Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In a gap in the buildings on the left, you'll see yet another church—the beautiful robin-
egg-blue home of the local Armenian community.
St.Catherine'sGregorianChurch
be-
longs to the Armenian Apostolic faith, one of the oldest branches of Christianity—founded
in
A.D.
301, when St. Gregory the Illuminator baptized the Armenian king. Approaching the
front door, look for the little shop on the right, which sells items imported from Armenia to
comfort transplants here.
Now face across the street to confront the gigantic, yellow Gostiny Dvor shopping com-
plex. We'll cross over later to take a look, but for now, continue past the church. Keep an
eye out on the left for #48 (look for the Пассажъ sign above the door; it's before the ramp
leading to a pedestrian underpass). Step inside and climb the stairs into the gorgeously re-
stored, glass-roofed
“Passazh” arcade,
an elite haven for high-class shoppers since 1846
(daily 10:00-21:00), making it one of the first shopping malls in the world. The commun-
ists converted the Passazh into a supermarket and, later, into a “model store,” intended to
leave foreigners with a (misleadingly) positive impression of the availability of goods in
the USSR. These days it feels a bit low-rent, but the space itself retains a genteel air, with
mellow music playing in the background.
