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The Prague Restaurant in Moscow from a Tavern in 1872 to Its Closure, with a 1901 Photograph

@sncmag, it is a great pity that these interiors are now closed to visitors.

For if we speak of the truly iconic establishments of Moscow, then it is, of course, the "Praga", opened as long ago as 1872. True, at that time it was rather a tavern, and most people called it the "Braga", until in 1896 the merchant Tararykin installed a billiard room in the "Praga" along with an expensive restaurant, which soon became very popular and prestigious. Thereafter the building changed owners and was rebuilt several times, until it became an ordinary canteen, and then the canteen of the NKVD. But after Stalin's death the fashionable establishment of former years put forth shoots once more from the ashes of the regime, and the establishment returned to the walls of the "Praga". Unfortunately, the Praga has been closed for some time now, and since 2018 the premises could not be sold at all, but I believed that such a city brand could not simply vanish.

In this photograph of 1901 the "Praga" appears in its original guise, a two-storey corner building

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Old colour photograph with cracks: adults and children resting on the grass on a slope under a tree.

Orientalist Grigory Kozakov with relatives and children at a picnic near the village of Zhikharevka in 1903

The Orientalist Grigory Alexandrovich Kozakov, surrounded by his relatives, his daughter-in-law Countess Anna Nikolayevna Tolstaya, the children and their tutor, at a picnic near the village of Zhikharevka in 1903

Konstantin Ivanov's Cosmonautics Day poster, published in Moscow in 1977

Grow strong, cosmic youth! A poster for Cosmonautics Day, created by the artist Konstantin Konstantinovich Ivanov in 1977. The work was issued by the Moscow publishing house “Plakat” for 12 April. Konstantin Ivanov was a Soviet graphic artist and poster designer, Honoured Artist of the RSFSR. The theme of space

Signs of violent death found on skulls from burials beside the royal tombs at Abydos

An American archaeologist has carried out a forensic analysis of skulls of people who were buried beside the tombs of Egypt's first kings at Abydos, and has found on many of them traces of violent death. Abydos in Upper Egypt served as the burial place of the kings

Black-and-white group photograph of people in masquerade costumes with fans and headdresses, some seated on a floor covered with confetti.

Guests at a costume party in a Moscow theatre in the early 20th century

A costume evening at one of the Moscow theatres in the early twentieth century

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Orientalist Grigory Kozakov with relatives and children at a picnic near the village of Zhikharevka in 1903

Konstantin Ivanov's Cosmonautics Day poster, published in Moscow in 1977

Signs of violent death found on skulls from burials beside the royal tombs at Abydos

Guests at a costume party in a Moscow theatre in the early 20th century