Hotel Moskva

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The building before demolition in 2004

The Hotel Moskwa ( Russian Гостиница Москва / Gostiniza Moskwa , i.e. Hotel Moscow ) next to the Red Square in the center of the Russian capital Moscow was considered to be the highlight of the architectural style of the Stalin era after its opening in 1935 . The monumental hotel was closed in 2002 and demolished in 2004 for obscure reasons. From 2005 to 2014 the Hotel Moskwa was rebuilt in the old style.

Planning and construction time

The building was built by the architect Alexei Shchusev , who among other things also built the Lenin Mausoleum and is considered the town planner for the expansion of Moscow during the Stalin era . Although the construction work started in 1932 was not completed until 1938, the hotel opened on December 20, 1935.

The hotel was considered one of the best in Moscow, its interior was decorated with elaborate works of art and mosaics by the best artists of the Soviet Union. From the lobby of the Moskva Hotel, a staircase led directly down to the Okhotny Ryad metro station on the “red” Sokolnicheskaya line .

The first construction phase alone, up to the opening of the hotel in 1935, is said to have cost 45 million rubles , three times more than budgeted for the entire structure.

The old hotel

A special feature of the Moskva Hotel was its asymmetrical facade. One explanation for this is that shortly before construction began, the architect Shtusev presented Stalin with a blueprint with two variants of the facade design, one strictly classic and one decorative. Stalin is said to have put his signature in the middle. Because nobody dared to ask the dictator what he really wanted, the two wings were built exactly as different as they could be seen on the blueprint with Stalin's signature.

During the Second World War , the composer Dmitri Shostakovich stayed in the Hotel Moskva for the premiere of his Leningrad symphony . At the same time, the commanders of the Soviet air defense lived there , and they could be called to the Kremlin in a few minutes from the Hotel Moskva . On the hotel roof were anti-aircraft guns , which the Kremlin before air strikes should protect.

The Minister of Culture, Mikhail Schwydkoi, tried to prevent the hotel from being demolished by declaring it an architectural monument. Nevertheless, the monumental hotel was torn down in 2004. This was justified by the fact that the building is in poor condition and the plan for an underground car park could only be realized in this way.

Hotel Moskwa can be found on the labels of the Stolichnaya vodka brand, among other things .

The new Building

Four Seasons Hotel Moscow (2016)

Since 2005, the Hotel Moskwa has been rebuilt by the Austrian construction company Strabag based on the model of the historic building and should be reopened in 2010 as a hotel of the Four Seasons chain . Deutsche Bank financed 75 percent of the $ 800 million new building , with the City of Moscow providing the remaining 25 percent.

Construction was stopped because almost half, or $ 87.5 million, of the Moscow City loan has disappeared. The investigation is still ongoing. The builder Dekmos, in which the US investor Decorum has a 51 percent stake and the city of Moscow 49 percent, is suspected. Behind Decorum, however, is said to be the Duma member Ashot Jegiasarjan , who has been on the run since then.

On October 30, 2014, the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow reopened.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Susanne Spahn: From Stalin's magnificent building to the case of fraud . Kulturama.org. May 4, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  2. ↑ Website: HISTORY OF THE HOTEL . fourseasons.com. 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ https://www.baunetz.de/mektiven/M nearly_Das_Hotel_Moskwa_in_Moskau_wird_jetzt_abgerissen_14143.html
  4. ↑ https://www.baunetz.de/mektiven/Mommunikations_Hotel_Moskwa_vom_Abriss_bedroht_11559.html
  5. ↑ https://reiseziel.ch/hotel-moskwa-verhaben-kann-man-russland-nicht-2-2/
  6. ↑ http://www.moskau.ru/moskau/stadtnews/hotel_moskwa_staatsanwaltschaft_sucht_verschwundene_mio_1392.html
  7. ↑ Website: Four Seasons Hotel Moscow officially opened . fourseasons.com. October 27, 2014. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved on July 2, 2016.

Coordinates: 55 ° 45 ′ 24.6 ″  N , 37 ° 37 ′ 0.2 ″  E