Fair on Tverskaya Square. Site "Cozy time"
A magical journey to Christmas again awaits Muscovites during the winter holidays: on Christmas and New Year 2017, the capital will host the New Year and Christmas festival so beloved by the townspeople for the fourth time.
Festival "Journey to Christmas" 2016-2017 promises to be no less colorful than the previous ones, while remaining the same long: the holiday will be held from December 16, 2016 to January 15, 2017 - a whole month!
At 42 thematic venues located in different districts of the capital (mainly in the center), festival visitors will be able to see unusual art objects and light installations, exciting street performances and concerts, as well as take part in various master classes. The venues of the Journey to Christmas festival will be located on the streets and squares of the city and will be decorated in the spirit of the New Year and Christmas: this year 144 live Christmas trees will be placed on them.
In addition, quests and contests await the townspeople: by participating in the "Happy Time" quest, festival visitors will be able to test their knowledge of the traditions of celebrating the New Year and Christmas and receive special festival coins that can be exchanged for gifts.
Festival Venues
Journey to Christmas festival will be held at 42 venues, b O most of which - and the most interesting - will be located in the city center.
. Manezhnaya Square:"Magic Time" The highest living New Year tree of the festival (17 meters), brought from the forests of the Tver region, will be installed on the site. Here, children will be given master classes in journalism, animation and making New Year's gifts, and adults will be able to visit a themed fair that will sell Christmas decorations (including antiques), exclusive souvenir watches, carnival masks and gifts.
. Revolution square:"Magic Ice Theatre". On Revolution Square, visitors to the festival are waiting for daily shows: ballets on ice "The Nutcracker", "Swan Lake", "Snow White" and "Cipollino". More than 50 professional figure skaters are involved in theatrical productions; when there are no performances, the "Ice Theater" works like a skating rink, on the ice of which anyone can ride.
. Revolution square:"Milky Way". In addition to the "Magic Ice Theatre", a 100-meter ice slide awaits festival visitors on Revolution Square, which will be located near Manezhnaya Square.
. Pushkin Square:"Cozy Time" The fountain turned off for the winter will turn into the "Musical Forest" installation, which will combine New Year's and Christmas melodies loved by the public with a light show. For children, master classes will be held on animation and drawing fairy-tale characters in Adobe Photoshop, as well as creating Christmas decorations using 3D printing.
. Novopushkinsky square:"Gingerbread Village" In Novopushkinsky Square, visitors will be drawn into the world of fairy tales; here you can taste traditional Russian gingerbread, curly gingerbread cookies, pumpkin donuts and other sweets. The venue will also host English lessons and robotics workshops.
. Kuznetsky Most:"Magic Time" and "Gallery of Magic Trees". Kuznetsky Most Street will become the home of high fashion and style, where you can buy items from the collections of Russian designers. Theater and acting master classes will be held for children. In addition, an exhibition of magical Christmas trees will open on the street.
. Gogol Boulevard:"Star of Bethlehem" The site near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior will be dedicated to the Nativity of Christ. Here you can buy monastic goods.
. Tverskaya Square:"European Christmas Market". On Tverskaya Square near the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky, as part of the Journey to Christmas festival, a real Christmas village with houses, restaurants and a smartly decorated Christmas tree will be spread. Here you can buy gifts, sweets, Christmas tree decorations and dishes from France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and other European countries. There will also be children's Christmas trees in the traditions of different countries (Finland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain and others), as well as Christmas trees in Russian traditions, handicraft workshops, poetry readings and concerts.
. Stoleshnikov Lane:"Warm time". Festival visitors will be able to take part in coffee and tea ceremonies, as well as master classes in needlework, New Year's table decor, latte art and preparation of New Year's drinks.
This year, the Journey to Christmas festival will acquire a truly international format: 15 countries will take part in it, representatives of which will introduce Muscovites to their New Year traditions, and festival venues are preparing to receive (according to the organizers' plans) as many as 12 million guests from Moscow and other cities of Russia and the world.
Trade fairs
As before, bright fairgrounds and shopping chalets will open their doors to festival visitors. This time, Muscovites were allowed to take part in the formation of the range of fair chalets: the Active Citizen portal voted on what the townspeople would like to see on sale at the festival venues.
In beautiful chalets decorated in the style of New Year and Christmas, festival guests will be able to purchase sweets and sweet gift sets, New Year and Christmas souvenirs, home decorations and toys, as well as holiday accessories and paraphernalia.
Visitors who want to have a snack or warm up can buy pastries and hot drinks.
Learn more about the program and content of all festive venues Journey to Christmas festival You can also find announcements and a detailed schedule of events on the official website of the festival:
Tomorrow, December 22, the Journey to Christmas festival opens in the capital. It will last until January 14 inclusive.
Street ice ballets, concerts, performances, master classes and shows will be held daily at the main venues. Everywhere the entrance is free. And on weekends, they try to make the entertainment program even more interesting. Here's what we'll see this weekend.
Revolution square
At 16.00 - the play "Snow Tale" from the street theater "Factory". The performance was written based on the book by Viktor Vitkovich and Grigory Yagdfeld "A Fairy Tale in broad daylight." Adults and children will see unusual author's costumes, hear beautiful music, and will be able to participate in the performance themselves.
Immediately after the "Snow Fairy Tale" you can get to Novopushkinsky Square by 19.00. Here, the Ice Theater will show the first ice ballet this season - The Nutcracker directed by the famous figure skater Pyotr Chernyshev.
New Arbat
On the site near the house number 13, dedicated to the heroes of the works of the famous Finnish storyteller Tove Jansson, guests will see the play "Moomin and the Christmas Comet". Start - at 17.00.
Rozhdestvenka street
At the Gift Factory master classes at 15.00, children, together with experienced teachers, will begin preparations for the celebration of the New Year. Those who wish will learn how to make greeting cards and original gift wrapping.
Kamergersky lane
At 16.00, the magical heroes of the Zima Theater play the play "The Snow Maiden" in the genre of clowning with elements of a New Year's fairy tale.
Tverskoy Boulevard (site near the monument to Timiryazev)
At 16.00 - the play "A Dream at Christmas" from the street theater "Fairy Dreams". Children and adults will see a story about fairy gnomes. At the same time until 19.00 on the same site - performances of New Year's mobile orchestras.
The site in the 2nd Nikoloshchepkovsky Lane (near the Smolenskaya metro station)
At 19.00 - the play "The Snowman and his team" from the theater "Magicians". The snowman and his friends will decorate the Christmas tree, eat tangerines and show a circus acrobatic show.
Revolution square
At 15.00 in the "School of Good Manners" will be held a lesson "Celebration of the New Year in the traditions of Imperial Russia". Children will learn about the traditions of celebrating the New Year.
Revolution square
At 17.00 - a performance based on Andersen's fairy tale "Ole Lukoye" performed by artists of the famous street theater Tall Brothers.
The site on Arbat street, near the house number 19
At 14.00 at the "Academy of Santa Claus" everyone will be taught how to design Christmas decorations in a graphic editor. And at 16.00 - to create animated New Year's cards.
Tverskaya Square
A real Santa Claus came to Moscow from Lapland. The foreign guest will not only communicate and take pictures with everyone, but will also appear on stage in theatrical performances on Tverskaya Square. This weekend, Santa can be seen in the play “Snowmill”, specially designed for the festival, based on Finnish fairy tales. The participants of the performance will go to Lapland to find a magical snow mill, without which there will be no Christmas. Performances start at 17:00.
On the same site next Saturday and Sunday - musical immersive performance "Christmas Angels". Start - at 19.00. There will also be an interactive show with characters from the famous books by Tove Jansson - Moomintroll and Snufkin. Favorite characters will tell how they prepare for Christmas in the Moomin House, share a recipe for a pie with spruce needles and explain how to properly prepare for a trip to Lapland.
Here, from 12.00 to 20.00, every hour there is a performance-quest for children "The Mysterious Adventure in the White Forest". Spectators will put on magical cloaks and go on a journey accompanied by the fabulous inhabitants of the White Forest.
At the Glass Theatre, artisans will show how they create glass Christmas decorations, various decorative items and works of art from glass. From 11.00 to 21.00 - glassblowing show and master classes in fusing - the art of forming heated glass.
Klimentovsky lane
Performances of the immersive White Theater will be shown at the fair. Every day at 19.00 - theatrical light shows "Glare of Murano" (Saturday, December 23) and "Snow Ball" (Sunday, December 24). Guests will be able to become full participants in the action.
Manezhnaya Square
Spectators are invited to the interactive performance "Twelve Months". For this, a coniferous forest was placed throughout the area. Among the trees, 12 transparent showcases will “hide”, each of which will show one of the scenes of the famous fairy tale. Start daily - at 15.00 and 18.00. And at 16.00 and 19.00 - an interactive program with the heroes of a fairy tale.
New Arbat
Near the house number 15 - interactive performances with the heroes of Andersen's fairy tales - the Snow Queen and the Brave Soldier.
Near the house number 13 - a show based on the works of the famous Finnish storyteller Tove Jansson. Saturday, December 23 - the play "Moomin and the Christmas Comet", Sunday, December 24 - "Christmas Trouble in the Moomin House". Start - at 17.00.
News of the festival "Journey to Christmas" - on the portal of the Mayor of Moscow mos.ru and on the website newyear2018.moscow.
ATTENTION!
From Monday to Thursday - from 11.00 to 20.00;
From Friday to Sunday and holidays - from 10.00 to 22.00.
Every year Moscow is transformed before the New Year - the central squares are filled with New Year's paraphernalia, Christmas fairs and other entertainments appear. This year, the annual Journey to Christmas festival will run from December 16 to January 19, 2017. We decided to walk around the main venues on the opening day and note the most interesting ones for ourselves. Sharing feedback in hot pursuit.
If earlier we looked with interest at photographs of European Christmas markets and dreamed of seeing it with our own eyes, now Muscovites and guests of the city do not need to go anywhere, because every year in Moscow there are many New Year's fairs, sites with giant New Year's decorations and installations, and how many winter entertainment! Winter 2017 was no exception, the Journey to Christmas festival, parks, shopping centers and skating rinks have prepared so many surprises that it is not easy to choose what to see in New Year's Moscow, where to take a walk, where to arrange a photo session, where to go with children is not easy. We chose the most interesting places and events of New Year's Moscow, went outside with a camera and prepared for you a guide to the New Year's center of the capital.
Perhaps the most anticipated New Year's surprises are these.
1. Designer Christmas trees: Kuznetsky Most street, property 6-3 (near the Bolshoy restaurant)
2. 3D Christmas decorations and magical animation on Pushkinskaya Square
3. Tverskoy Boulevard: light tunnel on
4. Hundred-meter ice slide: Revolution Square (transition to Manezhnaya Square)
5. Skating rink and Christmas market on Red Square
6. Magic Theater on Revolution Square: free ice performances
7. Fairs
8. Christmas tree-carousel, 160-meter light tunnel and starry sky at VDNKh
The long-awaited illumination in Moscow lit up on Friday evening, December 16th. We, forgetting about the frost, set off on a journey through the center of Moscow. In order to spend the time most effectively, we preliminarily compiled a route: we decided to start from the Teatralnaya metro station (from the Bolshoi Theater), then walk to the Central Department Store, and walk along Stoleshnikov to the fair, which is located opposite the Moscow City Hall. From there they planned to walk to Pushkinskaya Square. Well, it was decided to complete our first New Year's walk on Revolution Square. Although it is best to start the journey with the latter - but first things first.
New Year's Bolshoi Theater
At about 19-30 we met near the Teatralnaya metro station, went out to the big theater. The first thing we saw was a light composition similar to the crown from the play The Nutcracker. What was our surprise that the Bolshoi Theater did not have any fair this year, and in fact there was in previous years. Well, let's move on.
View from the Bolshoi Theatre.
The Central Department Store (TsUM) shimmers like a precious diamond before the New Year.
The windows of the Central Department Store surprise as always - the fruit of the inflamed imagination of the designers, but looking at them is very funny.
Fair on Kuznetsky Most
With a quick step, we reached the first fair on our way - the fair on the Kuznetsky bridge. This year, the shape of the houses that housed the fair surprised me a little personally. The outlets are glass pavilions decorated with LEDs. Modern, but the feeling of a holiday does not create.
We went into one of these houses and bought mulled wine - the frost was raging in earnest.
According to my companion, the most beautiful Christmas trees in Moscow are located near the Cartier store on Kuznetsky Most. Perhaps I agree.
The Petrovsky Passage Shopping Complex is very beautifully decorated - we also dropped in there to warm up - silence, beauty, no one there.
Then we went to Stoleshnikov lane in the direction of the City Hall. Almost all pedestrian streets are decorated in the same way - the ubiquitous LED trees. Beautiful, but since they are in Moscow all year round, they did not cause us much surprise.
True, there were such interesting compositions - a symbol of the holiday. Either a watch or a carriage.
Fair near the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky (Moscow City Hall)
Near the City Hall, a fair has unfolded, oriented to be shown on television - everything is very beautiful, in a European way.
Along the perimeter of the square there are shops where you can buy Christmas goods from different European countries.
Next, we go to Tverskaya street. The main feature of Tverskaya is the special design of lighting poles - if you look closely, you can recognize glasses of champagne in these lights.
In short dashes we ran to Pushkinskaya Square. Here, as if not to burst: near the monument to Pushkin, there is a musical forest composition, and on Tersky Boulevard - a light tunnel. What to do? We decided to look at everything in order and started with a fun, oh, musical forest.
Musical Forest on Pushkin Square
Music sounds every 10 minutes and this whole white composition is filled with different bright colors. The sight is very beautiful! In addition, you can penetrate into the very heart of this composition.
In the center is a kind of fabulous white tree, decorated with balls and icicles. There are so many people that it's hard to even take a picture. Everyone wants to plunge into a fairy tale!
There are also glass pavilions on Pushkinskaya Square where they sell balls, Christmas trees and all kinds of New Year's rubbish.
Pretty cold at this point, we decided to go to Pushkinskaya Square to warm up in a famous self-service restaurant with the letter “M”. I was a little surprised that at all these fairs there were practically no places to eat. And so I wanted to eat a hot sausage in the cold!
Light tunnel on Tverskoy Boulevard
The main attraction of Tverskoy Boulevard is, of course, the light tunnel, which this year was moved closer to the people, closer to the metro.
We went through the tunnel and expected to see fair houses, but we saw only one, and in it ... a guard lives. A little further along Tverskoy Boulevard, we saw an ice town, apparently intended for playing snowballs.
The second part of Tverskoy Boulevard seemed somehow dark and not cozy to us - so we decided to turn around and finally head towards Okhotny Ryad and Manezhnaya Square.
On Tverskaya Street, in addition to the aforementioned "glasses of champagne" opposite Kamergersky lane, they can note a chess composition with the royal throne in the center.
We lingered here a little - to admire the Kamergersky lane.
Okhotny Ryad is ready for the New Year
The end of the evening - and we are just approaching the "Heart" of the Christmas festivities. On Okhotny Ryad we see a New Year's carousel and numerous glass boxes-stalls. By 10 o'clock they were all closed.
Traditional carousel.
Large postcards on Soviet motives.
Opposite the Historical Museum is an unusual ice town.
After seeing the fair on Okhotny Ryad, we set off for Revolution Square.
Revolution Square before Christmas
Not far from the metro, the Ice Theater is deployed. It looks quite impressive and beautiful from all sides. To get to the performance here, you need to carefully study the program. It even became interesting how it will accommodate everyone? Ice ballet starts at 19:00.
In order to adequately complete the visit to the first day of the festival, we decided to look at Nikolskaya Street. Nikolskaya is decorated in the same way as last year - with Italian LED arches.
This is how our almost four-hour walk around New Year's Moscow flew by unnoticed.
So, the most interesting sites in my opinion are:
1. Ice Theater on Revolution Square
2. Ice slide on Revolution Square
3. Musical Forest on Pushkin Square
4. Light tunnel on Tverskoy Boulevard
In general, when walking around New Year's Eve Moscow, a strong feeling is created that you have already seen all this last year. Glass houses-pavilions are probably more comfortable for sellers, but they do not create a New Year's mood.
Traditional light tunnel on Tverskoy Boulevard. This year it was located at the very beginning of the boulevard, next to the metro. It's so long that you can't even see the end of it! Enough space for everyone to take photos. #TverskoyBoulevard #TravelChristmas #Christmaslight #MoscowNew Year #newyear2017 #NewYear2017 #SoonNewYear #merrychristmas #travelRussia
Posted by Nina and Natasha, travelers (@shagauru) Dec 17, 2016 at 2:11 am PST
Addresses of Christmas markets in the center:
1. European Christmas Market on Tverskaya Square
2. Manezhnaya Square, possession 1
3. Pushkin Square5. Novopushkinsky square - gingerbread, pastries, kurabie
6. Sweet Christmas trees and mulled wine: Arbat street, house 19
7. Handmade decor items on Kutuzovsky Prospekt
8. Tea and coffee traditions in Stoleshnikov Lane
9. Christmas toys and Christmas masks
10. New Year's book fair "Buk-Market" on Novy Arbat
11. Square in front of Sokolniki Park
12. There will be a Sweet Fair on Leningradsky Prospekt, 62
13. Fair near the Raikin Plaza shopping center on Sheremetyevskaya street
14. VDNHAll this is my subjective opinion, but otherwise - everything is fine, all with the coming!
The next post will be about the festival venues on Novy Arbat.