Sennaya Street (Maxim Gorky St.)

Sennaya Street (Maxim Gorky St.) was called so due to the Sennoy market (i.e. a hay market), situated between Nikolaevsky, Maliy and Gymnazicheskaya streets (now Semashko, Chekhov St. and the street named after the Greek town Volos). It was the street of working people and the most prominent house in it was the private women’s gymnasium belonging to Berberov which was situated at the corner of Pochtovy by-street (Ostrovsky) – now it is one of the buildings of the Teachers’ Training Institute. On the way to Soborny by-street there was a railway college and the boys’ gymnasium belonging to Stepanov (now the English gymnasium N 36). Sennaya street was renamed several times: into Turgenevskaya, into Romanovskaya and in 1936 into Gorky street in honour of the famous Russian writer who visited our town three times.

The first town-transport – a tram – ran along Bolshaya Sadovaya St. till the border between Rostov and Nakhichevan which was marked by special columns; in 1902 Nakhichevan also acquired its tram. There were no settlements on the border because this area was traditionally a waste-land as the guns of St.Dmitry Rostovsky Fortress could shoot as far as it. In 1880 by the decision of Nakhichevan Duma the park named after the tsar Alexander II was laid there. Annually the Armenians came to this park on the 23-d of April to choose their future brides, because only on this day and at this place women could open their faces. After the Great Patriotic War the park got a new name – of a pioneer-hero Vitya Cherevichkin who had been killed by the fascists for rendering assistance to the partisans. On the territory of the former border the Drama Theatre named after Maxim Gorky was constructed in 1934-1935 and opposite it one can see a magnificent memorial in honour of the 40-th anniversary of the Soviet people’s Victory in the Great Patriotic war. It was designed by the architect N. Milovidov and a sculptor Y. Rukavishnikov.

The names of many streets reflect the history of our city. Suvorov Street was named so in honour of the great Russian general, the generalissimo of the Russian army A.V. Suvorov who had visited the St. Dmitry Rostovsky Fortress more than once and lived there with his family in 1783-1784. Budennovsky avenue got its name after the Don hero, Marshal of the Soviet Union        S.M. Budenny. In January 1920 during the historic days of liberation of Rostov from the white guards the 1-st Mounted Army (under the command of     S.M. Budenny) played a decisive role in the rout of the enemy. In April, 1966 the monument to Budenny was erected by a sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich. By the way Vuchetich, the talented sculptor of the famous monument to Motherland in Volgograd, was a Rostovite and decorated his native city with a magnificent monument to the heroes of the Civil War at the Square of Soviets.

Many other famous people were born or visited Rostov and we revere them naming the streets in their honour. It is a real pleasure to stroll along the central part of the city and to read the pages of history, to look into the eyes of the old Rostov houses.

(В тексте использованы материалы Деревянко Р.Я.

Люби и знай свой родной край. – Ростов-н/Д, 1991.)                  

VOCABULARY

1 initially – первоначально

2 a paper-mill – бумажная фабрика

wall-paper – обои

3 editorial office – издательство

4 Factory of Coloured Printing – фабрика цветной печати

5 brewery – пивоваренный завод

6 central department store – центральный универмаг (ЦУМ)

7 to pave – мостить, покрывать (плиткой)

8 cast-iron fence – чугунная решетка

9 salvation – спасение

10 a high - way – магистраль, основная дорога

11 a waste-land – пустырь, свалка

12 generalissimo – генералиссимус

13 the white guards – белогвардейцы

14 the 1-st Mounted Army – Первая Конная Армия

15 rout – разгром

16 to render assistance – оказывать содействие

17 to electrify – электрифицировать

18 a blacksmith – кузнец

19 stuffed mammoth – чучело мамонта

20 a tsar – царь

a tsarina – царица

21 to revere – чтить

EXERCISES

1 Answer the following questions:

1 What streets were the main streets in Rostov?

2 What branches of industry were developed in a pre-revolutionary Rostov?

3 What buildings were constructed after Pomeranstev’s design?

4 What other streets of Rostov (which were not mentioned in the text) had been named after the famous people who had lived or visited our city?

5 Choose any central street and tell about its history.

 

2 Speak on the following situations:

1 Imagine that you are a guide and make an excursion in the central part of Rostov.

2 Imagine that you have a time-machine: what old and famous places of our city would you like to visit.