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88 Comments
- manbergur, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21probably the fact that world war 2 broke out in the next decade after these plans were drawn up.. and much of russias's construction capability and other resources were put into the war effort and the subsequant cold war afterwards/// i also would have loved to see these built.. this is what architecture should be llike, not some glass box skyscraper that isnt very impressive in terms of its design, which is what most american cities look like
- Superc00kie, on 10/12/2007, -7/+25Wow... talk about megalomania!
- stmico, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Funny you say that, because this was actually on the front page over a year ago, I'd sword I'd seen it before.
http://digg.com/links/The_Moscow_that_was_never_built
So maybe Boing-Boing should change it's name to Digg: A Year Later? - elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Because they're completely off-topic? Not to mention uninteresting and unfunny.
- Nighthawke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9The madness of Stalin could be seen in the Motel Moscow's facade. As the article put it, Stalin signed approval for BOTH designs so the building took on a assymertrical look to appease Stalin.
If Lenin was still in power or someone else that had a more level head perched on their shoulders, at least one, maybe two of those buildings would have been erected.
Also his fear of heights and flying most likely had something to do with the tall buildings not being constructed.. - onikage, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Amazing... photos of things that were never built!
- pupkind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7This particular anecdote is one of few that is NOT related to Stalin's madness, it was in fact a simple human mistake. The story says that he was presented with a design sketch, which had the building split in two halves. The left part was rendered with one design and second - with another. He did not notice that and signed off on the project. Here's a photo to get an idea of what this is all about -
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/htdocs/sas/image/hotel-moskva.jpg
Also - a bit of trivia - this particular building is featured on the bottle of Stolichnaya vodka. So this lovely beverage is not only fun and nutritious, but also carries a bit of a history :) - golhra, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Stalin was too busy in his political assassinations to allow those these things to be built. No wonder none of them where built. That doesn't happen when you're killing off the intellectuals and famine hits because of his collectivization.
The buildings/ideas are impressive nonetheless. - Bhima, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10They were never realized for much the same reasons the US is failing with their space endeavors:
Suddenly the costs seem much more than they really are
The political will required to accomplish great things has evaporated
Incompetence perpetrated by the politically powerful have stagnated and divided the nation
The intellectual elite (the few who remained with a political voice) failed to demonstrate to the populace how it was a benefit to the common good.
oh... and there was a war that consumed the whole of the Treasury - kazem, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11Bad title! They're drawings, not photos.
Maybe he meant photos of drawings! - metallic07039, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Im a Russian been to Moscow several times since I moved to the US. Looking at the pictures they look quiet similar to buildings I have been while visiting Russia. A few examples:
http://www.muar.ru/ve/2003/moscow/11e.htm - There is a similar arch in Moscow but I can't place the name of it. But here is another arch in Mocow I found as well: http://www.moscow-driver.com/pictures/0175-2.jpg
http://www.muar.ru/ve/2003/moscow/12e.htm - http://www.new7wonders.com/fileadmin/resources/candidates/Red_Square-st.basile-kremlin-lge.jpg The tops look very similar.
http://www.muar.ru/ve/2003/moscow/13e.htm - http://www.arrakeen.ch/russia/029%20%20one%20of%20the%20big%207%20buildings.JPG Notice the building in the background in the sketch.
There are more buildings that have seen that have things in common with the architects' renderings but I can't place them at this point in time. Let me know what you think. - DEFSMAC, on 10/12/2007, -10/+15can't resist...
in soviet russia buildings develop you! - quasipalm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I'm sitting here in Queens, looking across the east river for a building with a 30 story statue of a leader of state on its roof with his hands in the air in full-on "praise-me" fashion.
Most buildings in new york are very functional -- even more so than other parts of the nation. Some times I think that there's not a closet in this town that goes unrented as a "efficiency apartment." - Osjpr, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14Incredible.
- bdeisgn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@ kenz0r
Dude, he's making a joke. Stalin probably (I don't know for a fact) told his people that the Soviets beat the Germans by themselves, that's the way he worked. - TheAttacks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I love the one building picturing a soviet leader on the top. . . that would have been an impressive building to see in real life.
- egrumling, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Mostly due to lack of modivation. I'm guessing this was more propaganda than anything else. A way for Stalin to keep people thinking that if they put up with hardship now, the future will be wonderful (if we get rid of the "wrong" people).
Reminds me of the soviet newscaster in Airplane... "A 4 alarm fire makes way for glorious new building in downtown Moscow." - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4In the White House?
- arthurbarnhouse, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I wasn't saying they stole it or something, I was just noting the similarity, particularly the position of Lenin compared to the sower. They obviously aren't the same building, nor am I claiming such. For Christ sake, calm down.
- Habemus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4> What shocks me is that she actually has internet access... in the soviet union =)
Does she live in a time bubble? In my timeline, the Soviet Union disappeared 15 years ago. - stou, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2considering I am from a country that was behind the iron curtain but not part of the soviet union... I am quite aware of the fact that the CCCP doesn't exist anymore. Thanks for letting me know though.
- veeto, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I remember going to Moscow years ago, and some of the socialist realism sculptures were amazing. The Moscow underground station interiors are like unique palaces. One of the most striking (especially when you stand close to it) is this :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kolkhoznitsa.jpg
Just the scale takes your breath away - gravedigga, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4It's called CNN russia.
- Julz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ahh, Soviet Russia..... If only it lasted to this day, then we could see the glorious monuments to communism! America needs a adversary, to keep her on its toes! thats why USA should help Rebuild Soviet Russia!
- wintermute1974, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8I wonder what made the dreamers stop dreaming? Why were these buildings never implemented?
Was it Stalin? Lack of funds?
It's a shame really. There are some good neoclassical buildings in this mix, as well as very modern glass buildings. Quite a mix. - arthurbarnhouse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5The Palace of the Soviets looks a little like the Nebraska State Building.
http://www.nebraskaretail.com/images/Capitol%20Building.JPG - RandomSkratch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ok wtf? When I visited the site it wasn't working at all so I made some quirky comment to go along with the parent I replied to and included a link to a working cache site, then I get buried...
So is helping the post considered "not cool" right now? I never got the memo. - bdeisgn, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7Big shame, sure, 'cause that's what this world needs is more statues to Lenin. Communism worked real well over there, huh?
- herbstwerk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2albert speer could hide himself behind some of this stuff without a problem... and he was one of hitler's megalomaniacs planning 'germania'
- anti-net, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Ah, i love soviet architecture!
- Falc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1'Red Square' = awesome Russian themed restaurant at the Tropicana in Atlantic City.
http://www.chinagrillmgt.com/redSquareNJ/index.cfm?r=1
pretty pricey tho... - LThermidor, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7In order to build the Commissariat of Heavy Industry, they would have had to demolish the State Universal Store (GUM). Aren't you glad they didn't? I mean, where else would you be able to shop near the Red Square for $200 blue jeans?
- rtilford, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2wow they are well good. Got to hand it them they know how they want there buildings.
- bolo1729, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1monstrodamus: "The funny thing is where they wanted to build the Lenin building, they first built a pool and now built a huge church. Big shame in my opinion."
Actually, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was built there in the 19th century, and destroyed (blew up) in 1931 in order to make place for the Palace of Soviets. The Palace of Soviets was not built, so they'd built a pool instead, and later "rebuilt" the Cathedral in the 1990s.
The original Cathedral was a true masterpiece: it took 45 years to build it, the church was decorated with marvelous pieces of art, and ultra-rich decorations. For instance, it took 422 kg of gold to build the iconostasis (see Wikipedia for a definition). The Stalin's decision to blow it up was compared to (hypothetical) demolishing of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, or Notre Dame in Paris.
If you ask me, it was a big shame to blow the cathedral in the first place.
Some info can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Saviour_%28Moscow%29
My primary source of information is the book "Imperium" by Ryszard Kapuscinski,
available at Amazon, for example. There is a few pages long description of the original cathedral
and further history of the plot in the chapter "The Temple and the Palace", starting at p. 95
of the English edition (you can read it online @ Amazon if you are their client). - ByteGuerilla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Neither was I. I just don't add "j/k" to the end of my posts like that 'cause it always looks daft.
- scotty79, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Soviets built interesting building in their influence zone. Here's an existing example: http://sefir.net/palac/
- DocDEB, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2All pretty much the same... very big and dehumanizing. The ones that were built and those that weren't all serve the purpose of making the individual insignificant in the shadow of The State.
- gader, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Moscow State University in person is a pretty awesome site, definitely rivaling some of these drawings.
http://www.msu.ru/tour/images/mnn_2.jpg - raccettura, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The uppward draw given by those vertical lines just screams gothic architecture (which is really what gothic was about, drawing the eyes up towards the heavens) but without the ornate decoration that most think of.
A ton of western influence on those... most look like western structures with a gothic twist. - SyDIGG, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Putting ideas on paper is one thing and actually building them is an entirely different thing. History is littered with drawings and dreams of magnificent structures unfulfilled. These drawings are nothing special.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Needs mirrored :-(
- crazyman, on 10/12/2007, -7/+7This is one of the best digg stories of all time.
- kovaxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Fantastic drawings!
- metalica77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Rome plus + utopia = moscow
- monstrodamus, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8"Stalin was too busy in his political assassinations to allow those these things to be built. No wonder none of them where built. That doesn't happen when you're killing off the intellectuals and famine hits because of his collectivization."
Fool... The reason these projects weren't built was because of something called WWII.. Ever heard of it? Unlike American WWII, Soviet and Eastern European WWII cost tens of millions of lives and involved the destruction of entire parts and infrastructures of countries. That makes wasting money on fancy projects sort of tough. Go stick you brainless head back where it came from.
The funny thing is where they wanted to build the Lenin building, they first built a pool and now built a huge church. Big shame in my opinion. - jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I just saw this same site on Digg's frontpage last night before I went to bed... so nothing but deja vu here as well since this is some repost...
- zephc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2the Palace of the Soviets ( http://www.muar.ru/ve/2003/moscow/03e.htm ) reminds me of a Ziggurat ( http://www.crystalinks.com/zigmesopot.jpg ) only way taller
- Swift2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Hey, I'm glad all these mausoleums weren't built. Can anybody seriously look at this junk at think it's good? It was BIG. The "Hero's Arch" is a monstrosity, much like the Soviet state. It's full of bits and pieces of classical stuff, but they just jammed it all together. The Greeks built those columns with a statue on the top? Let's put three statues on the top! All of this has the goal of glorifying Great Leader. The vast, empty spaces surrounding the high-rise show how divorced all this was from reality. Skyscrapers in the West started because of urban settings becoming more and more valuable, and so they built UP to stay in the city where all the money was being made. Here, massive and impractical public squares surround everything -- all the better to put more monuments to Stalin up. Why were they not built? Well, World War II did intervene; but another fact was the millions of productive workers killed and imprisoned in Siberia. I don't think they actually believed any of this crap after Stalin died. Or before.
- pupkind, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1These were built however -
http://moscowvision.ru/galleries/stalins/
They are smaller, but nevertheless very impressive. They managed to raise 7 altogether before the Party changed its mind and shut down the project. The first building is Moscow State University by the way, the second one is Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the third and the last one are hotels and the rest are apartment buildings. -
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