Manezhnaya Square

One part of the current Manezhnaya Square serves as a link between Tverskaya street and the Historical Museum (178). The other part - near the Manege (25) - is rightly called the Square of Arts. Military reviews were held in the Manege, exhibitions and performances happened during holidays, and folk carnivals and celebrations with ice-chuting took place on the square. Trading was also a lively one here.

The history of Manezhnaya Square is long. There used to be a settlement here. In 1493, after two devastating fires, Prince Ivan III issued an order forbidding all wooden constructions closer than 106 sazhens, or 251 meters to the Kremlin walls. The Strelets (sharp-shooters) suburbs were situated here. 400 years ago, the territory of the old building of Moscow University was the ground of Ivan the Terrible's opritchniks (a corps of privileged untaxed personal bodyguards). There were also row of market stalls for selling clothes, carts, meat and flour here.

During "Pancake Week" booths, ice palaces and ice-hills were built here and people entertained themselves with fist-fighting and ate huge amounts of pancakes. The Alexander Gardens (51) laid out in the area of the Neglinka River, that was put into an underground tunnel also served as a place of entertainment. At the turn of the 20th century, Manezhnaya Square began to gain its new look: the Historical Museum (178) was built here in 1883, and the City Hall - Duma (179) - edifice was erected in 1892. In the late 1990s the square was reconstructed. The most unique object there is the "The Clock of the World" in the form of a dome with a northern hemisphere map painted on its outside vault, and a figure of George the Victorious, the patron saint of Moscow. The dome makes a full turn over 24 hours and shows the exact time in the largest cities of the hemisphere. "The Clock of the World" also serves as a cover for the underground atrium of the "Okhotny Ryad"(22) (Hunters' Row) shopping center. The storeys of the center are decorated in the styles of the three centuries: the upper one is performed in 19 century style, the middle one in 18 century and the lower one in 17 style. The three underground storeys contain boutiques, shops, restaurants, bars, cafes for children and adults. The Moscow Archeology Museum(14) is located in an underground pavilion 7 meters under the surface of the square, on the place of archeological excavations. The central part is occupied by Voskresensky bridge, the monument of architecture of late 16-17 century. The exposition is based on archaeological evidences, troves of money and goods, and many other things.