Pushkin Square (Pushkinskaya Ploshchad)

Pushkin Square (Pushkinskaya Ploshchad) Review

Located at the intersection of Tverskaya ulitsa and the Boulevard Ring, Pushkin Square is most popular meeting place in town. Every evening in good weather you will see dozens of people waiting by the bronze statue of Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), which stands at the top of a small park. It's the work of Alexander Opekushin and was erected by public subscription in 1880. It is impossible to underestimate Russia's love for the poet who is credited with founding modern Russian literature. One of his most famous lines, from his novel in verse Eugene Onegin (1823) is about Moscow: "Moscow, how many strains are fusing / in that one sound, for Russian hearts! / what store of riches it imparts!" Summer and winter, fresh flowers on the pedestal prove that the poet's admirers are still ardent and numerous. The city claims to have big plans for the constantly packed underpass that links the square's four corners, with a large shopping center seemingly in the cards, but it's unclear when work will begin. Also at this site is the country's first McDonald's, once the busiest in the world, and a recently opened restaurant and shop called Armenia, which sells that country's famed Ararat brandy and other delicacies.