Photos

Still on the red place in Moscow, this is the Gum shopping gallery.

The ornate Neo-Russian facade of GUM, Moscow's "State Department Store", takes up almost the entire eastern side of Red Square. Built between 1890 and 1893 by Alexander Pomerantsev, the building features an interesting combination of elements of Russian medieval ecclesiastical architecture and an elegant steel framework and glass roof, reminiscent of the great turn of the century train stations of Paris and London. This modern 3-story arcade is the largest shop in Moscow and was built to replace the old hall of the Upper Trading Rows, which existed earlier on the same site but burnt down in 1825. The original hall contained some 1,200 separate shops and stalls and was one of Moscow's liveliest markets. After the 1917 Revolution the arcade was nationalized and renamed GUM. Commercial activity continued there until 1928 when the committee in charge of Stalin's First Five-Year Plan took over the building to use as office space. The GUM building was used again in 1932 to display the body of Stalin's wife, Nadezhda, after she committed suicide and was used to assemble the various banners, photographs and Soviet propaganda materials used during parades on Red square.