Herzen Descent

Before the Revolution

In 1817, the arrival of the Russian Emperor Alexander I was expected in Novocherkassk. Ataman of the Don Cossack army Count M. I. Platov ordered the construction of arched triumphal gates at the entrances to the city. Three arches were built, but the royal motorcade appeared in the city only two years later.

For many years, the northeastern triumphal gate greeted distinguished guests who came to the city and all headed to the south of the Russian Empire - “to be treated for water or fight in the Caucasus”. Under the arch passed A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov ^[2] . In 1837, Emperor Nicholas I visited Novocherkassk.

By 1841, the names of the main squares, avenues and streets of Novocherkassk were officially fixed. The descent going from Troitskaya Square to the Tuzlov River was called St. Petersburg Avenue. In photographs of the late XIX - early XX centuries , taken from the left bank of Tuzlov, this avenue is clearly visible to the upper level, crowned by the Trinity Church with a high multi-tiered bell tower. The triumphal arch rises in the first third of the avenue, perpetuating the memory of the participation of the Don Cossacks in World War II and the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813-1814 .

With the construction of the railway at the end of the 19th century , connecting St. Petersburg and Moscow with the Caucasus, an important function disappeared at St. Petersburg Avenue - the reception of official guests. This function was mostly transferred to Epiphany Descent (now Red Descent), along which guests arriving in Novocherkassk rose from the railway station to Nikolaev Square (now Yermak Square ), where the Ascension Cathedral was located - the main church of the Don Cossacks .

After the Revolution

In the Civil War , on January 7, 1920, the red cavalry and consolidated corps of the 9th Army under the command of B. M. Dumenko occupied Novocherkassk . This event was captured by two Don artists: in 1925 M. B. Grekov , who was an eyewitness to these events, painted the painting “The Capture of Novocherkassk”; in 1982, N.V. Ovechkin created the diorama The Liberation of Novocherkassk in 1920. In both works, in the foreground are the horsemen of Dumenko, and in the distance - the troops of the white general V.I.Sidorin retreating along St. Petersburg Avenue. After the war, when Petrograd was renamed Leningrad , Novocherkassk St. Petersburg Avenue was renamed the descent of Herzen. In the mid-1930s, the Trinity Church was demolished.

In World War II , July 25, 1942, the city was occupied by the Germans. After the liberation of Novocherkassk in 1943, the German prisoners of war participated in reconstruction work for several years, including the arrangement of the descent of Herzen. The slope of its roadway was reduced, an embankment was made lower to the river, which brought the descent to the level of new bridges across Tuzlov and the railway. ^[2] Despite the decrease in incline, the descent remained steep enough for road transport. Parallel to the descent, a tram line of multidirectional routes No. 1 and No. 3 passes through the Tuzlov bridge to social city. In the post-war years, the descent of Herzen became the connecting link between the industrial area and the old part of Novocherkassk. In Soviet times, in May and November holidays, columns of working people from the social city climbed the descent and merged into a citywide demonstration. On the same descent, the strikers of the NEVZ workers and other factories, breaking the military barrier on the bridge over Tuzlov, went up to the city center, where the demonstration was shot .

Currently, Herzen Descent is a modern street along which vehicles follow in four rows (two down and two up). On both sides of the descent there are lawns with pine trees planted in the late 1960s . Through this highway, the shortest road communication is carried out along the Kharkov highway between Novocherkassk and Shakhty , as well as with the Ust-Donetsk region . Prior to the construction of the M-4 Don highway, all transport from the Voronezh region went along this route.

• List of Novocherkassk streets

• Herzen Descent
• Pre-revolutionary history of Novocherkassk