GALERIE MARCHANDE PASSAGE

The elegant shopping mall along Deribasovskaya Street is called Passage (Пассаж). The complex was built in 1898 and 1899 by the architect Lev Vlodek and was inaugurated on 23 January 1900. The building connects Deribasovskaya and Preobrazhenska streets and houses an eponymous hotel and numerous shops. The corridors are covered by a glass vault and the walls are decorated with casts and numerous baroque sculptures. On the roof, framing the entrance to the gallery that overlooks Deribasovskaya Street, the statue of the Greek God Mercury perched on a steam engine and that of Ceres on a boat can be seen despite its dilapidation. On October 31, 1901, the Passage was ravaged by a fire that miraculously did not injure anyone. Architect Lev Vlodek is also the architect of the former Novaya Moskovskaya Hotel and the author of the impressive sculptures of the Atlanteans, which can be found on Gogol Street (Gogolya 5 and Gogolya 7).