The city of Penza is located on the Volga Upland in the European part of Russia. The river of the same name flows through its territory and flows into the Sura River. Like any self-respecting regional center, the city boasts an embankment. There are three of them in Penza, but it is very difficult to deal with them. At first glance, the guests may think that by giving names to the streets, the Penziaks wanted to make fun of the visitors.
The banks of the wrong river
Street Embankment of the Penza River runs between Kazansky and Bakuninsky bridges, but along the banks of the … Sura river. Until 1945, everything was fine and the name corresponded to the geographical coordinates, until the Sura changed its course and flowed along with Penza. The townspeople who did not want to change the historical name left everything as it was, and visiting tourists are now often confused in search of Penza sights.
There is also the Sura River Embankment in the city. It is located in a quiet area two kilometers from the Bakuninsky Bridge downstream and does not have any sights.
Surprisingly, there is another embankment in Penza, the name of which does not correspond to reality. This is the Moika River Embankment, known to the townspeople since 1818. It stretched between the streets of Zamoysky and Sverdlov along the same Sura, and the cause of the incident was again a change in the river bed. Later, the Moika was completely enclosed in an underground collector, and the name of the Penzyaks, accustomed to it, was traditionally retained.
Sprout and message to descendants
The Glory Monument, installed on the Penza River Embankment, is a visiting card of the city, depicted both on postcards and in tourist guides. The 25-meter obelisk soared into the sky in 1967 as a symbol of the continuous economic and cultural growth of the city and the entire country, and the creators placed a capsule with a message to descendants in the nearby stele made of Karelian granite. Half a century later, it was supposed to be opened, so in 2017 a famous event will take place on the Penza embankment. In the meantime, near the memorial obelisk, popularly called "Rostock", newlyweds are photographed, students of local colleges are rollerblading and children are playing - the descendants of those who left a memory of themselves in a capsule in a granite stele.
Most of the festivities and festive events take place on the embankment, and on June 12, the City Day is traditionally celebrated here simultaneously with the Independence Day of Russia.
