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Moscow’s skyline is largely defined by seven skyscrapers known as Stalin’s Seven Sisters. They’re still today amongst some of the tallest buildings in Europe. Built in an elaborate Russian Baroque and Gothic styles with, these looming towers with their spires are for some people a representation of repression during the Stalinist period. The seven building are today: Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, Kudrinskaya Square Building, Hotel Leningradskaya, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Red Gates Administrative Building, and the tallest and most popular, the Moscow State University. With the exception of the hotels, entry to most of the seven sisters are closed to the public. They can, however, still be admired from outside. If you’re visiting the Kudrinskaya Building, check out Moscow’s grandest self-service canteen in the ground floor where you can eat cheap Russian food while admiring the impressive interior.
The Seven Sisters:
Moscow State University
Direction: Metro Line 1 to Vorobyevy Gory Station
Website: www.msu.ru/en
Hotel Leningradskaya
Address: Ul. Kalanchevskaya 21/40, Moscow
Direction: Metro Line 1 to Krasnye Vorota or Komsomolskaya Station
Phone: +7 495 627 55 50
Website: www.moscow.hilton.com
Hotel Ukraina
Address: Kutuzovsky pr. 2/1, bldg. 1, Moscow
Direction: Metro Line 3,4 or 5 to Kievskaya Station
Phone: +7 495 221 55 55
Website: www.radisson-hotels.ru/royal-moscow
Kotelnichseskaya Embankment Apartments
Address: Kotelinichseskaya nab. 1, Moscow
Direction: Metro Line 6 or 7 to Kitay Gorod Station
Kudrinskaya Square Building
Address: Kudrinskaya pl., Moscow
Direction: Metro Line 5 or 7 to Barrikadnaya Station
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Address: Smolenskaya-Sennaya pl., Moscow
Direction: Metro Line 3 or 4 to Smolenskaya Station
The Red Gates Administrative Building
Address: Lermontovskaya pl., Moscow
Direction: Metro to Line 1 to Krasniye Vorota Station
Photo credit: Alexey Kljatov (Flickr CC), Sergey Norin (Flickr CC), Yuri Degtyarev (Flickr CC), Richard Anderson (Flickr CC), InYourPocket.com
