This is 4th in a series of posts sharing the photos my grandfather took in 1969 on a business trip to Moscow. For full context, read the start of part 1.
This post includes photos of the Bolshoi Theatre and nearby area.
Scenes from near Bolshoi Theatre
On the left: Now the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation; in 1969 it was the Union Chamber of Commerce; previously it was the Moscow Stock Exchange.
In the distance you can see the Rossiya Hotel behind Znamenskyi Monastery.
Just to the right of the street, the curved building is the Old Merchant Court, which is now painted blue with glass skylights and is used as an exhibition hall. On the far right is the five-story former mission of the Trinity – St. Sergius Monestary.
User comments:
– Love this set, thanks for sharing.
– This is incredible
This gate leading into Tretayakov Drive (“Tretyakovsky Proyezd”) is currently (2011) a posh shopping arcade.
Instead of old (I wrote “military”, which is wrong) trucks, now (c 2011) you can find Bentley’s Moscow dealership on Tretayakovsky Drive. Kitai-gorod Gate arches over the street.
User comments:
– This is ZIl truck. ЗиЛ stands for Plant named after Likhachev, the former or the first director of the plant in 1940 or 50’s. This color was very common for all soviet trucks. This looks like a dump truck.
– Soviets always lived expecting some new war threats from the hostile countries surrounding the USSR, therefore its industry was always tuned to swiftly switch to the military production, hence the dump truck has a military color)).
Theater Square, looking south at Zaikonospassky Monastery over Vitali Fountain. This is right next to the photo of the statue of Karl Marx.
Currently (2011), supposedly the last remaining monument to Karl Marx in Moscow.
User comments:
– I’d love to see what kind of condition it’s in now.
– It’s still in good shape and in same location in a park across from Bolshoi Theatre, and Metropol hotel.
User comments:
– Beautiful!
– Been inside to see a show for foreign tourists in 1984. Beautiful inside, great artistic show.
– On the right is TsUM department store, alongside with GUM it was a major store in Soviet Moscow. Thw third one was called Detsky Mir (Child’s World)
– Marx – Engels (- Lenin) looks like for 1st May celebration
– Great work done!
– TsUM still is a major store in Modern Russia (and of course has not moved…) 🙂
To our left is Hotel Moscow.
User comments:
– nothing but Volga’s 🙂
– The red building on the right was Lenin State Museum at the time
– 1 Pobeda + 2 Moskvichs on the back
Looking north away from Red Square. GUM on the right. And on the left we see the absence of the Church of the Virgin of the Kazan — now rebuilt.
User comments:
– Looks like it’s by the GUM. Government Universal Magazin(Store). It’s a big shopping center. I think, the Red Square is behind the camera.
– Agree, this is probably beginning of Nikolskaya str.
– Соглашусь, похоже на ГУМ (справа), вид с Красной площади.
– It’s exactly Nicolskaya street!!!!
– The empty space to the left (where the trees are) is the site of the Church of Virgin of Kazan. This church was built in 1620s, demolished in 1933 and rebuilt in 60 years later
Further reading
- Moscow 1969 Part 1, context and Red Square
- Moscow 1969 Part 2, Pioneer Palace and Novdevichy
- Moscow 1969 Part 3, Rossiya Hotel and Hotel Moscow
- Moscow 1969 Part 5, subways and buses
- Moscow 1969 Part 6, space museum
- Moscow 1969 Part 7, VDNKh and Archangelskoe
- Moscow 1969 Part 8, Kremlin
- Moscow 1969 Part 9, Moscow River
- Moscow 1969 Part 10, Kotelnicheskaya and MGU
- Moscow 1969 Part 11, Dubna and Moscow buildings
- Moscow 1969 Part 12, Lermontov and street vendors
- Sweden’s Atomic energy, 1960s photos and pamphlets
- And, until I cancel my Flickr account, here’s a link to photos by my grandfather from other cities around the world.