Patriarch Ponds. Moscow, Russia

Patriarch Ponds. Moscow, Russia. 26 August 2022. Patriarch’s Ponds (Patriarshiye prudy) is park, pond and an affluent residential area in downtown Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. For the last 200 years, there has been only one pond, although, as the name of Tryokhprudny Pereulok (Three-Pond Lane) suggests, there used to be more. The area is named after the 17th century Patriarch’s Goat Sloboda located on the Goat Marsh. This marsh was once connected by a brook to the Presnya River west; by 1739, when the first topographic map was compiled, the brook disappeared and the marsh separated from Presnya. The Pond is one of the main settings of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita. The Master and Margarita begins with a tram accident by the pond. Although there was never any regular tram service or permanent tram tracks around the pond, for a short time in 1930s, there was a temporary service track used for night storage. 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰&