Bolshaya Sovetskaya Street

Paved in 1851 Bolshaya Sovetskaya (lit. great Soviet) Street currently exists. Still, there is a legend that the present Bolshaya Sovetskaya Street appeared on the direct order of Peter I, who often visited Smolensk from 1698 to 1708. The name at that time, of course, it wore another — Molokhovskaya Street. However, the staff employees of the Smolensk Historical Museum believe that great-great-great-grandmother of the Bolshaya Sovetskaya existed before Peter. The approximate date of its birth is the XII century, and it was called at that time the Bolshaya Proezzhaya (lit. great roadway). At the beginning of the XIX century, the street was renamed the Bolshaya Blagoveschenskaya (lit. great Blagoveshchensk). This is due to the fact that when retreating from the city Napoleon blew up the Molokhov Tower, and when in the 1830s it was rebuilt, on the second floor an up the gate church was built, which was called the Annunciation Church. In 1918, the street received its current name — the Bolshaya Sovetskaya Street.