Chkalov Staircase (Чкаловская лестница) is one of the popular places in Nizhny Novgorod. It was constructed in 1943- 49 on the banks of Volga river under supervision of architects Munz, Yakovlev and Rudnev. It has a shape of a giant 8 with 450 stairs that lead from Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin to Volga river below. Chkalov Staircase was dedicated in honor of Valery Chkalov, famous Russian pilot. He became famous in 1937 as a first man who flew nonstop from Moscow to Vancouver across the North Pole. His statue stands today at the top of the architectural ensemble. In 1985 a military gun boat "Geroy" or Hero was established at the base of the stairs. It served Russian Army during Stalingrad Battle. It transported thousands of soldiers across the Volga River.
During the Russian Empire and until the mid-1940s of the 20th
century, the site of the Chkalov Stairs was called the Volga slope.
It was one of the most popular places among Nizhny Novgorod
residents and visitors. At the top was a semicircular ledge from
which a view of the floodplain of Bor. Now there is a monument to
Chkalov.
The first ideas for the construction of the stairs
on the Volga slope was put forward by Alexander Shulpin, the
chairman of the Gorky City Executive Committee, in 1939. The stairs
were to connect the center of the city with the Volga, and outdo the
Potemkin Stairs in Odessa. But the realisation of the project was
prevented by World War II (Eastern Front).
The realisation of
the plans was delayed until 1943. That year, Gorky began actively
rebuilding the destroyed buildings and industrial enterprises after
the German bombing. Then Shulpin began to promote his idea again. In
the same year he went on a business trip to Moscow and presented the
project to the Leningrad architects Alexander Yakovlev, Lev Rudnev
and Vladimir Munts. When the agreement was received, the Moscow
government allocated money for the construction of this grandiose
staircase in honor of the victory of the Battle of Stalingrad. The
staircase itself was to be called the Stalingrad Stairs.
Construction was started the same year, carried out by German
prisoners. The staircase was inaugurated in 1949. The chairman of
the city executive committee spent about 7 million rubles on its
construction, and was arrested for embezzling public funds in the
Leningrad affair. He was accused of corruption and sent to Murmansk.
He was rehabilitated after Stalin's death.
During the time of the Russian Empire and until the
mid-40s of the XX century, the territory on the site of the Chkalov
Stairs was called the Volga slope. The slope was one of the most popular
places among Nizhny Novgorod residents and guests of the city. At its
top, where the monument to Valery Chkalov is now located, there was a
semicircular ledge from which a view of the Bor floodplain was opened.
It connected with Blagoveshchenskaya Square (later Soviet, now - Minin
and Pozharsky). Georgievskaya embankment began from it.
The idea
of creating a staircase on the Volga slope appeared after the opening of
the monument to V.P. Chkalov on December 15, 1940. Twelve days later,
Tretyakov, Chairman of the Gorky Regional Executive Committee, and M.I.
monument to V.P. Chkalov, a convenient descent to the water in the form
of a beautiful and wide (10-12 meters) stairs and to bring the bank of
the river. Volga at the place of descent of the stairs in the proper
order. These plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the Great
Patriotic War.
After the victorious end of the Battle of
Stalingrad on February 2, 1943, a radical turning point occurred during
the Great Patriotic War, and on February 6 of the same year, Alexander
Mikhailovich Shulpin, an engineer who had previously worked as the head
of the Architectural and Planning Department of the Gorky City Council,
was appointed to the post of chairman of the Gorky City Executive
Committee. Assuming the post of head of the city, he showed himself as a
skillful leader and energetic organizer. In the spring of 1943, it was
Shulpin, during a business trip to Moscow, who secured the allocation of
funds for the construction of a staircase on the Volga slope.
Soon an architectural competition for the best project was announced.
Among the many options presented was the project of the Gorky architect
Alexander Yakovlev Sr. Yakovlev began work on his project in April 1943
and by September 4 of the same year completed the drawing of the
staircase, which was approved by Gorky's chief architect Zhuravlev and
Alexander Shulpin. According to Yakovlev's design, the staircase
consisted of one ellipse and a straight part, two terraces with
balustrades, and an overpass with side slopes and two pavilions in the
coastal part. The project included decorations in the form of military
sculptures and busts, as well as a monument to the heroes of the Great
Patriotic War. In August 1944, Alexander Yakovlev submitted his project
to the competition.
Nevertheless, the competition was won by the
project of Moscow architects - academician of architecture Lev Rudnev
and architect Vladimir Munts. Yakovlev's project received the second
prize. As a result, it was decided to implement the project of Moscow
architects, while Yakovlev was entrusted with the supervision of the
work, who was to ““put the stairs on the relief”, work out all the
details, supervise the drawing up of architectural and structural
working drawings, and, finally, conduct architectural supervision in the
course of all years of construction. In fact, all the work on the
construction of the stairs fell on the shoulders of Yakovlev, who spent
almost five years on construction, from 1944 to 1949. For this reason,
all three architects are usually called the authors of the Chkalov
Stairs.
The symbolic "first stone" of the stairs was laid on May
27, 1944. Preparatory work has been going on this year. Rudnev, Yakovlev
and Munts developed the architectural design and construction and
structural drawings of the technical project, which was approved on
January 18, 1945. On March 6, 1945, at a meeting of the Gorky City
Executive Committee, the cost of the work was approved in the amount of
7 million 765 thousand rubles. At that time, the construction of the
stairs became one of the most expensive projects in the USSR.
Due
to the technical complexity of the project, more than 20 institutions
and organizations were involved in the work at different stages,
technical consultations were given by professors Mikhail
Evdokimov-Rokotovsky, V. I. Popov, Doctor of Technical Sciences M. I.
Dekabrun, Candidate of Technical Sciences A. P. Nifantov. In 1945,
construction began under the control of the Gorkovstroy trust and the
Improvement Department. The straight part of the staircase was
originally erected. In the winter of 1946, prefabricated reinforced
concrete parapet slabs and fittings were made, and in the spring
earthworks and assembly of metal structures of curved sections began.
The steps were made by Stroygaz and a concrete plant. During
construction work, the site near the monument to V.P. Chkalov was also
reconstructed.
It was planned to complete the construction by
1947, however, due to poor organization of work in winter, the deadlines
were postponed twice: first to the third quarter of 1948, then to August
1, 1949. In order to speed up the construction, Alexander Shulpin
ordered to involve a number of local construction organizations in the
work, and in the regions of the Gorky region, a recruitment of 150
people was organized. In 1949, by order of Shulpin, German prisoners of
war were involved in the construction.
During the construction,
there were problems with financial resources. Initially, the allocated
funds were not enough, so the project was amended: the construction of
the river station at the foot of the stairs was abandoned, the
architectural and artistic design was significantly simplified, the
construction of rostral columns in the coastal part, the fountain on the
terrace in the center of the lower ring, and the installation of lion
sculptures were abandoned and balls on the pedestals near the embankment
and vases on the grounds.
All major work was completed by
mid-1949. Officially, the staircase was named "Volzhskaya": a metal
plaque with the inscription "Volga Stairs of 1949" was installed on one
of its retaining walls. However, the official name did not take root and
in the 1980s it was supplanted by the philistine one - "Chkalov Stairs".
The grand opening of the stairs took place on July 24, 1949 and was
timed to coincide with the celebration of the Navy Day.
The staircase is one of the city's most
recognizable landmarks. Sports competitions are held on the Chkalov
Stairs, most often in the form of races.
In 1985, at its
foot, the boat of the Volga military flotilla "Hero" was raised to
the pedestal. The boat proved popular with newlyweds, and until 2008
its shafts, propellers and other parts were constantly hung with
colored ribbons. In order to somehow stop this, metal structures
were installed nearby.
The restoration of the stairs was
carried out in 2012-2013. For the 800th anniversary of the city, the
stairs were restored again.
Transport
There are minibuses
T-42, T-87 and bus number 5 nearby.