How Muscovites move from one “shore” of the Saint-Germain suburb of the capital to another during the day
The popular mise-en-scène of the main tourist street of the capital of the capital does not touch Muscovites. They know and appreciate the other Arbat. It starts from the Kremlin and continues to Povarskaya. So it was before Khrushchev, when these two streets, flowing one into the other, were “cut” by Kalininsky Prospekt, which today has become Novy Arbat.
All the most valuable is in quiet lanes. During the day, Muscovites literally move from one “shore” of the Old Arbat to another.
You can find residents of the district in the morning in Bolshoy Afanasyevsky. Kids are brought here to the kindergarten of the P'titcref network. It has been run for 18 years by Virginie Durant, herself a mother of three daughters. Children here are taught to speak English and French from the age of 1.5 by native speakers, the learning process goes through the game and creativity: the guys draw, play music, put on performances. Each week focuses on one theme, such as dinosaurs, botany, or the Middle Ages.
The second main parental address is Spasopeskovskiy pereulok. Here, in the same Moscow courtyard from the painting of the same name, is the legendary school No. 1231 named after V.D. Polenov. It is easy to recognize the lane from the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior. The school is almost 90 years old. By the way, the great-granddaughter of the artist, Natalya Fedorovna, herself studied within its walls. Once the school belonged to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the children of diplomats visited it. Language teaching here remains at its best. Graduates of the English, German and French departments of the school have advantages when entering foreign universities. So, a diploma from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France exempts from passing linguistic tests.
Herzen once accurately called the Arbat Saint-Germain suburb of Moscow. The area was and remains bohemian and creative. Therefore, it is worth diversifying the aesthetic education of children here, of course, with music and theater classes. In the Central House of the Actor, the team of Anna Bagmet and Irina Lindt is working with the young ministers of Melpomene. A visit to their premiera children's center – it is also an architectural adventure. Knights, dragons and lions can be seen endlessly on the facade of a neo-Gothic house.
Another address known to secular families is Sivtsev Vrazhek. “Little swans” flock here to the Central Ballet School, which was opened in 2019 by prima ballerina Ekaterina Shipulina.
While the children are busy, mothers can spend a couple of free hours on themselves. The Arbat area was also the Mecca of a special caste of doctors in Soviet times. Almost a hundred years ago, the first “medical cosmetics office” was opened here. This happened at the request of Molotov's wife, who was struck by the Parisian salons. Therefore, since the 1930s, aesthetic medicine has been taken seriously: at the level of clinical research. And the first Beauty Institute opened on Novy Arbat in 1967.
Generation after generation, Moscow beauties continue to come to the Arbat for care. To the Clinical Institute of Aesthetic Medicine – for platelet-rich plasma injections and non-surgical Smas-lifting. This treatment won last year's Glamor Best of Beauty award. Well-known beauty blogger Helen Manasir has lined up for Baby Face – a massage with the HydraFacial device in her Liq Skinbar on Povarskaya. Other positions will also give a youthful glow to the skin, for example, Hot Champagne – saturation of the skin with carbon dioxide bubbles.
The popular Liq Skinbar has opened in one of the most beautiful new buildings of the Arbat – De Luxe in the Theater House quarter. This place is ideal for settling in for a long time: a historic street in a quiet paradise in the “suburb” The Kremlin, expensive architecture, a lush green garden, in addition to a beauty salon, you can look into a restaurant and a jewelry store, a couple of minutes of a leisurely walk to the Patriarch's.
