Main Fair House

In the summer of nineteen oh six, a single shot on the second floor half emptied the interior shopping street of the Main Fair House. Nearby shops began to lock up: a rumor spread across the fair that Konstantin Frederiks, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod, had been killed.

Frederiks was responsible for order in the governorate. For the few weeks of fair trading, he moved here with his office: hundreds of thousands of visitors, enormous consignments of goods, and countless deals required the governor's constant presence. His apartment was on the second floor. Nearby were the police, the fair committee, the post office, the telegraph office, and a branch of the State Bank. Below stretched the passage—a covered street with dozens of shops and kiosks. The building was called the Main House quite literally: here, a merchant could be given money, have a telegram accepted, have a complaint considered, and sell goods.

The merchant class opened the building standing here in eighteen ninety. It replaced a dilapidated old house and retained an unusual arrangement: below, the public bought perfume, jewelry, and imported fabrics, while above them officials ran the fair. After the events of nineteen oh five, armed sentries guarded the governor's apartment—assassination attempts on officials were taking place across the country.

On one festive evening, the passage was full. The Main House's caretaker, who was paid to keep order in the building, took a rifle from a sentry. He wanted to frighten a fellow worker who was leaving along the governor's corridor: he aimed after him and unexpectedly fired. The bullet flew along the corridor.

The people downstairs did not see who was holding the rifle. They knew only that shots had been fired near the governor's apartment. Half the visitors ran out of the passage, the nearest merchants closed their shops, and rumor turned the caretaker's carelessness into a murder. Frederiks remained alive; reports of an assassination attempt proved false.

Today, the place where the shot was fired is not marked in any way, and the governor's apartment is no longer here. Most of the Main House is under reconstruction; people usually get inside during individual exhibitions, conferences, and organized tours; a restaurant operates in the right wing. The organizers are preparing to open a public section of that very passage: cafés, souvenir shops, and exhibition space are again to be located on the first floor—directly beneath the former governor's corridor.