The Great Soviet Street is one of the main traffic arteries of Smolensk connecting the Embankment of the Dnepr River with Victory Square. It was laid on the orders of Peter the Great. The street has changed several names throughout its existence, from Molokhovskaya to Bolshaya Blagoveshchenskaya. Today, this long avenue runs by the historical quarters of the city where the buildings of the late XIX - early XX century have been preserved.
On the Great Soviet Street you can see an eclectic building of the Book House of the XIX century where Alexander Tvardovsky and Mikhail Isakovsky, poets of the Soviet times, performed with their poems. Also here, near the Cathedral of the Assumption there is a monument to the Russian commander Mikhail Kutuzov of 1954. Moreover, the building of the former Printing House of the early XX century and the former Hotel "Yevropeyskaya" where the founder of the Soviet state Vladimir Lenin and writer Maxim Gorky stayed, is also located in this street. In short, the Great Soviet Street is worth a walk along to view the memorial tablets on the old houses and evaluate the architectural and decorative design of the mansions.