The fountain on Minin and Pozharsky Square is the central fountain in Nizhny Novgorod, which is one of its main attractions.
Originally, this fountain, which opened back in 1847, was conceived as a water source. The lack of water in the upper part of the city was especially acute in summer: if in winter residents of the upper settlement could take water in one of the many lakes (Chernoe, Mironositskoe) or in rivers (Pochaina, Kovalikha), in summer they simply turned into sewage pits.
The fountain and water supply installed on the Blagoveshchenskaya Square (Minin Square) were a structure unique for Russia, made at the Shepelevs' Vyksa plant.
The design consisted of the following: water from 18 springs rose through wooden pipes into a stone pool, and then using a water-lifting station powered by two steam engines, and then through cast-iron pipes, water crossed many city streets before the inputs entered the fountain. This system provided residents of Nizhny Novgorod with 40 thousand buckets of water a day.
The current location of the fountain has changed somewhat. And judging by the archival photos, its location has changed more than once. Now the fountain is firmly established in the square opposite the Kremlin wall. And since 2007, in winter, it has been decorated with amazing illumination.

Nizhny Novgorod, he is Gorky, he is, with a light youth hand - NiNo or NN. The city, which has earned the title of the Volga capital, is truly original - a little provincial and at the same time rapidly developing, retaining its historical appearance, at the same time, it is rapidly acquiring modern architecture.

If we talk about the sights of Nizhny Novgorod, then there are quite a few of them: for 8 centuries of existence, whose only foot has not set foot on the land of the Dyatlovy mountains, who just did not leave their mark on the history of Nizhny Novgorod.

Nizhny Novgorod is the birthplace of outstanding people in the field of literature, art and science. And almost every eminent city dweller has a monument erected here. As a last resort - a memorial plaque. Monuments to the most famous residents of Nizhny Novgorod - Minin and Pozharsky, Gorky and Chkalov - are installed in the very heart of Nizhny Novgorod.

The most famous landmark of Nizhny Novgorod, the Kremlin, is also located here. Recently, negotiations are underway to include it in the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in Russia.

Immediately outside the walls of the Kremlin, Rozhdestvenskaya Street is located on one side, and on the other - the Chkalovskaya Stairs. Walking these stairs is an occasion not only to marvel at the power of engineering, but also to test your endurance. There are no less than 560 steps in the staircase! This is the longest staircase in Russia.

A special place among the sights of the city is occupied by numerous churches and cathedrals. Some are monumental and austere (the Old Fair Cathedral, the Alexander Nevsky New Fair Cathedral), others are small and intricate (the Stroganov Church and the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist at the Marketplace).

But all are incredibly beautiful, with a rich centuries-old history. The Nizhny Novgorod monasteries - the Annunciation and the Caves monasteries - are especially famous.

As for the museums of Nizhny Novgorod, their number is not too large, but all of them, no doubt, deserve attention. Moreover, some of them are unique and exist in Russia in the singular - for example, the Dobrolyubov Museum.

The most famous, of course, is the recently restored and therefore amazingly beautiful museum of local lore - the Rukavishnikovs Estate. Here, not so much the expositions are of great value, but the building itself, striking in its beauty and combination of styles.

Almost all the most interesting museums are located close to each other: the Art Museum, the Russian Museum of Photography, the A.M. Gorky.

Nevertheless, the main attraction remains the natural beauty and landscapes of Nizhny Novgorod, opening from the Verkhnevolzhskaya embankment. The Nizhny Novgorod Volzhsky slope is a place that UNESCO specialists plan to include in the list of World Heritage Sites.

The beauty of Nizhny Novgorod nature can be appreciated not only on the Verkhne-Volzhskaya embankment, but also in one of the city parks: Avtozavodsky Park, Kulibin Park, Pushkin Park, Switzerland Park.

For example, in Pushkin Park you can walk along a unique birch alley, and in Switzerland Park you can enjoy the beauty of the river and ride one of the many attractions.

04.05.2018 Nizhny Novgorod residents had a holiday

Today a fountain has started working 171 times on the Minin and Pozharsky square. This year it was repainted in its historical color - black. In the evening, its jets, illuminated by colored lights, will dance to the music.

In any city, the central fountain is an iconic place. Here lovers meet, mothers with children walk, elderly couples relax. On a hot summer day, they seek coolness here, and in the evening - peace.


The fountain on Minin Street has always been a landmark in Nizhny Novgorod. But once it performed not only an aesthetic function, but also a practical one - it was part of the first water supply system in the city.


Residents of the upper posad (upper part of the city) have always suffered from a lack of water. In winter and spring, they took water from city water bodies. From the ponds - Pokrovsky, Sarki, Cherny, Mironositsky, not one of them is gone. And from the rivers - Pochayna, Chernoy, Kovalikha, they are all driven into underground pipes.


But in the summer, the reservoirs dried up, polluted with cesspool drains, slops and garbage. People began to haul water from the Volga. Some of the richer - on horses, and the poor - in buckets.


And fires - how often we are witnesses that, despite all possible efforts of the police for a person, the fire spreads due to lack of water. Looking through the chronicles of Nizhny Novgorod, we notice that from the middle of the fourteenth century, up to twenty times it was subjected to terrible misfortunes from fire; quite often the whole half of the city burned down, sometimes more - and always the main reason for this was the lack of water, - wrote "Gubernskie vedomosti" in 1846.


The matter shifted under the Governor-General, Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich Urusov. He found funding, and the project was developed by hydraulic engineer Andrei Ivanovich Delvig. The equipment for the water supply system - unique for Russia - was made at the Shepelevs' Vyksa plant.


The plumbing worked like this. Water from 18 springs of the Volga slope - it was tested by the medical board - flowed through wooden pipes into a brick pool at the intersection of Kazan and Georgievsky congresses. There was also a water-lifting station - a beautiful building in the Gothic style, in which two water-lifting steam engines were placed.


The water supply was laid through the entire central part of the city. Through four cast-iron pipes laid through the Aleksandrovsky Garden, steam engines delivered water to the first water intake - to the Martynovskaya hospital (at the intersection of the current Minin and Semashko streets). Further, the water conduit delivered water along Zhukovskaya Street (now Minin Street) to the fountain - this was the main water intake. Then the water went to the Kremlin, to the governor's house, along Alekseevskaya and Dvoryanskaya streets and along Bolshaya Pokrovka to Lykov exit, where a reservoir was built.


Skeptics said: "There is no such water supply system anywhere in Europe, how can there be in Nizhny Novgorod?" But on October 1, 1847, the fountain was solemnly opened. The water supply system provided 40 thousand buckets of water per day.


By the way, then the fountain was located near the current stop of public transport - between the cafe and the Kremlin wall. But in 1930, the temples - Alekseevsky and Blagoveshchensky - were demolished, the square was "reformatted", and the fountain was moved to its current location.


It was restored in the 1990s. The historical appearance was preserved, even this year it was repainted in its original color, and the "filling" was completely changed: an underground part was built and modern pumping equipment was installed.

The area from which a tourist acquaintance with Nizhny Novgorod usually begins is called Minin and Pozharsky square... This square has a very peculiar curved shape, which is the result of combining several squares. Its total length more than 500 meters from the Dmitrievskaya tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin to its Georgievskaya tower.

  • Description and history

    Today it main town square, the venue for all celebrations and celebrations, during which car traffic stops on it. And the rest of the time it is the city's existing highway.


    The historical development of the square began almost immediately after the construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. In the 16th century this area, located on the territory of the posad, was called Verkhneposadskaya or Upper Bazaar. It was the main trading area cities.

    Upper market square in the 19th century

    Gradually, all of its territory was built up with houses, churches and utility structures. It was also located here customs hut... In the 17th century, after the construction on the square of the Annunciation Cathedral, it became Annunciation.

    Annunciation square with the cathedral of the same name in the 19th century

    With the beginning of the general planning of the Nizhny Novgorod by the end of the 18th century and for fire prevention purposes, numerous chaotic wooden structures were dismantled. Formed according to the new town planning plan, the shape of the square turned out to be trapezoidal, thereby securing the already formed branches of the outgoing streets. Since then, only stone structures.

    During the Soviet period, which received a very unoriginal name - Soviet - the square changed its appearance again. The Annunciation Cathedral was destroyed. The two-headed eagle disappeared from the Dmitrievskaya tower, and there the red banner of the victorious class was now developing.

    Over the course of time has developed modern-old architectural ensemble, which make up - the Kremlin wall with the towers of Dmitrievskaya, Porokhovaya and Georgievskaya, Palace of Labor, Monument to V. Chkalov and Monument to K. Minin, TC "Alekseevskie rows", buildings of the Pedagogical and Medical Universities, residential buildings and other structures.

    A number of central streets start from this square, the most famous of which is Bolshaya Pokrovskaya- now pedestrian.

    Pedestrian Bolshaya Pokrovskaya

    Attractions of the square

    Monument to K. Minin

    Monument to K. Minin is located in a small park opposite Dmitrievskaya tower(across the road).

    The fate of this bronze monument is very interesting. The townspeople have long wanted to immortalize in stone their heroic fellow countrymen - Minin and Pozharsky. Only in 1913 On the eve of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, the installation of the monument was started - a temporary model was erected on a granite pedestal.

    They didn't manage to erect a permanent monument - it began World War I... After the revolution, the new government disposed of the monument in its own way - the granite of the pedestal was used for creative construction, while the monument simply disappeared.

    In the midst of World War II, with the aim of raising patriotism, the pages of the heroic national past began to be recalled. In particular, they remembered about People's Nizhny Novgorod militia and about the civic consciousness of citizen K. Minin.

    In the city of Gorky (as Nizhny Novgorod was then called), it was decided to erect a monument to the famous citizen. Concrete monument to K. Minin(sculptor A. Kolobov) appeared on the square in 1943 year... just in time for the November holidays, and the square has since been called the Minin and Pozharsky Square.


    In 1985, that concrete monument, in need of repair, was dismantled, restored and sent to the patriot's homeland, Balakhna. In the summer 1989 year took this place sculpture by master O. Komov.


    The great patriot of Russia and a native of the Nizhny Novgorod land even today stands with his hand held high, calling on his fellow citizens to defend their Fatherland.

    Monument to V. Chkalov

    On the Minin and Pozharsky square there is another monument dedicated to the native of the Nizhny Novgorod land - the Monument to the legendary pilot V. Chkalov (author I.A. Mendelevich) set in 1940 about Georgievskaya tower Kremlin, on the very edge of the Volga hill.

    V. Chkalov is known all over the world for his first nonstop flight from the Land of the Soviets to America.


    Monument to V. Chkalov closes the Minin and Pozharsky Square

    The place of installation of the monument was not chosen by chance, it was here that I often walked Chkalov With my friend Mendelevich dreaming to erect a monument to M. Gorky on this high slope. But ... This place went to the most famous pilot. Look at him - he seems to be preparing for the next flight, staring at the sky.

    V. Chkalov's gaze is directed to the Nizhny Novgorod sky

    Carved on a labradorite pedestal routes heroic pilot on northern hemisphere map... Near the monument there is an observation deck from which one can see the Nizhegorodskaya Strelka and the river distances of the Volga and Oka.

    From the monument to the Volga itself you can go down the Chkalovskaya staircase, which resembles an eight (infinity sign) and consists of 560 steps. The Chkalovskaya Staircase is perhaps the most grandiose structure in Nizhny Novgorod and is considered the longest staircase in our country. It connects two embankments: Verkhne-Volzhskaya and Nizhne-Volzhskaya, on which Nizhny Novgorod residents and guests of the city like to walk.


    Chkalovskaya staircase descends to the Nizhne-Volzhskaya embankment

    True, this staircase was originally called Stalingrad, for its construction has begun in 1943 in honor of the victory of Soviet troops at Stalingrad. German prisoners of war also "helped" to build this most monumental structure of the century. The construction was completed after the war - in 1949

    Palace of Labor

    One of the main architectural landmarks of the square is Palace of Labor, which looks out onto the square from Pokrovka ( Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, 1).


    The history of the creation of this beautiful structure is very remarkable. In the middle of the 19th century, when the square was actively built up with stone houses, a three-story beautiful, light and graceful building was erected here - the former tenement house famous Nizhny Novgorod merchant P. Bugrova... Built it architect N. Uzhumedsky-Gritsevich.

    The building became an adornment not only of the square, but of the whole of Nizhny Novgorod. The first floor housed trade shops, and the upper floors P. Bugrov temporarily gave to the acting troupe the first city theater, at that moment not having its own corner.

    Subsequently A. Bugrov - a son owner - sold this house to A. Turchaninov, who was the provincial leader of the nobility. However, after the death of the new owner, the building returned. theatrical collective. And now already grandson the first Bugrov - Nikolay - buys the building, sponsoring for this the construction of another theater building on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street (not to drive the artists out into the street).


    Having relocated the actors to the new theater building, the owner donates the vacated building City Duma! Such generous entrepreneurs were in the 19th century. But N. Bugrov does not just donate a building, but with the proviso that it never has theater troupes, drinking alcohol and other excesses... While the City Duma was thinking what to do with the gift, how to use it more rationally, it happened fire and a wonderful apartment building burned to the ground. It happened at the very end 19th century.

    Very quickly, already at the beginning of the 20th century, it was built new building (architect V. Zeidler) with Art Nouveau elements and artistically decorated interiors. The most interesting thing is that more than 70% of the funds for the construction of a new house were allocated by the same N. Bugrov! And all this with the good memory of my grandfather. Nizhny Novgorod residents did not forget N. Bugrov, a monument to him was erected on Lyadov Square near the former Widow's House, which he also built.


    After the completion of construction, representatives of the City Duma finally entered the newly rebuilt building. In the main meeting room, right up to 1972, hung the famous patriotic canvas "Appeal of Minin", artist K. Makovsky.

    In Soviet times, trade union organizations lived in this architectural landmark, which is why the modern name of the mansion appeared - the Palace of Labor. Works here now regional court.

    The fountain

    The fountain functioning on the square is also a fairly well-known city landmark. Its appearance is associated with the development of a water supply system in Nizhny Novgorod! In 1847 for the first time in the upland part of Nizhny water supply... From this period, the creation of a centralized water supply for this urban area began. At the same time, appeared on the square and the fountain.

    The first city fountain

    And although it repeatedly changed its location, was reconstructed, equipped with modern equipment and evening lighting, it never ceased to be a local landmark and decoration of the square.

    Fountain today

    A.S. Pushkin Museum

    One of the buildings of Minin and Pozharsky Square, namely Gymnasium №1, is the keeper Museum of A.S. Pushkin.

    In the 30s of the 19th century, this building belonged to hotel "Rooms Deulina"... The building itself was then 2 floors lower. Pushkin stayed there for only 2 days during his trip to the places of the Pugachev uprising in September 1833 year.

    A. Pushkin Museum is waiting for visitors

    But, nevertheless, love and respect for the great Russian poet was so great that even such a short visit to the city by him gave rise to the creation of a museum.

    The architectural composition of the Minin and Pozharsky squares is harmonious and plastic. But it is impossible to tell about all its buildings at once, although they undoubtedly have their own interesting historical past. In former buildings Theological seminary(opposite the Powder Tower) and Provincial gymnasium(opposite the Dmitrievskaya tower) there are educational departments of the current Pedagogical University.

    And in the building of the former steamship company "Volga", built at the beginning of the 20th century, prepares future doctors. There are also other beautiful and interesting buildings here.


    Medical Academy in an old building of the 19th century

    A walk along Minin and Pozharsky Square will be pleasant in all respects, in the afternoon and in the evening and at any time of the year.


    Tourist routes from the square

    To get to know and feel the city better, you need walk, especially since there are plenty of popular walking routes in such a historic city. Therefore, armed with comfortable shoes and a good mood, we begin hiking travel in the historical center of Nizhny Novgorod from Minin Square and Pozharsky.

    Bolshaya Pokrovskaya street

    You should definitely take a walk along the pedestrian Bolshoi Pokrovskaya street, on which, in addition to buildings of age-old architecture, there are many a cafe and souvenir shops, as well as amazing Nizhny Novgorod sculptural images, it is simply impossible to pass by indifferently.


    This street appeared on the map of the city in the Middle Ages as a road to Moscow. Since the end of the 18th century, it has been built up with stone buildings of nobles, princes and high dignitaries and becomes the main city thoroughfare.


    From the architectural sights of Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, pay attention to the following architecturally outstanding buildings. House number 1 - Palace of Labor(architect V.P. Zeidler) - the former Bugrov Profitable House (also known as the House of the Former State Duma). We have already mentioned about him above.

    Almost opposite the Drama Theater, at the intersection with Piskunov Street, there is a very beautiful building - a former tenement house Kudryashov and Chesnokov(house 10) built in the middle of the 19th century.


    The building of the oldest city of Nizhny Novgorod is also beautiful. Drama Theater named after M.Gorky(house 13), near which he sits on a bench E. Evstigneev... The bronze monument to this remarkable actor was not installed here by chance - after all, he began his career in this theater.


    The building looks impressive too District Court(House 17). Also on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya there is a former House of the Noble Assembly(house 18) and many, many other pompous and bright former tenement houses and administrative institutions of the 19th-early 20th centuries, giving the street a ceremonial and solemn look. There are a lot of tenement houses and private estates on B. Pokrovskaya, so do not pass information memorial plaques.

    The decoration of the street is the building of the former State bank(house 26).


    On B. Pokrovskaya you can walk all day, there are also interesting museums, and entertainment centers, and pretty a cafe... It is especially pleasant to be on this street in the evening, when it is filled with amateur singers and dancers, around whom groups of fans form. All these congestions create a festive and cheerful atmosphere, which you really do not want to leave.

    Evening exercise on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya

    B. Pokrovskaya street ends M. Gorky Square, where the monument to the writer by V. Mukhina is installed in the park.

    Verkhne-Volzhskaya embankment

    Visit Nizhny Novgorod and not visit it Verkhne-Volzhskaya embankment would be a very big omission. This embankment, running along the upper edge of the Nizhny Novgorod hill, parallel Nizhne-Volzhskaya, also starts from the eastern outskirts of Minin and Pozharsky Square, and more specifically from the Monument to V. Chkalov.

    The emergence of this beautiful promenade, from where beautiful views of the Volga open up, are obliged to the residents of Nizhny Novgorod Nicholas the First, who ordered to equip a promenade here.


    This small street also has its own attractions. These include D. Sirotkin's mansion(early 20th century), the largest shipowner in the city. Now this beautiful restored building houses one of the buildings City Art Museum(house 3), where canvases of Western European artists of the 15-20 centuries are exhibited.

    And very close, in house number 7, there is another wonderful mansion, which must also be visited - this is the Rukavishnikovs' Estate, the construction of the end 19th century... The future Silver Age Symbolist poet was born in this richest mansion in the city. I. S. Rukavishnikov... The building is now owned Nizhny Novgorod Historical and Architectural Museum of the Reserve and is open to the public.

    In addition to inspecting the interior of the building itself, you can see exhibitions and expositions of local history held in the mansion.


    Interesting for visual inspection House of railroad workers(house 10) is a vivid example of Soviet construction at the end of the 30s. Construction postconstructivism, containing elements of Russian classicism and the Renaissance in the design, is the architectural vertical of the street.


    Curious 11th house neoclassical style... At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the mansion of the family of a large ship owner Kamensky... In the Soviet period, there was both the Institute of Chemistry and the Knowledge Society. And during the renovation in 1973, while dismantling the dilapidated oak staircase, the workers found the treasure of the former owners. The family values ​​that make up this treasure are now kept in the storerooms of the local history museum of Nizhny Novgorod and are partially exhibited in the Rukavishnikovs' Estate.


    But in the building occupied today Nizhny Novgorod Technical University(house 16), from the middle of the 19th century until the revolution of 1917 was Mariinsky Institute for Noble Maidens... Such is this interesting Upper Volga embankment.

    From the elongated Minin and Pozharsky Square, other ancient streets also depart - Barbaric, Ulyanova, Minin... On each of them, among the modern buildings, the most unique architectural sights and the amazing aura of Nizhny Novgorod have been preserved, which is simply not possible to get enough of.

    And if you go down from the square down the Chkalovskaya stairs, you can walk along Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment which is quite a long and pleasant walking area.