Swamp area: a landmark of Moscow with a long history

The list of sights of Moscow is huge. Each guest of the capital of Russia, referring to the information indicated in the tourist guidebook, along with the world-famous museums, temples and parks, will find there a brief description of the square on the quay of the Moskva River, called Bolotnaya Ploshchad.

What is remarkable about this area? Why is the area called "marsh" and what is its history? Today it is a green area, planted with park trees, landscaped with benches, fountains, flower beds, children's playgrounds. After the reconstruction of the park in the late forties of the last century, a large light and music fountain appeared, the jets of which rise from the Vodootvodny Canal. Walking along the embankment, you can see the monument to I.E. Repin, installed here in 1958. Already in our century, in 2001, the sculptural composition "Children - the victims of adult vices", the work of M.Shemyakina, still surprising with frankness, attracted attention. Young people also did not stay away. On the Luzhkov Bridge there are "love trees", on which a huge number of padlocks are hung . This landmark does not leave indifferent representatives of the younger generation and visitors to the city. Swamp area, photo   Which is in any tourist avenue, enjoys great popularity among the guests of the city.

For fans of antiquity there is a bit of history. The very name of the square came from the features of the natural landscape. For a long time the lowland on the other side of the Kremlin was flooded with floods in the spring, then a swamp formed. In winter time the place of the flooded meadow was covered with ice, and the inhabitants of Moscow arranged a large market. After the construction of the Vodootvodny Canal and drainage of the swamp in the fifteenth century, Ivan the Terrible ordered to break a huge orchard here that survived until the beginning of the eighteenth century. The fire of 1701 destroyed the "sovereign garden". During this period, the people there organized mass festivities, fisticuffs.

In honor of the victory in the Azov campaign of the Emperor Peter the Great, the Swamp area was illuminated with fireworks and lights, and in the 1920s the Russians won a victory in the Swedish company and the coronation of the Empress Catherine the Great. It was then that this place was called Tsarina's meadow.

Since the reign of Catherine the First, merchants selling grain have settled here. By the beginning of the nineteenth century Tsaritsyn meadow, or, as it was called by merchants, Labaznaya Square, was a whole area with city buildings, shops and warehouses. He became particularly popular during the period of fasting, the merchants of this marketplace set prices to all markets in Moscow. Already at this time behind the terrain the name Bolotnaya Square was fixed. In the sixties of the last century, the name was changed to Repin Square, but in the late nineties the old one returned.

There are also bloody facts in history. It was here that the mass executions took place. Parted with life such rebels as Nikita Pustosvyat, Andryushka Bezobrazov, Stepan Razin, beheaded was Emelyan Pugachev.

It was in the distant past. The swamp area acquired a modern look after reconstruction in 1938. Today it is a favorite meeting place for young people, representatives of different subcultures. Especially popular are the performances of fire-makers, street artists. Recently, there are youth rallies in support of the opposition.

Tourists wishing to visit the famous square, find out where the Swamp area is located how to get there, we advise you to go from the metro station "Tretyakovskaya" or "Polyanka". The path along the picturesque bridges is short and will bring aesthetic pleasure.