Print Yard, Moscow

The Print Yard, or Moscow Print Yard, was the first state printing establishment in Russia. It was founded under Tsar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) in the 1550s, with the printing house itself operating by the early 1560s.

It is closely associated with printers Ivan Fyodorov and Pyotr Mstislavets, who completed the Apostle there on March 1, 1564. The book is generally regarded as the first precisely dated printed book produced in Moscow and in the Russian state. The complex was repeatedly damaged, rebuilt, and expanded over the following centuries. In 1721, the printing house was transferred to the authority of the Holy Synod and became known as the Synodal Printing House. The principal building facing the street was reconstructed in 1811–1815 by architects Ivan Mironovsky and Alexei Bakarev. Its distinctive façade combines Gothic Revival elements with decorative motifs inspired by earlier Russian architecture, while parts of the courtyard preserve older architectural features from previous phases of the Print Yard. Printing continued on the site for centuries, producing religious books and other publications; between 1703 and 1711, the Print Yard also printed Vedomosti, the first Russian printed newspaper. After the Revolution, the Synodal Printing House ceased operation and the complex was adapted for educational and archival institutions.

Today, the historic buildings are occupied by the Historical and Archival Institute of the Russian State University for the Humanities, preserving a direct physical connection with the early history of Russian printing.