Moscow Guide
The Zemlyanoy Gorod
Ulitsa Prechistenka
Ulitsa Prechistenka (Communion St), the medieval road leading from the Kremlin to the Novodevichiy Convent, has been one of Moscow's most prestigious avenues since the sixteenth century, delineating the southern edge of the Old Equerries' quarter. Its array of mansions in the Russian Empire style – newly built after the fire of 1812 – can really only be appreciated by walking along Prechistenka. If you're not coming from the direction of the Arbat, the best starting point is Kropotkinskaya metro, whose stylish platform is itself an attraction. In Soviet times, the avenue was also named "Kropotkinskaya", after the Anarchist Prince Kropotkin, who was born nearby.
Prechistenka starts at the bottom of the hill with a statue of Friedrich Engels, erected in 1976. The idea was that this would be "united" with the statue of Marx on Teatralnaya ploshchad by prospekt Marksa, to form a kind of Communist ley line. Behind the statue rises the Golovin palace, a simple brick structure with crested nalichniki and a steeply pitched roof, built at the end of the seventeenth century by a family associated with Peter the Great.