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Hall of Fame Biographies
GUM By the 15th-century Moscow’s Red Square had established itself as a centre of Russian trade, and ever since the times of Ivan Grozny merchants have set up their stalls in this historic space. Early in the 19th-century, after Napoleon's march to Russia, Tsar Aleksander I issued an edict to dignify what he believed was a down-at-heel market. Based on architect Osip Bove's plans the ‘Empire pane’ was built, which simulated the palaces of the Roman Empire. In this way the very first building of the Verkhnie Torgovye Ryady (Upper Trading Stalls) came into existence. However, for all its splendour, the pane mainly performed the function of acting as a folding screen, hiding the narrow labyrinths of the market area. By the end of the 19th-century the capital's commerce had reached an international level, however the colonnades of the previous Trading Stalls had fallen out of fashion. Under the Tsar's decree, at the expense of the guild of the Moscow merchants, the construction of the new Upper Trading Stalls began. Out of the 23 projects proposed in a design competition it was the most audacious that won the architectural contest. The winning design was submitted by architect Aljekandr Pomeranzev and the engineer VG Shukhov, who went on to create the famous radio tower at Shabolovka Street in Moscow. Three spacious passageways, fashioned in the ‘European style’ from glass and metal and surrounded by traditional ancient Russian walls, became the most progressive architectural project of the day. The enormous construction works began in 1890 and were finished three years later. Thus, in 1893, the future GUM was born. The New Upper Trading Stalls reflected and augmented the glory of the Russian merchant history and The Trading Stalls aspired to a principle of universality and offered their customers an exemplary infrastructure, as well as the services of porters, barbers, bankers and postmen. After the Great October Revolution in 1917 more low-key organisations took lodgings within the historic interiors of the Trading Stalls. Until the early 1950s GUM remained a government department. Pomeranzev went on to build a number of other landmark buildings in Russia and eastern Europe. |
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