Malaya Dimitrovka Street history

The Embassy is today located at 14 Malaya Dmitrovka Street. The building is an early 19th century mansion and a protected architectural monument. It stands next to the old Ambassadorial Court where foreign envoys to the Tsar of Russia resided. It is also around the corner from Uspensky Lane and the five-domed Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Putinki from 1652. Traditionally, Russian diplomats attended a service there before leaving abroad.

Malaya Dmitrovka Street is also known for the 1670 Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Putinki. This unique building, with six tent-shaped roofs, was the last of its kind to be built in Russia. The Street is also home to the masterpiece of the Art Nouveau style – the former Merchants' Club from 1908, which is today the famous Lenkom Theatre. Number 12 was occupied in the early 1830’s by the well-known Decembrist, Prince Mikhail Orlov, whom the poet Alexander Pushkin often visited. The writer and playwright Anton Chekhov was also fascinated with the street and from 1890 to 1892 lived at number 29, where he wrote the stories The Duel and Ward No. 6.

Today Malaya Dimitrovka Street is flanked by the Boulevard Ring and the Garden Ring. It is thus easily accessible by car and public transport, particularly from Pushkin Square, where there are three underground stations: Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya and Chekhovskaya.