Chistye Prudy (Clean Ponds), which is also officially Chisty Pond (currently there is only one pond) is a pond in Moscow. It was historically located at the walls of the White City and on Chistoprudny Boulevard since the 18th century. The park area on the boulevard and the metro station also bear this name.
There is no consensus on the origin of the name “Chistye Prudy.” According to the most widespread version, in the 17th century, there were “Bad Swamps” or “Bad Puddles” on the site of the current Chisty Pond. The origin of the name “Foul Marshes” is also not known for certain. The main version says that the pond began to be called “filthy” because sewage and waste from butcher shops located nearby on Myasnitskaya Street were dumped into it.
According to another version, a village belonging to boyar Stepan Kuchka was located near this place in the 12th century. Once Vladimir-Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky stopped for the night in this village and because he did not like how Kuchko received him, he ordered the boyar to be executed and his body to be thrown into the pond, giving it the name Pogany.
The pond got itsmodern name “Clean Ponds” after Alexander Menshikov built a new church (Menshikov Tower) nearby and ordered to clean the “Pogany Pond” at the end of the 17th century and forbade it to continue dumping sewage there.
Since that time they have become one of the favorite places for Muscovites to walk and relax. In the summer it was possible to go boating there and in the winter – ice-skating.
In 1990, the name “Chistye Prudy” was given to the Moscow metro station, which was called “Kirovskaya”from 1935 to 1990. Since the 1990s, Chistye Prudy has become a famous cult “party” place in the capital, famous throughout Russia, where bohemians and informal groups, lovers of alternative music, including metalheads, punks, goths, and sometimes skinheads gather. Usually, vacationers meet at the monument to Alexander Griboyedov.
There are many restaurants and cafes near Chistye Prudy, one of which is a tramcafe that runs along Chistoprudny Boulevard. Currently, the area near the pond is also a permanent place for all kinds of political rallies and celebrations of football victories, often becoming a venue for various flash mob events. In winter, the pond is still used as a spontaneous ice-skating rink.
Photo exhibitions are also often held near Chistye Prudy. Artists and photographers place their works on stands along the pond so that passers-by can see them.
Transport
Chistye Prudy, Turgenevskaya, Sretensky Boulevard, Krasnye Vorota, Lubyanka metro stations.
Tram “A” (“Annushka”).
Attractions around: Bolshoi Theatre, Manezhnaya Square, Ploschad Revolyutsii (square), State Duma building, House of the Unions, Tretyakovskiy proezd, Central Children’s Store, Lubyanka Building, Metropol Hotel, Red Square, Tverskaya street, Kremlin, Pokrovka street, Maroseyka street.
See also parks of Moscow, rivers and embankments of Moscow.
