Moscow, like most major cities in Russia, takes care of its residents and guests. She creates and preserves the quiet corners of culture, where history speaks from book pages. Libraries, from the smallest to the largest, are scattered throughout the capital and store huge treasures - ancient chronicles, books, documents that, thanks to them, have become available to anyone. One of them is the Dostoevsky library in Moscow.
Chistye Prudy
The place to be discussed is located on Chistoprudny Boulevard, 23. This is the famous district of Moscow - Chistye Prudy. Its name is associated with the activities of the associate of Peter I, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, who lived nearby on Myasnitskaya Street at the beginning of the 18th century. True, at that time this area was called in a completely different way - Foul puddle, or Foul swamps. And not because there was a swampy area. As now, there was a pond in this place, but it was very dirty, since waste was dumped and dumped from nearby butcher shops and a slaughterhouse. Menshikov ordered to clean the pond. Since then, the modern name of the territory has been introduced.
The story of the appearance of house number 23 on Chistye Prudy
After some time, the slaughterhouse was transferred outside of Moscow, and these merchants began to settle in these lands. In 1900, a profitable house was erected here according to the project of V. Barkov for the landlady Elena Andreevna Teleshova. Teleshova herself did not live in this house.
This building was originally four-story. Three more floors were later added. Interestingly, the facade of the house is not flat, but concave. This is not characteristic of the constructions of the era and purpose.
Library history
At the beginning of the XX century, in 1907, in the house of the writer N.D. Teleshov on Chistoprudny Boulevard opened the public "Modern Library". It is located on the ground floor. After the revolutionary events of 1917, the building was nationalized, and the library working in it was transferred to the new government.
In 1921, the library was given the name of the writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.
In Soviet times, not only a subscription and reading room worked here, but also the Sovremennik Club of reading enthusiasts, the association of Chistye Prudy creative people and the Klyuch literature lover, as well as an aesthetic studio for children.
The Dostoevsky library reopened on November 19, 2013. Her rooms became bright, instead of traditional desks and bulky chairs, coffee tables and a variety of soft banquets were set for readers of all ages. Since the building has two rooms, isolated from each other, this allows you to use one of the spaces for lectures and film screenings without affecting the current library work. However, some Muscovites doubt the appropriateness of the changes. For example, instead of old bookcases, very high racks were installed, which are very difficult to climb onto the upper shelves. Designed by designers, the light solution for the book storage is not very successful. And the "dismissal" of the library cats Romochka and Stepochka exposes the books to the risk of damage by rats. In addition, it is not clear why a picture of the writer was removed from the Dostoevsky library, because now nothing in the library interiors corresponds to the name of the institution. Well, perhaps the presence of a number of unique publications, some of which contain the works of the writer.
