Novinsky Boulevard: Chaliapin, Brodsky and Nikola na Shchepakh

⏱ 1 h 15 min🚶 3 km🍽 1📍 5 stops

🚶 Moderate — 3–7 km

A short walk from Barrikadnaya to Smolenskaya: the church behind the US embassy, Chaliapin's mansion, an unusual Brodsky and the white church by the Shchepnoy Dvor.

🏛 History and architecture🎨 Art⏱ An hour or so

🗺 Open in Yandex Maps

1
🏛 Church of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus
Большой Девятинский пер., 15
A small church of Peter's time that gave Devyatinsky Lane its name. It stands right behind the US embassy.
From Barrikadnaya, 10 minutes along Novinsky Boulevard and into Bolshoy Devyatinsky. The church is right behind the embassy fence; photograph only the church.
📖 More about the placeCollapse
- The first, wooden church was built in 1698 on the vow of Patriarch Adrian, who had been healed of paralysis.
- The present stone building was erected in 1732–1735 with funds from the merchant Andrei Semyonov.
- The three-tier bell tower was added in 1844.
- Bolshoy Devyatinsky Lane is named after the church.
🚶 on foot
2
🏛 Chaliapin Estate on Novinsky Boulevard
Новинский бул., 25, стр. 7
A 19th-century mansion where Fyodor Chaliapin lived until he left Russia; in front of it on the boulevard stands a full-length bronze Chaliapin.
Come back out onto the boulevard. The bronze Chaliapin stands in front of the mansion; we look at the house from outside, at the fence.
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© Aniacra · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Chaliapin bought this house in 1910 and lived here until 1922, when he went abroad.
- The estate is now part of the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture; the wing was restored in 2024, and work on the main house followed.
- The monument to Chaliapin on the boulevard in front of the estate was unveiled in 2003.
- Next door, across the boulevard, is the Narkomfin building, and a bit further is the monument to Brodsky.
🚶 on foot
3
🏛 Brodsky Monument
Новинский бул., напротив дома 21
Brodsky with his head thrown back and hands in his pockets stands before a crowd of faceless figures — one of the most unusual sculptures on the boulevards.
Two minutes along the boulevard toward the Arbat. Walk round the monument: the faceless figures behind the poet have no faces — only gestures.
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- The monument was unveiled on 31 May 2011; the author is Georgy Frangulyan, the architect Sergei Skuratov.
- The sculptor paid for it himself and called it a "personal gift to the city".
- Behind the poet are 13 faceless bronze figures in two groups: the envious and friends.
- Brodsky faces the US embassy — the country he had to emigrate to.
🚶 on foot
4
🏛 Church of St Nicholas on Shchepy
1-й Смоленский пер., 20
A white 17th-century church in the lanes behind Smolenskaya Square. Named after the Shchepnoy Dvor, where log frames for the tsars' palaces were hewn.
Along Novinsky to Smolenskaya Square, cross and go into 1st Smolensky Lane — 12 minutes.
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© A.Savin · CC BY-SA 3.0
© Александр Сигачёв · CC0
- The stone church was built in 1686 on the site of a burnt wooden church of 1649.
- "Shchepy" comes from the neighbouring sovereign's Shchepnoy Dvor (chip yard), where log frames for palace buildings were prepared.
- In 1934 the church was closed and rebuilt beyond recognition — the domes and the top of the bell tower were removed.
- In 1999–2002 the towers, domes and bell tower were restored.
- The 1st and 2nd Nikoloshchepovsky lanes are named after the church.
🚶 on foot
5
☕️ Mu-Mu on the Arbat
Карманицкий пер., 9 (БЦ «Арбат»)
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Through Karmanitsky Lane — 3 minutes. An inexpensive lunch or tea; it's 2 minutes from here to Smolenskaya.
🍴 An inexpensive Mu-Mu canteen on the 2nd floor of the Arbat business centre, two minutes from Smolenskaya. What to order: a cutlet with mashed potatoes, borscht or another homemade soup, blini.