Presnensky
From Patriarch’s Ponds to skyscrapers
One district holds Bulgakov’s Patriarch’s Ponds, Art Nouveau mansions, the Moscow Zoo and the glass towers of the Moscow City business district.
About the district
The district is named after the Presnya River, which now runs almost entirely underground. In the 18th and 19th centuries the area was home to textile mills, the largest being the Trekhgornaya Manufactory, founded in 1799.
In December 1905 Presnya was one of the centres of the armed uprising, hence the district’s Soviet name, Krasnopresnensky (“Red Presnya”).
Since the 1990s the Moscow International Business Centre has been rising on former industrial land by the river. Its towers now define the skyline of western Moscow.
- Okrug
- Central Administrative Okrug
- Status
- District
- Population
- 129,041 (as of 2025)
- Area
- 11.6 km²
- Stations within the district
- 11
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
Moscow City
A business quarter of skyscrapers on Presnenskaya Embankment with observation decks and the Bagration footbridge.
Patriarch’s Ponds
The setting of the first chapter of “The Master and Margarita”; only one of the three ponds of the Patriarch’s settlement survives.
Moscow Zoo
One of Russia’s oldest zoos, opened in 1864.
Ryabushinsky Mansion
Fyodor Schechtel’s Art Nouveau masterpiece (1900–1903) with stained glass and a famous wave-like staircase; Maxim Gorky later lived here.
Moscow Planetarium
Opened in 1929, one of the oldest planetariums in the world.
Where to walk
- 01
Patriarch’s Ponds and Malaya Bronnaya
Paths around the pond and cafés on the nearby streets — the quiet centre of Moscow.
- 02
Presnenskaya Embankment
A promenade at the foot of the towers, especially beautiful at sunset.
- 03
Krasnaya Presnya Park
A former estate with ponds and old trees close to the business district.
Architecture
Presnensky combines three very different cities: old Moscow with mansions near the Garden Ring, the residential blocks of Presnya and a vertical city of skyscrapers by the water.
Ryabushinsky Mansion
Asymmetry, a mosaic frieze of irises and organic décor — Moscow Art Nouveau.
Kudrinskaya Square high-rise
A residential Stalin-era tower on a square by the Garden Ring.
Planetarium
A dome by the Constructivists Mikhail Barshch and Mikhail Sinyavsky.
Moscow City towers
A cluster of skyscrapers, several of which rank among the tallest buildings in Europe.
Transport
Delovoy Tsentr is a major interchange where several metro lines meet, with the MCC next to it. Barrikadnaya and Krasnopresnenskaya link the Circle line with a radial line.
On the transport mapStations within the district
Did you know
- 01
The Presnya River that gave the district its name is almost entirely enclosed in an underground culvert.
- 02
Of the three Patriarch’s Ponds only one has survived.
- 03
The Bagration Bridge, lined with shops, connected the business district with the embankment in 1997.
Photo gallery
Moscow City towers reflected in the river
- Иллюстрация, созданная с помощью нейросети; предоставлена автором проекта / AI-generated illustration supplied by the project author
On the map
Boundaries: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Boundary from OpenStreetMap, November 2026.