MOSCOW 129The glass-roofed interior of Russia’s largest department store, GUMGUM q
ГУМ
GUMKrasnaya ploshchad 3. Map E2.
Tel 788 4343. q Ploshchad
Revolyutsii, Okhotnyy Ryad. #
10am–10pm daily. 7 http://www.gum.ruBefore the 1917 Revolution,
this building was known as
the Upper Trading Rows after
the covered market that used
to stand on the site. In fact,lines of stalls used to run all
the way from here to the
Moskva river. GUM has three
separate arcades, which are
still called “lines”. The store’s
name, Gosudarstvennyy
Universalnyy Magazin, dates
from its nationalization in- The glass-roofed
structure is considered the
largest department store in
Russia. The building was
designed by Aleksandr
Pomerantsev between 1889
and 1893 in the fashion able
Russian-Revival style. Its
archways, wrought-iron rail-
ings and stuccoed galleries
inside are especially impres-
sive when sunlight streams
through the glass roof.
There were once more
than 1,000 shops located in
GUM, selling goods ranging
from furs and silks to items of
everyday use such as candles.
For a period, however, during
the rule of Stalin starting from
1924 and ending only with his
death in 1953, GUM’s shops
were requi sitioned as offices.
Nowadays, Western brands
such as Benetton, Estée
Lauder and Christian Dior
dominate the prestigious
ground floor along with
a variety of Western-style
cafés and restaurants, and
even a bank’s branch.
St Basil’s
Cathedral^0
Собор Bасилия Блаженного
Sobor Vasiliya BlazhennovoSee pp130–31.Lenin Mausoleum, just outside the
walls of the KremlinLenin Mausoleum^9
Мавзолей В.И. Ленина
Mavzoley V.I. Lenina
Krasnaya ploshchad. Map E2.
Tel 623 5527. q Ploshchad
Revolyutsii, Okhotnyy Ryad. #
10am–1pm Tue–Thu, Sat–Sun. ^
Following Lenin’s death in
1924, and against his wishes,
it was decided to preserve the
former Soviet leader’s body
for posterity. The body was
embalmed and placed in a
temporary wooden mausol-
eum in Red Square. Once it
became clear that the embalm-
ing process had worked,
Soviet architect Aleksey
Shchusev designed the current
mausoleum as a pyramid of
cubes cut from red granite
and black labradorite.
Paying one’s respects to
Lenin’s remains was once
akin to a religious experience,
and queues used to trail all
over Red Square. In 1993,
however, the goose-stepping
guard of honour was replaced
by a lone militiaman and now
the mausoleum attracts mostly
tourists. There are rumours
that Lenin’s body will soon be
moved elsewhere or buried.
Behind the mausoleum,
at the foot of the Kremlin
Wall, are the graves of other
famous Communists. They
include Lenin’s successors,
Joseph Stalin, who at one
time was laid beside Lenin
in the mausoleum, Leonid
Brezhnev and Yuriy
Andropov. Lenin’s wife and
sister are also buried here,
as are the first man in space,
Yuriy Gagarin, writer Maxim
Gorky and American journa-
list John Reed. The latter was
honoured as the author of Ten
Days that Shook the World,
published in 1919, an account
of the October Revolution,
when Bolshevik forces took
control of St Petersburg.
museum on Manezhnaya
ploshchad is a statue of
Marshal Georgiy Zhukov,
one of the heroes of World
War II. This statue, sculpted
by Vyacheslav Klykov (1939–
2006), was unveiled in 1995
to mark the 50th anniversary
of the end of World War II.