The Soviet Union is building a cyclopean building in the center of Moscow at a colossal pace - the Palace of Soviets. The total height of the structure will have to be 415 meters (excluding the huge figure of Lenin on top).
It is taller than the Empire State Building, the tallest structure of the time. The 100-meter figure of Lenin, according to the original idea, was supposed to point to the sun, while constantly moving, but later this idea was abandoned. The monument was supposed to become the number 1 skyscraper both in Moscow and in the world - the main giant of the USSR.
In the head of the giant figure of Lenin, it was supposed to make a meeting room. Here, in a solemn atmosphere, new republics and states will be accepted into the ranks of the USSR. The start of the colossal construction was laid at the first Congress of Soviets (at the same time the creation of the Soviet Union was announced) in 1922. The building was to become a symbol great country. Therefore, the old symbol, tsarist Russia, was destroyed with a huge amount of explosives.
In total, almost 300 projects applied for the best building in the competition. Initially, instead of one huge tower with Lenin on top, several buildings were supposed to be part of one large complex. Such an ambitious and grandiose building was designed by the best architects of the Union for 8 years.
The total weight of the building would be 1.5 million tons, but this enormous weight is distributed unevenly over the area of the building. Not a single type of steel was suitable for the construction of such a powerful structure, therefore, a new steel grade called DS was specially developed for it.
Geodetic studies have shown that the place for construction was chosen well - the foundation will be based on a thick layer of limestone. The base of the tower is two concrete rings, each 140 and 160 meters in diameter. Groundwater stopped asbestos shields impregnated with bitumen. It was planned to place technical and utility services in the basement floors.
Already built 7 floors of this gigantic and ambitious project. The Land of the Soviets proved that even such crazy projects are up to it.
The Palace of Soviets in Moscow began to be built in accordance with the typical tradition of those times, with the establishment of the Construction Department of the Palace of Soviets. The management used the design of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, developed by Boris Iofan.
Fierce disputes were waged around the choice of a place to build the building - scientists and architects made proposals to build the Palace in the area of Kitay-gorod, Okhotny Ryad, on the Lenin Hills (Vorobyovy) and on the site of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It is noteworthy that this building could be located on the territory now occupied by Lomonosov Moscow State University.
It so happened that Comrade Stalin, it seems, is forcing the members of the commission to choose exactly the territory under the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It is surprising how quickly the shrine was blown up: less than 6 months have passed since the decision was made. The leader's ill-wishers did everything possible to make it look as if Stalin single-handedly decided to demolish the cathedral, but this is not so.
At one time, the future leader of the Bolsheviks planned to become a priest and studied at a theological seminary. From the declassified documents it follows that Stalin was not an opponent of the church. The decision to demolish it was made without much thought and, most likely, it was made by political opponents of the Father of Nations, such as N. Bukharin, known for his anti-religious antics, or the same “clown” Khrushchev.
He was the “chief executioner of the USSR”: he destroyed dozens of churches, repressed clergy, prepared execution and repressive applications, in which there were tens of thousands of names, and Stalin, in turn, rejected some applications, reduced others.
Building project requirements
The all-Union competition announced in 1931 for the development of drawings was most likely a cover for the decision already taken by the leader in favor of the Iofan Palace of Soviets. His drawings met all the requirements: the building in Moscow must be placed in a large open space, fencing with colonnades or other structures is not allowed, the height of the council building must be many times greater than the city landscape, avoid temple motifs, display all the monumentality and integrity of the new building.
Having chosen the project of Boris as the winner, the Father of Nations made a number of remarks, one of which was to complete the Palace in Moscow with the top in the form of a high column. And the column must be crowned with a sickle and a hammer, illuminated from the inside with the help of electricity. Considering the skyscraper as a monument to Lenin, the architects decided to complete the Moscow Palace of Soviets with a monumental sculpture of the Bolshevik leader.
The monument to Ilyich was planned as a Soviet version of the Colossus of Rhodes. The final version of the construction was approved in February 1943. On it, the building of the Soviets looks like the largest building on earth. The height of the building was 415 m, the height of the monument to Lenin was 100 m, and the volume was 7500 thousand m3, as a result, it was the most high building in the world at that time.
It is hard to imagine, but the monument to Lenin could be seen from a distance of 70 km. The architects faced a difficult task: to express in Colossus the idea of a new state that guaranteed prosperity and well-being, and, above all, the building of socialism.
Construction race between Moscow and Berlin
Simultaneously with the implementation of the idea of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, a no less monumental building was erected in Berlin - the Domed Palace (House of Assembly). Adolf Hitler, as well as Joseph Stalin, was engaged in the reconstruction of the capital. Monumental buildings were to appear in the plans: the Reich Chancellery, the Wehrmacht High Command, the Party Chancellery, the palace of Hitler himself and the Assembly House.
Unlike the Bolsheviks, the Fuhrer refused to demolish buildings from historical significance- the old Reichstag, it was proposed to start a large-scale construction here. He suggested that the old building be used as a library. The new parliament building was supposed to accommodate a much larger number of deputies.
The dimensions of the Domed Palace were colossal - 21 million m 2. Hitler was indescribably delighted with the idea of erecting a monument of this magnitude. It should be noted that the German dictator was very upset when he found out the height of the Palace of Soviets, since the House of Assembly was significantly inferior in this indicator. At that moment, a kind of competition began between the leaders: who could build the future symbol of the country's prosperity higher and more expensive.
The Fuhrer, trying to come to terms with the idea that the Domed Palace could not surpass the Stalinist skyscraper, decided for himself that his palace would be a unique creation of the architects of the thousand-year-old Reich. During the war years, Hitler temporarily abandoned the implementation of his architectural ideas, but never forgot about the competition with the Palace of Soviets of the USSR. The plans of the German dictator included the destruction of the skyscraper after the capture of Moscow.
Soviet building in Moscow. Shot from the movie “Spy” The construction of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow has become an independent branch of science. Within the framework of the project, specialized research was carried out, experimental laboratories were functioning, entire factories were created for the production of building materials. By the beginning of 1940, an incredible pit was dug, and special steel reinforcement was installed in the ground.
In the USSR, they did not save money on the construction of their main symbol. It was even surprising that the construction began without any financial and technical calculations. The interior decoration of the interior was measured only by a quantitative indicator, without conversion into rubles. For example, paintings alone were supposed to be 18 thousand m 2.
The war disrupted all the plans of architects and artists. In 1941, the construction of the Palace was stopped and never resumed, despite all Khrushchev's "attempts". The ancestor of the ugly 5-storey buildings for demolition held a deliberately losing competition for the placement of the Stalin Palace of Soviets on the site now occupied by Moscow State University on Sparrow Hills. The task of the competition was to harmoniously fit a monumental building 415 meters high into the face of the city. Naturally, this was impossible to do, as a result of which the idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding a giant was “hacked to death”.
View from the monument to Lenin. Shot from the movie “Spy” Construction after the Great Victory
On paper, work did not stop even during the years of the Great Patriotic War. Iofan, while in evacuation, continued to hone the Palace of Soviets on paper, and also put forward proposals to use a separate element of the building for the construction of a skyscraper in Sverdlovsk.
During the war, all the construction capacities of the Office of the Palace of Soviets were transferred to the second most important project for Stalin - the Moscow Metro. The metro was built at an accelerated pace and the next station was introduced exactly on time.
After the end of the war, the leader caught fire with a new idea - the construction of skyscrapers, the appearance of which was borrowed from the drawings of the Palace of Soviets by Boris Iofan. Stalin's plan main city countries were planned to be filled with skyscrapers in order to amaze foreigners with their grandeur and confirm the status of a superpower.
On the left is the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry designed by Melnikov. In the center is the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Engineering designed by Chichulin. The architectural concept of the Soviet building in Moscow was supposed to be supported by Stalin skyscrapers. They echoed with him, now moving away, now bringing closer the architectural perspective of the center of the capital.
The proportions and silhouette of the buildings had to be original and their architectural and artistic composition should be in harmony with the historical buildings and the silhouette of the future Palace of the Soviets. In fairness, it must be said that it was extremely problematic to do this, because the Moscow Kremlin against the background of such a monolith would have looked at least strange.
The construction of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow was pushed back with each new party congress. For some reason, Joseph Stalin constantly delayed the construction of the giant, while there were no obvious reasons for this. But here's the amazing thing - the leader is forcing the construction of skyscrapers in every possible way.
Despite the fact that the Palace of Soviets in Moscow was never erected, the work on its construction gave very positive results in the future. The Construction Department of the Palace of Soviets gained vast experience throughout the design of the building and later became a kind of elite construction unit. This department was entrusted with the construction of a strategically important object - the Ostankino tower.
"Clownery" Khrushchev
“Strength always attracts people with low morals, brilliant dictators are invariably replaced by scoundrels. This has its own pattern” - A. Einstein.
After the death of the leader of the peoples, in some random way the country was headed by the “chief executioner of the USSR” N. S. Khrushchev. In vain attempts to get rid of the Stalinist past and at least somehow look like a not so miserable leader against his background, he prepared a report “On the cult of personality and its consequences”, in which he accused Joseph Stalin of disrespect for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin because, as the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, planned 30 years ago, was never built and this must be corrected. In his worthlessness and meanness, Khrushchev can only yield to Gorbachev. If the first destroyed the country out of stupidity, then the second did it purposefully, for money.
Naturally, Khrushchev did not intend to erect a monumental structure. The appearance of the giant would mean the victory of the Stalin era and would be the culmination of all its architectural transformations. Khrushchev, on the other hand, condemned Stalin and therefore could not allow this to happen. He found the solution to this issue, as befits such a person, extremely cynical. A competition was announced for the design of the new Palace of Soviets, but with very interesting criteria.
It suffices to quote a brief excerpt from the description of the competition: “free from formalist, restoration, eclectic tendencies and imitation of modern capitalist architecture.” Everything is vague and abstract. Of course, thanks to such formulations, one can say to any project: “You are not suitable for us!”.
Despite this, many famous architects took part in the competition: B. Iofan, D. Chechulin, I. Zholtovsky and others. Now, all their drawings and works did not pass the "competitive" selection. Not surprisingly, no projects were selected that could meet such criteria.
Khrushchev's "clownery" ended with a planned farce, and the media were already struggling with their own - Soviet architecture. As a result, the Palace of Soviets in Moscow remained the main giant of the USSR, but only on paper.
The proposal to build a stunning palace for meetings of the Supreme Council was made back in 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets, at which the creation of the USSR was announced. At this congress, S.M. Kirov gave a lengthy speech about the fact that the USSR would expand, and the Moscow halls would soon be unable to accommodate all the deputies. According to Kirov, the construction of the Palace of Soviets should prove that the Bolsheviks are able not only to destroy "the palaces of bankers, landlords and tsars", but also to build. After listening to Comrade Kirov, the participants in the congress decided to build the Palace of Soviets without fail, and not just anywhere, but "on the most beautiful and best square."
In the late 1920s, this proposal fell on fertile ground: grandiose anti-religious propaganda unfolded in the Soviet Union, and the construction of the Palace of Soviets - the main building of the USSR - on the site cathedral church Christ the Savior has become a powerful lever in this program. Like any business in those years, work on the construction of the Palace of Soviets in 1931 began with the solution of organizational issues. The Construction Council and the Construction Administration of the Palace of Soviets were established. But the Provisional Technical Council of the aforementioned department became the most representative body.
The members of the council were not only architects, but also representatives of other types of art: from writers - A.M. Gorky, from artists - I.E. Grabar, from sculptors - S.M. Merkurov, from theater workers - K.S. Stanislavsky and V.E. Meyerhold. In addition, I.V. Stalin and other members of the government. Among the possible construction sites were Okhotny Ryad, Zaryadye, Varvarka, shopping malls on Red Square, Kitay-Gorod and Bolotnaya Square. In May 1931, at a meeting of the Provisional Technical Council, Okhotny Ryad was unanimously chosen for the construction of the Palace. However, the Construction Council (represented by Stalin) did not agree with this option.
We had to meet again and discuss all possible options. They began to sit again and decided: "... to recognize as more or less probable points for the construction of the Palace of Soviets - Kitay-Gorod, then Okhotny Ryad and Swamp, and in the last place the Cathedral of Christ the Savior." But this decision did not suit Stalin either. The next meeting on the choice of the construction site was held in early June 1931, this time in the Kremlin. At this meeting, chaired by Stalin and with the participation of Politburo members V.M. Molotov, L.M. Kaganovich, K.E. Voroshilov, as well as leading Soviet architects and one foreign architect, decided: to build the Palace of Soviets on Volkhonka.
Then the fate of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was sealed. Six months later, on December 5, 1931, the temple was blown up. The site of the future construction was surrounded by a fence, on which there was a slogan: "Instead of the hearth of dope - the Palace of Soviets." Direct work on the design of the Palace of Soviets began in February 1931. Then preliminary projects were drawn up, which provided material for clarifying the task and program of the competition. The competition was announced in June 1931. A total of one hundred and sixty projects were submitted. Sixteen projects were awarded cash prizes, but this did not make it possible to determine the winner.
According to the specified task, the competition continued again, and the development of the project was entrusted to groups of architects of the awarded projects. In fact, the architectural competition lasted almost six years. And only in 1937 a project was chosen, which was accepted for implementation. Its authors were architects B.M. Iofan, V.G. Gelfreikh and V.A. Schuko. The Palace of Soviets was to become a monumental monument to the heroic era of socialism. The outlines of the Palace and all its architecture amazed contemporaries. According to the project, the building, wide at the bottom, rushed up, gradually narrowing, and ended with the grandiose figure of V.I. Lenin.
The total height of the structure was to reach almost four hundred and twenty meters. There was no taller building in the world at that time. Especially monumental was the sculpture of Lenin, the weight of which would have been six thousand tons. Lenin's head would be comparable to a five-story building and would have a diameter of fourteen meters. The index finger of the leader is four meters. Chest girth - thirty-two meters. It was assumed that the statue would be visible from a distance of seventy (!) Kilometers. Thanks to the monel metal coating, it was calculated that the statue would not be exposed to atmospheric influences for a thousand (!) years.
Probably everyone has heard about the grandiose project, but not everyone knows that such a colossal building, which is often called the “Tower of Babel of communism”, managed to go beyond the “project on paper”. The Palace of Soviets really began to be built in 1938. As expected, the construction of the Palace of Soviets began with soil samples and foundation construction. It should be noted that the colossal dimensions of the structure not only amazed the imagination, but in the future would have carried considerable loads on the ground. According to design calculations, the Palace of Soviets was supposed to occupy an area of eleven hectares and would weigh almost one and a half million tons.
Moreover, this huge, simply incredible, gravity was not distributed evenly over the entire area of the grandiose structure. The central high-rise part of the Palace of Soviets was the heaviest. Occupying only two hectares, that is, less than a fifth of the total territory, it would weigh as much as six hundred and fifty thousand tons. The construction of the building was planned from a powerful steel frame, to which all the walls, floor and ceilings, along with their incredible richness, were suspended. More than two thousand giant steel frame columns would transfer the weight of the Palace of Soviets to the foundations.
By 1941, the frame of the central high-rise part was erected from Volkhonka Street to the height of a nine-story building. True, it is worth noting that with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, this frame was gradually dismantled and used for military and defense needs: small steel beams were used, for example, for the manufacture of anti-tank hedgehogs, large ones from 1943 were used to repair railway lines destroyed during the Great Patriotic War. bridges on the European territory of the USSR. By the end of the war, only the foundation and superbly made waterproofing remained at the site of the grandiose construction.
Officially, the construction of the Palace was not abandoned until 1955, however, in fact, no work was carried out at the construction site. And only in 1956, a decision was made to build the Moscow pool here. Nevertheless, even the unfinished Palace of Soviets had an impact on the development of our city. According to the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow from 1935, the Palace of Soviets, along with Red Square, where Lenin's mausoleum stands, was to become a city-forming object. In particular, it was proposed to break through many kilometers of wide avenues leading to the square in front of the Palace of Soviets.
Not at all jokingly, the architect Lev Vladimirovich Rudnev, who had a special gift for creating a large monumental form in architecture, suggested that all his colleagues designing new Moscow buildings put a model of the Palace of Soviets on their desktop and take it into account exactly in their plans, demanding that in all projects, the Palace was visible from every window of absolutely every Moscow building. Let's now try to turn to the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow in 1935, or rather to those points of this ambiguous plan in which the Palace of Soviets is mentioned:
1. Parallel to the embankments, create a new avenue running from Dzerzhinsky Square to the Palace of Soviets and Luzhniki and further, along a specially constructed bridge with an overpass access to it, across the Moscow River and the Lenin Hills to the new southwestern region. To build two bridges across the Moscow River and a drainage canal to continue the boulevard ring from the Palace of Soviets to Zamoskvorechye.
2. From Kropotkinskaya Embankment to Kropotkin Gate Square, the ring is being designed along a new route, through the small square of the Palace of Soviets. A new square is being created at the intersection of the ring with Bolshaya Polyanka and Bolshaya Yakimanka. From it, the ring in a direct direction along the new bridges through the drainage canal and the Moskva River goes to Malaya Square of the Palace of Soviets and to Gogolevsky Boulevard, which is recommended to be expanded.
3. To continue the work begun on punching the avenue in the direction of the Palace of Soviets, expand Volkhonka Street in 1936 on the segment between the street named after. Frunze and Antipevsky Lane, and by 1937 to demolish a residential area overlooking the facade of the Mossovet Hotel, which was being completed by that time. By the time of the construction of the Palace of Soviets, all intermediate buildings between Mokhovaya and Manezhnaya streets, as well as between Volkhonka and Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge, should be demolished. Predefine building development government agencies, social and scientific character.
The Palace of Soviets was supposed to be built by the end of the third five-year plan, that is, in 1942. The master plan for the reconstruction was going to be completed in ten years. A completely different Moscow was supposed to celebrate its eight hundredth anniversary, which would have been connected with past centuries only by its name, the Kremlin, which was closed to ordinary citizens, and several dozen ancient chambers and mansions scattered throughout the city. If this project had been implemented, we would not have seen those bits of old Moscow, which have survived to this day with great difficulty.
You have probably heard a lot about unrealized pre-war architectural plans in Moscow. But let's say if there were no war, we would now see a lot of this on the streets of Moscow. Let's see how it could look like the most spectacular of them.
The Moscow Palace of Soviets is one of the most famous unrealized architectural projects in history. A huge (the largest and tallest in the world) building, which was supposed to become a symbol of victorious socialism, a symbol of new country and new Moscow. This project is amazing even today. This building, sung in many creative works, was built in order to accept the last republic into the Soviet Union after the victory of the World Revolution within its walls. And then the whole world will be one Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
From the pages of books we see a cyclopean infernal building - a three-hundred-meter multi-tiered tower, which serves as a pedestal for a giant hundred-meter statue of Lenin. The statue is so huge that a meeting room (the hall in which the same solemn ceremony will take place) is placed in its head. At the same time, the giant Ilyich did not freeze motionless - his giant hand always points to the Sun, for this the largest statue in the world is rotated by huge electric motors ...
Being of sound mind and sober memory, none of the Soviet architects planned to place a meeting room in Lenin's head and make the statue rotate around its axis following the sun. But the statue of Lenin was really supposed to be the largest statue in the world. Yes, and there was also a place for huge electric motors in the project - they were to be installed in the hold of the Great Hall and with their help in this hall for 22 thousand people the sites would change.
The dimensions of the building are also striking - the total height is 416.5 meters, the volume is seven and a half million cubic meters (three pyramids of Cheops!). The idea of building the Palace was expressed on December 30, 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets by Sergei Mironovich Kirov (this congress is famous not only for this, it also announced the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Of course, such an idea could not fail to find the widest support among the congress delegates - still, a new symbol of a new country!
But it was only almost ten years later that they managed to start implementing this idea - on June 18, 1931, an open competition was announced in the Izvestia newspaper for best project Palace. In the same year, on December 5, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up - a symbol old Russia, the place of which was to be taken by the symbol of the Land of the Soviets. The temple was visible from almost anywhere in Moscow in the early thirties, a new architectural symbol should have been visible from anywhere in the renovated Moscow of the near future.
In 1931, a special government body, the Council for the Construction of the Palace of Soviets, was also created (in order not to repeat the same word twice in the same name, it was often called simply the Construction Council). This Council had a permanent architectural and technical committee, which included prominent cultural figures of those years - Gorky, Meyerhold, Lunacharsky. In addition, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, I. V. Stalin, took an active part in the activities of the Council.
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The competition attracted 270 participants - from ordinary citizens with vague ideas about architecture to professional architectural bureaus. By the way, 100 preliminary designs fell to the share of ordinary citizens. And among the professionals, 24 were foreigners, among whom was the famous Le Carbusier. Most of the submitted projects either did not meet the requirements presented or simply did not stand up to criticism. As a result, five groups of architects reached the final of the competition, among which was the group of Boris Mikhailovich Iofan. On May 10, 1933, the Council finally decided on the winner. On that day, the Council issued the following resolution:
1. Accept the project comrade. Iofana B. M. as the basis for the project of the Palace of Soviets. 2. To complete the upper part of the Palace of Soviets with a powerful sculpture of Lenin, 50-75 meters in size, so that the Palace of Soviets represents a kind of pedestal for the figure of Lenin. 3. Instruct comrade. IOFANU will continue to develop the project of the Palace of the Soviets on the basis of this decision so that the best parts of the projects and other architects are used. 4. Consider it possible to involve other architects in further work on the project.
Clause 4 was adopted immediately - the architects V. Gelfreikh and V. Shchuko were involved in the project. Iofan's project did not immediately take on the form that is familiar to all lovers of the architecture of the Stalin era. The very first sketch in 1931 looked like this:
As you can see, instead of one huge tower with Lenin on top, there is a whole complex of buildings. The tower, however, already exists. But it is not Ilyich who crowns it, but a liberated proletarian with a torch.
And this is no longer a sketch, but a more detailed version of Iofan's project, dated all the same 1931:
In 1932, the Palace of Soviets from Iofan becomes a little more like the final project:
Already almost the final version, dated 1933, but still without Ilyich, with a freed proletarian on the roof:
The project takes on an increasingly familiar look:
And finally final version, approved in 1939:
The idea to use the building as a giant pedestal for a giant statue of Lenin belongs to the Italian architect A. Brasini, one of the participants in the competition. Boris Iofan did not like the idea that his creation would be just a pedestal at all, he insisted that the statue be installed not on top of the building, but in front of it. But, you can't argue with your boss. Work on a giant statue 100 meters high and weighing six thousand tons was entrusted to S. Merkurov, who decorated the Moscow Canal with figures of Lenin and Stalin. In the future, we will tell you about what the Palace of Soviets could have been like and what we managed to build. In the meantime, we bring to your attention a gallery of projects of the Palace that did not pass the competition: Armando Brasini
I bring to your attention the projects that I managed to find on the net, as well as in the book by D. Khmelnitsky "Stalin's Architecture: Psychology and Style"
2. Armando Brasini. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
3. Armando Brasini. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
4.G.Krasin, A.Kutsaev. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
5. Boris Iofan. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
6. Boris Iofan. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
7. Heinrich Ludwig. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
8. Alexey Shchusev. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
9. Hector O. Hamilton. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
10. Ivan Zholtovsky. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
11. Karo Alabyan, Vladimir Simbirtsev. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
12.Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1931
13.Moses Ginzburg. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
14. Nikolai Ladovsky. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
15.Leonid, Victor and Alexander Vesnin. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
17. Ivan Zholtovsky, Georgy Golts. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
18. Karo Alabyan, Georgy Kochar, Anatoly Mordvinov. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
19. VASI team (headed by Alexander Vlasov). Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
20. Vladimir Schuko, Vladimir Gelfreikh. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
21. Anatoly Zhukov, Dmitry Chechulin. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
22. Boris Iofan. Competitive project of the Palace of Soviets in 1932
23. Boris Iofan. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1933
24. Boris Iofan. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1933
25. Karo Alabyan, Anatoly Mordvinov, Vladimir Simbirtsev, Yakov Doditsa, Alexey Dushkin. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1933
26. Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1933
27. Vladimir Schuko, Vladimir Gelfreikh. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1933
28. Leonid, Victor and Alexander Vesnin. Competitive design of the Palace of Soviets in 1933
And what was on the site of the future Palace? During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Emperor Alexander I takes a vow to erect a temple in Moscow in the name of Christ the Savior. The decree on the construction was signed in December 1812 in Vilna, when the last parts of the defeated Napoleonic army were expelled from Russia.
In 1837, for the construction of the temple, the ancient female Alekseevsky monastery was blown up, the abbess of which cursed this place, prophetically declaring that nothing good would stand on it.
The first temple has been under construction for almost 40 years. In 1846, the vault of the main dome was erected, and three years later, the cladding was completed. In 1860, the scaffolding was finally removed, and the temple appeared before the eyes of Muscovites, but another twenty years after that it takes painting and decoration. Despite all efforts, the people consider the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to be an unspiritual place, a model of church bad taste.
After the complete completion of the work, the temple lasted a little more than 50 years. On December 5, 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up.
Museum workers were allowed to take out fragments of the temple, thanks to which several giant high reliefs were dismantled and transported to the Donskoy Monastery.
Let's continue about the Palace project.
Let's start with the main thing - from the foundation, on which the 300-meter-high palace was supposed to stand, crowned with a 100-meter statue of Lenin. total area the building was to be 11 hectares, and the weight - one and a half million tons. But this enormous weight was not distributed evenly over the entire area. The most "heavy" was to be the central high-rise part - the tower, which housed the Great Hall for 22 thousand people. The hall had a round shape - in the center there was a stage platform, above which the audience seats rose like an amphitheatre. Vestibules, foyers and other small (in comparison with the Hall) rooms adjoined this huge hall. All these premises as a whole received the name "stylobate" (in ancient Greek architecture, this was the name of the upper part of the basement of the temple, on which the colonnade was installed). This gigantic tower was supposed to cover an area of one hectare and weigh 650,000 tons (one-fifth of the weight of the entire building). The frame columns of the New York skyscraper Empire State Building (383 meters, the tallest building in the world at that time) pressed on the ground with a force of 4700 tons, and the columns of the tower of the Palace of the Soviets had to carry a load of 8 to 14 tons each.
Builders have never encountered such loads on the ground. So, the requirements for the soil and the foundation on which the building will rise - a symbol of the new era, were made special. For the first time in the Soviet Union, the so-called large-column drilling was used to study the soil - the soil was raised in the form of cylinders 1 meter long and 10-12 centimeters in diameter. More than a hundred wells were drilled with a depth of 50-60 meters. In the very center of the future construction site was a rocky area - a kind of peninsula, protruding into the soft ground. At a depth of 14 meters, strong rocks began - first a ten-meter layer of limestone, then a six-meter clay-marl layer followed, then another layer of limestone began, but denser than the first. Then again clay and again limestone. Kind of a sandwich. These rocks were formed millions of years ago during the Carboniferous period, and then they withstood the weight of glaciers, incomparably heavier than the cyclopean building of the Palace. So, the underground rocky peninsula was ideal for construction - it was here that the tallest tower in the world was supposed to rise.
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The foundation of the tower consisted of two concentric concrete rings with a diameter of 140 and 160 meters. They were located on the second limestone layer at a depth of 30 meters. But before pouring concrete, the builders dug a huge pit. In order to prevent the walls of the pit from collapsing under the influence of underground waters, the so-called “bitumization” of the soil was first used in the USSR - 1800 wells were drilled around the pit. A pipe with small holes in the walls was inserted into each well. Bitumen heated to a temperature of 200 degrees was pumped into these pipes under high pressure. Through the holes in the pipes, bitumen seeped into the ground, filled all the cracks and cavities and solidified. A waterproof curtain was formed around the pit. Or rather, almost waterproof. But the pumps successfully coped with the water that still seeped into the pit.
To solve the problem with groundwater once and for all, a kind of “bowl” was built under the future foundation from four layers of asbestos cardboard impregnated with bitumen. Now it was possible to start laying the cyclopean foundation. Especially for this purpose, a concrete plant was built near the construction site, equipped with the latest technology of the late thirties. The last word in technology at that time were huge automatic concrete mixers. To the construction site, concrete was delivered to the pit in metal "buckets". 4 tons of concrete were placed in each such tub. With the help of a crane, the tubs were lowered into the pit, the worker knocked out the latch holding the bottom.
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The spilled concrete was tamped down with the so-called vibrators - metal maces vibrating under the influence of eccentrics rotating inside. Hardening ("grasping", in construction slang), concrete decreases in volume (the so-called "shrinkage"). Given the huge size of the foundation, shrinkage could lead to cracking. But the builders easily solved this problem too - the foundation rings were not made solid, they consisted of concrete blocks with gaps between them. Once the blocks had hardened, the gaps were filled with fresh concrete.
It turned out a monolithic concrete ring. Both rings are interconnected by 16 radial walls. And on top of the foundation rings, two more reinforced concrete rings were installed. These rings are also interconnected by 32 reinforced concrete beams.
The foundations of the rest, not so massive, parts of the building were simply concrete pillars with a diameter of 60 meters. Since the load on them was not so huge, these concrete pillars were installed on the top layer of limestone. In total, the construction of the foundations of the Palace required 550 thousand cubic meters of concrete. Above the foundation of the tower, basement floors were to be located, which would house technical services - heating, lighting, plumbing, sewerage, etc.
To lay countless pipes and wires in the concrete walls of the basement, it was necessary to lay special channels so large that people could walk through them without bending over. most deep point the basement was to become the hold of the Great Hall - 10 meters below the groundwater level. The floor of the hold, according to the project, was to be a concrete slab 8 meters thick, one square meter of such a floor would weigh 18.4 tons.
Before the war, they managed to build the foundation of the high-rise part of the Palace and began to mount the steel frame of the building. Alas, after June 22, 1941, concrete, granite, steel, reinforcement were required for completely different purposes. After the war, other skyscrapers, more modest in size, rose over Moscow. The foundation of the Palace was used in the construction of the world's largest swimming pool. And in the nineties, on the same foundation, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, demolished in December 1931, was restored.
frame
Now let's talk about the steel frame, the basis of the three-hundred-meter Palace, crowned with a hundred-meter statue of Lenin. For the construction of this frame, a special high-strength steel grade, DS, was developed.
The frame was to be mounted on two annular concrete foundations. The diameter of the inner ring was 140 meters, the outer - 160. Each of the rings had 34 steel columns, each of which had to withstand a load of 12 thousand tons - this is the weight of a freight train made up of six hundred wagons. The cross-sectional area of each column is 6 square meters, a passenger car will fit in such an area. The columns rested on a riveted steel shoe, under which, 4-5 cast steel plates are laid directly in the ring foundation.
All 64 columns are connected horizontally by I-beams every 6-10 meters. The same beams connect every two columns located at the same radius.
Up to a height of 60 meters, the columns went vertically upwards, then for 80 meters they went at a slight angle. And from a height of 140 meters, the columns again went vertically. At a height of 200 meters, the columns of the outer end broke off, and only the columns of the outer row stretched upward. In those places where the columns had to move from a vertical position to an inclined one, so-called spacer rings had to be placed. The surface of such a ring formed a whole avenue 15 meters wide.
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In addition to the main frame, the Palace was supposed to have an auxiliary one. The huge columns of the main frame would be at a considerable distance from each other, their strength would not be enough to withstand the weight of the walls and floors of the huge building. The purpose of the secondary frame is to "collect" the loads and transfer them to the powerful main frame. The secondary frame also consisted of beams and columns, but all its elements were made of steel less durable than the DS. But this steel differed from ordinary construction steel by the addition of copper. Such an additive does not add strength, but increases rust resistance. The auxiliary frame beams would be located where they are needed, complementing the main frame.
Over the beams of the secondary frame, ceilings were to be installed - reinforced concrete slabs 10 centimeters thick. Floors are laid on these ceilings. The thickness of the floors also had to be large - after all, pipes and electrical wiring should lie in the floors. The total weight of the steel frame of the Palace of Soviets was to be 350,000 tons. A number of factories in Moscow and beyond worked to manufacture the cyclopean steel structure. They made the so-called "mounting elements" - segments of columns, beams and rings. The length of each such element should not exceed 15 meters - otherwise it would be impossible to transport them along railway and lift with cranes.
In Moscow, not far from the Lenin Hills, a special plant was built, where all these elements were prepared for installation - holes were drilled for rivets, the ends of the columns were turned on special machines. After such processing, the frame parts were sent to the construction site. For installation, 12 cranes were used, with a lifting capacity of 40 tons each. After the frame had reached a height that the cranes could not reach, 10 cranes had to be mounted on the beams of the outer ring of the main frame. The remaining two cranes were supposed to transfer loads to them from the ground. In the future, it was planned to reduce the number of cranes on the "upper tower", and only one crane was supposed to be involved in the installation of the statue.
Frame assembly began in 1940. By the beginning of the war, he reached a height of 7 floors. During the war, DS steel was used to make anti-tank hedgehogs, and when the stocks ran out, the already built part of the frame was also dismantled. The apotheosis did not work out, and then, having cleared the site of construction junk, an outdoor swimming pool "Moskva" was built on this site, in which Muscovites swim serenely for about 30 years in winter and summer.
All of you probably know that there is a sea near Moscow (http://www.bibliotekar.ru/evrika/2-14.h tm). It is located at depths of 1000 - 1400 m). So, when the famous pool of Moscow was being built, there was an idea to fill the pool with this sea water, but for some reason this did not happen.
Moscow has experience in offshore well drilling. Wells for the extraction of ancient sea water were drilled by workers of the Promburvod trust of the USSR Ministry of Assembly and Special Construction Works. One of the wells is at the Moscow Meat Processing Plant, on Talalikhina Street. There is another well on Talalikhina Street - at the balneological clinic. Wells have also been drilled in a number of sanatoriums near Moscow - Dorohovo, Monino, Arkhangelskoye and others. IN war time salt was mined from these waters when the path to the original salt-mining regions was cut off by the enemy.
Eyewitness account: “Having heard about this, the director of the Moscow basin, I.S. Stopani, at his own peril and risk, began drilling work in the place where the monument to the tsar now stands. there is a solid mat behind the fences of the drilling rig. I wonder - what's the matter? Drillers say that the cover of the cutter is constantly clogged with something and does not work, you have to lift the tool to the surface. I took this "something" in my hands, it turned out to be a piece of irregularly shaped metal with a characteristic sheen on the saw cut.Most likely, it was an alloy of lead and tin, poured into the wells during the construction of the Temple in 1839. Wow, the foundation, the elements of which went 70 meters.
But back to the drilling work of our time. The day came when the slotting machine had to be replaced by a drilling machine in order to go another approximately 1650 meters. For the work done, the drillers issued an invoice to the Moscow Sports Committee, almost equal to its annual budget. And the case hung in the proceedings. It ended up that the well was plugged in accordance with the established norms.
For the first time after its opening, there were rumors in Moscow that people often drown in it. Especially in winter. Allegedly, a certain sect of "heaters" was operating, avenging the construction of a "giant puddle" on the church site. To what extent this was true is not known. Most likely another urban legend.
The Moscow pool had a round shape, divided into several sectors, with dressing rooms for men and women. There was also a sports sector with a separate entrance and no access from the common sectors. In the sports sector there was a diving tower with different heights, a sauna and a steam room.
In order to swim in the Moscow pool, a certificate from a doctor was not required. Tickets were sold at the box office near the exit from the Kropotkinskaya metro station. Swimwear, swimming trunks, slippers, caps, fins, masks and snorkels were rented out in the pool. Various disinfectants have been used to disinfect water. The medical staff of the Moscow pool strictly monitored the sanitary condition of the water, outlets and showers.
For all 33 years of the existence of the Moscow Basin, the sanitary and epidemiological station has never made a complaint about the quality of the water. The pool water was not only passed through sand filters, but also chlorinated. The pool was constantly operated by its own laboratory, water sampling was carried out every three hours (and samples were taken weekly by the sanitary and epidemiological station). 
In the first ten years, bactericidal installations were included in the water treatment cycle, irradiating water with ultraviolet light (PRK-7 mercury-quartz lamps for 1.0 kW). Studies have shown that the water treatment cycle can be carried out without them, while water quality does not suffer.
Eyewitness account: “I worked part-time in the pool as a “hour” (keep an eye on the water). Every day we took water for analysis. There was bleach and blue vitriol in the water. I swam for 5 years and did not catch the infection when the water began to bloom, then they drained the water and cleaned the bottom. There are more chances of catching an infection in the bathhouse. By the way, there are a lot of children whom we taught swimming there. Coaches from the children's sports school came and selected the most promising."
Student joke - Archimedes' law for the "Moscow" pool: A body immersed in the water of the "Moscow" pool displaces another body from the water.
Memoirs of an eyewitness: "I remember that it was not always cleaned on time, and once I had to swim with algae (the green ones that covered the bottom and walls of the pool). There were benches along the pool, and many people, starting from April, could not not only to buy, but also to sunbathe, sitting on these benches. last years the work of this pool there was something like "discotheques" arranged, whether there were night sessions, or just evening sessions, with loud music and multi-colored lights.
Please note: most of the area of the Moskva pool was closed for swimming in those years (in the picture on the left). This was due to the fact that at a depth of 2.40 meters the bottom was very poorly visible. Especially in winter, when there was already strong steam above the water, and here the bottom was overgrown with green algae. Visibility was poor, and it was difficult to see a person who had sunk to the bottom. A few years will pass - the depth will be poured with concrete, the bowl will rise to a level of 1.85 m, and the entire area of the pool will again become available for swimming. 
The pool was open all year round even in winter. The temperature of the water was maintained by means of artificial heating... Memoirs of dedushkin1: "In winter, I remember, it was scary to look at the "crazy" splashing in the 20-degree frost in clubs of steam from the land. But I myself went more than once in winter. The water was warm, completely it wasn't cold. Only I had to dive often, otherwise my hair would start to get covered with ice." 
The pool had such a huge area of evaporation of the water surface that it was the cause of corrosion in neighboring buildings. This was especially evident in winter, when a wall of steam constantly stood over the entire structure. The pool was located opposite the Pushkin Museum, from the latter there were complaints that such a neighborhood spoils the exhibits in it. 
This is a children's bath ("splasher") on the side of the fourth (male) pavilion of the Moscow pool. The temperature here was maintained at 32-34 degrees. 
Last years… 
The central swimming pool "Moscow" stopped its activity four years before its demolition. In 1991, the prices for hot, cold water and electricity skyrocketed, the cost of maintenance became unprofitable. For more than 3 years, the pool bowl stood without water, which led to deformation of the expansion joints. The pipeline network was severely corroded.
sources
http://statehistory.ru/1624/Dvorets-Sovetov--CHast-II/
http://www.iqlib.ru/book/preview/E275D5BBFCE34086A2743ABA108F233C
http://dedushkin1.livejournal.com/289450.html
http://zyalt.livejournal.com/620811.html
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And here's another completely in the subject will see how it could look, and here, and here
The Palace of the Soviets is the fruit of the love of modernist art deco and harsh Soviet neoclassicism. Designed in the 30s of the last century, the project of this building impresses with its exterior to this day (though in the pictures). The hundred-story 420-meter Palace of the Soviets was supposed to be the tallest building in the world.
Its construction began in 1937 and ended abruptly in September 1941, when the building materials intended for the palace went to military needs. After the war, the construction was decided not to resume, it was not before.
Main Turkmen Canal
The year 1950 was marked by the beginning of the great all-Union construction. The main Turkmen Canal was designed with the aim of watering and reclamation of dry lands of Turkmenistan, increasing cotton sown areas, and also with the aim of laying a navigable link between the Volga and the Amu Darya. It was supposed to carry out 25% of the flow of the aforementioned Amu Darya along the dried-up channel of the Uzboy to the city of Krasnovodsk.
The goal is really impressive, especially considering that the length of the projected canal was about 1200 km, width - at least 100 m, depth - 6-7 m. In addition to the main canal, a network of irrigation canals was also designed total length 10,000 km, about 2,000 reservoirs, three hydroelectric power stations. During the construction, it was planned to use 5000 dump trucks, 2000 bulldozers, 2000 excavators, 14 dredgers. As a labor force, it was decided to use prisoners and local residents. In 1953, there were 7,268 free workers and 10,000 prisoners at the construction site.
Of course, the ruling elite was not limited to the above means. The whole country worked for this construction, which is eloquently evidenced by the figure of 1000 (!) wagons of goods that were delivered here from all over the Union every month.
Immediately after the death of the leader, the construction of the State Customs Committee was stopped at the initiative of Beria. And then it was completely discontinued for reasons of unprofitability. But by that time, more than 21 billion Soviet rubles, or 2.73 trillion modern Russian rubles, had been irretrievably spent on the construction of the facility.
Transpolar highway (building 501-503)
The man of the year (1940, 1943) according to the Times magazine (talking about Stalin, if anything) did not limit his ambitions on a geographical basis. On his initiative, in the post-war period, from 1947 to 1953, a large construction organization with the uncomplicated name "GULAG" worked on a grandiose project - the Transpolar Highway.
The purpose of this construction was to connect the western north (Murmansk, Arkhangelsk) with east north(Chukotka, coast of the Sea of Okhotsk).
Due to the extremely tight deadlines, construction was carried out in parallel with design and survey work, which could not but affect the quality of the railway track being built. In total, approximately 80 thousand people were involved in the construction, not counting the guards. In 1953, work was stopped, and in 1954 - calculated their cost: about 1.8 billion Soviet rubles.
Sakhalin tunnel (building 506-507)
Another colossal construction site that ceased to exist with the death of Stalin is the Sakhalin Tunnel.
The construction, which started in 1950, was supposed to finish in 1955, according to the plan. With a tunnel length of 10 km, the deadlines were more than tight. From socialism to communism in five-year steps! And the country walked specifically at this construction site with the feet of more than 27 thousand people, all the same prisoners and free workers. And in the spring of 1953, the construction site was closed.
The turn of the Siberian rivers
Let's make a reservation right away: no one was going to turn the river itself. It was only planned to transfer part of the flow of some Siberian rivers, such as the Ob and Irtysh, to the arid regions of the USSR - for agricultural reasons.
The project has become one of the most ambitious projects of the twentieth century. For more than twenty years, 160 scientific and industrial organizations of the USSR worked on it.
The first stage of work involved the construction of a canal with a length of 2500 km, a width of 130 to 300 m and a depth of 15 m. The second stage was a change in the direction of the Irtysh by 180 degrees. That is, the waters of the Irtysh were planned to be directed in the opposite direction with the help of pumping stations, hydroelectric facilities and reservoirs.
Of course, this project was not destined to come true. Common sense prevailed over imperial ambitions - Soviet academicians nevertheless persuaded the country's leadership to leave the Siberian rivers alone.
Nikitin Tower - Travusha 4000 (project)
In 1966, engineers Nikitin (by the way, the chief designer of the Ostankino television tower) and Travush proposed a project for the tallest skyscraper in the world. Moreover, they planned to build it in Japan. Theoretically, the skyscraper was magnificent: its height was 4 km! The tower was divided into four mesh sections a kilometer long and with a diameter at the base of 800 m. The tower, being a residential building, was supposed to accommodate up to 500 thousand people.
In 1969, the design work was stopped: the customers suddenly came to their senses and demanded to reduce the height of the building to 2 km. Then - up to 550 m. And then they completely abandoned the king tower.
Terra-3
Remains of structure 41/42V with the 5N27 laser radar complex of the 5N76 "Terra-3" firing system. Photo 2008
"Terra-3" is nothing more than a project of a zoned anti-missile and anti-space defense system with a beam submunition. It is also a scientific and experimental firing and laser complex. Work on "Terra" has been carried out since the 60s of the last century. Unfortunately, already in the early 70s, scientists began to realize that the power of their lasers was not enough to shoot down warheads. Although she shot down satellites, this cannot be taken away from her. The project somehow came to naught.
We will make a small excursion around the Palace of Soviets in Moscow. The grandiose and majestic building was never destined to come true. On the Internet, there are illustrations from the sketch and design documentation of the Palace of Soviets and the set of these illustrations is limited. The idea arose to restore one of the variants of this building in 3d, describe the history of the Palace of Soviets and take a walk around the territory of the virtual building. At the end of the post, the evolution of the winning design of the Palace of Soviets by Boris Iofan, starting from 1933, is given. 1934 variant implemented in 3d
As a tour guide, I would like to ask the visitors of the virtual exhibition a few questions:
- 1. Would you like the project of the Palace of Soviets to be implemented?
- 2. How would this building be operated in modern conditions if it were implemented?
- 3. In the USSR, the Palace of Soviets was given the place of the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior. What place, in your opinion, would be the most reasonable to allocate for the construction of the Palace of Soviets? Where would it fit best?
- 4. Did you like / dislike the tour? Feel free to criticize.
In 1933, architects V. Schuko and V. Gelfreich were involved in the work of B. Iofan. According to the revised project being prepared, the height of the Palace was to be 420 meters, the building was to be crowned with a 100-meter monument to V.I. Lenin - the work of the sculptor S. Merkurov. The cubic capacity of the building would be 7,500,000 cubic meters. Big hall The palace was designed for 21,000 people, had a height of 100 m, the small hall was designed for 6,000 people. The high-rise part of the Palace was supposed to house the Presidium, the chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and some other halls.
The construction of such a building would require the reconstruction of Volkhonka and other adjacent buildings. In other words, all historical buildings, mansions would be demolished. Huge areas around were supposed to be asphalted and equipped with parking lots for 5,000 cars. The building of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin should have been moved 100 meters.
The construction of the Palace began in the late 30s on the site of the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior. But the truly ambitious plan of the Bolsheviks was never to be realized. The war has taken its toll. Construction was stopped at the stage of laying the foundation. Interestingly, during and after the war, the project of the Palace of Soviets underwent changes, the hope for the implementation of the project did not leave Stalin for a long time. The post-war devastation, the death of the leader, the exposure of the cult of Stalin, the adoption of the directive on the "condemnation of embellishment and architectural excesses" finally buried the idea and project of further construction. Then there were many other programs and projects, attempts, both successful and unsuccessful, to oppose the USSR and the socialist camp to the world of capital and a market economy. But such beautiful project architecture was no more.
The project of the Palace of the Council of Boris Iofan played a big role in the formation and further development and flourishing Soviet architecture 30s - 50s, called "Stalin's Empire". Formed at the intersection of different cultures and styles, from classicism to post-constructivism, a talented synthesis of architectures, eclecticism of the Soviet imperial style is a significant milestone in the architecture of the world.
