State Kremlin Palace

The State Kremlin Palace (Russian: Государственный Кремлёвский Дворец), formerly and unofficially still better known as the Kremlin Palace of Congresses (Кремлёвский Дворец съездов), is a large modern building inside the Moscow Kremlin.

Not to be confused with Grand Kremlin Palace.
State Kremlin Palace
Государственный Кремлёвский Дворец
Kremlin Palace of Congresses (1961-92)
Addressul. Vosdvizhenka d.1
Moscow 121019
Russia
DesignationUNESCO World Heritage Site
Capacity6,000
ProductionZarkana
Kremlin Ballet
Construction
Opened17 October 1961 (1961-10-17)
ArchitectMichael Posohin, Ashot Mndoyants and Eugene Stamo
Website
Venue Website
State Kremlin Palace on stamp, 50-year jubilee

Background

The building was built at the initiative of Nikita Khrushchev as a modern arena for Communist Party meetings. Although the architecture of the projected building contrasted sharply with the historic milieu, building work started in 1959. The structure was opened along with the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on October 17, 1961.[1]

The building is a modern glass and concrete design, with nearly half of it (17 metres) submerged underground. Over the years this was the main place for mass state events (particularly party congresses). Presently it is used for official and popular concerts. American singers Mariah Carey, Tina Turner and Cher have played in the palace, as did Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.

Externally the palace is faced with white marble and the windows are tinted and reflective, which makes the ancient architecture in the Kremlin appear particularly picturesque. However, from the start, the construction of a large modern public building in an historic neighborhood generated quite an uproar, especially since the building replaced several heritage buildings including the old neo-classical building of the State Armory and some of the back corpuses of the Great Kremlin Palace. Although this was hardly the first time that the Soviet government destroyed architectural heritage (notably the Chudov and Ascension cloisters) in the Kremlin and in the country in general, by the mid 1950s laws were in place effectively considering all pre-Soviet constructions as historical monuments and preventing their demolition, in someways making the construction illegal. Nevertheless, the Palace was integrated into the larger complex of the Great Kremlin Palace.

Architecture and interiors

The State Kremlin Palace was designed in the style of Soviet modernism, which marked a departure from Stalinist architecture. The building is characterised by stylistic integrity and monumentality. As the researchers note, its "three-dimensional composition, the architectural solution of the facades and the state interiors are closely linked".[2] The palace has a rectangular shape and a volume of about 40,000 m³. It has over 800 rooms.[2] The central part of the building is occupied by an auditorium (in Soviet times, a conference hall) for 6,000 seats.

Architectural historian Andrey Ikonnikov notes the openness of the internal layout of the palace and its interiors. In his view, the gradual transitions between the foyer and the lobbies employed the principle of "shimmering construction of space", which symbolised continuity with the architectural experiments of the Soviet avant-garde of the 1920s.[3]

The building's exterior combines vertical protrusions with mirrored openings between them. The façades are clad in white Ural marble and anodised aluminium. Red Karbakhta granite, Koelga marble and patterned Baku tuff, and various types of wood were used inside. A gilded coat-of-arms of the USSR, made by sculptor Alexei Zelenski, was located above the main entrance. The symbol was later replaced by the coat of arms of the Russian Federation. The interior decoration of the palace was done by the artist Alexander Deineka, who made mosaic emblems in the banquet hall and the frieze in the foyer.[2]

Party congresses in the Kremlin Palace

In Tom Clancy's 1986 novel Red Storm Rising, the building is bombed in a false-flag operation by the KGB to justify an invasion of Western Europe, with West Germany being framed for the attack. The building is depicted as being the meeting place for the Council of Ministers. Ordinarily, the Council convened in the Kremlin Senate, which is explained in the novel as being closed for repairs.

See also

References
  1. Taubman, William (2003). Khrushchev: the Man and his Era. p. 513. ISBN 0393051447.
  2. Moskovskiĭ Kremlʹ, Krasnai︠a︡ ploshchadʹ : putevoditelʹ. I. I︠U︡. I︠U︡dakov. Moskva. 2019. ISBN 978-5-904813-03-1. OCLC 1255524721.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Ikonnikov A. V. (1984). Architecture of Moscow. XX century.

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