Walking Tour / Around Mayakovskaya: Power Spots of the Soviet Underground

Meeting point — at the Vladimir Mayakovsky monument on Triumfalnaya Square.

Mayakovsky Square (now once again Triumfalnaya) is one of the iconic places connected to the Thaw. This brief period, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, gave a powerful impetus to the development of creative freedom in literature, theater, and visual arts. From the moment the monument to Vladimir Mayakovsky was unveiled, public poetry readings began, including readings of banned poets. And works of unofficial art could be seen in artists' studios and the apartments of their admirers. Several important "gathering places" emerged around Mayakovskaya that became centers of creative debate and friendly communication among members of the Soviet bohemia.

On this tour you will see:

• a place that served as a cafeteria by day and a fashionable jazz club by night;

• the building where one of the main poets of the Thaw, Gennady Shpalikov, lived;

• the studio from which artist Anatoly Zverev sent dozens of love letters to his muse;

• the building famous not only for Mikhail Bulgakov's "cursed apartment" but also for unofficial exhibitions.

On this tour you will learn:

• how the song "And I Walk, Strolling Through Moscow" was written;

• who particularly angered Nikita Khrushchev at the legendary "30 Years of MOSKh" exhibition at the Manege;

• where the most "glamorous" salon of "other art" was located, whose hostess was suspected of having KGB connections;

• what "dip-art" is and how much collectors paid nonconformist artists for their works.

Tour duration: 1.5–2 hours

Tour ends at AZ Museum (2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya St., 20-22).