Maryina Roshcha District

Maryina Roshcha (Russian: Марьина Роща, lit. Mary's Grove) is a district within North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia. The historical area of Maryina Roshcha, which emerged in middle of nineteenth century on site of Sheremetev family lands, retained its low-rise, country style until the 1960s.

Maryina Roshcha should not be confused with the recently developed Maryino District of Moscow's South-Eastern Administrative Okrug.

History

"This section is based on P. V. Sytin's "History of Moscow Streets" (1948)"

The village of "Maryino" (Mary's), also known as "Boyarkino", appears in official registers since 1678, when it had a population of 102 in 22 households. Maryino and the adjacent Ostankino village and park were owned by the Cherkassky family. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the last Princess Cherkassky married Count P. B. Sheremetev, and the land passed into Sheremetev family possession. The main north-south street of the area, Sheremetevskaya, is still named after these past landlords.

After the Great Fire of 1812 the groves between Moscow and Maryino were felled for timber, but quickly recovered and became a popular picnic destination. Entertainment established the name of Maryina Roshcha (Mary's Grove) as a toponym independent of the old Maryino village. Vasily Zhukovsky wrote a romantic poem of the same name; his version of Maryina Roshcha etymology is pure fiction, as well as the legend linking Maryina Roshcha to a female highway robber called Marya).

Between 1851 and 1882, railroad construction isolated Maryina Roshcha from Moscow (south) and Ostankino (north). In 1880s, a French real estate developer (Поземельное Общество, Pozemelnoye Obshestvo) signed a long-term lease with the Sheremetev family, cleared the trees and leveled the area for cheap lowrise construction, creating the rectangular grid of streets and alleys that still exists today. However, they did not bother to set up water supply or a sewage system. The proximity of railroads quickly attracted industrialists like Gustav List, who built factories on the edges of Maryina Roshcha. Wooden houses were occupied by workers of these factories, including an ethnic minority of Mordvin laborers, who settled in the area in 1901. The existing orthodox church of Unexpected Joy ( [http://days.pravoslavie.ru/Hram/45.htm photographs] ) was built by public subscription in 1899-1904 and operated continuously through Soviet years.

Mariyna Roshcha, located outside of Moscow city limits, was inadequately policed by the country administration. This attracted shady persons, and the area was considered a criminal ghetto, especially after World War I and Russian Civil War, when law-abiding men where drafted and perished in the army, and the Bolshevik administration expropriated all livestock from the residents. The area remained unsafe until 1960s. The post-World War II Maryina Roshcha underworld was featured in The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed mini-series.

Stalin's master plan of 1935 proposed building a north-south highway through Maryina Roshcha, which would lead to demolition of nineteenth-century housing. This plan did not materialize, and wooden Maryina Roshcha was demolished gradually in 1960s. The remainder of it was cleared in late 1970s in preparation for the 1980 Summer Olympics. The last remaining tram lines were closed in 2002 (see 2002 photographs [http://tram.rusign.com/ul_dvincev_e.php] [http://tram.rusign.com/ul_dvincev_2_e.htm] ), when the district's southern boundary was converted into Third Ring highway.

Notable cultural and educational facilities

Public transportationa access

Moscow Metro plans to expand the Lyublinskaya Line to Maryina Roshcha in 2009. Until then, the district is accessible by Savyolovskaya, Rizhskaya (south) and Alexeyevskaya (north) stations.

External links

*Municipal council [http://www.m-roscha.ru/static/munitcipalitet_main.html www.m-roscha.ru]
*1929
http://mosmap.narod.ru/map/map4.htm Maryina Roshcha] [http://mosmap.narod.ru/map/map1.htm Maryino village and Ostankino]