Moscow for many is not only our capital,which has many districts, but also a city with its unique centuries-old history, which has been preserved in architectural monuments. Of particular interest to tourists, and just for curious people are the old streets of Moscow, storing centuries of secrets.

The history of the streets of Moscow is closely connected with the historyRussia, with many historical facts, which the current generation does not even suspect. People simply pass through them, hurrying about their business, and hardly think about why this or that street, embankment or avenue is named that way.

Muscovites perfectly know one of the centralsquares of the capital, which is part of the Garden Ring - Bolshaya Sukharevskaya. But the fact that its name is associated with the once-located Sukharev Tower is remembered by few.

At the end of the 17th century here were the SretenskysThe wooden gate signifying the entrance to the Earth City, which it was decided to rebuild, having built them out of stone. And for the sake of importance they should be strengthened Sukharev Tower - a unique structure, perhaps the only one in Russia, which until 1934, along with the Kremlin and two other temples - St. Basil the Blessed and Christ the Savior - was considered a symbol of Moscow.

It was a rather gloomy and formidable structure, which had huge dimensions and decisive forms.

Sukharev Tower really was toocumbersome for Moscow at that time: it, as if hanging over neighboring neighborhoods, has become one of the architectural dominants of the capital. And since it was installed on the site of the former Sretensky Gate, it assumed the function of the northern exit from the city towards Yaroslavl.

By the way, it was Sukharev's tower that became a stronghold for the revolutionaries, when the Red Guards fired on the square with machine-gun bursts of cadets.

There have always been many legends around her. It was said that the project was developed by Peter the First himself, although in reality the author of the project was Mikhail Choglokov.

According to experts, Sukharev Tower waswas created not simply as a West European town hall, but rather as an allegorical ship with a mast: its eastern part was a ship's nose, and the western one was a stern. Maybe that's why, remembering Peter's predilection for the fleet, they assumed that he was the developer of the tower project. Like the Kremlin Spasskaya, Sukharev's tower was decorated with a large clock, while it was crowned by a two-headed eagle.

Sukharev Tower, whose height reached 60 meters, was a symbiosis of the Lombard and Gothic architectural styles. The people called it the bride of the building of the bell tower of Ivan the Great.

In 1931, after making a decision to develop a plan for the complete reconstruction of the capital, the destruction of many unique historical monuments began.

Did not escape the bitter fate and Sukharev Tower,which in the beginning was dismantled according to the brick, and then they decided to blow it up. And already in the summer of the same year it was finally dismantled, and the square was renamed into the collective farm.

However, memories of her remained on the canvases of artists and in the works of Russian classics, such as Ilf and Petrov, Bulychev, and others.