Эссе «The Town of Contrasts»

The Town of Contrasts

I live in Podolsk. It is my hometown. As for me, it is the best place for living. I am sure that you will like it, too.

If you come to my town, you can see that Podolsk is the town of contrasts where the past is tightly connected with its present. But I invite you into an old part of my town where you can see merchant houses. I love this part of my town.

Firstly, when you come to my town from Moscow, you immediately get into the historical part of it. Here you can see the modern Lenin Prospect. Formerly it was called Big Moscow Street. It is interesting to know, that almost of all buildings, which are located in this Prospect, are monuments of town planning and architecture of local importance.

In our days the houses of famous residents who lived in the late 19th century have been preserved. There was a Street Mill (Yamskoy Stan), and later Coaching Inns of the Konanykhins and the Shchekins in it. Interestingly, the merchants’ houses are part of the historical and memorial Museum-reserve "Skirts", which protects them from demolition. Such threat hung over them, when this place wanted to expand the Warsaw Highway.

Moreover, if we are going along this Prospect we can see building, 108. It was the dwelling house and merchant's shop of Peter Shchekin - Kashevarov. Stepan Kolesnikov lived in Lenin Prospect, 102. He was famous for his herculean strength and was the organizer of fisticuffs. Two Houses (146 and 69/7) were belonged to Merchant Konanykhin. He had a teahouse there.

So, as you can see, there are many interesting places in Podolsk which are connected with its history. If you want to know more about my native town, just come and see it. I am proud of my native town and I am glad to live here.