The Soviet Union is building a cyclopean-sized building in the center of Moscow at a colossal pace - the Palace of the Soviets. The total height of the building will have to be 415 meters (excluding the huge figure of Lenin at the top).
It is above 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 admitted to 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 supposed to become a symbol of the Great Country. Therefore, the old symbol, Tsarist Russia, was destroyed with the help of a huge amount of explosives.
In total, almost 300 projects were nominated for the best building. Initially, instead of one huge tower with Lenin at the top, several buildings were supposed to be part of one large complex. The best architects of the Union have designed such an ambitious and grandiose building for 8 years.
The total weight of the building would be 1.5 million tons, but this enormous weight is unevenly distributed 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 the construction was chosen well - the foundation will be based on a thick layer of limestone. The base of the tower consists of two concrete rings, 140 and 160 meters in diameter each. Groundwater stopped asbestos boards soaked in bitumen. It was planned to place technical and communal services in the basement floors.
7 floors of this gigantic and ambitious project have already been built. The Land of Soviets has proven that even such crazy projects are within its reach.
The construction of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow began in accordance with the typical tradition of those times, with the establishment of the Construction Department of the Palace of Soviets. The department used the project of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, developed by Boris Iofan.
Fierce disputes were fought over the choice of a place for the construction of the building - scientists and architects received proposals to build the Palace in the Kitay-gorod area, Okhotny Ryad, on the Lenin Hills (Vorobyovs) and on the site of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It is noteworthy that this structure could be located on the territory now occupied by the 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 at what speed the shrine was blown up: less than 6 months have passed since the decision was made. The ill-wishers of the leader did everything possible to make it look as if Stalin single-handedly made the decision 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. It follows from the declassified documents that Stalin was not an enemy of the church. The decision to demolish it was taken without much hesitation 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 main executioner of the USSR”: he destroyed dozens of churches, repressed clergymen, prepared execution-repressive applications, in which there were tens of thousands of names, and Stalin, in turn, rejected some applications and reduced others.
Requirements for the construction project
The All-Union competition announced in 1931 for the development of drawings was most likely a cover for the decision already made by the leader in favor of Iofan's Palace of Soviets. His drawings met all the requirements: a 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 several times higher than the cityscape, avoid temple motifs, reflect all the monumentality and integrity of the new building.
Having chosen Boris as the winner, the Father of Peoples made a number of remarks, one of which was to complete the Palace in Moscow with a top in the form of a tall column. And the column must be crowned with a hammer and sickle, 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 Lenin monument was 100 m, and the volume of 7,500 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 task before the architects was difficult: to express in Colossus the idea of a new state that guaranteed prosperity and well-being, and, above all, the construction of socialism.
Construction race between Moscow and Berlin
Simultaneously with the implementation of the idea of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, an equally monumental building was erected in Berlin - the Dome Palace (Assembly House). Adolf Hitler, like Joseph Stalin, was involved in the reconstruction of the capital. The plans were to include monumental structures: the Reich Chancellery, the High Command of the Wehrmacht, the party office, Hitler's own palace 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 using the old building as a library. The new parliament building was to accommodate a much larger number of deputies.
The dimensions of the Dome Palace were colossal - 21 million m 2. Hitler was indescribable delight at 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 Assembly House was significantly inferior in this indicator. At that moment, a kind of competition began between the leaders: who can build the future symbol of the country's prosperity higher and more expensively.
The Fuhrer, trying to come to terms with the idea that the Dome Palace would not be able to surpass the Stalinist skyscraper, decided for himself that his palace would be a unique creation of the architects of the millennial 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.
The building of the Soviets 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, and entire factories for the production of building materials were created. By the beginning of 1940, an incredible pit was dug, reinforcement made of special steel 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 to rubles. For example, the pictures alone were supposed to be 18 thousand m 2.
The war disrupted all plans of architects and artists. In 1941, the construction of the Palace was stopped and never resumed, despite all the "attempts" of Khrushchev. 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 currently occupied by Moscow State University on Vorobyovy Gory. The aim of the competition was to harmoniously fit the monumental building 415 m high into the city's appearance. Naturally, this was impossible to do, as a result of which the idea of building a giant was “hacked to death”.
View from the Lenin monument. Shot from the movie "Spy" Construction after the Great Victory
On paper, the work did not stop even during 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 construction facilities of the Office of the Palace of Soviets were transferred to the second, most important for Stalin, project - the Moscow Metro. The metro was built at an accelerated pace and the next station was commissioned 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 of Boris Iofan. According to 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.
Left - People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, designed by Melnikov. In the center - the building of the People's Commissariat for Heavy Engineering, designed by Chichulin. The architectural concept of the building of councils in Moscow was supposed to be supported by Stalin's skyscrapers. They echoed with him, then moving away, then bringing closer to themselves the architectural perspective of the center of the capital.
The proportions and silhouette of the buildings had to be original and in 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, I must say that it was extremely problematic to do this, because the Moscow Kremlin against the background of such a monolith would look at least strange.
The construction of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow was postponed 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 the amazing thing is that the leader is forcing the construction of high-rise buildings in every possible way.
Despite the fact that the Palace of Soviets in Moscow was never erected, work on its construction yielded very positive results in the future. The construction management of the Palace of Soviets gained vast experience throughout the design of the building and later became, in a way, an elite construction division. This department was entrusted with the construction of a strategically important object - the Ostankino tower.
Khrushchev's "Clownery"
“Strength always attracts people with low morale; 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" NS Khrushchev. In vain attempts to get rid of the Stalinist past and at least somehow look like a not so miserable leader against its background, he prepared a report "On the cult of the individual and its consequences", in which he accused Joseph Stalin of disrespect for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin because the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, which was planned 30 years ago, has not been built and this should be corrected. In his worthlessness and baseness, Khrushchev can be second only to Gorbachev. If the former destroyed the country out of stupidity, the latter did it purposefully, for money.
Naturally, Khrushchev had no intention of erecting 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 condemned Stalin and therefore could not allow this to happen. He found the solution to this question, as befits such a person, extremely cynical. A competition was announced for the project of a new Palace of the Soviets, but with very interesting criteria.
Suffice it to cite a short excerpt from the description of the competition: "free from formalistic, restoration, eclectic tendencies and imitation of modern capitalist architecture." Everything is vague and abstract. Of course, thanks to such formulations, you 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. Unsurprisingly, no project was selected that could meet these criteria.
Khrushchev's "clowning" ended with the planned farce, and the media were already fighting 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 an amazing palace for meetings of the Supreme Soviet 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 made a lengthy speech that the USSR would expand, and 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 can not only destroy the "palaces of bankers, landowners and tsars", but also build. After listening to Comrade Kirov, the congress participants decided to build the Palace of Soviets, and not just anywhere, but "on the most beautiful and best square."
At the end of the 1920s, this proposal fell on fertile soil: a grandiose anti-religious propaganda unfolded in the Soviet Union, and the construction of the Palace of Soviets - the main building of the USSR - was in place. cathedral 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 Management of the Palace of Soviets were established. But the most representative body was the Provisional Technical Council of the aforementioned department.
Members of the council were not only architects, but also representatives of other types of arts: from writers - A.M. Gorky, from artists - I.E. Grabar, from sculptors - S.M. Merkurov, from the theater workers - K.S. Stanislavsky and V.E. Meyerhold. In addition, I.V. Stalin and other members of the government. Possible construction sites included Okhotny Ryad, Zaryadye, Varvarka, shopping arcade on Red Square, Kitai-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.
I had to get together again and discuss all possible options. They resumed their meetings and decided: "... to recognize as more or less probable points of 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 members of the Politburo V.M. Molotov, L.M. Kaganovich, K.E. Voroshilov, as well as leading Soviet architects and one foreigner decided: to build the Palace of Soviets on Volkhonka.
Then the fate of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was predetermined. 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 the slogan "Instead of a hearth of dope - the Palace of Soviets" was adorned. Directly 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 the program of the competition. The competition was announced in June 1931. In total, one hundred and sixty projects were submitted. Sixteen projects were awarded cash prizes, but this did not allow determining the winner.
According to the specified assignment, 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. Shchuko. The Palace of Soviets was to become a monumental monument to the heroic era of socialism. The outlines of the Palace and all of its architecture amazed contemporaries. According to the project, the building, wide at the bottom, rushed upward, gradually narrowing, and ended with the grandiose figure of V.I. Lenin.
The total height of the structure was supposed to reach almost four hundred and twenty meters. There was no higher building in the world at that time. Especially monumental was the sculpture of Lenin, the weight of which would have amounted to six thousand tons. Lenin's head would be comparable to a five-story building and would have a diameter of fourteen meters. The leader's index finger is four meters. The girth of the chest is thirty-two meters. It was assumed that the statue would be visible from a distance of seventy (!) Kilometers. Thanks to the coating with monel metal, 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 framework of the "project on paper." The construction of the Palace of the Soviets really began in 1938. As it should be, the construction of the Palace of Soviets began with soil samples and foundation construction. Note that the colossal dimensions of the structure not only boggle the imagination, but would carry considerable loads on the ground in the future. According to the 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, weight was not distributed evenly over the entire area of the grandiose structure. The central high-rise part of the Palace of Soviets was the most difficult. Occupying only two hectares, that is, less than a fifth of the total area, it would weigh as much as six hundred and fifty thousand tons. The structure of the building was planned from a powerful steel frame, to which all walls, floors and ceilings, together with their incredible richness of decoration, are suspended. More than two thousand giant steel pillars of the frame would transfer the weight of the Palace of the Soviets to the foundations.
By 1941, the frame of the central high-rise part was erected from the side of Volkhonka Street to the height of a nine-story building. True, it is worth noting that with the beginning of World War II, this frame began to be gradually disassembled 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 the railway 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 refused until 1955, however, in fact, no work was carried out on the construction site. It was only in 1956 that a decision was made to build the Moskva pool here. Nevertheless, even the unfinished Palace of the Soviets influenced the development of our city. According to the General Plan of Reconstruction of Moscow from 1935, the Palace of Soviets, along with Red Square, where Lenin's mausoleum stands, was supposed 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.
It is not a joke that the architect Lev Vladimirovich Rudnev, who had a special gift to create a large monumental form in architecture, invited all his colleagues who were designing new Moscow buildings to put a model of the Palace of Soviets on their desktop and take it into account in their plans exactly, 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 the Luzhniki Stadium and further, along a specially constructed bridge with a flyover access to it, across the Moskva River and Leninskie Gory to the new southwestern district. Build two bridges across the Moskva River and a drainage canal to extend the boulevard ring from the Palace of Soviets to Zamoskvorechye.
2. From the Kropotkinskaya embankment to the Kropotkinskiye Vorota square, the ring is projected 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 new bridges over the drainage canal and the Moskva River opens onto Malaya Square of the Palace of Soviets and 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 section between Frunze and Antipyevsky lane, and by 1937 to demolish the residential quarter overlooking the facade of the Mossovet hotel, which was being completed by this time. By the time the Palace of Soviets is built, to demolish all intermediate buildings between Mokhovaya and Manezhnaya streets, as well as between Volkhonka and Bolshoy Kamenny bridge. Predefine the development of buildings government agencies, public and scientific nature.
The Palace of the Soviets was supposed to be built by the end of the third five-year plan, that is, in 1942. The general reconstruction plan was going to be completed in ten years. A completely different Moscow was supposed to celebrate its eight hundredth anniversary, which would only be associated with past centuries, the Kremlin, closed to ordinary citizens, and several dozen old chambers and mansions scattered throughout the city. If we had implemented this project, we would not have seen those grains of old Moscow that have already survived with great difficulty to this day.
You've probably heard a lot about the 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 the most spectacular of them might look like.
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 new country and new Moscow. This project is amazing today. This building, glorified 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 one-hundred-meter statue of Lenin. The statue is so huge that a meeting room (the hall in which the very solemn ceremony will take place) is placed in its head. At the same time, the giant Ilyich did not stand still - his giant hand always points to the Sun, for this the world's largest statue 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 really should have become the world's largest statue. 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 be changed.
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 but find the broadest support among the delegates to the congress - still, a new symbol of the new country!
But it was possible to start implementing this idea only almost ten years later - on June 18, 1931, an open competition was announced in the Izvestia newspaper. best project Palace. In the same year, on December 5, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up - a symbol old Russia, which was to be replaced by the symbol of the Land of the Soviets. The temple was visible from almost anywhere in Moscow in the early thirties; the new architectural symbol was to be 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 created (in order not to repeat the same word twice in one name, it was often referred to simply as the Council of Construction). Under this Council, there was 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, IV 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, the share of ordinary citizens accounted for 100 draft designs. 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 this day, the following resolution of the Council was issued:
1. Accept the draft comrade. Iofana BM in the basis of 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 the form of a pedestal for the figure of Lenin. 3. Instruct Comrade IOFANU will continue to develop the project of the Palace of Soviets based on 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.
Point 4 was adopted immediately - architects V. Gelfreich 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 Stalinist 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, is already there. But it is not Ilyich who is crowning her, 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 the 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. Brazini, one of the participants in the competition. Boris Iofan did not at all like the idea that his creation would be just a pedestal, he insisted that the statue be installed not on the top of the building, but in front of it. But, you can't argue with the authorities. The work on the 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 Palace projects that did not pass the competition: Armando Brazini
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. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
3 Armando Brasini Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
4.G. Krasin, A. Kutsaev. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
5. Boris Iofan. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
6. Boris Iofan. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
7.Henrich Ludwig. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
8.Alexey Shchusev. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
9.Hector O. Hamilton. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
10.Ivan Zholtovsky. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
11.Karo Halabyan, Vladimir Simbirtsev. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
12.Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1931
13. Moses Ginzburg. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
14.Nikolay Ladovsky. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets, 1932
15. Leonidas, Victor and Alexander Vesnins. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
17.Ivan Zholtovsky, Georgy Golts. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
18.Karo Halabyan, Georgy Kochar, Anatoly Mordvinov. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
19 Brigade VASI (leader Alexander Vlasov). Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
20 Vladimir Shchuko, Vladimir Gelfreich. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
21. Anatoly Zhukov, Dmitry Chechulin. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
22 Boris Iofan. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1932
23 Boris Iofan. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1933
24 Boris Iofan. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1933
25. Karo Halabyan, Anatoly Mordvinov, Vladimir Simbirtsev, Yakov Doditsa, Alexey Dushkin. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1933
26. Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1933
27. Vladimir Shchuko, Vladimir Gelfreich. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1933
28. Leonidas, Victor and Alexander Vesnins. Competition project of the Palace of Soviets 1933
And what happened on the site of the future Palace? During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Emperor Alexander I vows to erect a temple in Moscow in the name of Christ the Savior. The construction decree was signed in December 1812 in Vilna, when the last units of the defeated Napoleonic army were expelled from the borders of 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, 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 was spent on painting and decoration. Despite all efforts, the people consider the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to be a spiritual place, an example of church bad taste.
After the complete completion of the work, the temple existed for just over 50 years. On December 5, 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up.
Museum workers were allowed to take out the fragments of the temple, thanks to this, several giant high reliefs were dismantled and transported to the Donskoy Monastery.
Let's continue about the project of the Palace.
Let's start with the main thing - from the foundation on which the palace of 300 meters in height, topped with a 100-meter statue of Lenin, should have stood. The total area of the building was supposed to be 11 hectares, and the weight was one and a half million tons. But this enormous weight was not evenly distributed over this entire area. The most "weighty" was supposed 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 amphitheater. This huge hall was adjoined by lobbies, foyers and other small (in comparison with the Hall) premises. All these premises as a whole received the name "stylobate" (in ancient Greek architecture this was the name of the upper part of the socle of the temple, on which the colonnade was installed). This giant tower was supposed to cover an area of one hectare and weigh 650 thousand tons (one-fifth of the weight of the entire building). The columns of the frame 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 4,700 tons, and the columns of the tower of the Palace of Soviets had to carry a load of 8 to 14 tons each.
Builders have never encountered such ground loads. So, the requirements for the soil and the foundation on which the building will rise - a symbol of a new era, special ones were presented. For the study of the soil, for the first time in the Soviet Union, the so-called large-column drilling was used - the soil was lifted 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 soft ground. At a depth of 14 meters, hard 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. A kind of sandwich. These rocks were formed millions of years ago in 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 140 and 160 meters in diameter. They were located on the second limestone layer at a depth of 30 meters. But before pouring concrete, the builders dug a huge foundation pit. In order to prevent the pit walls from collapsing under the influence of subsoil 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. Rather, almost waterproof. But with the water that nevertheless seeped into the pit, the pumps were successfully coping.
To solve the problem with groundwater once and for all, a kind of "bowl" of four layers of asbestos cardboard impregnated with bitumen was built under the future foundation. 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 from the late thirties. The last word of the technician at that time was huge automatic concrete mixers. To the construction site, concrete was delivered to the pit in metal "buckets". Each bucket held 4 tons of concrete. With the help of a crane, the "buckets" were lowered into the pit, the worker knocked out the latch holding the bottom.
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The spilled concrete was tamped with so-called vibrators - metal clubs vibrating under the influence of eccentrics rotating inside. By hardening ("grasping", if we speak in construction slang), concrete decreases in volume (the so-called "shrinkage"). Considering the enormous 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 were solidified, the gaps were filled with fresh concrete.
It turned out to be a monolithic concrete ring. Both rings are connected by 16 radial walls. And on top of the foundation rings, two more rings of reinforced concrete 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 just concrete pillars with a diameter of 60 meters. Since the load on them was not so huge, these concrete pillars were installed on the upper layer of limestone. In total, 550 thousand cubic meters of concrete were required for the construction of the foundations of the Palace. Above the foundation of the tower, basement floors were to be located, which would house technical services - heating, lighting, plumbing, sewerage, etc.
To run countless pipes and wires in the concrete walls of the basement, it was necessary to lay special channels, so large that people could walk in them without bending over. The most deep point the basement was supposed to become the hold of the Great Hall - 10 meters below the water table. The floor of the hold, according to the project, was supposed 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, ascended over Moscow. The foundations of the Palace were used in the construction of the world's largest swimming pool. And in the nineties, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, demolished in December 1931, was rebuilt on the same foundation.
Frame
Now let's talk about the steel frame, the basis of the 300-meter Palace, topped with a 100-meter statue of Lenin. For the construction of this frame, a special high-strength steel grade was developed - DS.
The frame was to be mounted on two circular 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, on such an area a passenger car will fit. The columns rested on a riveted steel shoe, under which 4-5 cast steel plates are laid right in the ring foundation.
All 64 columns are connected horizontally with I-beams every 6-10 meters. The same beams are also connected by every two columns located on the same radius.
The columns went vertically up to a height of 60 meters, 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 were supposed to move from a vertical position to an inclined position, so-called spacer rings were 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 a huge building. The purpose of the secondary frame is to “collect” loads and transfer them to the powerful main frame. The secondary frame also consisted of beams and columns, but all of its elements were made of steel less durable than DS. But this steel differed from ordinary building steel by the addition of copper. This additive does not add strength, but increases rust resistance. The subframe beams would be positioned where they are needed, complementing the mainframe.
Over the beams of the secondary frame, floors were to be installed - reinforced concrete slabs 10 centimeters thick. The floors are laid on these ceilings. The thickness of the floors also had to be large - after all, pipes and electrical wiring had to be laid in the floors. The total weight of the steel frame of the Palace of Soviets was supposed to be 350 thousand tons. A number of factories in Moscow and abroad worked on the manufacture of the cyclopean steel structure. They were used to make the so-called "assembly elements" - sections 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 railroad 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 for rivets were drilled, 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, each with a lifting capacity of 40 tons. After the frame 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 cargo to them from the ground. In the future, it was planned to reduce the number of cranes on the "Verkhotura", and only one crane was to be engaged in the installation of the statue.
The installation of the frame began in 1940. By the beginning of the war, it reached a height of 7 floors. During the war, DS steel was used for the manufacture of anti-tank hedgehogs, and when the reserves came to an end, the already built part of the frame was dismantled. The apotheosis did not work, and then, having cleared the site of construction junk, an outdoor swimming pool "Moskva" was being built on this site, in which Muscovites have been swimming serenely in winter and summer for about 30 years.
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 Moscow pool 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 drilling wells to the sea. Wells for the extraction of ancient sea water were drilled by workers of the Promburvod Trust of the Ministry of Installation and Special Construction Works of the USSR. One of the wells is at the Moscow Meat Processing Plant on Talalikhin Street. There is another well on Talalikhin Street - at the balneological hospital. Wells were drilled in a number of sanatoriums near Moscow - "Dorokhovo", "Monino", "Arkhangelskoye" and others. IN war time salt was mined from these waters when the enemy cut off the path to the original salt-producing regions.
An eyewitness account: "Having heard about this, the director of the Moscow Basin, IS Stopani, at his own peril and risk, began drilling work in the place where the monument to the tsar now stands. We walked 70 meters with a slotting machine. And no matter how you pass by, from- there is a solid mat behind the fencing of the drilling rig. I am interested - what's the matter? Drillers say that the lid of the chisel is constantly clogged with something and does not allow to work, you have to raise the tool to the surface. 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 modern drilling operations. The day came when the slotting machine had to be replaced at the rig in order to travel approximately 1650 meters more. For the work done, the drillers billed the Moscow Sports Committee with an invoice almost equal to its annual budget. And the case hung in the proceedings. In the end, the well was shut down in accordance with the established norms. "
The first time after its opening in Moscow there were rumors that people often drown in it. Especially in winter. Allegedly, a certain sect of "drowners" was operating, avenging the construction of a "giant puddle" on the church site. How much this corresponded to reality is not known. Most likely another urban legend.
The Moscow pool had a round shape, was divided into several sectors, with men's and women's dressing rooms. There was also a sports sector with a separate entrance and no access from the general sectors. In the sports sector there was a diving tower with different heights for diving, a sauna and a steam room.
In order to swim in the Moscow pool, a doctor's certificate was not required. Tickets were sold at the box office near the exit from the Kropotkinskaya metro station. The pool rented out swimsuits, swimming trunks, slippers, hats, fins, masks and snorkels for diving. Various disinfectants were used to disinfect the water. The medical staff of the Moscow swimming pool strictly monitored the sanitary condition of the water, outflows and shower rooms.
For all 33 years of the existence of the Moskva Basin, the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station has never made a claim to the quality of the water. The pool water was not only passed through sand filters, but also chlorinated. The pool had its own laboratory constantly working, water sampling for samples was carried out every three hours (and the sanitary and epidemiological station selected samples weekly). 
In the first ten years, bactericidal installations were included in the water treatment cycle, irradiating water with ultraviolet light (PRK-7 mercury-quartz lamps, 1.0 kW). Studies have shown that the water treatment cycle can be carried out without them, while the water quality does not suffer.
Eyewitness story: "I worked part-time in the pool as a" watch "(kept order on the water). Every day we took water samples for analysis. There was chlorine and copper sulfate 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 to catch the infection in the bathhouse. By the way, there are a lot of children whom we taught to swim there. Coaches from the Children's Sports School came and selected the most promising. "
Student joke - Archimedes' law for the Moskva pool: A body immersed in the Moskva pool displaces another body from the water.
Eyewitness recollections: “I remember that it was not always cleaned on time, and once I had to swim with algae (green ones that covered the bottom and walls of the pool). There were benches along the pool, and many people, starting in April, could not only to buy, but also to sunbathe sitting on these benches. last years the work of this pool there was something like "discos" arranged, there were either night, or just evening sessions, with loud music and multi-colored lighting.
Please note: most of the area of the Moskva swimming pool was closed for swimming in those years (in the photo on the left). This was due to the fact that the bottom was very poorly visible at a depth of 2.40 meters. Especially in winter, when there was already strong steam above the water, and here the bottom was overgrown with green algae. The visibility was poor and it was difficult to see the man sinking to the bottom. It will take several years - the depth will be filled with concrete, the bowl will rise to the level of 1.85 m, and the entire pool area will again become available for swimming. 
The pool was open all year round, even in winter. The temperature of the water was maintained by artificial heating ... Memories dedushkin1: "In winter, I remember, it was scary to look at the" crazy "people splashing in clouds of steam from the land in 20-degree frost. It was not cold. Only I had to dive often, otherwise my hair began to be covered with ice. " 
The pool had such a huge evaporation area of the water surface that it caused 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 spoiled the exhibits in it. 
This is a children's bathtub ("splash bowl") 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 "Moskva" ceased operations four years before its demolition. In 1991, prices for hot and cold water and electricity skyrocketed and the cost of service became unprofitable. For more than 3 years, the pool bowl stood without water, which led to deformation of the expansion joints. The pipeline network is badly 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 and
The Palace of Soviets is the fruit of the love of modernist art deco and harsh Soviet neoclassicism. Developed in the 30s of the last century, the project of this building impresses with its exterior to this day (albeit in the pictures). The one hundred-story 420-meter Palace of the Soviets was supposed to become 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 were used for military purposes. After the war, it was decided not to resume construction, it was not up to that.
The main Turkmen canal
1950 was marked by the beginning of the great all-Union construction project. The main Turkmen Canal was designed with the aim of watering and reclaiming the arid lands of Turkmenistan, increasing the cotton cultivation area, and also with the aim of laying a navigable connection between the Volga and Amu Darya. It was supposed to conduct 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 plants. During the construction, it was planned to use 5,000 dump trucks, 2,000 bulldozers, 2,000 excavators, 14 dredgers. It was decided to use prisoners as labor force and local residents... In 1953, there were 7268 free laborers and 10 thousand prisoners at the construction site.
Of course, the ruling elite was not limited to the above means. The whole country worked for this construction, as the figure of 1000 (!) Freight wagons, which were delivered here from all over the Union every month, eloquently speaks to us.
Immediately after the death of the leader, the construction of the GTK was stopped at the initiative of Beria. And then it was completely discontinued for reasons of unprofitability. But by this 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 (construction site 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 Mainline.
The purpose of this construction was to connect the western north (Murmansk, Arkhangelsk) with east north(Chukotka, the 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, about 80 thousand people were involved in the construction, not counting the guards. In 1953, the work was stopped, and in 1954 - their cost was calculated: approximately 1.8 billion Soviet rubles.
Sakhalin Tunnel (construction site 506-507)
Another colossal construction project that ended its existence with the death of Stalin is the Sakhalin Tunnel.
The construction, which started in 1950, according to the plan, was supposed to finish already in 1955. With a tunnel length of 10 km, the deadlines were more than tight. From socialism to communism in five years' steps! And the country walked specifically on this construction site with the feet of more than 27 thousand people, all the same prisoners and free laborers. 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 proper. It was only planned to transfer part of the runoff of some Siberian rivers, for example, 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 20th 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 flow by 180 degrees. That is, it was planned to direct the waters of the Irtysh in the opposite direction with the help of pumping stations, waterworks and reservoirs.
Of course, this project was not destined to come true. Common sense prevailed over imperial ambitions - Soviet academics 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 TV tower) and Travush proposed the project of the tallest skyscraper in the world. Moreover, it was planned to build it in Japan. In theory, the skyscraper was magnificent: its height was 4 km! The tower was divided into four mesh sections, a kilometer long and with a diameter of 800 m at the base. 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 Tsar Tower.
Terra-3
Remains of construction 41 / 42B with a 5H27 laser locator complex of a 5H76 Terra-3 firing complex. Photo 2008
"Terra-3" is nothing more than a project of an anti-missile and anti-space defense zone system with a beam striking element. He is also a scientific and experimental shooting-laser complex. Work on "Terra" has been going on 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 the warheads. Although she shot down satellites, this cannot be taken away from her. The project somehow came to naught by itself.
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 versions of this building in 3d, to describe the history of the Palace of Soviets and to walk around the territory of the virtual building. At the end of the post, the evolution of the winning competition project of the Palace of Soviets of Boris Iofan, starting in 1933, is given. 3D version implemented in 1934
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 allot for the construction of the Palace of Soviets? Where would it fit best?
- 4. Did you like / did not like the excursion? Feel free to criticize.
In 1933, architects V. Shchuko and V. Gelfreich were involved in the work of B. Iofan. According to the revised project being prepared, the height of the Palace was supposed 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. The large hall of 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 accommodate 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 and mansions would have been demolished. The huge areas around it were supposed to be asphalted and equipped with parking for 5 thousand cars. The building of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin had to be moved 100 meters.
The construction of the Palace began at the end of the 30s on the site of the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior. But the truly ambitious plan of the Bolsheviks was never destined to come true. The war has made its own adjustments. Construction was halted during the foundation-laying phase. It is interesting that during and after the war, the project of the Palace of Soviets underwent changes, Stalin's hope for the implementation of the project did not leave for a long time. The post-war devastation, the death of the leader, the exposure of the cult of Stalin, the adoption of a directive on "condemnation of decoration 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 in architecture was no longer.
The project of the Palace of the Council of Boris Iofan played an important role in the formation and further development and flourishing of Soviet architecture of the 30s - 50s, which was called "Stalin's Empire". Formed at the junction of different cultures and styles, from classicism to post-constructivism, the talented synthesis of architecture, the eclecticism of the Soviet imperial style is a significant milestone in the architecture of the world.
