Chasing the Sunset

11 points3 km3 hours

“Sunset Capital” is one of the city's main brands. The route starts on Gorky Square, and most of it runs along Fedorovsky Embankment, with a wonderful view of the confluence of the Oka and the Volga. See a ten-meter (33-foot) mosaic, visit an exquisite early-20th-century mansion and Russia's only monument to Jules Verne, and many more amazing places.

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

🌅🌇 Watch the sunset or sunrise
🏞️ Enjoy the view

Route points (11)

Wedding Palace in Nizhny Novgorod

Point on route “Chasing the Sunset”

Point 3

Wedding Palace

🏟️ Architectural landmark • 📜 Historic site

Historical Background

At the turn of the 20th century the second-guild* merchant Alexander Ikonnikov, owner of tea and hardware shops, built a two-story mansion on Malaya Pokrovskaya Street for his youngest son, Sergei. During and after the war it housed a medical unit. On March 25, 1962, a new life began for the architectural landmark. In 1962 the city's first Wedding Palace opened in the house on Malaya Pokrovka. In the 1970s, 10,000 couples a year exchanged vows of love and fidelity here. Fifty years later, more than 220,000 married couples had been registered at the Wedding Palace. *In Russia, merchants were divided into three guilds. The first was the most respected in society. The second guild was something like medium-sized business. The third guild comprised merchants who owned small shops and workshops.

Architectural Features

The architect remains unknown to this day. The mansion is built in the style of academic eclecticism with rich stucco decoration. The oval windows above the main entrance show signs of Art Nouveau. Of the original interior, only the grand staircase survives in its original form. The reception hall retains a tiled stove with a fireplace, and the stucco ceilings have survived in the rooms.

An Intriguing Secret

In the 1970s, during major repairs, an underground passage to the neighboring building was discovered. According to rumors, when the workers knocked on the wall, a “man in shoulder boards” came over to them from the building next door. So it's quite likely that prisoners were once led through these secret tunnels, and that the Chekists (secret police officers) themselves moved through them unseen.