Sovietskaya Street

 It is about 1.7 km long, running north to south. between Ordzonikidze Street and the river, crossing Mitskevich Street, Pushkin Street, Mayakovsky Street, Gogol Street, Budyonny Street, Dzerzhynsky Street and Masherov Avenue

the view before the Millennium reconstruction

The previous names:

Russian period

the southern half - Millionnaya(Million) Street,

the northern half - Politseyskaya (Police) Street

Polish period

ulica Dabrowskiego (Dabrowski Street)

 

Soviet period

Sovietskaya street

The street was laid out in the mid-19th century. In the 1970s it was closed for car traffic and is a pedestrian street now like Mall in London and Arbat in Moscow. Sometimes it is called Brest Arbat.

The main attractions in the street

Sovietskaya Street Mall is truly the heart of the city. The Mall is a tree-lined pedestrian promenade made of red and gray flagstones, which runs through the center of the downtown shopping district.

Lined with shops, restaurants, outdoor cafes, the Mall is the pleasant place to sit and people-watch.

The street underwent a considerable reconstruction in 2008-2009. That is a part of preparations of the city for the coming millennium of Brest. Hence some pictures are titled like "before the Millennium reconstruction" and "after the Millennium reconstruction"

Brest Millennium Monument was opened on July 25, 2009

The stretch of the Mall between Pushkin Street and Mayakovsky Street is now dedicated to the history of the city that was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1019

During Autumn Fair in 2005

the views of the stretch before the Millennium reconstruction

The house of the cinema, former gymnasium (high school), looks quite new today after the recent refurbishment, like many old structures around.

the last work

the hub of the street is

the intersection of Sovietskaya Street and Pushkin Street

The houses left and right were originally two storeys high. An additional storey was added to each of them after the war.

the view in winter

the view 100 years ago.

 The redbrick house of the former Town Hall is still seen at the corner of Sovietskaya St.

It was originally two storeys high. Now it is surrounded by taller buildings. To rise the height of the building an additional storey was added after the war.

at the corner of the former Town Hall

After the Millennium reconstruction a clock tower appeared at the Mall. It is not as tall as its Big Brother in London, yet it shows  the exact time and plays nice tunes each hour.

two pavilions with semitransparent copulas appeared after the Millennium reconstruction.

Two small figures surmount them: a warrior and a trumpet player.

the view in February 2009

June 2009

At the corner of Mayakovsky Street  a nice relief appeared in 2007, dedicated to a historic event, when Brest was granted the rights of the free city in Medieval days.

A big panorama provides the view of the Old Brest dating from the 17th century.

Artists at work (2007)

that is a monument to cats (2008)

Several 2-storied houses remind of the former view of the shopping street

In the interwar period,  a bank set up by the Jewish community was in the house, today it's a cafe

Even quite new structures look old here. (2003)

 

Once there was  the main synagogue in the street, it was constructed in the mid -19th century after the city was relocated 2 km eastward to construct the Brest fortress

 

In the 1970s a huge glass-walled barrel of Belarus cinema covered the facade of the former synagogue.
 

Belarus Cinema today

before the renovation

 

 
after the renovation

Belarus Cinema  is at the northeastern corner of Budyonny Street and Sovietskaya Street

Today it is a concert stage and a cinema equipped with Dolby Surround,

it hosts regularly national movie festivals.

October 2008

the work is going on

Looking from the cinema

a street bard named Sasha Maidan came to Brest  from Russia in 2009 to spend a summer here.

He is playing in front of the construction site opposite the cinema.

The construction site opposite the cinema in December 2009. Now one can see the outline of the new structure in old style.

 

 

2003

The big fountain by the Belarus cinema is an ideal place on a hot summer day

the views around the fountain by the cinema (2008)

The views opposite the cinema

Matrix Night Club  at the south-western corner of Sovietskaya Street and Budyonny Street

in the 1980s before the Matrix was built, an outdoor cafe in the shape of a wooden castle was at the south-western corner of Sovietskaya Street and Budyonny Street

summer 2009

ideal for a shopping spree!

 

 

 
 

Old low-rise houses at the corner of Dzerzhynsky Street look quite attractive after they were renovated in 2003.

 

 

 

 

Dzerzhynsky Street   crosses the street at a sharp angle here

The street is illuminated by oil lamps between Dzerzhynsky Street and Masherov Avenue to make it attractive for tourists

That is the edict of the city mayor regarding the oil lamps

This part of the street after the reconstruction in 2009

The oil lamps and the pavement create the atmosphere of the Old Brest-Litovsk.

Some pictures below give an idea about the place before the reconstruction

The eastern side close to Masherov Avenue before the Millennium reconstruction

an old drug store on the western side

the drug store after the reconstruction

A new structure in an old style was built in 2007 at the corner of Masherov Avenue , yet it looks as if it were built before WW1.

More in the project

"Old and New Brest"

more pictures of the street at www.brest-sv.com

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