Streets, parks

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.

It is located in the historical center of Smolensk. At the present time it has practically lost its transport significance, being mainly a pedestrian street.

The garden of Blonye was officially laid in 1830 on the site of the former parade ground area. In 1885, one of the first monuments in our state — the memorial to the composer Mikhail Glinka — was officially opened in there. Immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War, a bronze statue of a deer, taken from the dacha of Hermann Goering, along with two lions was brought to Blonye. These were trophies, and for a while on the deer's body there was an inscription: “A gift from East Prussia to the children of Smolensk from the guards of the N-sky Corps.” In the late 1970s of the last century the composition of the Glinka monument was improved: several speakers were placed through which the composer’s music was systematically broadcast. In 2009, openwork forged fences were installed at the corners of the park, which somewhat changed its appearance. In 2011—2012, in the park the exceeded 100 years of age trees were partially cut off according to the order of the City Administration.