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- "Arbat" redirects here. For other uses, see Arbat (disambiguation).
The Old Arbat is a picturesque pedestrian street within the Garden Ring of Moscow. Nowadays, it is one of Moscow's most touristy streets, with lots of entertainment and souvenirs sold. The Old Arbat should be distinguished from the nearby New Arbat, constructed back in the 1960s as the Kalinin Avenue and lined with Soviet book-like skyscrapers made of steel, concrete, and glass.
The Arbat was first attested in 1493 as a road leading from the Moscow Kremlin to Smolensk. The origin of the name is Tatar and means suburb (the same as Rabat). During the 16th and 17th centuries, the neighbourhood was graced with elegant churches, notably the one featured in Vasily Polenov's celebrated painting Arbat.jpg (1879).
In the 20th century, the street succumbed to limited renovations in the Art Nouveau and Constructivist styles. Probably the most original monument to the new trends is the Melnikov Mansion. The street's outflow into the Garden Ring was marked with a flamboyant wedding-cake skyscraper of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Simultaneously, they demolished most of the Arbat churches, including that of St Nicholas, regarded as one of the finest examples of Godunov style.
Since 1986, the Arbat is carfree and decorated with large lanterns. It has several statues, one to Princess Turandot in front of the Vakhtangov Theatre and another to a local resident, Bulat Okudzhava, who wrote several poignant songs about the Arbat. During the Perestroika, the street used to be a gathering place for informal youth movements (like hippies or punks), as well as street musicians and artists. Viktor Tsoi's wall at one of the Arbat side-streets remains a curious monument to those turbulent years.
See also
"Arbat Street"