Garden Ring

The Garden Ring is a direct descendant of the Skorodom (Скородом, literally Quick Building) and Earth Rampart (Земляной Вал, Zemlyanoy Val) fortifications, respectively.

Said fortifications were erected in the reign of Feodor I of Russia after a disastrous raid by Ğazı II Giray (1591).

Although Boris Godunov, then the de facto regent of Russia, was able to prevent Crimean Tatars from taking the city north of Moskva (river), he anticipated future raids and arranged construction of another ring of defenses.

As a defense measure, Streltsy slobodas were located next to these gates, especially in southern Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechye Districts.

[5] In the same 1775, local authorities entertained the idea of restoring the rampart but were set back by the number of state institutions that had to be demolished.

[7] The new free land was developed according to local social status: the upper-class western segment of the Ring acquired central boulevards, flanked by side streets.

[7] In south-eastern segment (Tagansky District), the Ring was not as wide, thus Zemlyanoy Val name persisted.

In 1841, local entrepreneurs set up a short railroad with a real Mercury tank engine as a pleasure ride for the party crowds.

[10] 1935 Joseph Stalin's master plan of Moscow provided for expansion of Garden Ring to at least 30–40 meter width, and demolition of buildings set at the ends of Garden Ring boulevards to create wide open squares.

Any street of the Ring is a mixture of different style and sizes, from single-story 1820s mansions to recently built shopping malls and the 162-meter Swissotel in Red Hills (2005).