The Bolshoi Theatre is the main theatre in Russia. The walls, the ceiling and the floor of the audience hall were made of wood or plywood to provide incredible acoustics. To light 300 oil lamps of the massive chandelier a special room under the roof was used - the chandelier was raised into it before the performance.

The existing TsUM building in its Neo-Gothic style was built in 1908, but the place was used for trade much earlier. The first owners of the store were "Muir and Merilise" from Scotland. They had started their business from a single hat shop in 1885, but four years later they already had 28 different trade departments. The system of price tags, returned goods and sale periods was introduced here for the first time.

In 1930 at the intersection of Petrovka st. and Kuznetsky most st. the first traffic light was installed. It's hard to imagine, but the hardest traffic in the city at that time was just here.

The Khomyakov House was built in 1900 in the style of Viennese Art Nouveau. On the ground floor of the apartment building was a bank, the second and the third were occupied by the furniture department of the "Muir and Merilise" department store, on the upper levels fashionable and expensive apartments were available for rent. The scenes in the so-called "statistical agency" in the comedy movie by E. Ryazanov "Office Romance" were filmed here. Actors Freundlich and Myagkov were starring in the movie.

The building had been constructed on the parapet of the Kuznetsky bridge over the river Neglinnaya, which was later hidden in an underground pipe. This large building occupied an entire block. Some rich hotels and expensive shops were located in it. Among them Buhre watch shop, Sytin book shop , the American Diamond House. Besides, there was a fashionable hairdressing salon here, which Anton Chekov used to visit .

The Des Pres house belonged to a family of French wine merchants, very popular in Russia at that time. The basements of this building were converted into the long wine cellars. The collection of wine that was stored in here was a dream object of every adult Muscovite.

The Petrovsky Passage is another large shopping complex in the street. The huge building occupied the whole block. More than 50 trade stands of the most fashionable firms were gathered under one roof by the time of the opening of the Passage store in 1906. The store was one of the first buildings with electric lights - the electricity was supplied from the Sandunov baths power plant.

The lane was first mentioned in the Charter of Ivan III in 1504. In the XVIII century the noble estates of the princes Dolgoruky, Trubetskoy and Kozlowski were located here. In the XIX century the lane was built up with shops. And now this pedestrian street represents the most expensive shopping brands.

The Vorontsovs - Rayevskys Manor is one of the few buildings that survived without losses in the fire of 1812, when almost the whole of Moscow was burned down. Within these walls in 1821 the Decembrists used to conduct their meetings. Nowadays the Russian Federation Prosecutor's General Office is located in one wing of the house and the Gulag History Museum occupies the other one.

The Kiryakov's manor got its asymmetric appearance after the reconstruction, which took place in the second half of the XVIII century. For a long time a huge pond and a greenhouse were located in front of the building. One of its wings was once taken by the first dental school.

The Gubin's mansion is one of the best samples of classicism in Moscow. It was built by architect Matvey Kazakov for a very rich industrialist from the Urals Mikhail Gubin. It is believed that the architect placed the front enfilade deep inside the building so that the sounds of the feasts would not disturb the monks of the neighboring Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery. Now the Museum of Modern Art of Zurab Tsereteli is located here.

Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery was founded in 1315 by holy hierarch Peter. In the Soviet times the Church was closed and handed over for residential purposes. One of the largest in the USSR underground monastic communities was created here. Many of its participants were later martyred and canonized as Saints. The Literary Museum is also located here.

It is the work of great architect Matvey Kazakov. The manor was erected for the Gagarins in Strastnoy Boulevard, which earlier for some period of time had been called Putinsky. Then after death of a young member of the Gagarins, the family left their house which later became a residence of the fashionable English club, then was occupied by the Novo-Ekaterinenskaya hospital, and today it houses the City Council.

It was this very building, which pushed Julian Semenov to write a book about Moscow detectives "Petrovka, 38", which later was successfully filmed. Today this building houses the Main Moscow Department of the Russian Interior Ministry. By the way, before the revolution of 1917, the Department of the Metropolitan gendarmerie was also located here.

It is the most theatrical park in Moscow – three theaters are located here. In this park in May of 1896 the first in Moscow public cinema performance of Lumiere brothers took place. At different times Sarah Bernhardt, Fyodor Chaliapin, Anna Pavlova and Sergei Rachmaninov gave their concerts here.