German Quarter

In the early 17th century, the army of False Dmitri II (self-proclaimed Tsar, 1607-1610) ravaged the Old German Quarter.

After the end of Time of Troubles, downtown Moscow attracted many European settlers, serving the royal court and the numerous foreign soldiers of muscovite troops.

In the 1640s, however, the clergy persuaded the tsar to limit foreign presence in Moscow, and in 1652 Alexis I of Russia forced all Catholic and Protestant foreigners to relocate to the German Quarter, which became known as the New German Quarter (Novonemetskaya Sloboda), located east of present-day Lefortovskaya Square, above the mouth of the Chechera River.

By 1672, it had three Lutheran and two Calvinist churches and numerous factories, like Moscow's first Silk Manufactory, owned by A. Paulsen.

At the same time, foreigners, not bound by former restrictions, migrated to the center of Moscow, for example, the French community settled in Kuznetsky Most.