Like the famous Walt Whitman poem, the ancient Yakimanka neighbourhood contains multitudes – and a multitude of different destinations.

The neighbourhood is a patchwork quilt of alternatively quiet and busy streets, glittering churches and imposing Soviet-era architecture. This is a district for those who value eclecticism, and aren’t afraid to splurge on it.

Yakimanka can be referred to as Moscow’s church treasury for the impressive amount of Orthodox churches and monasteries it contains. There are 17 in total, including the famous Donskoy Monastery and the St. John the Warrior at Yakimanka Church that stands opposite the French embassy on Ulitsa Bolshaya Yakimanka.

Appropriately enough, the whole district is named after a church. The Church of St. Anna and Yakim was built here in 1493 and demolished by Bolsheviks after the Revolution. Combining the names Yakim and Anka (a diminutive of Anna) forms «Yakimanka».

Yakimanka is a part of the larger Zamoskoverchye region which dates back to the 11th century. Back then, Kremnik (which literally means a wooden fortress), Posad (now Kitai-gorod) and Zamoskvoretskiye Fields were three neighbourhoods from which Moscow grew up and out of.

Sound and silence

Yakimanka’s population is 23,000 people, comparable to a small Russian town in the countryside.

The Garden Ring and Leninsky Prospekt are noisy, while such narrow streets as Bolshaya and Malaya Polyankas feel like they belong in a provincial town.

«Yakimanka can be both very noisy and quiet. The area where we live (Ulitsa Bolshaya Polyanka) is green and calm», Inna, a 60-year-old pensioner, told The Moscow News, standing outside her home on Ulitsa Bolshaya Polyanka. Maria, a 22-year-old translator, said that «in Yakimanka you have these one-two level buildings all over the place, making you feel like you’re in a village. Still, there are Soviet high rises too, so you realise – ah no, this is actually a big city around you».

Police presence

Most areas of Yakimanka are very safe, particularly the residential area that surrounds the Institute of Emergency Pediatric Surgery and Traumatology on Ulitsa Bolshaya Polyanka. As in any big city though, there are places here that are unsavoury. «So far, this neighbourhood seems fine, except for all these drunk people who hang out on Kaluzhskaya Ploshchad and around kiosks at night. Walking home makes me feel a bit uneasy, but safe - thanks to all the police officers there are near Oktyabrskaya metro», Maria said.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is situated on Kaluzhskaya Ploshchad means that the place is heavily guarded, and so the drunks are not allowed to make trouble.

Property prices

Yakimanka has the reputation of being one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Moscow. Apartment prices range from $13,000 to $25,000 per square metre for elite accommodation according to Maxim Mokeyev, Executive Director of Evans Property services.

Rental prices start at $1,000 per month, rising up to $4,500 for 2-3 room apartments, according to Evans Property Services.

«As far as expat renters go, this area is popular with the French since the French embassy is located just off Ulitsa Bolshaya Yakimanka», Mokeyev said, explaining that the area is generally a popular place for expats.

The area is famous abroad, claims Alexander Ziminsky, director of the elite real estate department at Penny Lane Realty. «Yakimanka doesn’t need advertising», he told The Moscow News.

According to Ziminsky, most of the people who buy or rent elite apartments in Yakimanka are married couples aged over 37 years old with kids. As for Yakimanka’s economy property market, it is popular with young people between 20 and 32.

A fun village within a city

Yakimanka exudes a vibe that’s provincial and urban at the same time. On one hand, you have fruit stands alongside underpasses and metro stations, on the other, there are restaurants and bars attracting hipsters and VIPsters to the neighbourhood.

Strelka Bar next to Krasny Oktyabr Factory (near Metro Polyanka) is a particularly popular new destination. The bar has an open-air cinema that shows art-house movies in English and Russian. There are two sections – the outdoor one is more proletarian, with prices that range from 70 to 150 roubles for any beverage, while the indoor section offers food and drink for the more moneyed set. Strelka also provides lectures and workshops on design and architecture.

Another place to visit is Kvartira 44 on Ulitsa Malaya Polyanka 24/8. An open terrace and live piano accompanied by good jazz vocals attract people with different backgrounds. Prices are moderate even for Moscow – an average bill will be around 600 roubles.

Five kindergartens, seven schools and 14 institutions of higher education welcome students each September. There are also eight hospitals in Yakimanka, making the neighbourhood even more livable.

Ancient, green and worldly

Yakimanka contains the true spirit of historic Moscow. There are many tiny streets here, filled with one and two-storey mansions that date back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The world famous Tretyakov Art Gallery is located in Yakimanka, along with Gorky Park, immortalised in a Scorpions song, and the Sculpture Garden by the Central House of Artists.

«I like that people who live in Yakimanka are different - you get expats and students, pensioners and Moscow newbie living here», said Andrei, a 37-year-old local businessman. «It’s like a big barilla of everything - from an economical and cultural point of view».

Yakimanka will appeal to people as diverse as hardcore history lovers and hardcore pragmatists who value the neighbourhood’s central location. Its oddities – the combination of both a sense of urbanism and a sense of parochialism, for example – are what make it even more appealing.

The Apartment Question

Daria Bellini, a 23-year-old architect and designer, has been renting an apartment in Yakimanka since October 2009. Her window overlooks the Moscow State University on Vorobyovy Gori, Moskva-Citi business centre and the Kremlin.

«It’s worth a grand in dollars per month», she said of the price she pays for a two-bedroom apartment on the top floor of an old high-rise.

«It’s a quiet area, where I live», Daria said, explaining that Ulitsa Bolshaya Polyanka and its surroundings are the calmest in the neighbourhood.

Daria thinks that it’s perfect to be in the heart of Moscow, and pointed out that the Kremlin is just 15 minutes away from her apartment. «It’s is amazing how you can just walk to Tverskaya on foot in 20 minutes», she said.

Daria claimed that her neighbourhood has great infrastructure as well. «We have all kinds of shops just down the road that are open 24 hours a day», she said. There is a school across the road and a kindergarten in Daria’s yard.

Residents in Daria’s building are aged anywhere between 20-something and 70-something, and the older and younger generations appear to coexist quite well together. There are plenty of places to go: from Gorky Park to Rolling Stone Bar near Krasny Oktyabr Factory.

Daria’s advice to all newcomers is simple enough: «I’d say just come to visit Yakimanka and you will never want to leave this place anymore».

Source: The Moscow Times