{"id":1909,"date":"2015-05-27T14:07:15","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T21:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2019-07-12T14:22:05","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T21:22:05","slug":"moscow-must-see-fun-facts-about-kitay-gorod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/moscow-must-see-fun-facts-about-kitay-gorod","title":{"rendered":"21 Fun Facts about Kitay Gorod in Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So you&#8217;ve seen\u00a0<a title=\"Red Square and Kremlin Tour\" href=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/moscow\/tours\/kremlin-tour-moscow\">Red Square and Kremlin<\/a>&#8230; what&#8217;s next? Look around for <strong>hidden gems of Moscow<\/strong>, you are actually in the oldest part of Old Rus &#8211; <strong>Kitay Gorod<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_10761\"  width=\"1070\" height=\"602\"  data-origwidth=\"1070\" data-origheight=\"602\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-7uiY4ZD7T4?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s\u00a0take a Moscow highlights tour,\u00a0which is best explored on foot. Check our <a href=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/moscow\/tours\/bus-tour-in-moscow\">Bus Tour\u00a0Moscow<\/a>, if you&#8217;re looking for something more\u00a0dynamic.<\/p>\n<h2>21 fun facts about\u00a0Kitay Gorod<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1911\" style=\"width: 968px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1911\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1911 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/1.jpg\" alt=\"most beautiful streets in Moscow\" width=\"958\" height=\"539\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1911\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nikolskaya street, Kitay Gorod<\/p><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li>Kitay Gorod the <strong>oldest part of Moscow<\/strong> after the Kremlin, emerged in the 14th century due to the expansion of the boundaries of the Kremlin.<\/li>\n<li>Kitay Gorod\u00a0was the place where\u00a0&#8220;Red Heat&#8221; with <strong>Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/strong> was shot in 1988. It was the first Western film company, which was allowed to shoot in Moscow during the Soviet era.<\/li>\n<li>Among other Hollywood movies, which served as a backdrop for the streets of Kitay Gorod are &#8220;<strong>Mission: Impossible &#8211; Ghost Protocol<\/strong>&#8220;, &#8220;Get Smart&#8221;, Air Force One&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>In Russian \u201cKitay-gorod\u201d means \u201c<strong>China Town<\/strong>\u201d, but in fact it has nothing to do with Chinese people or culture.<\/li>\n<li>Officially the territory of Kitay Gorod begins from the Red Square. It has borders with\u00a0Lubyanka on the east, and with\u00a0the Moscow River\u00a0on the south side.<\/li>\n<li>The exact origin of the name hasn\u2019t been established yet and for now has two most popular versions. First: Old-Russian word \u201cKit\u201d meant \u201can item made by braiding\u201d that was used in the construction of fortifications. Second: \u201cCitta\u201d in Italian meant \u201ccitadelle\u201d or fortification, as the walls of Kitay Gorod protected the city from the unwanted visitors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The\u00a0walls of Kitay Gorod<\/strong>\u00a0used to be high and thick (6 meters in both dimensions) with the\u00a0length of 2.5 kilometers, but now we can see only small piece of it located in Zaryadye. Fortunately, city officials are planning a big restoration.\n<p><div id=\"attachment_1912\" style=\"width: 596px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1912\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1912 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Tretyakov-passage-in-Kitay-Gorod.jpg\" alt=\"most beautiful streets in Europe\" width=\"586\" height=\"980\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tretyakov passage in Kitay Gorod<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n<li><strong>First typography<\/strong> in Russia was founded in 1553 exactly here, in Kitay-gorod (15 Nikolskaya street). All Russian books and newspapers were printed\u00a0here. During the Soviet era the building was first an archive, and then became a Russian State University.<\/li>\n<li>First \u201c<strong>skyscraper<\/strong>\u201d in Moscow was 5-stored building here in Kitay-gorod district. It was built in 1876 and was the highest building of the city for a long long time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The\u00a0Trinity monastery on Ilyinka<\/strong> &#8211; Apartment house-monastery of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra (&#8220;Trinity Compound&#8221;) is\u00a0located at 5 Ilinka Street is nowadays an object of cultural heritage of regional significance.<\/li>\n<li>There is an <strong>English Old Court on Varvarka street<\/strong>, the former home of the first foreign representation in Moscow (1553). In 1994 Queen Elizabeth II paid an official visit here.<\/li>\n<li>When English Queen Elizabeth I\u00a0rejected the flirting of Ivan the Terrible, Russian Tsar got so furious that he imprisoned an English ambassador here for a year.<\/li>\n<li>By the way, it is located a few steps from <strong>Chamber of Romanov Boyars<\/strong>, hidden from most tourists <a title=\"Attractions in Moscow\" href=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/top-10-moscow-attractions\/\">attraction<\/a>, local gem.<\/li>\n<li>The most beautiful building in Kitay Gorod is located on <strong>21\u00a0Nikolskaya street<\/strong>: it used to be the <strong><em>biggest pharmacy in Europe<\/em><\/strong> at the end of 19th century. The owner, Karl Ferrein, turned his pharmacy into a huge factory with more than 600 workers, with its own medical wines, and plantations. It was\u00a0be the main supplier of drugs during the WWI.\n<p><div id=\"attachment_1914\" style=\"width: 448px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1914\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1914 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/5.jpg\" alt=\"most beautiful streets in the world\" width=\"438\" height=\"577\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nikolskaya street, Kitay Gorod, Moscow<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n<li>One\u00a0of the most <a title=\"Streets of Moscow\" href=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/things-to-do-moscow-streets\/\">famous streets<\/a> of Kitay Gorod is <strong>Varvarka<\/strong> &#8211;\u00a0Barbarian. It is one of the oldest streets in Moscow. In the old days Varvarka\u00a0was one of the most prestigious streets of the capital.<\/li>\n<li>The oldest street of Kitay Gorod was\u00a0<strong>Velikaya<\/strong> -\u201cthe Great\u201d, which was older than Moscow itself. Unfortunately, it was demolished in 20th century, and now there is Moskvoretskya embankment.<\/li>\n<li>Another part of the ancient city of Kitay Gorod is <strong>Solyanka<\/strong>, meaning\u00a0Salt. The street got its name through hydrochloric court, which settled here from the 17th to the 19th century. The intricate system of cellars of the Salt courtyard, still preserved underground Solyanka\u00a0today, dominates the minds of many adventurers. Solyanka is close to one of seven hills Moscow stands on &#8211; <a title=\"Ivanovskaya Gorka\" href=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/things-to-do-moscow-ivanovskaya-gorka\">Ivanovskaya Hill<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Perhaps the most colorful part of the Kitay Gorod in the past was <strong>Khitrovka<\/strong>, the existence of which we can track by\u00a0Khitrovskaya alley. In the 19th century, this area was the gathering place of the provincials coming to Moscow for\u00a0work. Many of them had nowhere to go, and they spent the night on the square. Gradually, the surrounding houses were turned into rooming house, and the area became a breeding ground for disease and crime. So Khitrovka turned into the most criminal district of Moscow, which numbered as many as 5,000 people.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ilyinka street<\/strong> used to be the richest one in Moscow: all banks and offices in 19th century were located here.<\/li>\n<li>The southern lobby of the metro station &#8220;Kitay Gorod&#8221; preserved a fragment of white stone foundations of ancient Barbarian towers.<\/li>\n<li>There are <em>4 monasteries, 24 churches, cathedrals, and 8 chapels<\/em> in the area of Kitay gorod.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div id=\"attachment_1913\" style=\"width: 449px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1913\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1913 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/4.jpg\" alt=\"Private guide in Moscow\" width=\"439\" height=\"641\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1913\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our guide Dasha on Nikolskaya street, Kitay Gorod, Moscow<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Have you been at Kitay Gorod? Do you plan to visit it when in Moscow?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So you&#8217;ve seen\u00a0Red Square and Kremlin&#8230; what&#8217;s next? Look around for hidden gems of Moscow, you are actually in the oldest part of Old Rus &#8211; Kitay Gorod. &nbsp; Let&#8217;s\u00a0take \u2026<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/moscow-must-see-fun-facts-about-kitay-gorod\">Continue<i class=\"icon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[1478,1476,1475,1467,1477,942,1263,1471,1468,1469,928,1482,1106,1479,1472,1470,1480,1473,1481,1474],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6293,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions\/6293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendlylocalguides.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}