Rossiya Hotel
Encyclopedia
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
built in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
from 1964 until 1967 at the order of the Soviet government. Construction used the existing foundations of a cancelled skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
project, the Zaryadye Administrative Building
Eighth Sister (Moscow)
The Eighth Sister is the unbuilt project for the Zaryadye skyscraper in Moscow. It would have been eighth sister to the group of seven postwar Stalinist skyscrapers in Moscow, Russia. The architect was Dmitry Chechulin....
, which would have been the eighth of what is now referred to as the Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters (Moscow)
The "Seven Sisters" is the English name given to a group of Moscow skyscrapers designed in the Stalinist style. Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki , " high-rises"...
. The architect was Dmitry Chechulin
Dmitry Chechulin
Dmitry Nikolaevich Chechulin - was a Russian Soviet architect, city planner, author, and leading figure of Stalinist architecture.- Life :...
.
Large portions of a historic district of Moscow, known as Zaryadye
Zaryadye
Zaryadye is a historical district in Moscow established in 12-13th centuries within Kitai-gorod, between Varvarka Street and Moskva River. The name means "the place behind the rows", i.e., behind the market rows adjacent to the Red Square.-History:...
, were demolished in the 1940s for the original project. It was registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest hotel in the world until it was surpassed by the MGM Grand
MGM Grand Las Vegas
The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the third largest hotel in the world and largest hotel resort complex in the United States in front of The Venetian. The MGM Grand was the largest hotel in the world when it opened in...
in Las Vegas, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
in 1993. It remained the largest hotel in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
until its 2006 closure.
The 21-storey Rossiya had 3,200 rooms, 245 half suites, a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, a health club
Health club
A health club is a place which houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise.-Main workout area:...
, a nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
, a movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
and a barber shop as well as the 2500-seat State Central Concert Hall. The building was capable of accommodating over 4,000 guests. Most of the rooms were 11 square metres (118.4 sq ft), far smaller than most hotel rooms in the West. The hotel was adjacent to Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
, its 21-storey tower looming over the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
walls and the cupolas of Saint Basil's Cathedral
Saint Basil's Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat , popularly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral , is a Russian Orthodox church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–61. Built on the order of Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, it marks the...
.
In 1977, a huge fire in the building killed 42 and injured 50.
Demolition
The Rossiya Hotel officially closed its doors on January 1, 2006. Demolition of the building began in March 2006 for an entertainment complex loosely based on the design of the old ZaryadyeZaryadye
Zaryadye is a historical district in Moscow established in 12-13th centuries within Kitai-gorod, between Varvarka Street and Moskva River. The name means "the place behind the rows", i.e., behind the market rows adjacent to the Red Square.-History:...
district. The project is being overseen by British architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Sir Norman Foster and includes plans for a new, two thousand room hotel with apartments and a parking garage. In October 2006 the Supreme Arbitration Court has cancelled the results of a tender to reconstruct the Rossiya hotel near the Kremlin.