History

Not Soviet level of hotel 'Sovietsky'

Originally since 1826 the restaurant was located in the house of the merchant Shavann at the corner of the Kuznetsky bridge and Neglinnaya street (modern address: 9, Kuznetsky most). 1848-1851 - "Yar" was in the "Hermitage" garden (Petrovka st.)

In 1851 "Yar" reopened as a suburban restaurant in Petrovsky park, on Peterburgskoye shosse (now Leningradsky prospect).

1910 - "Yar" was reconstructed: instead of a wooden house it became a palace with columns. Nowadays it's located in the same building. The visitors were received in huge solemn halls and in cozy rooms located on the balconies. A wonderful summer garden was laid out in the inner yard of the restaurant. It could accomodate 250 visitors and had mysterious stone grottoes, pergolas with ivy, a fountain and lawns. In pre-revolutionary times "Yar" was famous for its drinking-bouts, so colorfully described by Gilyarovsky. Members of the royal family and writers, railroad concessionairs, bankers and stock brokers. Savva Morozov was a permanent visitor, Plevako, Przhevalsky, Chekhov, Kuprin, Gorky, Leonid Andreev, Balmont, Rasputin, and Shalyapin ate here. According to the archive data "Yar," was considered restaurant No. 1 in Russia and in Europe.

The 23rd of February, 1918 - "Yar" was closed.

1918-1952 - in the building of the former restaurant there were consequently a movie theater, a gym for the members of the Red Army, a hospital, a cinema school, a cinema college and the pilots' club.

1952 - On the personal order of Stalin a hotel was added to the building of the restaurant "Yar," designed in the style "Russian empire."

1952-1989 - the restaurant "Yar" was renamed "Sovietsky" after the "Sovietskaya" hotel. It was considered an official "government" restaurant and was well-known in governmental and diplomatic circles. At different times, the restaurant was visited by the prime-minister of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher, chancellor of the Federative Republic of Germany Conrad Adenauer, prime minister of India Indira Ghandi, by the government delegations of the foreign countries, by the well-known artists Mirei Mattie, Arnold Shwartsnegger, Jean-Paul Belmondo et.al. Many times the restaurant "Sovietsky" was awarded with diplomas, pennants and won competitions of the association of Moscow restaurants.

1998 - the new general director Valery Maximov started the reconstruction of the restaurant to revive the former glory of "Yar." At the moment, all the pre-revolutionary interior has been restored: the wall and ceiling frescoes from the beginning of the century, the chandelier made in 1912 and the lamps from 1952, the fountain in the inner yard made as a copy of the Bolshoi theater fountain