Webcam Kostroma. Red Rows online in real time
Red Ryady in Kostroma is an outstanding monument of Russian civil architecture of the end of XVIII - first third of XIX centuries in the style of classicism, one of the shopping complexes of Kostroma, which also includes religious buildings of the XVIII century and is extremely important in the development of the city center.
Red rows were the first of the complex of commercial rows, also called Gostiny Dvor. They were built under the direction of Stepan Andreevich Vorotilov in 1789. The building was constructed in the form of a closed rectangle with the size of 110x160 meters. When erecting the building had to solve a difficult problem. One of the oldest churches of Kostroma, the Church of the Savior in Riady, was located on the supposed place of the rows construction. Originally the building was wooden, but in 1766 a stone church was erected on its place. The architects managed to inscribe the church organically into Red Rows.
The building got its name "Red Ryad" because it was used for trading "red" goods, i.e. fabrics, leather goods, furs and books. The construction went quickly. In March 1791 the town council said, that 33 benches were ready, 19 were under construction, and materials were prepared for 11 - altogether 86 benches were supposed to be located in the block. The works had been completed by 1793.
The Gostiny Dvor galleries with their smooth stone slab floors, elegant signs and shop windows served not only as a center of the busy commercial life of the city, but also as a place for walks and meetings of citizens.
Rectangular buildings of the Red and Big Flour Trade Rows have rounded corners. This was done in order to allow carriages and coaches, passing by, to avoid hitting the buildings on the turns.
The architect P. I. Fursov built in the courtyard of the Red Rows one-storeyed rows of shops for haberdashery. Since the Gostiny Dvor was built as a closed rectangle with a large courtyard, the trifle rows blended harmoniously into this courtyard and made the best use of its area, forming small shopping "streets" inside.
Later were built Gingerbread, Bread, Kvass, Livestock, Fish, Meat and Horn rows, most of which were surrounded by colonnades and open arcades. Even later appeared Green, Butter, Vegetable (Tobacco) and Mercury rows.
