Gostiny dvor

Gostinyi dvor (Russian: гостиный двор, IPA: [ɡɐˈsʲtʲinɨj ˈdvor]) is a historic Russian term for an indoor market or shopping centre.^[1] It is translated from Russian either as "guest court" or "merchant yard", although both translations are inadequate. These structures originated as collections of small shops where merchants from other cities could, at designated times, come to sell their wares. Some such structures, constructed in every large Russian town during the first decades of the 19th century, are fine examples of Neoclassical architecture.