Location and Origin

Like six other squares on the Boulevard Ring that contain the word "gate" in their names, this square indicates the site where, from the 16th to the 18th century, the gates of the third defensive ring of Moscow, known as the White City, were located.

Today, the square has a triangular shape and is formed by the intersection of Solyanka, Yauzskaya, and Ustinsky Passage streets with Yauzsky Boulevard. It completes the Boulevard Ring.

The history of this place is connected to its unique geographical position at the mouth of the Yauza River. Important trade routes passed through here, and craft settlements were located nearby. The preserved Church of the Holy Trinity in Serebryaniki, built in the 17th century (bell tower from the 18th century), serves as a reminder of the "Serebryaniki" settlement, where craftsmen made silver coins for the Mint, which was located here as well.

The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Koshely, which has not survived to this day, stood at the beginning of modern Yauzskaya Street and was the parish church for the Koshelnaya settlement. Fishermen lived here, transporting fresh fish in special containers, "koshely," from nearby villages to the city. A park now occupies the site of this settlement.

18th, 21st Century

Key events that changed the appearance of the square and the surrounding streets occurred in the 1790s when the wall of the White City and the Yauza Tower were dismantled. During this time, the Educational House was also being built, using stone from the demolished walls and towers. One of the buildings of the Educational House forms Ustinsky Passage.

In the 1930s-1940s, a new Big Ustinsky Bridge was built across the Moscow River (engineer V.M. Vakhurkin, architects G.P. Golts, D.M. Sobolev), and the old Astakhovsky Bridge over the Yauza was reconstructed. These works were accompanied by the clearing of the square south of Yauzskaya Street. At that time, the relief of Yauzskaya Street was altered by raising it due to the embankment of the bridge approach. In 1975, the remaining buildings were demolished.

In 1997, an obelisk "To the Border Guards of the Fatherland" was installed in the park at the square (sculptors V. and S. Surovtsevs, architects V. Kochergin, V. Aleshin).