Sparrow Hills area. How to get to the Vorobyovy Gory observation deck by metro

Take a look around the capital, relax, take spectacular photographs - these are just some of the opportunities offered by Vorobyovy Gory, one of the most picturesque places in Moscow and one of the most spectacular points of the city. Although they do not reach the heights of real mountains, Moscow is clearly visible from them. However, the place became famous not only for its observation deck - on the Sparrow Hills there is a picturesque nature reserve and the building of Moscow State University.

Sights of Sparrow Hills

Perhaps the main factor in the popularity of Sparrow Hills is the observation deck with the widest panorama of the city. It allows you to see Moscow from an unusual angle and serves as a place for photography and concerts. It is clear that there are many tourists here at any time of the year.

The observation deck was equipped simultaneously with the construction of the new main building of Moscow State University in the mid-20th century. It is located on the highest point of the Sparrow Hills and offers views of the Luzhniki Stadium, the tallest residential complexes and skyscrapers in Moscow, the Ostankino TV tower, and the Foreign Ministry building. Behind Luzhniki you can see the bell towers of the Kremlin cathedrals and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Thanks to the Vorobyovy Gory observation deck, you can watch how the appearance of Moscow grows and changes year after year.

Panorama of Moscow from the Sparrow Hills.

The territory of the Sparrow Hills is occupied by a nature reserve, founded in 1998. On the northern side it is bounded by the Moskva River embankment and stretches from Gorky Park on one side to the Third Transport Ring on the other. Several hiking trails with a total length of almost 2 km have been laid through the reserve. Also in the park there are beautiful Lesnoy, Small and Big Andreevsky ponds.

Since some areas of the reserve are difficult to access for recreation, it has managed to preserve significant biodiversity. There are dozens of bird species (including rare ones) and more than 400 plant species. Mammals include squirrels, moles and shrews. In the reserve you can go on a thematic excursion with visits to secluded paths and ponds.

On the Sparrow Hills there is the Trinity Church, on the site of which a wooden church stood in the 15th century. The new building began to be erected in the Empire style in 1811. The church survived the Napoleonic invasion and the Soviet period. Its interior and appearance remained unchanged.

The facade of the temple is decorated with a fresco depicting St. Alexis healing Queen Taidula. On another fresco, Sergius of Radonezh is depicted with Dmitry Donskoy during the blessing for the Battle of Kulikovo. The Trinity Church houses shrines, including icons from the 17th century.

Trinity Church on Sparrow Hills.

In the 70s, a monument to Herzen and Ogarev, who had revolutionary ideas in their youth, appeared in the forest on the slope of the Sparrow Hills. It was at this place, during a walk, that they vowed to fight the autocracy and continue the work of the Decembrists. On the monument you can see bas-relief portraits of Ogarev and Herzen, as if facing each other. He became not only a symbol of the revolutionary movement, but also a sign of loyalty to his oath.

Vorobyovy Gory has long been a favorite vacation spot for guests of the capital and Muscovites. At the foot of the steep slope there are two embankments of the Moscow River: Andreevskaya and Vorobyovskaya. The embankments are very popular for cycling, skateboarding and roller skating. The embankments have wonderful walking areas where you can rent bicycles. You can sign up for excursions of varying lengths or take a ride on a river bus.

In winter, life on Vorobyovy Gory does not stop - ski slopes open. Around December, trails for cross-country and alpine skiing are launched, a snowboard park is opened, and sleigh rides are organized. All infrastructure is included: instructor services and equipment rental are available.

Moscow State University building on Vorobyovy Gory

The main symbol of the Sparrow Hills remains the majestic building of Moscow State University, surrounded by a majestic park. This is an architectural example of the mid-20th century, the construction of which began on the initiative of Stalin and was completed in 5 years - a record time for those times. The building itself and all its sculptures are classified as objects of cultural significance. A tour of the Moscow State University building can be combined with a tour of the adjacent botanical garden.

Vorobyovy Gory - photo

The Vorobyovy Gory observation deck is one of the best places for photographing views of Moscow. Note that for shooting (and just for observation) you should choose the morning hours and slightly windy weather - in these cases, the haze will not spoil the magnificent picture.

The main attraction of this place is the Main Building of Moscow State University. In 1947, Stalin decided to build eight high-rise buildings. Moscow State University is one of them. In 1953, a ski jump was built on Vorobyovy Gory. Its length is 340 meters. It is currently undergoing restoration, but the work is scheduled to be completed in 2018. Also on the territory of the mountains, a cable car is being built for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Its length will be 737 meters. The road will connect Luzhniki and the observation deck on Vorobyovy Gory with an intermediate stop on Vorobevskaya Embankment.

The location is great for sports and family outings. The park has several sports grounds and a mini-zoo. You can also sit on the shore of St. Andrew's Ponds with a picnic basket.

You can get into the park 24 hours a day. The nearest metro station is Vorobyovy Gory.

Tourists usually never set foot here. Arriving at the observation deck on Vorobyovy Gory, few people go down the stairs and paths leading to the river. There is usually no time for this, “we came to Luzhniki, the springboard, the university and Moscow to see.” But in vain. The almost wild nature of the Vorobyovy Gory Park awaits us below!

Paths, paths, stairs, ponds, rotundas, a sea of ​​greenery, below - a river and a promenade, paths for cyclists, skateboarders, rollerbladers, one or two cafes. In addition, excellent views of the Moscow City business center, the Luzhniki Olympic complex and the Luzhnetsky metro bridge!

Students, kissing and couples just strolling - these find a place for themselves on the promenade by the river. There are also a lot of them in the bushes throughout the park. As you walk, in some places the park is very dark, and only your feet stand out from under the bushes. They are probably doing something very important and secret there.

Cyclists, skateboarders, rollerbladers ride along Vorobyovskaya Embankment (the “middle” road of the park - between Kosygina Street and the promenade). They say that after going down Vorobyovskaya Embankment a couple of times to Mosfilmovskaya Street, roller skaters forget their fear of roller coasters. Look, they're rushing downhill! Satisfied. Both eyes and cheeks are swollen from the wind. Our baby Lulu I happily threw myself under their tiny roller wheels. No one was hurt :)

During the day it’s light in Vorobyovy Gory Park, but in the late afternoon there’s some bad luck with the light. This probably has some charm and charm of its own. Darkness, as they say, is a friend...

In contrast to the somewhat primitive flora, beautiful in its simplicity, the history of this place is quite interesting:

They say that Crimean Khan Kazy-Girey chose this place for his location when he captured Moscow in the distant 16th century. Russian troops, of course, drove the khan out of here.

It is likely that the base of Polish interventionists, from which Moscow was liberated Nizhny Novgorod militia, convened by Minin and Pozharsky.

It is possible that Napoleon in 1812 he also retreated along the paths of the then non-existent park.

In short, Vorobyovy Gory is the place where we drove everyone away and now we walk here ourselves.

If you look at a map of Moscow, you will see that the Moscow River forms a loop. Here, at the very top of this loop, is located Sparrow Hills Park. Drive to Kosygina Street, park there somewhere near the observation deck and go down.

Nearest metro station: Vorobyovy Gory(red line), from the metro to the observation deck - approx. 20 minutes walk through the Vorobyovy Gory park. Exit towards the observation deck - “To the Sparrow Hills: Kosygina Street, to the Korston Hotel.”

The park's official name is natural reserve"Sparrow Hills". Reserve is a protected natural area in which (unlike nature reserves) not the natural complex as a whole is protected, but only some of its parts: for example, only plants or only animals, or their individual species.

Sparrow Hills Park is green and pleasant. Plus it's free and always open! If it weren’t for the smokers here and there, you could enjoy it to the fullest and breathe deeply. True, while walking through the park, I always had a feeling of some kind of rush. Maybe the Moscow City skyline was confusing and encouraging?

Map of Vorobyovy Gory Park

Topics of the material

The place is unique and not only because of its glorious past. Vorobyovy Gory is known for its natural uniqueness: there are rare slopes, springs, and an atmosphere that acts on a person like a placebo.

Rising eighty meters above the Moscow River, they are the highest of the seven hills on which the capital is located. Therefore, millions of people strive to get to the famous observation deck, from which the majestic city lies in full view. Capturing a panoramic view from this point is not only a dream for photographers. This site has been included in several feature films.

Here Bulgakov’s heroes said goodbye to Moscow and from here they set off on their final journey. The delightful view of the capital has been preserved in the paintings of artists and in ancient engravings. And on the map of Moscow, the sights of the village of Vorobyov came to us at an even earlier time.

Today this part of the park capital is decorated with ancient temples, monasteries, estates and the most majestic building of the seven Stalinist skyscrapers, erected by several thousand prisoners. The Moscow State University building, including its spire, is 240 meters high, and its architect Lev Rudnev was awarded the Stalin Prize in the amount of 100 thousand rubles for this project even before construction began.

In 2016, a renovated cable car was added, the ski jump was extended, and by 2018 a new sports complex will open its doors. And this object will surprise you with its records! They will create everything to host the World Cup.

How to get there?

• Address: Russia, Moscow, Sokolnicheskaya line, Vorobyovy Gory metro station;
• Map and diagram:

Palace village

The widow of the Grand Duke of Moscow took a fancy to this steep slope and bought it from the owners in order to place a palace residence here in the summer for her son. Vasily the Dark loved to watch the sunset and walk along the slopes.

The village of Vorobyovo appears in her papers as a priest's village. No one knows for certain whether it received its name after the name of the boyars, or the priest who served in the local church, nicknamed Sparrow.

The new owner breathed life into it. In a short time it was transformed: they rebuilt the church, erected a palace, cut down many buildings, elegant gates and laid out a garden with a pond where sturgeon and other noble fish were bred.

Surviving documents indicate that the wooden palace at that time was luxurious, with rich interior decoration, glass and sometimes mica windows inserted into carved frames. Since then, the place was called a palace village; it was inherited by all subsequent rulers, many of whom visited here more than once. Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, and Alexei Mikhailovich loved to come here. Although not as often as, for example, in Kolomenskoye.

Vorobyovo was repeatedly subjected to Tatar raids. The palace suffered from them; it was devastated, but not set on fire.

Wooden and tiled, it sheltered Ivan the Terrible during the Moscow fire, when a third of the city burned down, including churches and buildings right up to the Kremlin.

During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, factories for the production of glass and mirrors were built, since the sand in this area was amazingly snow-white. At her request, a birch grove was planted; rare specimens of trees can still be found.

And two centuries later, Fyodor Alekseevich ordered the wooden mansions with 57 rooms to be raised onto a stone pedestal - this is how the ground floor appeared. A hundred years later the logs fell into disrepair, the frame was dismantled and given to the monks of the Donskoy Monastery. The wooden palace of Catherine II from Volkhonka, which served the royal people for another hundred years, was moved to the pedestal, after which it was liquidated.

Village with four temples

There were four churches in the palace department, but local residents and royalty have used the snow-white one, Trinity, since time immemorial.

The building, built in 1811, is an Empire style, traditional for the architecture of churches. It is small, with portals decorated with columns, single-dome, with a two-tier bell tower. It appears in photographs as an invariable element of the Sparrow Hills panorama.

By the way, historians claim that on the eve of the council in Fili, commanders Kutuzov and Bagration inspected positions here. And in the church, the great commander who defeated the French prayed for a victorious end to the war.

Not far from the church in 1827, young friends Herzen and Ogarev took an oath to fight for freedom until the end of their lives. Whether this is true or not, there is no documentary evidence, but in the Soviet years a monument in the form of a stele was erected to freedom lovers.

In 1717, the Kremlin was shelled by white detachments from heavy artillery. Endless wars and conflicts did not harm the church; it did not close itself off from changing political regimes, and its bells were almost the only ones in the capital that did not stop ringing even after the Bolshevik ban on bell ringing.

At the foot of the hill, St. Andrew's Monastery spread its “white robes”. The monastery was known as a center of science, book teachings and free thought. Rumor has it that it was with her that the academic system began in the capital in the 17th century. For more than a century, he served education until he became impoverished. The monks were forced to set up an almshouse within its walls. But the library there remains gorgeous. Now it belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate.

In the name of victory over Napoleon, another temple was founded - Christ the Savior, for which the whole world collected money. By the way, they say that when Bonaparte fled from Moscow, his path ran through the Vorobyovy Gory observation deck, where he took his last look at the capital he had not conquered.

But the temple could not be built due to the sliding slope of the mountain. After ten years of futile work to strengthen the embankment, all attempts were abandoned and construction was stopped.

He opened a list of unrealized grandiose projects, to which the Palace of the Soviets and the monument to Prince Vladimir were later added.

At one time, the place was occupied by workers' barracks for construction workers and abandoned brick factories, which at the beginning of the century before last were used as temporary prison walls. The transit prison became famous thanks to the activities of the philanthropist, Dr. Haas, who did many good deeds for local residents.

After the demolition of the barracks, the place was freed up for public festivities. Muscovites got here by highway or by boat along the Moscow River from the Novodevichy Convent. In those days, tables were popular among residents and were placed everywhere for relaxation and picnics. For a small fee they brought a samovar.

Here, in a picturesque place where tea was especially tasty, Krynkin’s restaurant appeared. We should tell you more about it.

A spyglass was offered with the menu

Contemporaries with great pleasure would sit today on the terrace of Krynkin’s restaurant, taste an excellent chop with lightly salted cucumber, cold vodka, fresh strawberries with whipped cream. The owner offered a telescope to the menu for an additional fee. It was the most fashionable place at the end of the 19th century, with an opening view of the capital.

It was visible from many kilometers away, had the shape of a palace and several levels. You could get to it by road by car for 3 rubles; going back was more expensive: 50 kopecks per mile. This was the most popular route. In the summer, boats traveled along the Moscow River to the restaurant. The romance of these places attracted many clients at any time of the year. And now it remains popular for newlyweds. Although the restaurant is long gone, in its place is a diving board. But his memory lives on in old photographs of the outskirts of Moscow.

The restaurant was destroyed by the revolution of the 17th year. The drinking establishment was turned into a reading room, and three years later the picture palace burned down. They wanted to build the Red Stadium on the ashes - another unrealized project of the nascent Soviet government.

The owner of this land, Stepan Vasilyevich Krynkin, did not see the sad end of his beloved brainchild; he died before the revolutionary events, leaving his sons a rich inheritance. According to rumors, one of the dispossessed sons himself burned the building so that no one would get it. Krynkin's descendants were evicted in 1951, when the village was finally demolished. Their family line still continues.

Manor Island

Vorobyovy Gory adorns private estates with a magnificent estate stretching over several thousand hectares. The oldest Mamonov dacha, where the buildings of the Russian Academy of Sciences are located. It was built in 1761, and it belonged to noble Moscow princes, but it went down in history thanks to Count Mamonov.

The territory is adjacent to St. Andrew's Monastery. The mansion was rebuilt several times: it received its majestic appearance in 1820, when it added a third floor, built for balls and receptions, and on the side - turrets for an open view. The estate area included orchards, melon and vegetable gardens, and greenhouses where delicious exotics were grown.

Among its owners was the Moscow governor. Ivan Fonvizin allowed a psychiatric hospital to be located within its walls.

During the Silver Age, the city duma bought the property, but revolutionary events made their own adjustments. The new government placed a museum of folk studies here, and after the war, only universities housed the halls. Therefore, today the estate houses the museum apartments of Nikolai Semenov and Pyotr Kapitsa, who were directors of universities: chemical physics and physical problems.

In another wing, a place was reserved for the Soviet nomenklatura: Alexei Kosygin and Mikhail Gorbachev came here. And the building itself is surrounded by a beautiful park, with rare surviving trees from tsarist times.

Lenin's mountains

In the 30s, with the light hand of Ilyich’s comrade-in-arms, People’s Commissar Krasin, a new name, a design for a monument and the Palace of Soviets were approved - all named after the leader. Posthumous architecture filled the cities and villages of the Soviet country. What came to fruition was only the Lenin Mountains, which regained their original name only in 1999.

And two years before Lenin’s death, the Sparrow Hills entered the capital’s borders, and the authorities immediately began to improve the park, build an observation deck and an avenue across the river, and after the war, in 1949, a magnificent university building, the design of which was personally approved by Stalin.

MSU took three years to build with the help of many thousands of prisoners. In the year of Stalin's death it became the highest in Europe and remained so for four decades. The building has fifty rooms, kilometers of corridors, it has 36 floors, on the 32nd there is an observation deck. Two thousand students live and study there and there is everything to receive all the services without leaving the building: shops, hairdressers, a clinic, etc.

The colorful decoration of the spire and star is the color: many people think it is gilded, but these are just plates of yellow glass coated with aluminum.

There are many legends surrounding this building. For example, about the tunnel that goes straight to Stalin’s dacha. What is this - either a secret metro line or a bunker? There are also horror stories about builders buried in the walls, who died in large numbers at a construction site, and it was easier to wall up their bodies than to give them a Christian burial. Student suicides are also associated with this terrible story from the past: they say that there are many of them among nonresidents. Diggers have repeatedly explored the underground passages under the university building and found many stalactites and empty bottles there.

But those who come here not to study, but on an excursion, see a very friendly place with a park, a rose garden and a monument to the founder of Moscow State University, Lomonosov.

Nature reserve

During perestroika and glasnost, the Lenin Mountains received the status of a specially protected natural area. Everything is located on the right bank of the Moscow River - a steep slope on which nothing can be built due to landslides and 1300 km around - remained untouched. Therefore, a natural landscape with oaks, lindens, maples, birches and unique flora and fauna was left there. This reserve is the only one closest to the center of the metropolis.

Lilies of the valley and bluebells are often found on the paths of walking excursion groups, who flock in abundance to the Vorobyovy Gory. The administration of the reserve offers you to walk along ecological trails where you can meet birds and small animals listed in the capital’s Red Book. In 2013, the reserve entered the territory of its neighbors - Gorky Park and Neskuchny Garden.

Karamzin, Lermontov, Gorky, Blok, Tchaikovsky, Kustodiev and other famous people walked here.

Leo Tolstoy mentions this place in his epic novel. Alexander Blok wrote that the view of the capital from the Sparrow Hills is much better than the view of Paris from Montmartre.

The only building located on the territory of the reserve is the former residence of Khrushchev. With the entire surrounding area of ​​2.5 hectares, it was sold to private individuals.

Sports past and present

Since the 50s, the construction of sports facilities began on Vorobyovy Gory. A ski jump and a 340-meter lift appeared.

Ski competitions were held here back in the 20s - the terrain allows it. Many Soviet jumpers trained here - champions of Europe, the world, and the Olympics.

The glorious sporting past will continue in the present. The complex is designed as an all-season facility and will help host the World Cup next year. Everything is subject to reconstruction: the cable car, the ski slope, jumps and other structures.

The cable car will double in size and stretch to Luzhniki. Its capacity will reach more than one and a half thousand people per hour.

According to the plan of the Moscow authorities, the best athletes of various sports will train at the Vorobyovy Gory Sports Complex. However, the doors will also be open for beginner skiers, snowboarders, jumpers and speed skiers.

After the completion of construction and reconstruction of a number of facilities, the place will become the main sports center in Moscow.

Around the Vorobyovy Gory there is an embankment, a highway and two entire passages with the same names - Vorobievsky. The Vorobyovy Gory metro station is unique and, like many things in this wonderful place in the capital, it breaks the record for the length of the platform - 280 meters.

It’s worth coming here and taking Chekhov’s advice - look at Moscow from here to get to know Russia.

One of the iconic sights of Moscow, which has become a must-see point on the maps of tourists coming to the capital. It is from here that the widest panorama of the city opens, accessible all year round, at any time of the day or night - and, by the way, absolutely free.

The height of the observation deck is about 80 meters above the level of the Moscow River (200 meters above sea level).

The high altitude is due to the peculiarities of the relief: the site is located at the highest point of the Sparrow Hills - a steep cliff of the Teplostanskaya Upland, forming the high right bank of the Moscow River. Thanks to this, the Vorobyovy Gory significantly rises above the city, and visitors to the observation deck are literally on the edge of a cliff, from which a magnificent view of the central part of Moscow opens.

Observation deck on Vorobyovy Gory, September 2018

It is worth noting that Vorobyovy Gory is popular not only among tourists. Following a long-standing city tradition, newlyweds often come here, and in the evenings Moscow bikers and street racers gather at the site.

Panorama of Moscow

The Vorobyovy Gory observation deck is rightfully considered the main observation deck in Moscow: it is the only publicly accessible place from which you can really get a feel for the scale of the city.

Thanks to its favorable location in the center of Moscow, it boasts the widest and most varied panorama of the capital: no other observation deck has so many visible attractions.

Panorama of Moscow from Sparrow Hills, September 2018

From here you can see almost all the iconic skyscrapers of the capital, 6 of 7 Stalinist high-rises (including the Moscow State University building behind the site), a number of architectural landmarks in the central part of the city (and even the Kremlin!), as well as the embankments of the Moscow River. And if you look closely at the construction cranes on the horizon, you can even look a little into the future of Moscow and imagine how the city landscape will change in the future. The city's panorama is changing rapidly, and in a few years it will be noticeably different from what can be seen today (just as today's panorama is different from what it was a few years ago).

The view that opens up is very dynamic: if you look closely, you can see cars driving along the Third Ring Road and bright red Lastochka trains along the MCC.

And to make it even more interesting to admire the view of Moscow from Sparrow Hills, free viewing binoculars are installed on the site, thanks to which some buildings can be seen literally in detail.

Exactly opposite the observation deck is a noticeable round structure, the Luzhniki Grand Sports Arena. The Olympic Stadium, opened in 1956, makes a great base for exploring the city.

To the left of Luzhniki

At the very left point relative to Luzhniki, the eyes meet views of modern Moscow and the tallest Moscow skyscrapers: the Mirax Plaza business center, as well as residential complexes and the House on Begovaya. The business center "Nordstar Tower" on Begovaya Street is clearly visible on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment.

A little to the right - unexpectedly adjacent to the Ostankino TV tower and the pipes of CHPP-12, ("White House") and. In addition to the Ukraine Hotel, to the left of the Luzhniki you can see two more Stalinist skyscrapers: and. The view of the MFA skyscraper is impressive: from here it looks like a giant rock towering over the city. Between the Stalinist high-rises there are book-houses lined up in a row, and in front of them is the Novodevichy Convent and various residential buildings.

If you look a little more closely, you can also notice a 165-meter skyscraper, the silhouette of which tourists sometimes confuse with Stalin’s high-rise buildings.

The Vorobyovskaya and Luzhnetskaya embankments of the Moscow River are clearly visible, as well as the Berezhkovsky Bridge, connecting Novodevichy Embankment with Berezhkovskaya, and the Luzhnetsky Railway Bridge.

Center - "Luzhniki"

The Olympic sports complex "Luzhniki" is the undoubted dominant of local views: located exactly opposite the observation deck, the Large Sports Arena cannot be confused with anything or not seen.

Behind the dome of the arena you can see a number of iconic Moscow sights and simply noticeable places: St. Basil's Cathedral and the bell towers of the Kremlin cathedrals, the buildings of the Sechenov Moscow State Medical University, the Stalinist high-rise building on the Red Gate and the giant ("In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet") by Zurab Tsereteli. The eye is especially drawn to the monument to Peter I - this is the tallest monument in Russia and one of the tallest in the world, its height is 98 meters.

Another interesting detail was the cable car, stretching between Sparrow Hills and Luzhniki over the Moscow River: from the observation deck you can see its stations and cabins moving over the water.

To the right of Luzhniki

On the right side of the panorama you can see another Stalinist high-rise -. Not far from the high-rise building is the building of the Swissotel Krasnye Holmy hotel, noticeable due to the design of its upper part: it looks like a flying saucer is parked on the roof. The Shukhov Radio Tower (Shabolovskaya Tower) stands apart: a unique hyperboloid structure peeks out from behind the green massif. The structure, erected in 1920-1922, is a recognized masterpiece of engineering, in no way inferior to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

To the right of other notable objects is the 22-story building of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, opened in the early 1990s. Muscovites liked the RAS building: for the unusual architectural forms on the roof, they dubbed it “golden brains” and immediately invented many fantastic stories about their purpose - they say, these are antennas for communicating with extraterrestrial intelligence. "Golden Brains" has become one of the city's mysteries - perhaps it is for this building that Muscovites fell in love.

In front of the building of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences you can see a unique structure - the 2-level Luzhnetsky metro bridge, spanning the Moskva River between Luzhnetskaya and Vorobyovskaya/Andreevskaya embankments. On the lower tier there is the Vorobyovy Gory metro station (until 1999 - Leninskie Gory) - the world's first metro station located above the river: it opened in 1959. The upper tier of the bridge is given over to cars - a busy highway passes through it. In addition, on both sides of the bridge there are open pedestrian crossings through which you can cross the Moscow River without entering the station.

History of the observation deck

The observation deck was built simultaneously with the construction of the Moscow State University complex in 1949-1953.

The location for it was dictated by the relief itself: Vorobyovy Gory - the high right bank of the Moscow River, a steep cliff of the Teplostan Upland, washed away by the current. Construction over the cliff was unsafe due to the danger of a landslide: initially they wanted to build the main building of Moscow State University closer to the river, but this turned out to be impossible. The high-rise was built far from the cliff, and an observation deck was installed on its edge. Since its construction, the observation deck has changed little: these days, viewing binoculars have been installed on it, and an illuminated diagram of Moscow with the Moscow River has been built into the paving; otherwise, it has remained the same.

Various organizations have repeatedly had plans to build or install monuments on the Vorobyovy Gory observation deck (in particular, the city authorities considered the possibility of installing them here), but fortunately none of them came true.

According to urban legends, in the past, the Sparrow Hills more than once became a viewing platform for conquerors: they say that the Crimean Khan Kazy Giray II (Gazy II Giray) and the Lithuanian Hetman Khodkevich looked at Moscow from here during their campaigns.

How to get there

You can get to the observation deck on Vorobyovy Gory on foot from the metro station "Sparrow Hills" Sokolnicheskaya Line, it is located on Kosygina Street in the area of ​​​​University Square.

However, the path from the metro is not so obvious: to walk from the station to the site, you need to exit the lobby towards Kosygina Street, then walk under the bridge to the end of the alley below it and turn right - there a paved path with steps and a log road rises up the slope of the Vorobyovy Gory parapet. The trail ascends to Kosygina Street, where there are signs towards the site (one of them is located right at the end of the trail).

Trail to the Vorobyovy Gory observation deck

The observation deck on Vorobyovy Gory is accessible around the clock and free of charge.