Povarskaya Street (, known from 1924–1991 as ''Vorovsky Street'' (улица Воровского), is a radial street in the center of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, connecting Arbat Square on

Boulevard Ring The Boulevard Ring (; transliteration: ''Bulvarnoye Koltso'') is Moscow's second innermost ring road (the first is formed by the Central Squares of Moscow running along the former walls of Kitai-gorod). Boulevards form a semicircular chain along ...

with Kudrinskaya Square on the

Garden Ring The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring (; transliteration: ''Sadovoye Koltso''), is a circular ring road avenue around central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to be the city ramparts surrounding Zemlyanoy Gorod in the 17th ...

. It is known informally as Moscow's

Embassy Row Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C., with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded ...

, and is home to the finest mansions built in the 1890s and 1900s. Povarskaya Street also houses the

Supreme Court of Russia The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation () is a court within the judiciary of Russia and the court of last resort in Russian administrative law, civil law, criminal law and commercial law cases. It also supervises the work of lower courts ...

and the

Gnessin State Musical College The Gnessin State College of Music () and Gnessin Russian Academy of Music () comprise a music school in Moscow.Moisenko, Rena. (1949) ''Realist Music: 25 Soviet Composers,'' London: Meridian Book, Ltd. History Originally known as the Gnessi ...

. Most of Povarskaya Street lies in the

Arbat District Arbat District () is a administrative divisions of Moscow, district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: The district extends from central Mokhovaya Street west to Novoar ...

; its northern side near Kudrinskaya Square is administered by the

Presnensky District Presnensky District (), commonly called Presnya (), is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: The district is home to the Moscow Zoo, White House of Russia, Kudrinskaya Square Building, ...

History

Povarskaya Street follows the track of an ancient road from Moscow to

Volokolamsk Volokolamsk () is a town and the administrative center of Volokolamsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River, northwest of Moscow. Population: 25,729 (2024 Estimate ...

. In the 1570s Ivan Grozny allocated the street to

oprichnina The oprichnina (, ; ) was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and confiscation of their land ...

(private royal domain) and the street was taken over by his associates. In the 17th century, however, its upper-class population was diluted by lower classes. The street owes its name to cooks (''povara'') of the 17th century Muscovite court. Nearby lanes are also named after various court servants: bakers (Khlebny Lane), tablecloth weavers (Skatertny Lane), etc. When Peter I established his new capital city in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, this court

sloboda A sloboda was a type of settlement in the history of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for 'freedom' and may be loosely translated as 'free settlement'.

depopulated, and the street was re-settled by nobles again, housing families including Gagarin, Golitsyn, Suvorov and the court of Peter's sister, princess Natalya Alexeevna (1673–1716). The street has retained its upper-class, exclusive role since that time. It is unusually quiet for downtown Moscow - with the exception of music from the Gnesin Institute windows, there are no retail shops, no office blocks and no public transport. In the late 1890s, real estate developer Jacob Reck consolidated two blocks in the middle of Povarskaya and commissioned prestigious Moscow architects Lev Kekushev and Roman Klein to design exclusive single-family mansions. These buildings, occupied by foreign embassies, are a showcase of Moscow

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style.

Notable buildings

* 5 - Church of Saint

Simeon Stylites Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite ', Koine Greek ', ' (Greek language, Greek: Συμεών ό Στυλίτης; ; 2 September 459) was a Syrian Asceticism#Christianity, Christian ascetic, who achieved notability by living 36 years on a s ...

* 7 - Embassy of Norway by Ivan Kuznetsov and Adolph Seligson * 9 - Embassy of Cyprus by Ivan Kuznetsov * 13,15 -

* 21 - House of Hungarian Culture * 23,25 - Gagarin house by

Domenico Giliardi Domenico Gilardi (; 1785–1845) was a Swiss Italians, Swiss Italian architect who worked primarily in Moscow, Russia in Neoclassicism, Neoclassicist style. He was one of the key architects charged with rebuilding the city after the Fire of Mosco ...

(World Literature Museum) * 24 - Art Nouveau building that housed the first Embassy of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

(1920–1940) * 30 -

Shuvalov The House of Shuvalov () is the name of a Russian noble family, which was documented since the 16th century. The Shuvalov family rose to distinction during the reign of Empress Elizabeth and was elevated to the rank of count on 5 September 174 ...

house by Alexander Kaminsky * 33 - Cinema Actors' Theater by Victor Vesnin and

Alexander Vesnin Alexander Aleksandrovich Vesnin (; 28 May 1883 – 7 September 1959), together with his brothers Leonid and Viktor, was a leading light of Constructivist architecture. He is best known for his meticulous perspectival drawings such as Leningrad ...

, 1931 * 32,34,36 -

* 40 - Embassy of Grenada to the Russian Federation * 42 - Ponizovsky house by Lev Kekushev ( Embassy of Afghanistan) * 44 - Mindovsky house by Lev Kekushev ( Embassy of New Zealand) * 46 - Schlossberg house by Adolph Seligson * 50 - Svyatopolk house by Pyotr Boytsov * 52 -

Dolgorukov The House of Dolgorukov ( rus, Долгору́ков, p=dəlɡɐˈrukəf) is a princely Russian family of Rurikid stock. They are a cadet branch of the Obolenskiy family (until 1494 the rulers of Obolensk, one of the Upper Oka Principaliti ...

estate; the basis of the "Rostov Estate" in Tolstoy's ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

Public transport access

* Arbatskaya (Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line) - beginning * Barrikadnaya - end {{coord, 55.7556666767, N, 37.5908333433, E, source:ruwiki_region:RU_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Streets in Moscow Arbat District