Description of the attraction
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, a new trading square was laid out on a free from buildings urban area located up Moskovskaya Street, which eventually received an unofficial name - the Upper Bazaar (in contrast to the existing Lower and Peshiy bazaars). Over time, the bazaar gained strength and by the second half of the nineteenth century began to surpass all other city marketplaces in turnover. Trade was disordered and often conducted in unsanitary conditions, which prompted the city government in 1871 to replace wooden benches with stone buildings.
The project approved by the City Duma and the governor was taken up by the city architect A. M. Salko and during 1876-1877 six stone two-storey buildings were built with a large interval from each other, four of which overlooked Aleksandrovskaya Street. Later, according to the project of the same architect, three more stone buildings were built, including along the line of the then Petropavlovskaya (now Kutyakova St.).
In 1908, there were already 27 stone buildings in the Upper Bazaar (7 two-story and 20 one-story) with 497 rooms. They carried out flour, bread, fish, meat trade, as well as the sale of footwear, hats, manufactory, dishes (porcelain, crystal, metal and clay).
In the 1950s, the construction of large city government buildings began on the territory of the Upper Bazaar, ten years later the bazaar ceased to exist. Most of the stone trading buildings were demolished, but some (with access to Gorky and Kutyakova streets) have survived. They house mainly some subdivisions of the Government of the Saratov Region and small institutions. The complex of buildings of the Upper Bazaar is an architectural monument.
