Basmanny
Old settlements, estates and art quarters
Pokrovka and Ivanovskaya Hill, the Yelokhovo Cathedral and former factories turned into centres of contemporary art: Basmanny combines estate-era Moscow with new urban culture.
About the district
The name goes back to the Basmannaya Sloboda, where bakers made “basman”, the state bread for the court. Nearby on the Yauza lay the German Quarter, where the young Peter the Great discovered European ways of life.
In the 18th century noble estates grew up along Staraya and Novaya Basmannaya streets. In 1799 Alexander Pushkin was baptised in the earlier church at Yelokhovo; the present Epiphany Cathedral was built in 1837–1845.
In the 20th century the area was industrial, and in the 2000s former workshops near Kursky Station became the Winzavod and Artplay art clusters.
- Okrug
- Central Administrative Okrug
- Status
- District
- Population
- 112,320 (as of 2025)
- Area
- 8.4 km²
- Stations within the district
- 6
Population is from Wikidata as of the date shown; the area is calculated from the OpenStreetMap boundary; stations are listed by their position inside the boundary.
What to see
Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo
A five-domed 19th-century cathedral on the site of the church where Pushkin was baptised.
“Chest of Drawers” House on Pokrovka
The 18th-century Apraksin palace in Elizabethan Baroque, nicknamed the “chest of drawers” for its lavish forms.
Winzavod
Galleries and studios in the halls of a former factory near Kursky Station.
Bauman Garden
A small garden on Staraya Basmannaya with a summer stage.
Ivanovskaya Hill
A hill with the Ivanovsky Convent and lanes running down to Khitrovka.
Where to walk
- 01
Pokrovka and Maroseyka
From Kitay-gorod to Pokrovskiye Vorota, stepping into the courtyards of Armyansky and Petroverigsky lanes.
- 02
Khokhlovsky Lane
A steep, curving lane with 17th-century chambers and views over the rooftops.
- 03
Chistoprudny Boulevard
A pond with a swan house and a tram line along the alleys.
Architecture
The terrain is more noticeable here than almost anywhere else in the centre: the lanes of Ivanovskaya Hill run down to Solyanka, and the hills open views across the rooftops.
“Chest of Drawers” House
A rippling façade with columns — festive Moscow Baroque.
Chambers in Khokhlovsky Lane
Stone chambers of pre-Petrine Moscow with thick walls and vaults.
Yelokhovo Cathedral
A late-classical church with a tall central drum.
Industrial buildings
Brick workshops preserved in their conversion into art spaces.
Transport
Kursky Station is one of the centre’s largest interchanges: the Circle and Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya lines, Chkalovskaya and the MCD-2 and MCD-4 diameters all meet here.
On the transport mapStations within the district
MCD
Suburban trains
Did you know
- 01
“Basman” is the old name of the state bread baked in the settlement.
- 02
Pushkin was baptised in 1799 in the Church of the Epiphany at Yelokhovo.
- 03
The Krasnye Vorota metro pavilion recalls the 18th-century triumphal gate that stood on the square until the 1920s.
Photo gallery
Basmanny, Moscow: photograph from Wikimedia Commons
On the map
Boundaries: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Boundary from OpenStreetMap, November 2026.