second stage, the reinforced concrete structures of the upper and lower rings were replaced, the retaining walls were strengthened, the floor of the space beneath the stairs was laid, and new steps were installed. Along the straight section, all the steps were dismantled, along with the inner brickwork of the parapet wall and the worn beams and stringers. It turned out to be impossible to reuse most of the old steps, so the historic steps were preserved on two flights [2].
At the same time, cable lines for the architectural and artistic lighting system were laid inside the parapet wall, and drainage was installed with monolithic gutters and fifteen manholes [2].
The staircase was opened on August 1, 2021, for the city's anniversary — on the same calendar day as in 1949, seventy-two years later [2].
The structure's official name is the Volga Staircase; the popular name, the Chkalov Staircase, took hold in honor of the pilot and because of its proximity to the monument.[3]
According to local legend, the figure-eight shape of the staircase alludes to the deployment of German troops at Stalingrad, who encircled the city in two half-rings.[3]
The staircase is about 150 meters high; in length it is the second longest in Russia, after the staircase on the Torgashinsky Ridge in Krasnoyarsk.[3]
The competition for the best design was won by the Moscow architects Lev Rudnev and Vladimir Munts; the architect Aleksandr Yakovlev, whose entry took second place, was appointed supervisor of the design and construction — which is why all three are customarily considered the creators of the staircase; the symbolic first stone was laid on May 27, 1944, and construction was originally planned to be completed in 1947.[3]
Links
Chronicle of events
Details of each event are in the article about it; here are the dates and gist.
Sources
- aboutnizhnynovgorod.ru — The number of steps depends on the counting method: 442 if only the straight section is counted, 560 if all the side half-rings are included; at the same time, the number of steps in the right (archive)
- biblmr.r52.ru — "City Day. Nizhny Novgorod" — The history of the Chkalov Staircase and its reconstruction
- mag.russpass.ru — The structure's official name is the Volga Staircase; the popular name, the Chkalov Staircase, took hold in honor of the pilot and because of its proximity to the monument. (archive)