Academician Sakharov Avenue, Moscow

Academician Sakharov Avenue (Russian: Проспект Академика Сахарова, Prospekt Akademika Sakharova) is a street in the center of Moscow, in Krasnoselsky District. In the south, the street is limited by Turgenevskaya Square and the Boulevard Ring. In the north, Academician Sakharov Prospect ends at the T-shape crossing with Kalanchyovskaya Street, close to Komsomolskaya Square. In the middle, it crosses the Garden Ring (Sadovaya-Spasskaya Street).

Academician Sakharov Avenue

The southern end of the avenue
Native name	Проспект Академика Сахарова (Russian)
Location	Moscow, Russia Central Administrative Okrug Krasnoselsky District
Nearest metro station	Komsomolskaya (Sokolnicheskaya Line and Koltsevaya Line), Chistye Prudy, Turgenevskaya, Sretensky Bulvar

The avenue was named in 1990 and commemorates Andrei Sakharov, a physicist and a Nobel Peace Prize winner.^[1]

History

The general plan of the development of Moscow released in 1935 suggested that a wide avenue should be built between Lubyanka Square in the center of Moscow and Komsomolskaya Square, which contains three of the main railway stations in Moscow. The entire blocks of historical buildings were to be demolished. It was decided that a number of administrative buildings, including ministries, would be built along the avenue. Some of the projects, including the building of People's Commissariat for Agriculture by Alexey Shchusev and Tsentrosoyuz building by Le Corbusier were completed, however, the avenue was not built because of the war.^[2] The construction only resumed in the 1960s, with a number of modernist and post-modernist buildings. It was decided that after completion, the avenue will get the name of Novokirovsky Avenue (Russian: Новокировский проспект), however, the stretch to Turgenevskaya Square was only completed in the end of the 1980s, and the avenue got the name of Andrey Sakharov. The extension to Lubyanka Square has never been realized.^[2]