Tver, part 3 - Along the embankments of the Volga. Tver embankments Afanasia Nikitina embankment

Tver, part 3 - Along the embankments of the Volga February 26th, 2013

Tver is the first regional center located on the Volga, starting from the source. In the next part of my story about the city, we will cross the Volga twice - first in one direction along the Starovolzhsky Bridge, and then again along the Novovolzhsky Bridge.


We will begin our journey to the Volga embankment from the city garden - this is also the name of the Central City Park of Tver. It occupies the archaeologically protected territory of the destroyed Tver Kremlin. The garden was formed in 1931 as a result of the merger of the Palace Garden, the Governor's Garden and the Public Garden. During the Great Patriotic War, the park was destroyed, but after that it was redesigned and replanted.


At the entrance to the park, on the main alley, there is a stand that provides a brief historical background and a map of the city.


The garden is bounded from the north by the right bank of the Volga River and the Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich embankment, from the south by Sovetskaya Street, from the west by Volzhsky Proezd, from the east by Svobodny Lane, and covers an area of ​​about 9 hectares.


On December 5, 2001, a monument to Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy was erected on the main alley of the central park. The sculptor of the work is E.A. Antonov. The monument is made in the form of a cross, inside which is depicted a bust of the Grand Duke with a cross and a sword, under which the Tver Principality became the strongest in North-Eastern Rus'.

In 2009, work was carried out to improve the garden, paving slabs were laid, and the lights were updated.





At the same time, an end-to-end view of the Volga and the Temple of the Three Confessors with the monument to Afanasy Nikitin on the opposite bank of the river was opened, but we will get there later.


On the Mikhail Yaroslavich embankment there are various summer cafes, as well as a river pier from where pleasure boats depart. I managed to ride one of them.




Sculpture "Deer" in the park on the Mikhail Yaroslavich embankment:

The park also has its own standard set of standard carousels. But, unfortunately, I was not able to ride the Ferris wheel, as it was not working for some reason that day.


Directly adjacent to the park is one of the largest cinemas in the Tver region - "Zvezda". It was built on the site of the house of Peter I, in which the emperor stayed when passing through Tver. The cinema opened in 1937, and the building itself, built under the leadership of architect V.P. Kalmykov, is an architectural monument of late constructivism (post-constructivism).


The building is shaped like binoculars; the main entrance is made in the form of a deep niche between two towers with vertical windows and columns in the upper part, the side facades are decorated with hexagonal columns.


The design of the building is similar to another project by the same architect - the Rodina cinema in Moscow. Subsequently, similar architectural projects were implemented in Smolensk (October cinema) and Simferopol (Simferopol cinema).

By the way, the cinema is already located on the Stepan Razin embankment, into which the Mikhail Yaroslavich embankment smoothly merges.


In front of the cinema in the summer there is a cafe, in the middle of which there is a statuette of the famous Oscar film award:

Well, for now we will go in the opposite direction - to the Starovolzhsky Bridge.


In the park I discovered the second monument to A.S. Pushkin, installed here in 1974.


The Starovolzhsky Bridge, also called simply the Old Bridge, is a road and the first permanent bridge across the Volga in the city. It was built in 1897-1900 by the Czech engineer L.I. Mashek according to a project drawn up in 1895 in St. Petersburg by process engineer V.F. Tochisky. The bridge was opened on September 8, 1900 under Governor N.D. Golitsyn.


The length of the bridge is almost 216 meters. In December 1941, the bridge was blown up, but already at the beginning of 1942, temporary restoration was carried out, and in 1946-1947 the bridge was completely restored. In 1982-1985, the Starovolzhsky Bridge was reconstructed (project by G.M. Yankovsky, V.A. Tarnarutsky): new load-bearing structures of the spans were installed, the wooden covering was replaced with asphalt concrete, the roadway was widened to 9 meters, and coastal underground passages were built.


Car traffic on the bridge is 2 lanes (one in each direction). From 1931 to 1956, a tram line ran across the bridge. Nowadays there is a trolleybus service, but it was launched much later, in the 90s of the 20th century.


The bridge crosses the administrative boundaries of the Zavolzhsky and Central regions and connects Revolution and Peace Squares.


When I was in Tver, some kind of competition was held on the water.


The Afanasy Nikitin embankment is also busy with numerous cafes in the summer.


Part of Peace Square in the Zavolzhsky district:


Next we will go along the Volga along the Afanasy Nikitin embankment towards the second main bridge across the river.




Starovolzhsky Bridge from the Afanasy Nikitin embankment:


The monument to submariners on the Afanasy Nikitin embankment was unveiled on May 7, 2010. The design of the monument was developed by Tver sculptor E. Antonov.








The Church of the Three Confessors (also known as the Church of the Resurrection of Christ), which is clearly visible from the city garden, is located on the left bank of the Volga, on the Afanasy Nikitin embankment. The temple with a bell tower was built in 1731 on the site of a dilapidated wooden church at the crossing of the Volga at the expense of the merchant Sedov. After the revolution of 1917, the temple was closed, two tiers of the bell tower and frescoes were destroyed. Subsequently, the temple was declared a monument of republican significance. During the years of Soviet power, the temple building housed a health care museum, maritime and chess and checkers clubs. In 1996, the temple was returned to believers, and in 1997, services began there.




In 1955, a monument to Afanasy Nikitin, a famous Russian traveler and native of Tver, known to many tourists, was erected in front of the temple.

The area in front of the monument is an excellent viewing platform.


Athletes prepare for the start:




View of the city garden from the Afanasy Nikitin embankment:






The House of the Voroshilov Riflemen, or the House of Red Commanders, is located on the Stepan Razin embankment right behind the Zvezda cinema. The house was built in 1935 according to the design of the architect V. Anferov. In plan, the building has the shape of a right triangle, the sides of which are formed by Tversky Prospekt, Stepan Razin Embankment and Volny Novgorod Street. Now the building houses a hotel and a dormitory for the G.K. Zhukov Military Academy of Aerospace Defense.


So we got to the second main bridge of the city - Novovolzhsky, or simply the New Bridge. A new concrete bridge across the Volga, connecting Komsomolsky and Tverskoy avenues, was built in 1953-1956 according to the design of engineer A.B. Volovik.


Tram tracks are laid across the Novovolzhsky Bridge, connecting the Zavolzhsky district of Tver with the main, right-bank part of the city.


The beginning of Komsomolsky Avenue in the Zavolzhsky district:


From the Novovolzhsky Bridge there are excellent views of the Afanasy Nikitin embankment:


To the Starovolzhsky Bridge:


To the Mikhail Yaroslavich embankment and the central city park:


From here you can better see the shape of the Zvezda cinema:


Ferris wheel and river pier:


From the Novovolzhsky Bridge you can see the Church of the Great Martyr Catherine, located on the territory of the St. Catherine’s Convent right near the confluence of the Tvertsa River with the Volga.


Having walked along the Volga embankments to our heart's content, we'll head along Tverskoy Prospekt towards Sovetskaya Square to explore the rest of the city.


To be continued...

In the 12th century, a wooden fortress had already been cut down on the right bank of the Volga, and ancient Tver began to develop there, and on this site in the 13th century a monastery was founded - one of the oldest on Tver land - the Assumption Otroch Monastery. According to legend, the monastery was founded by the youth Gregory, from whom Prince Yaroslav stole his bride from under the crown. Some time after such a disaster, he heard the voice of the Mother of God, who commanded him to found a monastery in that deserted place.

The territory adjacent to the embankment west of the Otroch Monastery was inhabited from the 14th-15th centuries. (Zavolzhsky Posad), in 1773, after a major fire, it began to be built up with stone houses.

In the 1930s, the embankment was reconstructed and a river station was built. For the sake of building the station, almost all the buildings of the Assumption Otroch Monastery were destroyed. Only the Assumption Cathedral (1722) remains of its former beauty. Now it is a functioning church.

The River Station (1938) was conceived and implemented on a grand scale. Once upon a time, the Kalinin River Station received numerous ships. Now the situation has changed, and the station building is almost not used.

In the 1950s - 1960s, after the construction of the New Bridge, a new reconstruction of the embankment was carried out: the banks were partially concreted, a park was laid out, and a beach was created.

Church of the Resurrection of Christ (first third of the 18th century, with a southern aisle erected later, at the beginning of the 19th century, according to the design of K.I. Rossi), the Zubchaninovs’ house (last quarter of the 18th century), monument to Afanasy Nikitin (1955), monument to submariners (2010 g.), the square of St. Philip the Apostle and others.

The embankment is named after Afanasy Nikitin, a famous traveler, author of travel notes “Walking across Three Seas”, who traveled through Persia, India and Turkey in 1468-1474. The three seas are Khvalynskoe (Caspian), Indian (Indian Ocean), Istanbul (Black).

He went down the Volga with the goods, but returned many years later.

Afanasy Nikitin is a very mysterious person. He is called a merchant, but for an ordinary merchant he is too educated, well-read, and developed. Hardly anywhere else did merchants receive such an education.

He is familiar with the intricacies of various religions, he is constantly concerned about issues of faith. “And among faiths I pray to God that he will protect me...”

He is well versed in the Christian and Muslim calendar. Is it possible for a simple merchant of the fifteenth century to have such knowledge of the starry sky? “In India of Besermen, in the great Bederi, you looked at the Great Night on the Great Day - the hair and the stake came into the dawn, and the elk stood with its head to the east.”

Volos and Cola are the Pleiades and Orion, and Elk is the Big Dipper. Moreover, note that these constellations have been familiar to him for a long time, before his travels around India. He uses their northern names, common in his Tver - hairs, kola, elk!

And he clearly doesn’t have any trading acumen. They were robbed near Astrakhan and all their goods were taken away. It would seem that the end of the trading enterprise, there is nothing to trade, we must return.

But for him there is no turning back. His path is predetermined: “And I went to Derbent, and from Derbent to Baku, and from Baku I went overseas.”

Over the sea?! One? Robbed to the bone?! What should a merchant do overseas who has nothing to trade with?!

And from somewhere he gets money, and a luxurious stallion, which he “fed for a year.” What is he looking for, since not a single product on the richest eastern markets suits him: “neither fabrics, nor spices, nor rare natural dyes”?

It is believed that the Tver resident was looking for secret diamond mines. Tver needed diamonds to support and strengthen the princely power. After all, there was a struggle between the Tver and Moscow princes for supremacy in the Russian lands. So the Tver prince sent his faithful man to the land of countless treasures, providing him with letters of safe conduct. Grand Duke Mikhail Borisovich needs Indian diamonds to arm the Tver army in order to wage war with the Grand Duke of Moscow for the throne.

In the end, having completed his mission (successfully?), Afanasy Nikitin returned to Rus' and “before reaching Smolensk” he abruptly left for another world. And his notes were delivered to Moscow, where they were included in the chronicles “under 1475.”

This is what the Sofia Chronicle reports about this: “And he wrote the scripture with his own hand, and the notebooks were brought by Vasily Mamyrev’s guests to the clerk of the Grand Duke in Moscow,” recorded in 1475.

It’s interesting - the notes of some merchant (there were so many of them in Rus'!) were successfully and promptly confiscated, delivered, read, and even included in the chronicles. The name of such an impatient “reader” of precious records is known. This is “Vasily Mamyrev, clerk of the Great Moscow Prince Ivan III,” who was in charge of the sovereign’s treasury and secret investigation.

This is how the mission of this amazing man ended. And what especially struck me in his notes was his amazing, deep love for his Motherland:

“May God save the Russian land! God save her! There is no one like her in this world. Although the boyars of the Russian land are not kind. There is little justice in it. Let the Russian land become well-ordered!.. “Let the Russian land become well-ordered, and let there be justice in it. Oh God, God, God..."

And now the embankment in Tver bears the name of this patriot of his country.

The Afanasy Nikitin embankment begins, which until 1923 was called Zavolzhskaya, and until 1991 - Pervomaiskaya. The length of the embankment is 2.5 kilometers, then the street turns into the St. Petersburg Highway.
1.

Of course, we didn’t walk the entire embankment. Having reached the Starovolzhsky Bridge, we parked the car right on the embankment and walked a little forward, to the Resurrection Church.
2.

The Resurrection Church with a bell tower was built in 1731. It was closed in 1917 and housed a healthcare museum, as well as maritime and chess and checkers clubs. Since 1997, services have been held in the church.
3.

On the opposite side of the embankment, directly in front of the Church of the Resurrection, there is a monument to Afanasy Nikitin.
4.

Near the monument, photographing it from all sides - well, very good! - we went down to the Volga.
I will show you the Volga with its tributaries and some bridges separately. Only in winter, neither people nor birds need bridges; they walk along the Volga along a well-trodden path from one bank to the other.
5.

And now I’ll tell you a crime story from a native of Tver, Vera. voljena
“Have you noticed,” writes Vera, “that the building of the Zvezda cinema on the shore resembles a tractor? It was actually a project for Tajikistan, and the city of Kalinin stole it.”
Just like that! Who knows, maybe my native Leninabad lost the happiness of having such beauty in its square?! Vera, a resident of Tver, also admitted something about bridges, and I won’t hide anything from you...
6.

Let's look back once again at our relative by blood, the traveler Afanasy, and slowly walk towards the Starovolzhsky Bridge.
7.

I think it's very nice to walk here in the summer. Although it's not bad in winter...
8.

There Alyonushka is sitting, looking sad...
11.

And who is this? Is it really brother Ivanushka? No, he doesn’t look like that, he’s such a grown man.
It seemed to us that these were fountains.
12.

In 2010, a monument to submariners was unveiled in the park.
The words of the submariner, Hero of the Soviet Union M. Gadzhiev are carved on the pedestal:
“Nowhere has there ever been such equality in the face of death as in a submarine, where either everyone dies or everyone survives.” The sculptural composition is complemented by a small exhibition of submarine weapons.

Mikhail Yaroslavich Embankment in Tver is a great place for fun and entertainment.

There are many open-air cafes and bars on the embankment. There is also an amusement park with the obligatory Ferris wheel. A monument to A.S. was erected near the shore. Pushkin, which is popular among townspeople and visitors. In addition to Pushkin, there are monuments to Kalinin on the embankment, right on the site of the Transfiguration Cathedral, and to Prince Mikhail Tversky. On the territory of the park, on the embankment, there are two ancient buildings: the building of the former real school, where the museum is now located, and the Traveling Imperial Palace.

Afanasy Nikitin Embankment

Afanasy Nikitin Embankment is located on the left side along the Volga. It begins in the city of Tver at the river station. Previously, this embankment was called Zavolzhskaya (until 1923), Pervomaiskaya (from 1923 to 1991). The first information about this embankment dates back to the 17th century. The modern name was given to it after the Tver traveler Afanasy Nikitin. The following attractions are located here: the river station, the Church of the Ascension of Christ, the Assumption Cathedral of the Otroch Monastery, the monument to Afanasy Nikitin and others. It is located from the River Station (the mouth of the Tvertsa River) to Artillery Lane.

Stepan Razin Embankment

On the right bank of the Volga in the center of Tver is the Stepan Razin embankment. It runs along the coast from the intersection with Volny Novgorod Street and Svobodny Lane in the western part to Smolensky Lane in the eastern part. The entire embankment is an architectural monument with buildings of the “solid facade” type with preserved buildings from the early 18th century. The project for this river bank was developed by a group of architects led by P.R. Nikitin. Stone houses, which represent a single architectural ensemble characteristic of the construction of the embankments of the northern capital, began to be built up in the mid-1760s.

The “continuous development” project was supposed to cover the entire city, but the Tver merchants spoke out against the new architectural style. They were more accustomed to the usual city plan, when there were separating spaces and private estates between the estates of neighbors. The only place in the city where a new fashionable development was implemented was the Stepan Razin embankment.

Since 1810, the entire right bank was the pier of the Vyshnevolotsk water system, and before the appearance of the cargo port and passenger river station, the embankment was filled with ships. Later it became a pedestrian zone and a favorite place for walks and recreation for city residents. The banks were strengthened against erosion with a granite parapet. Among the most famous attractions on the embankment are the Zvezda cinema, the house of the Voroshilov Riflemen and the Khozinsky estate.