Varvarskaya Street

Varvarskaya Street (colloquially Varvarka; known from 1931 to 1991 as Figner Street) is one of the central streets of the historic part of Nizhny Novgorod, in the Nizhegorodsky District. It runs from Minin and Pozharsky Square to Freedom Square, crossing Oktyabrskaya Square midway; it is one of the seven streets radiating out like rays from Minin Square ^[2][3]. The street is named after the Church of St. Barbara that once stood here. Along less than a kilometer of the street stand the Alexander Noble Institute, the city's first pharmacy, the houses of the Evenius and Shchelokov families, a chapel, and an old Maternity Hospital No. 3 ^[2][3][4].

Name and origin

The stress in the name falls on the second syllable, and the street has nothing to do with "barbarians": it was named after the Church of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr. A wooden church stood here as early as the beginning of the 16th century, and a stone one was built in 1757. Like its Moscow namesake, Nizhny Novgorod residents call the street Varvarka in conversation: "we walked down Varvarka," "we went to Jupiter on Varvarka" ^[2].

Alyosha Peshkov, the future Maxim Gorky, was baptized in the church, as were his mother Varvara Vasilyevna and his grandfather Vasily Kashirin. In 1916 the parish counted 400 men and 960 women. In 1937 nearly all of the parish's priests were shot, and in 1938 the church was closed; the building housed a housing office, a construction office, and then an archive. In 1958 the city council decided to demolish the church as unsafe, and it was taken apart brick by brick ^[2]. The church stood on the site of the present-day fountain by the Jupiter concert hall ^[3].

History

The street appeared on the 1770 general plan of Nizhny Novgorod; central streets were supposed to be built up with stone houses under the plan. By 1778 the section as far as the Church of Saint Barbara had been laid out, while beyond it the road curved, and this stretch was called Gusevaya Street until 1834. The Kovalikha stream also flowed here, and a bridge was thrown across it ^[2][3].

Varvarka became a straight line in the 1830s–1840s, when the Varvarskaya and Ostrozhnaya dikes were built and the roadway was leveled. In 1844 the street was paved with tarred timber blocks, and somewhat later with cobblestones ^[2][3]. Although the street ran from the center almost to the city's outskirts, it was built up with wealthy houses ^[2].

The historian Nikolay Khramtsovsky, in his "Brief Sketch of the History and Description of Nizhny Novgorod" (*Kratky ocherk istorii i opisaniya Nizhnyago-Novgoroda*), written in the mid-19th century, listed the main buildings of Varvarka. He noted that Evenius's pharmacy was opened in 1780 "and was at that time the only one in the whole Nizhny Novgorod Governorate," and that among the other stone houses, the building of the Treasury Chamber (formerly the salt administration) at the corner of Osypnaya Street and the house of the merchant Dubitsky opposite the dam stood out for their size ^[4]. Dvoryanskaya Street ended at Varvarskaya, "right by the Church of St. Barbara the Great Martyr" ^[4].

Varvarskaya Street, crossing the Varvarskaya and Ostrozhnaya dams, runs up to the prison fortress; on it are located: the Church of St. Barbara the Great Martyr, the Alexander Nobility Institute, the pharmacy of V. E. Evenius, the office of the Maritime, River, and Overland Insurance Society, and the office of the broker Bolotov.

Renamings

By a decision of the Nizhegorodsky District Council in 1931, about 30 streets and lanes in the historic center were renamed in a single list; Varvarskaya, Alekseevskaya, Tikhonovskaya, Bolshaya and Malaya Pecherskaya, and Lykova Dambа disappeared from the map at that time ^[5][6]. Varvarskaya became Figner Street, in honor of Vera Figner, a participant in the assassination attempt on Alexander II who served her exile in Nizhny Novgorod ^[2]. During this period the street also acquired Soviet-era addresses: the maternity facility became Maternity Hospital No. 1 "on Figner Street" ^[19], and the new building of School No. 40 opened "on Figner Street (now Varvarskaya)" ^[20].

After the city regained the name Nizhny Novgorod in 1990, the toponymy commission of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Russian Cultural Foundation handed Mayor Dmitry Bednyakov a list of streets whose historic names it asked to have restored. By decision No. 1095 of December 24, 1991, Sverdlov, Vorobyov, Dzerzhinsky, Uritsky, Figner, and Krasnoflotskaya streets regained the names Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, Malaya Pokrovskaya, Alekseevskaya, Sergievskaya, Varvarskaya, and Ilyinskaya ^[6][5]. In more than 250 years of history, this is the street's only change of name ^[2].

Length and neighbors

The length of the street is usually given as about 950 meters ^[2][3]; the Ginfo directory gives 1,084 meters and forty buildings numbered from 1 to 44. Varvarskaya crosses Piskunova, Akademika Blokhinoy, Oktyabrskaya, Semashko, Volodarskogo, and Kovalikhinskaya Streets and Oktyabrskaya Square, and comes out onto Freedom Square ^[30].

Alexander Noble Institute (building no. 3)

For a noble boarding school attached to the provincial gymnasium, the nobility bought up an extensive plot at the beginning of Varvarskaya Street in 1836–1837, including the two-story stone house of Colonel N. Ya. Latukhin, for 42,000 rubles. In 1838 a Noble Institute was established at the boarding school and named the Alexander Institute, in honor of the heir to the throne. The final plan for the expansion was drawn up by the architect A. A. Pakhomov; Nicholas I approved it on April 13, 1844, and on August 30 of that year the institute was solemnly opened. The annex housed the house church of Alexander Nevsky, consecrated in December 1845; on November 6, 1848, Pakhomov reported that "all work on the institute's buildings has been fully completed" ^[7].

While construction was under way, classes were temporarily housed in the neighboring corner house of the physician Evenius at the corner of Osypnaya Street, purchased for 11,500 rubles; it later became part of the institute complex as an outbuilding. In 1885 a bell tower was erected by the southern wall, designed by the St. Petersburg architect N. P. Vysotsky; the bells, from the Olovyannishnikov foundry in Yaroslavl, rang for the first time at Easter 1886 ^[7]. The building of the Nizhny Novgorod Noble Institute of Emperor Alexander II was captured in a 1911 photograph by Dmitriev ^[1][7].

Among those who studied at the institute were the historian K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the composer M. A. Balakirev, the mathematician V. A. Steklov, the poet A. B. Mariengof, the historian S. I. Arkhangelsky, and the actor V. N. Yakhontov; in 1863–1864 I. N. Ulyanov served here as a tutor ^[7]. After the Revolution the building housed a post and telegraph office and an electrical technical school; in 1923 the upper floor was given over to a library, and from May 1924 the whole building was occupied by the provincial library — today's Nizhny Novgorod State Regional Universal Scientific Library. In 1996–1999 the main building underwent major renovation and had a mansard story added ^[7].

The house was placed under protection as a historical monument of federal significance (Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of December 4, 1974, No. 624); the republican list of 1960 already includes the house "at 3 Very Figner Street," which was frequented by G. A. Lopatin, I. N. Ulyanov, and M. A. Balakirev ^[7][15]. In the regional list of 1993, the institute building (1846–1848) is also recorded as an architectural monument ^[16]. The façade bears memorial plaques to Balakirev (installed in 1953), Ulyanov, G. A. Lopatin, and P. N. Cherkasov, a captain of the gunboat Sivuch, who studied here in 1892–1894 ^[7][10].

The Evenius pharmacy and houses (Nos. 3a, 4, 4b)

The first pharmacy in Nizhny Novgorod opened on Varvarskaya Street, at No. 4: in 1780 according to Khramtsovsky ^[4], in 1781 according to the research of N. A. Pakshina ^[8]. The pharmacist approved for the post was a German, Georg Christian Ludwig Evenius, who had received his pharmaceutical education in Germany; he lived in the city for half a century and died in 1830, and the Evenius pharmacy lasted for almost a hundred years ^[8]. The stone pharmacy building was constructed in 1792 to a design by the mechanic Ivan Nemeyer ^[3].

The pharmacy was famed for its illumination: the pharmacist set multicolored glass globes on the windowsills, and the light from the room cast a rainbow glow for many meters around the building ^[3]. In 1845, when the city's first water supply system was being designed, it was precisely at Evenius's pharmacy that members of the medical board tested the suitability of spring water ^[8]. The main house of the Evenius–Remler estate was entered in the regional list of architectural monuments in 1993, while the 1884 outbuilding (No. 4b) was entered in the list of cultural heritage sites of regional significance ^[16][17].

The first pharmacist bought the plot opposite the pharmacy in 1826 ^[2]. At the end of 1835 his son, the physician G. E. Evenius, commissioned the architect I. E. Efimov to design a two-story stone house, and a year later the house was built ^[8]; it is a mansion in the Russian Classicism style ^[2][3]. It was later sold to the Nobility Assembly for the classrooms of the Alexander Institute ^[2][7]. After the Revolution a music school opened here, and since 1965 the building has been occupied by the Nizhny Novgorod Theater School named after Evstigneev ^[2]. On the building there is a plaque with a bas-relief: "The great Russian actor Evgeniy Evstigneev graduated from the Gorky Theater School in 1951" ^[11].

The Shchelokov House and Karelin's Workshop (buildings No. 8, 8/22)

The corner plot of Varvarskaya and Osypnaya (now Piskunova) streets belonged in the early 19th century to the court councillor Ye. M. Mikhailov, in the 1830s to the civil councillor Kleopatra Ivanovna Ilyina, and from 1836 until the early 20th century to the merchant Mikhail Fyodorovich Shchelokov and his heirs ^[9]. The one-story wooden house with a mezzanine on a stone foundation is dated to the 1820s and probably built from a design by I. E. Efimov, taken from an album of "model" facades; in 1861 the architect I. K. Kostryukov added a room with an entresol to it, and in the 1870s the facade was remodeled ^[9]. According to another version, Ilyina bought the plot only after the street had been laid out and built the estate herself, while Shchelokov was a fire victim from the Blagoveshchenskaya Sloboda ^[2].

The portico with its triangular pediment and Ionic pilasters made the house a model of Classicist-period wooden architecture, and it is listed in the state registers of monuments of Nizhny Novgorod Region ^[9]. After nationalization in 1918, the house was divided into apartments; in April 1996 it was badly damaged by fire and stood abandoned for almost a quarter of a century ^[9][2]. In August 2020 the governor ordered it restored as part of preparations for the city's 800th anniversary, and by 2023 the house had been rebuilt ^[2].

The neighboring stone house held the workshop of the photographer and artist Andrey Karelin, where he ran a private school-studio — a kind of art center of prerevolutionary Nizhny; in 1956 the Nizhny Novgorod Art College moved in here (address: Varvarskaya, 8/22) ^[21]. A memorial plaque by O. Lisenkov, installed in 1992, states that Karelin "lived and worked" at house no. 8 from 1887 to 1906 ^[12]; according to other sources, the workshop at house no. 8a was located there from 1897 ^[3].

House of the steamship owner Kashina (house no. 10)

The house at the intersection of Varvarskaya and Malaya Pecherskaya (now Piskunova; according to archival documents, no. 25/10) belonged to the Kashin steamship owners; the archival description lists it as a two-story stone house, "measuring 8 sazhens along Varvarskaya Street and 12 sazhens along Malaya Pecherskaya Street," and it was heavily rebuilt later ^[22]. The mistress of the house, Maria Kapitonovna Kashina, ran the steamship business for almost 18 years after her husband's death and died in 1916; it is believed that Gorky drew on "the iron Kashikha" in writing Vassa Zheleznova ^[22][2].

Rukavishnikov Workhouse (house no. 32)

The idea of opening workhouses ("houses of industriousness") for the poor in the city was first proposed in the City Duma in 1887. The first such house was set up in the vacant barracks on the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment; the Rukavishnikovs then opened an establishment in the wooden building of a former carpentry factory on Mistrovskaya Street (now Academician Blokhina Street), but it burned down ^[2]. The cornerstone of the new building on Varvarskaya was laid on May 7, 1903; the two-story Art Nouveau house bearing the inscription "House of Industriousness named after Mikhail and Lyubov Rukavishnikov" was built in 1905 to a design by the architect Dombrovsky P. A. ^[2][3].

The house was designed for two hundred beggars: here they picked oakum, combed bast fiber, wove bast mats, glued paper bags, and sewed covers, in return for pay of 6 to 15 kopecks a day, plus food and a place to sleep. The building served its intended purpose until 1914; in 1964 two floors were added on top, and in 1980 a new wing was built right up against it. For many years Nizhpoligraf operated here; the former House of Industriousness is a cultural heritage site of regional significance ^[2][3].

Chapel of St. Barbara the Great Martyr (building no. 36a)

In March 1897 the property at no. 36 passed to the Yagodinsky Vvedensky Convent to serve as its metochion (a convent's town residence), and a stone chapel was added to the side facade of the residential house dating from 1880; the newspaper Volgar named the architect P. A. Dombrovsky as the author of the design. The laying of the foundation on August 9, 1898 was accompanied by a religious procession from the Church of St. Barbara ^[18]. The construction is linked to the rescue of the imperial family in the train wreck at Borki on October 17, 1888 ^[18][3].

In 1918 the metochion was nationalized, and the chapel was converted into housing and disfigured; it survived, according to researchers, by a lucky coincidence — similar structures in Kovalikha and on Gorky Square were demolished. Today the chapel has been restored to designs by the architects V. A. Shirokov and O. Yu. Galay and returned to the Church ^[18]. This tiny building is not easy to spot from the street ^[3].

Almshouse and Maternity Hospital No. 1 (building no. 42)

The Nizhny Novgorod Alexandrovskaya Almshouse was established on August 30, 1868, in time for the visit to the city of Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich. In October 1878, the first-guild merchant Alexander Vyakhirev offered to transfer to the City Duma his land at the corner of Varvarskaya and Soldatskaya (now Volodarsky) Streets "for all time" — for a maternity home for the poor. It was decided to build it alongside the almshouse, and work began in 1880 to a design by the architect N. A. Frelikh; this building is considered his finest in the city ^[19].

The first director was a physician named Baulin; the institution also opened a "orphan-feeding" ward for ten children whose mothers had died in the hospital. In the Soviet period it housed Maternity Hospital No. 1, which still operates in the same building ^[19].

From the House of Political Education to "Jupiter"

In 1972, the House of Political Education was built to a standard design on the site of the demolished Church of St. Barbara. From the early 1990s it was the city's main concert venue, then fell into abandonment; reconstruction began in 2018 ^[2]. Until 2014 the concert hall belonged to the city and was sold on the fifth attempt for 241.5 million rubles; after reconstruction, "Jupiter" opened in March 2019, and in the summer of 2024 the MTS Live Hall opened in the building ^[23].

The Fountain

A city fountain had long stood in front of "Jupiter," but for many years it did not work. In the fall of 2019, the owner of the concert hall, by agreement with City Hall, dismantled the crumbling structures ^[24][23]. In August 2021, for the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod, a "dry" light-and-music fountain was opened on its site, funded by the owner of "Jupiter": 59 jets shoot straight out of the paving to a height of up to seven meters, the diameter across the nozzles is 12 meters, and there are six operating modes. The fountain operates daily from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and at 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. it gives half-hour light-and-music shows ^[24][25].

Governor Gleb Nikitin called the square in front of the hall a "new point of attraction," while the head of the city Yuri Shalabaev remarked that residents gathered at the fountain as soon as the barriers were removed ^[25].

Schools, Colleges, Residents

Varvarka has long been considered one of the most youthful streets in the city: School No. 40 is located here ^[20], and between Minin Square and Freedom Square students of the Medical Academy, the Pedagogical Institute, Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod Research University, and the Water Transport Institute walk every day.

Physics and Mathematics School No. 40, founded in 1961 by V. Ya. Veksler on the Grebeshok, received a new building on Figner Street on September 1, 1966 — with forty classrooms, along with computing and radio engineering labs. In 1967 the school set up a museum of Georgy Maslyakov, and with money the students earned collecting waste paper and scrap metal, they erected a monument to this Hero of the Soviet Union. Since 1990 the school has been a lyceum; its address is now 15A Varvarskaya Street ^[20].

At No. 6 lived the composer Arkady Nesterov (from 1955 to 1999; a white marble plaque by the artist V. F. Shikanov was unveiled in 2002) and the conductor Israel Gusman (from 1970 to 2003; a plaque with a portrait against the background of a grand piano was installed in 2004) ^[13][14]. At No. 5 is Children's Art School No. 8 named after V. Yu. Villuan ^[31].

Architectural and Historical Monuments

The historic buildings of Varvarskaya span a century and a half — from the classicism of the late 18th century to the Art Nouveau of the early 20th ^[3][7][9].

Soviet and Modern Times

In Soviet times, Varvarskaya Street bore the name Figner and acquired new buildings: School No. 40 opened in 1966, the House of Political Education in 1972, and a new building of Nizhpoligraf in 1980 ^[20][2]. Former courtyards and mansions were divided into apartments: this was the fate of the Shchelokov house and the chapel of the Yagodinsky Monastery ^[9][18].

In 2021, Varvarskaya became one of the first streets in the city center to be renovated comprehensively ^[27]. The work was carried out under the national project "Safe and High-Quality Roads": Teploenergo and Vodokanal relaid the underground utilities, the facades were repaired, overhead wires were removed under the "Clean Sky" project (except for the electric transport contact network), and the sidewalks were paved with cobblestones and fitted with ramps ^[26].

The cobblestones produced an interesting color scheme, and ramps have been built for people with disabilities

Holidays

On City Day and other major holidays, Varvarskaya becomes a pedestrian street. On May 9, the section from Minin Square to Piskunova Street is closed to traffic ^[28]; on City Day 2022, the street was closed from the square to Piskunova Street for the entire day, and in the evening, from 9:00 to 10:30 p.m., the stretch from Piskunova Street to Freedom Square was closed as well ^[29].

See also

• Minin Square
• Freedom Square
• Church of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr
• Nizhny Novgorod Ostrog
• "Assembly"

Sources

1. pro-nn.org — historical photographs of Nizhny: Varvarskaya Street, the Alexander II Nobility Institute, photograph by M. P. Dmitriev, 1911 (archive)
2. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — an essay on Varvarskaya Street, no. 24, April 26, 2023 — What Varvarskaya Street Is Famous For (archive)
3. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Komsomolskaya Pravda — Nizhny Novgorod, the "History of One Street" project, February 3, 2025 — History of One Street: Varvarskaya — A Haven for Nobles, Pharmacists, and Photographers (archive)
4. kostromka.ru — N. I. Khramtsovsky. A Brief Outline of the History and Description of Nizhny Novgorod — chapter "The Streets of Nizhny Novgorod" (archive)
5. V gorode N — on the renaming of Nizhny Novgorod streets, June 25, 2012 — The Old "New" Name (archive)
6. smiroslav.livejournal.com — Vyacheslav Sotnikov — an essay on the return of historical names in Nizhny Novgorod, October 19, 2015 — Nizhny Novgorod Toponymy: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (archive)
7. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — A. A. Davydova, the construction history of the Alexander Nobility Institute — The Alexander Nobility Institute in Nizhny Novgorod. A Construction History (archive)
8. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — N. A. Pakshina, an essay on the Evenius family of pharmacists and physicians — The Eveniuses of Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
9. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — materials from the cultural heritage site passport, the house of M. F. Shchelokov, 8 Varvarskaya (2009) — The Houses of M. F. Shchelokov (archive)
10. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — B. S. Izvekov, A. V. Kessel, "Memorial Plaques of Nizhny Novgorod": Balakirev — BALAKIREV M. A. (1837—1910). 3 Varvarskaya Street (archive)
11. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — B. S. Izvekov, A. V. Kessel, "Memorial Plaques of Nizhny Novgorod": Evstigneev — EVSTIGNEEV E. A. (1926—1992). Nizhny Novgorod Theater School (archive)
12. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — B. S. Izvekov, A. V. Kessel, "Memorial Plaques of Nizhny Novgorod": Karelin — KARELIN A. O. (1837—1906). 8 Varvarskaya St. (archive)
13. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — B. S. Izvekov, A. V. Kessel, "Memorial Plaques of Nizhny Novgorod": Nesterov — NESTEROV A. A. (1918—1999). 6 Varvarskaya Street (archive)
14. opentextnn.ru — Open Text — B. S. Izvekov, A. V. Kessel, "Memorial Plaques of Nizhny Novgorod": Gusman — GUSMAN I. B. (1917—2003). 6 Varvarskaya St. (archive)
15. base.garant.ru — Garant — Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of August 30, 1960, no. 1327, Appendix 1: monuments of national significance (archive)
16. base.garant.ru — Garant — Decision of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Council of August 31, 1993, no. 288-m, Appendix 2 — List of Architectural Monuments of Regional Significance in the City of Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
17. base.garant.ru — Garant — Decision of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Council of August 31, 1993, no. 288-m, Appendix 1 (as amended) (archive)
18. sobory.ru — Sobory.ru — the Chapel of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr on Varvarskaya Street — Nizhny Novgorod, Chapel of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr (archive)
19. web.archive.org — "I Discover Nizhny Novgorod" (nn800.ru, copy in the Web Archive) — on Maternity Hospital No. 1 on Varvarskaya — Maternity Hospital No. 1, Varvarskaya St. (archive)
20. lyceum40nn.ru — Museum of Lyceum No. 40 — history of the school — Website of the Museum of Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution "Lyceum No. 40" (archive)
21. nhu52.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Art College — history, 1956—1974—1956—1974 (archive)
22. nn.aif.ru — AiF — Nizhny Novgorod, on the steamship owner M. K. Kashina, December 27, 2021 — Iron Kashikha. The True Story of the Prototype of Gorky's Vassa Zheleznova (archive)
23. GIPERNN — GiperNN — on the Jupiter Concert Hall, July 18, 2024 — Jupiter Concert Hall in Nizhny Novgorod Becomes Part of the MTS Venue Network (archive)
24. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — opening of the fountain at Jupiter, August 2021 — Light-and-Music Fountain Starts Working at Jupiter Concert Hall in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
25. nn.aif.ru — AiF — Nizhny Novgorod, August 13, 2021 — Light-and-Music Fountain Starts Working at Jupiter Concert Hall in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
26. dengoroda-nn.ru — Den goroda. Nizhny Novgorod — on the repair of Varvarskaya and Ulyanov, no. 067 (1689), August 18, 2021 — Varvarka and Ulyanov (archive)
27. nn.aif.ru — AiF — Nizhny Novgorod, November 27, 2025 — A Uniform Appearance of Streets Continues to Be Created in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
28. Kommersant (Volga Region) — Nizhny Novgorod, map of road closures for May 9, May 6, 2025 — Map of Road Closures in Nizhny Novgorod for May 9 Published (archive)
29. nn.aif.ru — AiF — Nizhny Novgorod, road closures for City Day, August 17, 2022 — Roads Near City Day Celebration Venues in Nizhny Novgorod to Be Closed (archive)
30. nn.ginfo.ru — street reference: length, buildings, intersections — Varvarskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
31. nhu52.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Art College — basic information (addresses of the college and partner institutions) — Information — Nizhny Novgorod Art College (Technical School), State Budgetary Professional Educational Institution (archive)