Palace of Soviets: the main secrets of the most ambitious architectural project of the USSR. Palace of Soviets - an unfinished project from the times of the USSR

The Palace of the Soviets is a labor of love between modernist Art Deco and rugged Soviet neoclassicism. Developed in the 30s of the last century, the design of this structure impresses with its exterior to this day (though only in pictures). The hundred-story, 420-meter Palace of the Soviets was supposed to be the tallest building in the world.

Its construction began in 1937 and suddenly ended in September 1941, when the building materials intended for the palace were used for military needs. After the war, they decided not to resume construction; there was no time for that.

Main Turkmen channel

The year 1950 marked the beginning of the great all-Union construction project. The Main Turkmen Canal was designed with the aim of watering and reclamation of the arid lands of Turkmenistan, increasing the area under cotton cultivation, and also with the aim of establishing a shipping connection between the Volga and Amu Darya. It was planned to carry 25% of the flow of the above-mentioned Amu Darya along the dry riverbed of the Uzboy to the city of Krasnovodsk.

The goal is truly impressive, especially considering that the length of the designed canal was about 1200 km, width - at least 100 m, depth - 6-7 m. In addition to the main canal, a network of irrigation canals with a total length of 10,000 km, about 2,000 reservoirs, three hydroelectric power stations. During construction it was planned to use 5,000 dump trucks, 2,000 bulldozers, 2,000 excavators, and 14 dredgers. It was decided to use prisoners and local residents as labor. In 1953, there were 7,268 free laborers and 10,000 prisoners at the construction site.

Of course, the ruling elite was not limited to the above means. The whole country worked on this construction project, as the figure of 1000 (!) freight cars that were delivered here from all over the Union every month eloquently tells us.

Immediately after the death of the leader, the construction of the State Customs Committee was stopped on the initiative of Beria. And then it was completely stopped due to reasons of unprofitability. But by this time, more than 21 billion Soviet rubles, or 2.73 trillion modern Russian rubles, had been irrevocably spent on the construction of the facility.

Transpolar Railway (construction 501-503)

Man of the Year (1940, 1943) according to Times magazine (talking about Stalin, if anything) did not limit his ambitions on a geographical basis. On his initiative, in the post-war period, from 1947 to 1953, a large Building company with the simple name “GULAG” was working on a grandiose project - the Transpolar Highway.

The purpose of this construction was to connect the western north (Murmansk, Arkhangelsk) with the eastern north (Chukotka, the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk).

Due to extremely tight deadlines, construction was carried out in parallel with design and survey work, which could not but affect the quality of the railway track being built. In total, approximately 80 thousand people were involved in the construction, not counting security. In 1953, work was stopped, and in 1954, their cost was calculated: approximately 1.8 billion Soviet rubles.

Sakhalin Tunnel (construction 506-507)

Another colossal construction project that ended its existence with the death of Stalin is the Sakhalin Tunnel.

Construction, which started in 1950, was scheduled to finish in 1955. With a tunnel length of 10 km, the deadlines were more than tight. From socialism to communism in five-year steps! And the country walked on this particular construction site with the feet of more than 27 thousand people, all those same prisoners and free workers. And in the spring of 1953, the construction site closed.

Turn of Siberian rivers

Let’s make a reservation right away: no one was going to turn the rivers around. It was only planned to transfer part of the flow of some Siberian rivers, for example the Ob and Irtysh, to the arid regions of the USSR - for agricultural reasons.

The project became one of the most ambitious projects of the twentieth century. For more than twenty years, 160 scientific and production organizations THE USSR.

The first stage of work involved the construction of a canal 2,500 km long, 130 to 300 m wide and 15 m deep. The second stage involved changing the direction of the Irtysh flow by 180 degrees. That is, it was planned to direct the waters of the Irtysh in the opposite direction using pumping stations, waterworks and reservoirs.

Of course, this project was not destined to come to fruition. Common sense prevailed over imperial ambitions - Soviet academicians nevertheless persuaded the country's leadership to leave the Siberian rivers alone.

Nikitin Tower - Travusha 4000 (project)

In 1966, engineers Nikitin (by the way, the chief designer of the Ostankino TV tower) and Travush proposed a project for the tallest skyscraper in the world. Moreover, they planned to build it in Japan. Theoretically, the skyscraper was magnificent: its height was 4 km! The tower was divided into four mesh sections a kilometer long and with a diameter at the base of 800 m. The tower, being a residential building as planned, was supposed to accommodate up to 500 thousand people.

In 1969 project work was stopped: the customers suddenly came to their senses and demanded that the height of the building be reduced to 2 km. Then - up to 550 m. And then they completely abandoned the Tsar Tower.

Terra-3

The remains of structure 41/42B with the 5N27 laser locator complex of the 5N76 Terra-3 shooting complex. Photo 2008

"Terra-3" is nothing more than a project for a zonal anti-missile and anti-space defense system with a beam destructive element. It is also a scientific-experimental shooting-laser complex. Work on “Terra” has been carried out since the 60s of the last century. Unfortunately, already in the early 70s, scientists began to realize that the power of their lasers was not enough to shoot down warheads. Although she shot down satellites, this cannot be taken away from her. The project somehow came to naught.

"Zvezda" (lunar base)

The first detailed design of a Soviet base on the Moon. The concept of a lunar city, cherished in the 60s and 70s, consisted of a main unmanned module and several automatic vehicles for exploring the surface of the Earth's satellite. In the future, living compartments would be docked to the main module, and this entire locomotive would travel around the Moon, drawing energy from its own nuclear reactor.

Turning such space fantasies into reality would cost the state an exorbitant 50 billion rubles. In the conditions of waging war, albeit a cold one, it was decided to abandon such interplanetary luxury.

National automated system of accounting and information processing (OGAS)

OGAS was based on the principles of cybernetics and was intended for automated control economy of the entire USSR. That is, the system had to be responsible for the total vertical and horizontal interaction of all spheres of the state economy to ensure planning, management and information processing. Management of the economy could pass into the hands of a soulless, ruthless machine, which was designed to streamline, stabilize and improve the lives of already typical citizens. The transition from a command economy to a market economy destroyed the bright future of OGAS.

DEMOS

Conversational unified mobile operating system - DEMOS. What could have been installed on your PC instead of the usual Windows, if not for the collapse of the USSR.

In fact, DEMOS is a direct analogue of the capitalist UNIX, which was localized and adapted to Soviet conditions by Soviet system administrators in the mid-80s. The project was closed in the early 1990s.

There were many unrealized architectural plans in Moscow. This is what the most spectacular of them might look like. Dimensions of the building - total height 416.5 meters, volume - 7,500,000 cubic meters(like 3 pyramids of Cheops).

STATUE: The Palace of the Soviets is one of the most famous architectural projects in history. The tallest building in the world was supposed to become a symbol of socialism, the new country and Moscow. This building was built in order to accept within its walls after the victory of the World Revolution Soviet Union the last republic. And then the whole world will be one Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The 300-meter multi-tiered tower serves as a pedestal for a hundred-meter statue of Lenin. In her head there is a meeting room in which that solemn ceremony will take place. At the same time, Ilyich did not freeze motionless. His hand always points to the Sun; for this, the statue is rotated by electric motors. The Lenin statue is set to become the world's largest statue. Electric motors in the project found a place in the hold Great Hall and with their help, the venues in the hall for 22 thousand people would be changed.

IDEA: The idea of building the Palace was expressed on December 30, 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets by Sergei Mironovich Kirov (it was at this congress that the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was announced). The idea could not help but find wide support among the delegates - a new symbol of a new country!

BEGINNING: But the implementation of this idea was started only on June 18, 1931, when the Izvestia newspaper announced an open competition for best project Palace. In the same year, on December 5, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up - a symbol old Russia, whose place was to be taken by the symbol of the USSR. The temple was visible from anywhere in Moscow in the early thirties; the new symbol should be visible from anywhere in the renewed Moscow of the future. In 1931, a government body was created - the Construction Council of the Palace of Soviets (in order not to repeat the word in the name twice, it was called the Construction Council). This Council had an architectural and technical committee, which included prominent cultural figures - Gorky, Meyerhold, Lunacharsky. Stalin took part in the activities of the Council.

COMPETITION: There are 270 participants in the competition - from ordinary citizens (100 preliminary designs) to architectural bureaus. There are 24 foreigners among the professionals, including Le Carbusier. Most of the projects did not meet the requirements or did not withstand any criticism. 5 groups of architects reached the finals, including the group of Boris Mikhailovich Iofan. On May 10, 1933, the Council determined the winner. On this day the Council resolution was issued:

1. Accept the draft comrade. IOFAN B. M. as the basis for the project of the Palace of Soviets. 2. Complete the upper part of the Palace of Soviets with a powerful sculpture of Lenin 50-75 meters in size so that the Palace of Soviets looks like a pedestal for the figure of Lenin. 3. Instruct comrade IOFAN to continue developing the project of the Palace of Soviets on the basis of this decision so that the best parts of the projects and other architects are used. 4. Consider it possible to involve other architects in further work on the project.

Architects V. Gelfreich and V. Shchuko were involved in the project. Iofan’s project did not immediately take on the form that is familiar to everyone. The first sketch from 1931 looked like this:

Instead of one tower with Lenin, a complex of buildings. There is also a tower, but it is crowned not by Lenin, but by a liberated proletarian with a torch. And this is no longer a sketch, but a detailed version of Iofan from 1931.

In 1932, the Palace of Soviets from Iofan becomes a little more similar to the final project:

Already almost the final version, dated 1933, but still without Ilyich, with the liberated proletarian on the roof:

The project is taking on an increasingly familiar form:

And finally final version, approved in 1939:

The idea to use the building as a giant pedestal for a giant statue of Lenin belongs to the Italian architect A. Brasini, one of the participants in the competition. Boris Iofan did not at all like the idea that his creation would be just a pedestal; he insisted that the statue be installed not on top of the building, but in front of it. But you can’t argue with your boss. The work on the giant statue, 100 meters high and weighing six thousand tons, was entrusted to S. Merkurov, who decorated the Moscow Canal with figures of Lenin and Stalin. In the future, we will tell you about what the Palace of the Soviets could have been like and what we managed to build. In the meantime, we present to your attention a gallery of Palace projects that did not pass the competition: Armando Brasini

I bring to your attention the projects that I managed to find on the Internet, as well as in the book by D. Khmelnitsky “Stalin’s Architecture: Psychology and Style”

2.Armando Brasini. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

3.Armando Brasini. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

4. G. Krasin, A. Kutsaev. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

5.Boris Iofan. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

6.Boris Iofan. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

7. Heinrich Ludwig. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

8. Alexey Shchusev. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

9. Hector O. Hamilton. Competition project for the Palace of the Soviets, 1931.

10.Ivan Zholtovsky. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

11.Karo Alabyan, Vladimir Simbirtsev. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

12.Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1931

13.Moses Ginzburg. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

14. Nikolai Ladovsky. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932

15.Leonid, Victor and Alexander Vesnin. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

17.Ivan Zholtovsky, Georgy Golts. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

18. Karo Alabyan, Georgy Kochar, Anatoly Mordvinov. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

19. VASI brigade (leader Alexander Vlasov). Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

20.Vladimir Shchuko, Vladimir Gelfreich. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

21. Anatoly Zhukov, Dmitry Chechulin. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

22.Boris Iofan. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1932

23.Boris Iofan. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1933

24.Boris Iofan. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1933

25. Karo Alabyan, Anatoly Mordvinov, Vladimir Simbirtsev, Yakov Doditsa, Alexey Dushkin. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1933

26.Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1933

27.Vladimir Shchuko, Vladimir Gelfreich. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1933

28.Leonid, Victor and Alexander Vesnin. Competition project for the Palace of Soviets in 1933

PLACE: During the invasion of Napoleon, Emperor Alexander I vows to erect a temple in Moscow in the name of Christ the Savior. The decree was signed in December 1812 in Vilna, when parts of Napoleonic army were expelled from Russia.

CURSE: In 1837, for the construction of the temple, the 14th century Alekseevsky convent was blown up, the abbess of which cursed this place, prophetically declaring that nothing good would stand on it.

THE FATE OF THE 1ST TEMPLE: The first temple took 40 years to build. The dome was erected in 1846, and the cladding was completed three years later. In 1860 scaffolding removed. But another twenty years are spent on painting and finishing.

After the completion of the work, the temple existed for 50 years. On December 5, 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is blown up.

The museum was allowed to remove fragments of the temple; several giant high reliefs were dismantled and transported to the Donskoy Monastery.

FOUNDATION OF THE PALACE:

Consider the foundation on which a 300-meter-high palace with a 100-meter statue of Lenin should stand. The total area of the building is 11 hectares, and the weight is 1,500,000 tons. This weight was not distributed evenly across this entire area. The most “weighty” was the central high-rise part - the tower, in which the Great Hall was located for 22 thousand people. The hall is round in shape - in the center is a stage, above which the audience seats rise like an amphitheater. Adjoining this hall were vestibules, foyers and small rooms compared to the Hall. All premises as a whole received the name “stylobate” (in ancient Greek architecture this was the name top part the base of the temple on which the colonnade was installed). This tower must weigh 650,000 tons (one fifth of the weight of the entire building). The frame columns of the New York skyscraper Empire State Building (383 meters, the tallest building in the world at that time) pressed on the ground with a force of 4,700 tons, and the columns of the Palace of the Soviets tower had to carry a load of 8 to 14 tons each. Builders have never encountered such loads on the ground. There were special requirements for the soil and foundation. To study the soil, large-core drilling was used for the first time in the Soviet Union - the soil was lifted in the form of cylinders 1 meter long and 10-12 centimeters in diameter. More than a hundred wells with a depth of 50-60 meters were drilled. In the very center of the future construction site there was a rocky area - a kind of peninsula jutting into the soft ground. At a depth of 14 meters, strong rocks began - first a ten-meter layer of limestone, then a six-meter clay-marl layer followed, then another layer of limestone began, but more dense than the first. Then again clay and again limestone. A kind of sandwich. These rocks were formed millions of years ago during the Carboniferous period, and then they withstood the weight of glaciers, incomparably heavier than the Cyclopean building of the Palace. So, the underground rocky peninsula was ideal for construction - it was here that the tallest tower in the world was to rise.

The foundation of the tower consisted of two concentric concrete rings with a diameter of 140 and 160 meters. They were located on the second limestone layer at a depth of 30 meters. But before pouring concrete, the builders dug a huge pit. In order to prevent the walls of the pit from collapsing under the influence of groundwater, the USSR was the first to use the so-called “bituminization” of the soil - 1,800 wells were drilled around the pit. A pipe with small holes in the walls was inserted into each well. Bitumen, heated to a temperature of 200 degrees, was pumped into these pipes under high pressure. Through the holes in the pipes, bitumen seeped into the ground, filled all the cracks and cavities and froze. A waterproof curtain was formed around the pit. Or rather, almost waterproof. But the pumps successfully dealt with the water that did seep into the pit. To solve the problem with groundwater once and for all, a kind of “bowl” of four layers of asbestos cardboard impregnated with bitumen was built under the future foundation. Now it was possible to begin laying the Cyclopean foundation. Especially for this purpose, a concrete plant was built near the construction site, equipped with the latest technology from the late thirties. The last word The equipment at that time was huge automatic concrete mixers. Concrete was delivered to the construction site in metal “buckets” into the pit. Each tub contained 4 tons of concrete. Using a crane, the “tubs” were lowered into the pit, and the worker knocked out the latch holding the bottom.

The spilled concrete was compacted with so-called vibrators - metal pins that vibrate under the influence of eccentrics rotating inside. As concrete hardens ("sets" in construction slang), it decreases in volume (so-called "shrinkage"). Given the enormous size of the foundation, shrinkage could lead to the formation of cracks. But the builders easily solved this problem - the foundation rings were not made solid, they consisted of concrete blocks with gaps between them. Once the blocks hardened, the gaps were filled with fresh concrete. It turned out monolithic concrete ring. Both rings are connected by 16 radial walls. And on top of the foundation rings two more reinforced concrete rings were installed. These rings are also connected to each other by 32 reinforced concrete beams.

The foundations of the remaining, not so massive, parts of the building were simply concrete pillars with a diameter of 60 meters. Since the load on them was not so huge, these concrete pillars were installed on top layer limestone. In total, the construction of the Palace’s foundations required 550 thousand cubic meters of concrete. Above the foundation of the tower there should have been basement floors that would house technical services- heating, lighting, plumbing, sewerage, etc. For laying countless pipes and wires in concrete walls In the basement, it was necessary to lay special channels so large that people could walk in them without bending down. The deepest point of the basement was supposed to be the hold of the Great Hall - 10 meters below the level groundwater. The floor of the hold, according to the project, was supposed to be concrete slab 8 meters thick, one square meter of such a floor would weigh 18.4 tons.

Before the war, they managed to build the foundation of the high-rise part of the Palace and began to install the steel frame of the building. Alas, after June 22, 1941, concrete, granite, steel, and reinforcement were required for completely different purposes. After the war, other skyscrapers, more modest in size, rose above Moscow. The Palace's foundations were used to build the world's largest swimming pool. And in the nineties, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, demolished in December 1931, was restored on the same foundation.

FRAME: For the construction of the frame, a special high-strength steel grade was developed - DS. The frame had to be mounted on two ring concrete foundations. The diameter of the inner ring was 140 meters, the outer one - 160. Each of the rings had 34 steel columns, each of which had to withstand a load of 12 thousand tons - this is the weight of a freight train made up of six hundred cars.

Cross-sectional area of each column - 6 square meters, such an area will fit a car. The columns rested on a riveted steel shoe, under which, right in ring foundation 4-5 cast steel plates are laid. All 64 columns are connected horizontally by I-beams every 6-10 meters. The same beams connect every two columns located on the same radius. Up to a height of 60 meters, the columns went vertically upward, then for 80 meters they went under small angle. And from a height of 140 meters the columns again went vertical. At a height of 200 meters, the columns of the outer end broke off, and only the columns of the outer row stretched upward. In those places where the columns had to move from a vertical position to an inclined one, spacer rings had to be installed. The surface of the ring formed an entire avenue 15 meters wide.

In addition to the main frame, the Palace had to have an auxiliary one. The huge columns of the main frame were located at a considerable distance from each other; their strength would not have been enough to withstand the weight of the walls and interfloor ceilings building. The purpose of the secondary frame is to “collect” loads and transfer them to a powerful main frame. The secondary frame also consisted of beams and columns, but all its elements were made of steel less strong than DS. This steel differed from ordinary construction steel by the addition of copper. This additive does not add strength, but increases rust resistance. The auxiliary frame beams would be located where they are needed, complementing the main frame.

Floors must be installed on top of the beams of the secondary frame - reinforced concrete slabs 10 centimeters thick. Floors are laid on these floors. The thickness of the floors also had to be large - after all, pipes and electrical wiring must run through the floors. Total weight steel frame The Palace of the Soviets was supposed to be 350,000 tons. For production steel structure a number of factories were operating. They produced the so-called “ mounting elements» - sections of columns, beams and rings. The length of each such element should not exceed 15 meters. Otherwise it would be impossible to transport them railway and lift with cranes. In Moscow, near the Lenin Hills, a special plant was built where all these elements were prepared for installation - holes for rivets were drilled, and the ends of the columns were turned on special machines. After processing, the frame parts were sent to the construction site. For installation, 12 cranes were used, each with a lifting capacity of 40 tons. Once the frame reaches a height that the cranes cannot reach, 10 cranes must be mounted on the beams of the outer ring of the main frame. The remaining 2 cranes must transfer loads from the ground to them. In the future, it was planned to reduce the number of overhead cranes - only 1 crane was supposed to be involved in the installation of the statue. The installation of the frame began in 1940. By the beginning of the war, it reached a height of 7 floors. During the war, DS steel was used to make anti-tank hedgehogs, and when supplies came to an end, the already built part of the frame was dismantled.

POOL: After the war, Stalin decides to build small high-rise buildings, probably planning to build the main palace after them. But Stalin died in 1953. Apparently for this reason the construction of the Palace was not continued. On this site, Khrushchev built the Moscow outdoor swimming pool, which stood for about 30 years.

TEMPLE 2: Now on this site is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

The Moscow Palace of Soviets is one of the most famous unrealized architectural projects in history. A huge (the largest and tallest in the world) building, which was supposed to become a symbol of victorious socialism, a symbol of the new country and the new Moscow. This project still amazes us today. For example, this building was sung by the famous science fiction writer Viktor Bogdanovich Suvorov in his book “The Last Republic”. In his opinion, the Palace of Soviets was built so that, after the victory of the World Revolution within its walls, it would accept ... the last republic into the Soviet Union.

And then the whole world will be one Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. From the pages of this book we see a cyclopean infernal building - a three-hundred-meter multi-tiered tower that serves as a pedestal for a giant hundred-meter statue of Lenin. The statue is so huge that in its head there is a meeting room (the hall in which that very solemn ceremony will take place). At the same time, the giant Ilyich did not stand motionless - his giant hand always points to the Sun, for this purpose the largest statue in the world is rotated by huge electric motors...

However, Viktor Bogdanovich, as always, is carrying. But “in the main thing he is right.” No, it’s not that our country wanted to be the first to attack Germany and then enslave the whole world, but that the project of the Palace of Soviets is truly an outstanding and unique architectural project.

The idea of building the Palace was expressed on December 30, 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets by Sergei Mironovich Kirov (this congress is famous not only for this, it also announced the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Of course, such an idea could not help but find the broadest support among the delegates of the congress - of course, a new symbol of a new country!

But the implementation of this idea was started only almost ten years later - on June 18, 1931, an open competition for the best design of the Palace was announced in the Izvestia newspaper. In the same year, on December 5, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up - a symbol of old Russia, the place of which was to be taken by the symbol of the Land of Soviets. The temple was visible from almost anywhere in Moscow in the early thirties; the new architectural symbol was supposed to be visible from anywhere in the renewed Moscow of the near future. In 1931, a special government body, the Council for the Construction of the Palace of Soviets, was created (in order not to repeat the same word twice in one name, it was often called simply the Construction Council). This Council had a permanent architectural and technical committee, which included prominent cultural figures of those years - Gorky, Meyerhold, Lunacharsky. In addition, he took an active part in the activities of the Council General Secretary Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b) I. V. Stalin.

As a result, five groups of architects reached the finals of the competition, among which was the group of Boris Mikhailovich Iofan. On May 10, 1933, the Council finally determined the winner. On this day the following resolution of the Council was issued:

1. Accept the draft comrade. IOFAN B. M. as the basis for the project of the Palace of Soviets.
2. Complete the upper part of the Palace of Soviets with a powerful sculpture of Lenin 50-75 meters in size so that the Palace of Soviets looks like a pedestal for the figure of Lenin.
3. Instruct comrade IOFAN to continue developing the project of the Palace of Soviets on the basis of this decision so that the best parts of the projects and other architects are used.

Point 4 was adopted immediately - architects V. Gelfreich and V. Shchuko were involved in the project.

Iofan’s project did not immediately take on the form that is familiar to all lovers of Stalin-era architecture. The very first sketch in 1931 looked like this:

As you can see, instead of one huge tower with Lenin on top, there is a whole complex of buildings. The tower, however, already exists. But she is crowned not by Ilyich, but by a liberated proletarian with a torch.

And this is no longer a sketch, but a more detailed version of Iofan’s project, dated back to the same 1931:

In 1932, the Palace of Soviets from Iofan becomes a little more similar to the final project:

Already almost the final version, dated 1933, but still without Ilyich, with the liberated proletarian on the roof:

The project is taking on an increasingly familiar form:

And finally, the final version, approved in 1939:

In the future, we will tell you about what the Palace of the Soviets could have been like and what we managed to build. In the meantime, we bring to your attention a gallery of Palace projects that did not pass the competition:

Armando Brasini

Another version of the Brazini project:

G. Krasin. A. Kutsaev

Heinrich Ludwig.

Alexey Shchusev. 1931

Hector O. Hamilton

Ivan Zholtovsky

Karo Alabyan, Vladimir Simbirtsev

Le Carbusier

Moses Ginzburg

Nikolay Ladovsky

Leonid, Victor and Alexander Vesnin

Ivan Zholtovsky, Georgy Golts

Karo Alabyan, Georgy Kochar, Anatoly Mordvinov

VASI brigade (leader Alexander Vlasov)

Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev

Vladimir Shchuko, Vladimir Gelfreich

Read the continuation of this material

The first decades of the existence of the Soviet Union, as we know, were marked by gigantic construction projects, including the famous Stalinist high-rise buildings. True, not everything was built. The most magnificent building, the Palace of the Soviets, nicknamed the Soviet pyramid, was never erected. The question arises, why?

Grandiose projects

The idea of building such a grandiose structure as the Palace of Soviets was first born in 1922 during the First Congress of Soviets. The young Soviet ideology increasingly resembled a young religion and desperately needed its own “pyramids.” The most interesting thing is that the public supported the idea of building a giant structure, and by 1931 about two hundred works were submitted to the high commission. The whole country joined the competition. More than 160 projects were put forward by professional architects, 100 works were proposed by ordinary citizens, and 24 were sent from abroad. The winning design was by architect B.M. Iofan. According to the idea of the outstanding architect, the Palace of the Soviets was to be built in the image and likeness of the giant Babylonian ziggurat pyramid, with the only difference being that it was based not on cubes, but on cylinders. IN explanatory note For the project, the building really looked grandiose and majestic. The architect planned to place a statue of V.I. on the upper platform of the Palace of Soviets. Lenin is about 100 meters high. At the same time, the entire pyramidal structure should have been perceived as one giant pedestal of the monument to V.I. Lenin. However, the authorities were afraid to entrust all the work to B.M. alone. Iofann, and two outstanding Soviet architects V. Gelfreich and V. Shchuko were sent to help the architect.

Palace on the site of the Temple

Without delaying the matter, already at the XVIII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a resolution was adopted in 1931 to begin work on the creation of the Palace of Soviets, and to complete it no later than 1942. About the approaching Second World War, the congress delegates, of course, had no idea. By this time, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior had already been demolished on the site where they decided to erect the Palace of the Soviets, thereby emphasizing its sacred significance for Soviet power. Organizations were even identified that were supposed to be located in the Palace of Soviets after its construction. First of all, these were, of course, the highest government agencies: Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, State Archives, library, museum of world art, halls of the chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, halls Civil War and the construction of socialism. Moreover, the Great Hall, located inside the Palace of the Soviets, was larger in area than all the theater and cinema halls in Moscow combined. On the western side of the Palace of Soviets, the architects wisely decided to organize a gigantic parking lot designed for 5,000 cars. True, for this purpose it was planned to demolish Volkhonka Street. Museum named after A.S. They wanted to move Pushkin significantly to the side. In short, the entire center of Moscow had to be redrawn due to the creation giant pyramid Palace of the Soviets. According to the creators, it was supposed to surprise the whole world. This is probably how it would have been if the construction had been completed on time. But fate decreed otherwise.

Preparation for construction

People say that building anything on the site of a destroyed temple is a futile endeavor. But the Bolsheviks were atheists and did not believe in omens. In vain. The first geological surveys showed that the soil in the place where the Palace of the Soviets was supposed to be located is sandy, there is a lot of alluvial rock, limestone and karst voids, and there is also a river nearby. Its waters would inevitably flood the basements of the future building. In short, by all parameters it turned out that it was impossible to build such a large-scale structure in this place. But the Bolsheviks were not accustomed to turning away from their chosen path. The soil was bituminized. Bitumen heated to 200C was pumped through pipes into the soil until all voids were destroyed. Then they began to create a foundation that was supposed to withstand a load of 500,000 tons. After complex calculations, the foundation was placed at a depth of 21 meters below the level of the Moscow River. At the same time, the building itself had to hold metal carcass, fixed in a concrete foundation. The Leningrad Central Institute of Metallurgists even developed a special grade of steel for the frame of the Palace of the Council. The assembly of the frame had to take place in four stages with state acceptance of each of them. The total height of the Palace of the Soviets was planned to be 420 meters, which was 13 meters higher than the tallest building of those years - the Empire State Building.

The war prevented the project from being completed

In 1931, as planned, construction of the building began. The work proceeded according to the pre-planned plan without delays. By 1937, the frame of the building emerged from the ground. However, as soon as its height exceeded the size of a nine-story building, all work was frozen: the Great Patriotic War began. The country's leadership has other more pressing matters. However, I.V. Stalin did not abandon the project, planning to complete the Palace of Soviets after the war. But after the end of the Great Patriotic War started no less expensive Cold War, huge amounts of money were invested in creating atomic bomb. Soon the leader, the main lobbyist for the project, died, and the completion of the Palace of Soviets was postponed indefinitely. When it finally became clear that the project of the Palace of Soviets could not be revived, the Moscow swimming pool was erected on its foundation, and after the collapse of the USSR, on its own historical place The Cathedral of Christ the Savior has returned.

You've probably heard a lot about unrealized pre-war architectural plans in Moscow. But let’s say if it weren’t for the war, we would now see a lot of this on the streets of Moscow. Let's see what the most spectacular of them might look like.

The Moscow Palace of Soviets is one of the most famous unrealized architectural projects in history. A huge (the largest and tallest in the world) building, which was supposed to become a symbol of victorious socialism, a symbol of the new country and the new Moscow. This project still amazes us today. This building, glorified in many creative works, was built so that after the victory of the World Revolution, within its walls it would accept ... the last republic into the Soviet Union. And then the whole world will be one Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

From the pages of the books, a cyclopean infernal building appears before us - a three-hundred-meter multi-tiered tower that serves as a pedestal for a giant hundred-meter statue of Lenin. The statue is so huge that in its head there is a meeting room (the hall in which that very solemn ceremony will take place). At the same time, the giant Ilyich did not stand motionless - his giant hand always points to the Sun, for this the world’s largest statue is rotated by huge electric motors...

Being of sound mind and sober memory, none of the Soviet architects planned to place a meeting room in Lenin’s head and make the statue rotate around its axis following the sun. But the statue of Lenin was really supposed to be the largest statue in the world. And there was also a place for huge electric motors in the project - they were supposed to be installed in the hold of the Great Hall and with their help the venues in this hall for 22 thousand people would change. The dimensions of the building are also striking - the total height is 416.5 meters, the volume is seven and a half million cubic meters (three pyramids of Cheops!). The idea of building the Palace was expressed on December 30, 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets by Sergei Mironovich Kirov (this congress is famous not only for this, it also announced the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Of course, such an idea could not help but find the broadest support among the delegates of the congress - of course, a new symbol of a new country!

But the implementation of this idea was started only almost ten years later - on June 18, 1931, an open competition for the best design of the Palace was announced in the Izvestia newspaper. In the same year, on December 5, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up - a symbol of old Russia, the place of which was to be taken by the symbol of the Land of Soviets. The temple was visible from almost anywhere in Moscow in the early thirties; the new architectural symbol was supposed to be visible from anywhere in the renewed Moscow of the near future. In 1931, a special government body, the Council for the Construction of the Palace of Soviets, was created (in order not to repeat the same word twice in one name, it was often called simply the Construction Council). This Council had a permanent architectural and technical committee, which included prominent cultural figures of those years - Gorky, Meyerhold, Lunacharsky. In addition, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, I.V. Stalin, took an active part in the activities of the Council.

Clickable 1800 px

The competition attracted 270 participants - from ordinary citizens with vague ideas about architecture to professional architectural bureaus. By the way, ordinary citizens accounted for 100 preliminary designs. And among the professionals, 24 were foreigners, among whom was the famous Le Carbusier. Most of the submitted projects either did not meet the presented requirements or simply did not withstand any criticism. As a result, five groups of architects reached the finals of the competition, among which was the group of Boris Mikhailovich Iofan. On May 10, 1933, the Council finally determined the winner. On this day the following resolution of the Council was issued:

1. Accept the draft comrade. IOFAN B. M. as the basis for the project of the Palace of Soviets. 2. Complete the upper part of the Palace of Soviets with a powerful sculpture of Lenin 50-75 meters in size so that the Palace of Soviets looks like a pedestal for the figure of Lenin. 3. Instruct comrade IOFAN to continue developing the project of the Palace of Soviets on the basis of this decision so that the best parts of the projects and other architects are used. 4. Consider it possible to involve other architects in further work on the project.

Point 4 was adopted immediately - architects V. Gelfreich and V. Shchuko were involved in the project. Iofan’s project did not immediately take on the form that is familiar to all lovers of Stalin-era architecture. The very first sketch in 1931 looked like this: