St. Varvara Church

The Church of St. Varvara is situated at the very beginning of Varvarka. This is one of the best examples of Moscow classicism. St. Varvara was worshiped by the merchants as the patron saint of trade and the church built in her name was one of the most respected ones in Moscow.

The religious construction was built up twice: firstly, it was created in the early 16th century by A.Fryazin, an Italian architect; later it was rebuilt upon a design by Rodion Kazakov in the early 19th century. The church is wonderfully proportional and looks like a cathedral notwithstanding its small size. The Old English Yard (136) is situated near it. These white-stone chambers appeared here in the 15th century. They belonged to I.Bobrishchev, a merchant. Trade relations with England were established at that time, and Ivan the Terrible granted the chambers to English merchants. In 1649, Alexei Romanov deprived them of all privileges and allowed trading in Arkhangelsk only. The yard was rebuilt several times and even lost its original look for some time, but it was reconstructed by architect P.Baranovsky in the 20th century. On the opposite side of the street the Old Guests' House () built on a project by architect D.Kvarenghi is situated. After a recent reconstruction that took nearly five years its new life began. They managed to restore many of the things lost during its 200 years of history. None of the 150 windows in the building are the same; 11,000 unique load-bearing piles were put in its foundation. Banking and trade offices, as well as restaurants are located here.