was very little scientific documentation
of Moscow’s early history. This changed
in the 1940s when Zaryadye became
a battleground for ambitious Soviet architectural and urban planning experiments.
Before World War II, a decision was made to demolish Zaryadye’s old buildings to make way for high-rise offices. While clearing the construction site, an entire medieval wooden town was discovered and was intact thanks to high water levels that preserved the wood. Archeological discoveries from 1945 to 1951 helped paint a picture of life in Zaryadye, and to reimagine and deepen the knowledge of the Russian capital’s ancient history.
The excavations in Zaryadye allowed scientists to uncover and see the basic courtyards of medieval Muscovites with their own eyes. It was discovered that residents lived in very cramped quarters: the stand ard home was a 4x4 meter log cabin. Often, the size of the house depended on the length of the logs, which were rarely longer than 5 meters. The excavations also revealed that sites of large fires were simply covered with sand and that new homes, saunas, and maintenance buildings could be purchased at the Lublyanka and Trubnaya market squares. The log houses had a special clay furnace that had an attachment in the front, a custom in the north. In the courtyards – which were often paved with wooden planks – residents kept cellars (sometimes with brick flooring), bathhouses, water wells, summer kitchens, smokehouses, leather tanning pits, and other maintenance buildings.
The construction of Moscow trading settlements in the middle ages was very cramped. The urban environment cleverly adapted to the natural boundaries of the riverside slope. Medieval Zaryadye featured all types of water drains and aqueducts. Residents were able to supply their courtyards with water for water-intensive crafts such as leathercraft, as well as drain excess water into the fenced gutters that lined both sides of the street.
The second series of large-scale archeological excavations took place between the demolition of the Rossiya Hotel and construction of Zaryadye Park. The findings allowed scientists to bring to focus daily life and relationships of Moscow residents during the late middle ages. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Zaryadye was an active international trade hub – ships brought cloth from Belgium, Holland , and Germany along the Moscow River. Lead seals with coats of arms from the cities where the cloth was produced were found during the excavation. Royal duty collectors stationed in Zaryadye sealed bundles of furs with their own seal before the goods could be exported from Moscow. Several small lead seals with Cyrillic characters were found on the territory of Mytny courtyard, which was a custom’s house in from the 14th to 16th century. Among the findings, seals belonging to Vasily I, the son of Dmitry Donskoy were found, as well as other European seals from the 16th century. By the 16th century, the hand icraft and trade settlement of Zaryadye had become an area for boyars and their merchant guests to build vast estates
Archaeologists discovered a treasure buried beneath one of the wealthiest estates in the area, between Mokrinsky Street and the Kitay Gorod wall.
The treasure, which consisted of 20 kg of ceramic jars filled with fingernail-sized silver coins, was probably worth about 380 rubles, according to stand ards at the time.
The earth and soil of Zaryadye contain traces of thousands of peoples’ lives who lived in the district at different times. Weapons were found scattered about, an arrow remains stuck in a fence. The cannonball storage depot brings to life the scarce number of records chronicling the city’s attack, painting a picture of a society that lived in constant danger. A thumb-sized print bone with the image of Saint John the Warrior was found. The icon depicts the life of the saint – who acquired the unfortunate nickname of Saint John the Cow – in the 16th century. The earliest gravestone discovered at the excavation site is from the 1630s, and marks the death of Ivan Shiryaev, a servant of Prince Vasily Yevseevich Suleshov. A birch bark manuscript found at the Zaryadye site describes the troubles another servant encountered in the 16th century when traveling to Kostroma, a city more than 300 kilometers from Moscow. He explained to his master that he wasn’t able to complete his trip to Kostroma to deliver trading goods – a certain ‘Yuri and his mother’ detained him along the way and stole a considerable amount of money. “Let’s go, my lords, to Kostroma. Yuri and his mother came at us from behind, and stole a 15 bel piece and 3 bel piece. After that, my lords, they took 20 bel, then 50 bel.”
Several churches in medieval Moscow noted the compact settlement occurring in Zaryadye
at various times. Some of the churches are stills stand ing today, for example, the Church
of the Conception of Saint Anna, which was built in the second quarter of the 16th century,
is the oldest church in Zaryadye. Other preserved churches include the Church of Saint Varvara
(which in its present structure was built from 1796 to 1801), the Church of Maxim the
Confessor (built at the end of the 17th century), Znamensky Cathedral (built 1679-1684)
and the monastery’s bell tower and administration building, and the Church of Saint George
on Pskov Hill (17th century). For a long time, the panoramic view of ancient churches
was blocked from view by the Rossiya Hotel. But now, Zaryadye Park offers a
