Povarskaya street

Povarskaya still remains one of the most elegant Moscow streets. Russian rulers’ head-cooks used to live in this area, that’s why the street got such a strange name: «Povarskaya» means «the Cook street». Three nearby lanes (Dining lane, Tablecloth lane and Bread lane) also keep names reminding us about cuisine. Since the times of the first Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible noblemen also began to take up their residences here; during the reign of Peter the Great Povarskaya entirely became the street of Moscow high-born families. Right up to the October Revolution Povarskaya was considered to be the most aristocratic Moscow street. Palaces of the noble families adjoin the merchants’ mansions raised here in the beginning of the 20th century. Walk along the Povarskaya street is a perfect way to feel the atmosphere of fashionable pre-Revolutionary Moscow.