Stalin and the church Photo

Photographer’s Note

The gilded dome of an Orthodox church in Moscow is dwarfed by the massive structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The building is one of the so-called "seven sisters", ordered by Stalin to dominate the Moscow cityscape.
At that time, the church was offically tolerated, prosecuted in reality. Times have changed...

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 (Russian: Сталинские высотки), "(Stalin's) tall buildings". They were built during the dictator's last years, 1947 to 1953, in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles, and the technology used in building American skyscrapers.

The seven are: Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Leningradskaya Hotel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moscow State University, and the Red Gates Administrative Building.

This 172 meter, 27 story building was built between 1948 and 1953 and overseen by V. G. Gelfreikh and M. A. Minkus. Currently, it houses the offices for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade for the Russian Federation. The Ministry is covered by a light external stone wall with projecting pilasters and pylons and, according to architectural critic Maria Kiernan, was inspired by a neo-gothic New York city hospital. Its interior is splendidly decorated with stones and metals. According to the 1982 biography of Minkus, draft plans were first drawn up in 1946 and ranged from 9 to 40 stories. In 1947 two designs were proposed: one utilized layered setbacks while the other called for a more streamlined construction which culminated into a blunt rectangular top. The second proposal was accepted but as the Ministry's completion neared, a metal spire, dyed to match the building's exterior (and presumably ordered by Stalin), was hastily added to tower's roof, assimilating its silhouette with those of the other Sisters.
(source : wikipedia)

claudio74, BeBeHooker, jhm, sandpiper, phwall, patdeph, Budapestman, Wandering_Dan, bukitgolfb301, kokoro-zukai, emjleclercq, Jonathan_Tree, AiresSantos, siolaw, mjdundee, Angshu, edcone, picus, wag, serp2000 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

npecanhuk (13881) 2009-07-22 9:06

Hello Paul!
Anoter magnificent mix of different architectural styles in a very attractive picture!
TFS - congratulations!
Best regards,
Neyvan

darek1978 (11183) 2009-07-22 10:04

Hi Paul,
Such a remarkable architecture Paul! The building in the background is very impressive. Russia has many wonderful buildings and I am pleased that you are showing them to us. The gold dome in the foreground gives fantastic depth to the picture. Well done!
Best regards,
Darek

Morac (20397) 2009-07-22 11:01

Bonsoir Paul,
Quelle juxtaposition !
Entre l'architecture stalinienne et l'architecture byzantine mon choix est tout de suite fait.
Bonne soirée
Marc

Bianconeri78 (643) 2009-07-22 11:27

Hi Paul,
I like this picture. The weather and light weren't great, but the composition is really nice, as is the texture of the golden dome.
Best,
Jeremy

claudio74 (6475) 2009-07-22 13:35

Hi Paul
Perfect point of view.
The contrast is well captured.
Well done
Regards
Claude

scalerman (25733) 2009-07-22 15:10

Paul: I like your self-evident contrast here. Fine stuff. c

MarcT (21099) 2009-07-22 23:08

Salut Paul,
Bien vu ce cadrage anachronique. Les rondeurs de la coupole dorée contrastent avec ce bâtiment très angulaire.
Amicalement
Marc

delkoo (34296) 2009-07-22 23:45

bonjour paul,
belle opposition de style, il est evident que de part ses construction , il voulait tout dominer et controler.

bien vu
didier

AKITA (5331) 2009-07-23 0:55

dear Paul,
a vivid and picturesque contrast you took.
between the old religious symbol of shining round dome, and relatively recent ideological style of sharp building, we feel different but similar ideas.
anyway, as an image of real view in contemporary Moscow, it is very interesting to me.
thank you for your excellent shot,
Akihisa

BeBeHooker (5476) 2009-07-23 3:15

Hi Paul!
Wonderful composition, amazing capture. Very good POV. Perfect focus. Original art work. Original contrast.
Cheers!

jhm (82487) 2009-07-23 3:47

Hello Paul,

The copper tower in foreground is the real eye catcher against the big building in background.
Nice presentation, sharpness and clarity are very well. Well perspective and nice composition.
Very well done, TFS.

Warmest regards,
John.

sandpiper (1599) 2009-07-23 5:10

Hi Paul

Excellent composition. Good PP work, the austere Starlinist feel is well captured in this scene. The inclusion of the gold dome makes for a spectacular picture.

Chris

karthikcs (271) 2009-07-23 6:44

Beautiful tomb and nice framing

phwall (5562) 2009-07-23 16:24

Hi Paul,
Interesting contrasts in this capture, the church verses the state, looks like the state won.
Excellent composition, the gold dome in the foreground adds a lot of colour to the dull gray surroundings.
Regards
Peter

patdeph (17846) 2009-07-24 2:21

hello Paul
the 2 architectures are interesting and beautiful,and it was a really good idea to frame them like this!The golden coupol does a beautiful contrast in the soft bluish colors of the whole picture!Suprb!
Regards
Pascale

Budapestman (41886) 2009-07-24 4:08

Hi Paul,
Beautiful architectural photo with splendid composition, the details are imposing, the POV is impressive. Great shot, Tfs! Have a nice day!
George

Wandering_Dan (3221) 2009-07-24 9:54

Hi, Paul -

Seven sisters were bad enough; at one point, Stalin had planned around 50 of these monstrosities! Did you see the new gov't complex Putin is building in western Moscow? I'm not convinced it's any better.

Good positioning here to show the contrast between church and state.

Best,
Dan

jbemmels (327) 2009-07-24 11:37

Hi Paul,

Great POV and meaningful juxtaposition of the two architectural elements here. I think this picture says not 1000, but 10,000 words. :) It makes a statement, I feel like someone could write an essay about what this statement might be and interpretations.

Cheers,
Jordan

bukitgolfb301 (4616) 2009-07-24 13:17

Hello again my dear Paul

What a beautiful composd landscape photo !
Good and framework, well composition(very nice contrast of two kinds of building), very clear pan-focus and vivid color as usual.
Congratulation on your good job !
Thanks for sharing and best regards,
Have a nice weekend !

Takero

Ninello52 (3334) 2009-07-24 14:18

Ciao Paul!
Bello questo contrasto fra storia, architettura e colore! Immaggine be composta e suggestiva, e come dici nella nota, spiega tante cose!
Buon week end! Nino.

kokoro-zukai (158) 2009-07-24 20:20

Hello Paul,

Your viewpoint has shown two different architecture. The presentation shows a dynamic correspondence in shapes, the eye moving between the two different structures each having its unique character. The overall design of the photograph shows good architctural documentary.

Keiji

emjleclercq (14284) 2009-07-25 23:28

Excellent view of one of these impressive skyscrapers of the Stalinian era. I had in mind that thy used to have a red star on top, but perhaps I am worng, or they just get rid of them... Very nice color for the golden dome of the church.
And a well documented note.

All the best,

Emmanuel

Jonathan_Tree (4303) 2009-07-26 6:41

Hi Paul!
Wonderful old and new times, old and new architectures. Good contrast. Good shot.
Cordially!

AiresSantos (42080) 2009-07-26 23:02

Hi Paul
Great contrast between the Stalin and the church architecture.
Excellent details and colours. Good photojob
Have a nice week
Aires

siolaw (25734) 2009-07-26 23:39

Hi Paul
An interesting achitectural as well as historical opposition.... Framing and POV are perfect to show it too.
Well seen and realized
Laurent

pablominto (40634) 2009-07-27 10:19

Hello Paul,

This is an interesting composition, where the golden onion shaped dome is a sure eye-catcher!
The background architecture compete well for attention, its size alone draws my eyes...
Well framed view with good depth!

Greetings,
Pablo -

gilou530 (35204) 2009-07-27 13:42

salut paul
un super cadrage qui met en opposition ces deux architectures, imposant l'arriére plan, et le dome du premier plan compense avec cette belle couleur qui flashe
amitiés
gilbert

Juntas (3239) 2009-07-28 9:54

Hi Paul. Great photo full of details. The golden dome looks really great against the hotel. Great job. Best regards. Paulo

mjdundee (3516) 2009-07-30 2:12

Hello Paul,
Great note and viw. How long will it take until someone puts gold otn the roof of the ministry as well?
TFS THomas

Angshu (33641) 2009-07-30 20:56

Hello Paul
These skyscrapers of Moscow are certainly unique in their design & architecture & instantly recognizable. What I like is how you composed with the copper coloured dome in the FG, which creates a good contrast with colours as well as shape. And as always a very informative note!
Regards
Angshu

Fis2 (45799) 2009-07-31 13:22

Witaj Paul!
Excellent composition, good frame.
Juxtaposition of architecture interesting!
I like the colours and light.
Well done.
Regards
Krzysztof

lctan (1055) 2009-08-03 6:46

hi,
great photo of comparison between the two architecture very well protrayed here! congrats!
LC

levente (477) 2009-08-10 12:06 [Comment]

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guillaumejm (9080) 2009-08-10 13:26

Bonsoir
une belle idée de photo : j'aime ce contraste de couleurs de formes.
Bien observé.
A+
JMarc

macjake (1684) 2009-09-16 10:16

Hello Paul

Wow! what a building! Ministry of Foreign affairs!
Good idea to capture the gold bulb on the right to add some colour.

Great shot!
Thanks for sharing
Craig

wag (649) 2009-11-08 7:43

Hello Paul,

nice framing you performing here, also note is useful.

BR/PS