New Arbat Street distinguishes itself from Old Arbat Street in a variety of ways. Old Arbat is a pedestrian-only boulevard that maintains aspects of its Old Moscow charm. The construction of New Arbat Street called for parts of the Arbat district, including churches and other old buildings, to be demolished to make way for traffic lanes and high rises. Today, New Arbat Street acts as a counterpoint to its predecessor. A remnant of the Stalinist era, New Arbat serves as an example of the way the old was discarded to make way for the new and the large. Old Arbat's function developed organically over the course of centuries; New Arbat was designed to better accommodate Moscow's street traffic and to usher in a modernization of one of Moscow's oldest sectors.
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Novoarbatsky Bridge and Hotel Ukraina photo credit: iStockphoto/Afateev