Third day

Day Three. Theater Square – Revolution Park- Vitya Cherevichkin Park – Nakhichevan

If you go to Theater Square, the first thing you will see will be a 65-meter-high Ferris wheel One Sky. It is a bright and luminous art object at night. Its capsules are enclosed and air-conditioned, so you can enjoy a view of the city, the Don River and the left bank area all year round and in any weather. However, the main object on the square is the Rostov Academic Drama Theater named after M. Gorky – a typical example of a Soviet architectural style Constructivism. The building resembles a tractor in its shape, and its facade features narrative bas-reliefs. 

The theater backs onto Theater Garden Square and Revolution Park. Together with the Gorky Theater, they remind of the era of establishing of the Soviet state at its best. The fountain with atlantes in Theater Garden Square has been there since 1936, and it has served as a backdrop for photos of Rostovites of different generations. In Revolution Park, beside the Ferris wheel, there are plenty of various amusement rides for kids. There are cafes, restaurants and the Open-Air Theater for showing films, holding festivals and events. If vibrant and active leisure has made you tired, you can contemplate exotic birds – pink flamingos, swans, peacocks. And you walk along beautiful seasonal flower beds or green alleys in the park’s eastern area, which look like a true forest. 

When you leave the wild part of the park for Theater Square, the building of the Administration Office of the North Caucasus Railway immediately arrests your sight. It is a fine specimen of Art Nouveau style. There is another park next to it. It is the smallest park of Rostov-on-Don, now it has a name of Vitya Cherevichkin killed by the Nazi. City residents remember of tragedies local people suffered during the Nazi occupation of the city during the Great Patriotic War. 

There is the Alexander Column in one of the park’s alley. The monument, the only one that survived the Revolution had been constructed by residents of Nakhichevan-on-Don. Since the times of Catherine the Great, a unique expatriate community of Armenians has been living there. They were resettled from Crimea in the late 18th century. Many descendants of those Crimean resettlers have kept their language, which is different from the language of modern Armenia. They preserve their faith, culture, customs and gastronomic habits. Since 1928, the Armenian city Nakhichevan-on-Don has been part of Rostov-on-Don and kept its name in colloquial speech.

The main street of the Armenian city leads you from Theater Square to Nakhichevan. Today it is called Sovetskaya Street. Like in Rostov, streets are parallel and perpendicular to the Don River. The streets parallel to it have names, and lines cross them at the right angle. To boost reliability of their town, the residents made the numeration peculiar. So, the lines going from central Sovetskaya Street down to the Don River have uneven numbers, their extensions going north after Sovetskaya Street have even numbers! So, formally the number of lines doubled! Many century-old buildings there have preserved their appearance and even distinctive marks from the days gone by. You can often see intricate wrought-iron gates or a canopy above the entrance to the house. Beside beauty, the wrought-iron pattern often contains information on former owners and a date of construction. The original element on the facades of buildings is a large metal ring that you can frequently see there. You can learn about its purpose on a city tour. 

Sovetskaya Street leads you to Karl Marx Square. In the times of independence of Nakhichevan-on-Don, the square was called Catherine Square, and its frontpiece was a monument to Catherine the Great. In the Soviet times, it was replaced with the monument to Karl Marx. 

Busy Nakhichevan Market is to the left or to the north of Karl Marx Square. This place has retained both its purpose and historical name. The trade is quite modern there, but stalls with local products and bargaining traditions prevail. They haggle over prices, reduce prices, allow you to taste products and remember not only their customers but also their tastes.

Between the market and Karl Marx Square, there is Frunze Garden Square. It is cozy, shadowy, with most beautiful flowerbeds and the most sacred place for Rostovites. There is eternal flame over the bed of honor for Soviet soldiers who defended the city during the Great Patriotic War. And since 1975, Station 1 has been on duty near the memorial – Rostov schoolchildren are on guard of honor. During the academic year, from 10am to 4pm daily the guard changes every 15-20 minutes. Since 1975, this good tradition has never been broken.  

There is a small memorial sign on the square next to the garden square with information that there used to be a main church of Don Armenians – the Cathedral of St Gregory the Illuminator. If you walk across the square farther, you can have a view of a new Armenian church of Surb Aryutyun (the Church of Holy Resurrection). Distinctive architecture and walls faced with tufa add a national Armenian flair to the city. 

The southern part of central Nakhichevan is Svobody Square. Its crown jewel is the building of the Rostov-on-Don Academic Youth Theater. The Theater was built at the initiative of the Society of Lovers of Drama Art of Nakhichevan-on-Don in 1899. In the Soviet times, it was the Theater of Young Spectators popular among many spectators. And now the youth theater manages to be modern in the historical building. 

Opposite the theater, in an old mansion, there is a branch of the Rostov Regional Museum of Local History and Geography – the Museum of Russo-Armenian Friendship. If you are interested in the history of resettling of Armenians to the Don land, the museum’s expositions and its staff can tell you about it and about development and improvement of Nakhichevan-on-Don.

Motor transport routes and tram lines cross Svobody Square. Tram operation is preserved in some parts of Rostov, and the tram depot is quite modern. Now you can go back from Nakhichevan to Rostov without changing transport. Before the Revolution, changing was a necessity, as the cities were independent. A tram ride gives tourists a possibility to have a physical rest and enjoy a special atmosphere of the southern Russian city. Rostov-on-Don manages to keep specific features of all the three ages of its history and to be a modern city at the same time.