The upper shopping arcades are gum. Upper trading rows (GUM) Upper trading rows style

Once the largest arcade in Europe - the Upper Trading Rows, or modern GUM. The neo-Russian style building was built on a historical trading site at the end of the 19th century in record time - three years. The architects were given only three months to develop the project. The main condition is the preservation of the architectural harmony of the main Moscow square, because the shopping arcade was face to face with the ancient Kremlin building. We invite you to remember 10 facts about the architectural monument with Natalia Letnikova.

Upper shopping arcades. In the center of the capital, trade was carried out between Ilyinka and Nikolskaya three and four hundred years ago. The first stone shopping arcades were built under Boris Godunov. Right along Vetoshny Lane. Under Catherine II, the architect Giacomo Quarenghi developed a project for the Upper Trading Rows in the style of classicism. The work was completed after the fire of 1812 by Osip Bove. Barely half a century had passed - the shopping complex required reconstruction. The shopkeepers were unable to reach an agreement with the city authorities. As a result, the building was declared unsafe and a competition was announced for the construction of a new one.

All-Russian competition. Rationality, economy, architectural harmony with the historical landscape. Architects' projects submitted to the competition had to meet at least three requirements. 23 architects from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Odessa and even Berlin presented their vision of a new building on Moscow’s main square. The projects were placed in three halls of the Historical Museum. By the way, the new building should also be in harmony with the bright red stone tower - the Historical Museum, made in the neo-Russian style.

"To the Moscow merchants". Academy of Arts, Construction Department of the Provincial Board, Technical Committee, Architectural and Art Societies. The project was chosen through common efforts - by a special commission. The first prize of six thousand rubles was awarded to the work under the motto “Moscow Merchants” - St. Petersburg architect Alexander Pomerantsev. The second prize went to the work of Roman Klein, the future author of the Museum of Fine Arts, the third - to the Austrian August Weber, one of the authors of the building of the Polytechnic Museum. Pomerantsev's project was personally approved by Alexander III.

From temples to shopping arcade. By the time of the competition, the architect Alexander Pomerantsev had only managed to complete the design of the Temple-monument to Alexander Nevsky in Sofia, commissioned by the Bulgarian prince, to build a wooden church in Fedoskino and a hotel in Rostov-on-Don. Subsequently, Pomerantsev took the post of chief architect of the 1986 All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. Together with Viktor Vasnetsov, he built the second largest after the Cathedral of Christ the Savior - the Moscow Cathedral in the name of Alexander Nevsky, destroyed in 1952.

“City within a City” by Alexander Pomerantsev. Sixteen separate buildings with glassed streets between them and arcades and galleries. A large central tower with a main entrance, gates and turrets. The new building on Red Square looked solemn and harmoniously fit into the historical landscape. The upper shopping arcade has become the largest arcade in Europe - in terms of the length of the galleries and the area of ​​the “glass sky”. Above the entrances to GUM there were icons with especially revered saints: images of Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Savior Not Made by Hands, Elijah the Prophet, Sergius of Radonezh.

The glass sky of the “man factory”. Inventor and innovator Vladimir Shukhov, included in the hundred outstanding engineers of all times, used an innovative approach when constructing the roof of the Upper Trading Rows: arched structures with cable ties, which made it possible to reduce the weight of the roof. Shukhov hid the eight-petal dome behind the façade of the building. The abundance of glass gives the building a feeling of lightness, although 800 tons of metal were spent on the construction of the floors. Openwork steel frame made of metal rods has become a real work of art.

Progress in Old Russian style. The most high-tech Moscow building of its time. Artesian well, heating and ventilation systems, sewerage, even your own snow machine and mini railway for transportation of goods. Gas lighting in the city and its own power plant in the shopping arcades. From shops to salons. The shopping arcades became not only a place of purchase and sale, but also a prototype of a business center. On the third floor there are representative offices of trading companies, and in the basement there are wholesale stores.

Trading in the Parisian spirit. The fixed price for goods in Russia was first introduced in the Upper Trading Rows. The experience of the owner of the Le Bon Marche store, Aristide Boucicault, who set price tags and invented sales back in the mid-19th century in France, has taken root in Russian trade. In the Moscow Trading Rows, sales - "cheap" items - were very popular among the townspeople. The rows became a kind of exhibition of the achievements of the capitalist economy: Kalashnikov watches, the Abrikosovs' confectionery shop, Brocard's perfumery. In a word, pre-revolutionary boutiques of Russia. Mayakovsky. “To GUM, Komsomol members, to GUM, workers’ faculty members!”- the poet called. But, having already become the Main Department Store, the Upper Trading Rows were more than once on the verge of demolition. In the mid-30s of the twentieth century, they wanted to build a huge People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry on Red Square - on the site of GUM. But this plan remained on paper, as did the intention in 1947 to erect a monument on this site in memory of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. Since 1953, GUM has again become a shopping arcade and one of the symbols of the city.

Address: Moscow, Red Square
Opening: December 2, 1893
Coordinates: 55°45"16.8"N 37°37"17.1"E

The state department store has long become one of the symbols of Moscow, and it attracts not only shopping lovers, but also connoisseurs of Moscow antiquity. Nowadays, GUM represents a huge shopping district, where in addition to shops there are cafes and restaurants, bank branches and cinema halls. It is located in a building facing the Kremlin and has the status of an architectural monument.

View of GUM from Red Square

History of GUM

After excavations, in just 4 years a modern shopping complex appeared in the heart of the city, built according to the design of architect Alexander Pomerantsev and engineer Vladimir Shukhov. The new rows had glass ceilings, their own power plant and an artesian well. Wholesale trade was organized in the two-tier basement, and on the floors, in addition to shops and salons, there were telegraph and bank branches, studios, restaurants and hairdressers.

Entrance to GUM from Red Square

The upper trading rows demonstrated the achievements of Russian capitalism. The Sapozhnikov brothers traded silk and brocade fabrics here, the Abrikosovs’ confectionery shop operated here, the most modern watches from Mikhail Kalashnikov and fashionable Brocard perfumes were sold. Unlike other stores, in the Upper Rows there were price tags on goods, and fashionable dresses were advertised on artificial dolls - mannequins.

With the arrival Soviet power The store was closed, all goods from it were requisitioned, and the building was given to the People's Commissariat for Food. Inside they began to store food requisitioned by the food detachments and keep a canteen for government employees.

Then the time came for the “new economic policy”, and the State Department Store was opened in the building of the former shopping malls, which became one of the main symbols of the NEP. Posters advertising GUM were posted all over the city. It is noteworthy that many names of that period, such as Rabkrin, Nakompros and Potrebkooperatsiya, have long gone out of use, and the abbreviation “GUM” has taken root and is perceived by us completely naturally.

In 1930, the shopping center building was again closed to customers, and the vacated premises were transferred to various ministries, departments, a printing house and a kitchen factory. Several times they wanted to demolish GUM, however, this did not happen. The sale of goods there was resumed only in December 1953, at the very beginning of the Khrushchev Thaw.

GUM in night illumination

Architectural features of the building

GUM is built in the form of a passage and consists of 16 buildings. There are wide galleries running through the entire building, flanked by rows of shops. This style of commercial buildings was extremely popular in Europe in the second half of the 19th century, and it is quite natural that the architects who designed GUM used it.

Three passages or "lines" run along the building, and three more run across it. In addition to them, GUM has three spacious areas. The arched ceilings are made of steel trusses. They are completed with glass ceilings or "skylights", and due to this there is always a lot of light in the building.

The facades of GUM are decorated in pseudo-Russian style, made of sandstone, Tarusa marble and Finnish granite. They are decorated in the best traditions of architectural monuments of the Russian “pattern” and perfectly match the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin and the massive building of the State Historical Museum. Today, the facades of GUM have original illumination, which emphasizes the expressive silhouette of the building.

Second line

Stores

GUM is known far beyond Moscow, especially among people of the older generation, who remember that they sold things here that were impossible to get in the vastness of the USSR. Ice cream, vinyl records and fashion from GUM were considered symbols of the Soviet state for many years.

Today, the three-story building houses thousands of shops and salons, many of them stylized in the traditions of the Soviet era. Customers are welcomed by the famous Gastronome No. 1, created by Anastas Mikoyan following the publication of the cult “Book about Tasty and Healthy Food.”

The Festivalnoe cafe, which received its name after International Festival youth and students, which Moscow hosted in 1957. Dining room No. 57 is decorated in the same traditions, where in the refrigerated cabinets there are “Vitamin Salad”, herring under a fur coat and sour cream in cut glasses.

These days most retail space is given over to modern stores selling the world's most popular brands of goods. In GUM you can buy luxury perfumes and cosmetics, expensive brands of watches, furs, household goods and the most fashionable brands of clothing and shoes for women, men and children.

Fountain in GUM

Since GUM is located in the center of the capital's tourist routes, several souvenir and gift shops are open there. Here they sell painted trays made by craftsmen from the village of Zhostovo near Moscow, picturesque lacquer miniatures from Fedoskino, elegant Gzhel ceramics, nesting dolls, samovars, Khotkovskaya bone carvings and amber jewelry.

Fashion show, cinema hall and skating rink

The showroom in GUM was opened in the early 1960s, and crowds of people wanting to see the new models flocked to the shopping center. The Showroom had its own studio and a school of fashion models. Anyone could look at the fashionable dresses and suits, because tickets to the shows were inexpensive. These days, this hall is used not only for fashion shows, but also for concerts, exhibitions, banquets, corporate events and seminars.

In GUM there is an intimate cinema of three halls where you can watch films and cartoons for children and adults. It is curious that the most modern video and audio equipment is used in antique-style interiors.

First line

Every winter, a large skating rink is built in front of the GUM building on Red Square. It is open to everyone from 10.00 to 23.30. Tickets for adults cost 500-600 rubles, and for children - 300 rubles.

• The mall's lightweight glass roof has a metal frame that weighs 800 tons.
• By the beginning of the 21st century, only 30 original steel arches, built under the leadership of the talented engineer Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov, had survived. The remaining floors were replaced with more modern ones during the reconstruction of the GUM building.
• In the 1930s, Lavrentiy Beria’s office was located on the first line of GUM, and a consignment store was opened where they sold property requisitioned from enemies of the people.
• IN Soviet years In GUM there was a legendary section No. 200, where only a select few could shop. Ordinary Muscovites and guests of the capital had no idea where it was located. Only a few lucky ones got into the coveted store through the entrance located next to Gastronome No. 1.
• The fountain of the shopping center is considered a cult meeting place. It was built back in 1906, but received an octagonal base half a century later.

Trade on the territory of modern GUM has been carried out since the 15th century. Historical name complex - Upper shopping arcades. Initially, Nikolskaya, Ilyinka and Varvarka divided all trade opposite the Kremlin into Upper, Middle and Lower rows. Each block inside was divided into rows, according to the nature of the goods: Bell, Caftan, etc. In the 15th–16th centuries. trade took place in wooden shops under Boris Godunov in 1596–1598. Stone buildings also appeared, but despite frequent fires, the replacement of wood with stone proceeded very slowly. In the 1780s. the front part of the Upper Rows from the Red Square side received a second floor and an arched facade with a ten-column portico. A project for a complete reconstruction of the complex was developed, but was never fully implemented.

In the fire of 1812 the rows were completely burned out, but by 1815 a new complex was built according to the design, again classic: with a portico and dome. The side parts in the shape of the letter “G”, overlooking Nikolskaya and Varvarka, received the popular nickname “verbs”. The building was decorated with bas-reliefs in the form female figures, carrying laurel wreaths, and the coat of arms of Moscow was placed on the main portico on the side of the square. There were 32 stone buildings in total. But this complex also fell into disrepair: the passages, littered with goods, turned into narrow slums, the premises were poorly lit and - to avoid fires - were not heated. In 1887, the complex was closed; temporary shops consisting of 14 iron buildings were set up right on Red Square. The specially created “Joint Stock Company of the Upper Trading Rows on Red Square in Moscow” held a competition in which the project won. The work was carried out in 1890–1893. On December 2, 1893, the complex was inaugurated.

Although the architect moved away from the classicist style in favor of pseudo-Russian, the structure of the complex remained the same: lines, passages and wide storefront windows. The elongated “terem” roofs and tents with spiers above the main entrance are in harmony with the Kremlin towers. Thanks to the engineers and A.F. Loleita passages (“rows”) received glazed roofs. The building had its own power plant, which illuminated both the rows and Red Square, a water supply system and an artesian well. In total there were 1,200 shops and three meeting halls. In 1897, a cinema was created in one of them.

After the revolution, apartments of famous government figures (for example, People's Commissar of Food Tsyurupa) and a number of offices were located here. In the 1930s There were projects for the demolition of the building and the construction of a multi-story building for the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, but then they were abandoned. Trade returned in 1952–1953: the rows were restored and received a new name - the State Department Store (GUM). Nowadays GUM does not have state status, but the established name has been retained. It has become an integral symbol of Red Square. The fate of the Upper ranks remained connected with trade. The Middle ranks, which came under the control of the military, are now awaiting a decision on their fate, and the Lower ranks were completely lost.

GUM (Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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GUM is one of the most famous department stores not only in Russia, but throughout the entire post-Soviet space. This is not only a fashionable shopping and entertainment complex, it is a real art object, and we are talking about both the internal content of GUM and its external appearance. The building, made in pseudo-Russian style, has become as much a symbol of Russia as St. Basil's Cathedral or the Kremlin.

The GUM building, made in pseudo-Russian style, has become one of the symbols of Russia and Moscow.

In the 30s, GUM was going to be demolished and the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry built in its place, but that didn't work out.

Despite the fact that the shopping arcades often burned even before the construction of the GUM building, the fire of 1812 bypassed the market, which still surprises historians.

GUM today

Modern GUM is not only a building of stunning architectural beauty, but also dozens of luxury and premium boutiques. Flagship stores of brands such as Manolo Blanik, Bosco Fresh, Furla and others are located here.

In addition to shops, there is a cinema here, with only 3 halls, the largest of which has only 70 seats, which creates a feeling of intimacy. Every year, a skating rink is opened in GUM, where star skaters have appeared on the ice more than once, and the legendary fountain, the same age as this building, has been restored.

GUM is sensitive to its history, so here great attention is focused on Soviet style. For example, there is the Gastronom No. 1 store, decorated in the style of Moscow in the 50s, as well as Stolovaya No. 57, where you can have a nostalgic snack on sausage with green peas.

The historic toilet room on the first floor receives special attention from guests. It recreates the interior of the pre-revolutionary era, and you can visit it for 150 RUB. For 500 RUB you can take a shower (the price includes a robe, towel and slippers).