The main building of Moscow State University on Sparrow Hills - a prominent architectural monument, one of the seven Stalinist skyscrapers in Moscow.

The building was built in 1949-1953, its height, together with the spire, is 240 meters (without the spire - 183.2 meters): for 50 years - exactly half a century - MSU was until a new one was built in 2003 LCD "Triumph-Palace".

But not only in height, the building of Moscow State University was a champion: the largest clock in Moscow was installed on the side towers, the diameter of the dials was 9 meters. The minute hand is 4.1 meters long and weighs 39 kilograms.

Construction of Moscow State University

The Moscow State University skyscraper was designed by a whole team of talented Soviet architects: Boris Iofan, Lev Rudnev, Sergey Chernyshev, Pavel Abrosimov, Alexander Khryakov, as well as constructor Nikolai Nikitin and engineer Vsevolod Nasonov. In addition, the sculptural decoration of the facades was carried out in the workshop Vera Mukhina.

The history of Moscow State University, like other Stalinist skyscrapers, began in January 1947, when, at the suggestion Stalin The Union of Ministers of the USSR decided to build eight high-rise buildings in Moscow.

Initially, he was appointed to the position of chief architect Boris Iofan, previously engaged in the design of a number of other buildings by government order. Iofan developed the general architectural design of the high-rise building and proposed an expressive spatial composition of the building in the form of 5 volumes, one of which - the central one - will become the high-rise part of the building, and 4 others will be much lower and crowned with pinnacle towers. The architect also planned to install a sculpture on top of the high-rise part of the building. Mikhail Lomonosov, however, on instructions from above - they say that Stalin did not like the idea - he revised the project in favor of a spire with a five-pointed star, like other Stalinist skyscrapers.

And everything would be fine if it were not for the principles of Iofan: the architect wanted to erect a building by all means over the very cliff of the Sparrow Hills (at that time - Lenin Hills), which coincided with Stalin's initial wishes. However, a commission of experts found that it is dangerous and can cause landslides, due to which MGU will simply slide into the river. Stalin agreed with the need to move the building further from the slope, but Iofan was not satisfied with this alignment; soon the intractable architect was removed from the design.

After the resignation of Iofan, he was appointed head of design Lev Rudnev. Shortly thereafter, Stalin personally approves the number of floors of the building and the height of the spire and signs the technical design and construction estimate, and Lavrenty Beria becomes a construction superintendent.

Earthworks began in 1948, and on April 12, 1949, the groundbreaking ceremony took place. In order to complete the epic construction faster, military construction units from nuclear industry facilities are transferred to the construction; in addition, the labor of prisoners is actively used: several thousand people were involved in the construction.

Myths of Moscow State University

The high-rise building of Moscow State University, being a truly epochal project, to which, in addition, Joseph Stalin himself personally had a hand, has acquired many myths and urban legends.

Thus, there is an opinion that during the construction and decoration of Moscow State University, materials from the blown up and materials taken from Germany from the destroyed Reichstag. In particular, 4 columns of solid jasper are mentioned, installed in front of the meeting room of the Academic Council, allegedly surviving the explosion of the temple, and rare pink marble from the lining of the Reichstag. Unfortunately, both positions are just a romantic myth: there were never jasper columns in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, but pink marble, which really was in the Reichstag, is simply not in Moscow State University.

There is a legend that the skyscrapers are walled up in the basements Stalin statue, which they allegedly wanted to install instead of a spire with a star, but did not have time because of Stalin's death. Of course, this is also just a loud myth: Stalin died in March 1953, when construction was at the final stage, and no statue could have appeared instead of a spire for a long time. In addition, Stalin personally rejected the option of having a sculpture on top (Iofan suggested installing a statue of Lomonosov) in favor of a more traditional spire.

Among the myths of Moscow State University there is a raid "prison romance" in the construction of the high-rise, the labor of a large number of prisoners was used, and in 1952 camp sites were equipped for their residence on the 24th-25th floors of the university. This was convenient: it became easier to protect the prisoners, since they had nowhere to run. There is a legend that one of the prisoners built something like a hang glider from plywood and made an attempt to fly away from the tower; according to one version, he was shot in the air, according to another, he landed safely on the other side of the Moskva River and fled. There is a third version: the allegedly escaped prisoner was caught already on the ground, but Stalin, impressed by the resourcefulness and courage of the escape, personally released him. They say that there could even be two runaway hang gliders: one of them was shot, and the second managed to escape. Whether there is truth in this urban legend is unknown.

And, of course, not without KGB: there is an opinion that the ubiquitous ke-ge-beshniki set up an observation post in the spire of the high-rise building, from which it was even possible to monitor Stalin's dacha.

An interesting fact: it seems as if the spire with a star and the ears of corn on the central tower are gilded, but in fact this is not so: under the influence of weather conditions at a height, the gilding would quickly become unusable, and the builders "cheated" - the spire, star and ears of corn are lined yellow glass plates.

To date, some of the plates have fallen off, and through binoculars on the "golden" ears, the spire and the star, you can see the "bald spots".

Main building of Moscow State University is located at Leninskiye Gory, 1. You can get to it on foot from the metro stations "Sparrow Hills" And "University" Sokolnicheskaya line.

Erection in 1949–1953 the main building of Moscow State University on the Lenin (Sparrow) Hills was one of the largest construction projects of the post-war USSR. Before the appearance of the Triumph Palace, the building was the tallest administrative and residential building in Moscow, and before the construction of the Messeturm in Frankfurt in 1990, it was also the tallest building in Europe. Height - 182 m, with a spire - 240 m, number of storeys of the central building - 36.

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1. Students of the school of working youth against the backdrop of the main building of Moscow State University under construction (1951)
2. In 1948, employees of the department of the Central Committee of the Party, which oversaw science, received a task from the Kremlin: to work out the issue of building a new building for Moscow State University. They prepared a memorandum together with the rector of the university - academician A.N. Nesmeyanov, proposing to build a skyscraper for the "temple of Soviet science". Papers migrated from the Central Committee to the Moscow authorities. Soon Nesmeyanov and a representative of the “scientific” department of the Central Committee were invited to the city committee of the party: “Your idea is unrealistic. Too many elevators for a high-rise building. Therefore, the building should not be higher than 4 floors.
3. A few days later, Stalin held a special meeting on the "university issue", and he announced his decision: to erect a building for Moscow State University with a height of at least 20 floors on top of the Lenin Hills - so that it could be seen from afar.
4. The design of the new university building was prepared by the famous Soviet architect Boris Iofan, who designed the skyscraper of the Palace of Soviets. However, a few days before the approval "at the top" of all the drawings of the architect, this work was removed. The creation of the largest of the Stalinist skyscrapers was entrusted to a group of architects headed by L.V. Rudnev.
5. Iofan's intransigence is considered the reason for such an unexpected replacement. He was going to build the main building right over the cliff of the Lenin Hills. But by the fall of 1948, experts were able to convince Stalin that such an arrangement of a huge structure was fraught with disaster: the area was dangerous from the point of view of landslides, and the new university would simply slide into the river! Stalin agreed with the need to move the main building of Moscow State University away from the edge of the Lenin Hills, but Iofan did not like this option at all, and he was removed. Rudnev moved the building 800 meters deep into the territory, and created an observation deck at the place chosen by Iofan.
6. In the original draft version, it was supposed to crown the skyscraper with a sculpture of impressive size. The character on the sheets of Whatman paper was depicted as an abstract figure - a figure of a man with his head raised to the sky and his arms spread wide to the sides. Apparently, such a pose should symbolize the craving for knowledge. Although the architects, showing the drawings to Stalin, hinted that the sculpture could get a portrait resemblance to the leader. However, Stalin ordered to build a spire instead of the statue, so that the upper part of the Moscow State University building would be similar to the other six skyscrapers being built in the capital.
7. The solemn ceremony of laying the first stone of the high-rise building of Moscow State University took place on April 12, 1949, exactly 12 years before Gagarin's flight.
8. Reports from a shock construction site on the Lenin Hills reported that 3,000 Stakhanovite Komsomol members were building a skyscraper. However, in reality, many more people worked here. Specially "under the university" at the end of 1948, the Ministry of Internal Affairs prepared an order for the parole of several thousand prisoners who had construction specialties from the camps. These convicts were to spend the rest of their term at the construction of Moscow State University.
9. In the GULAG system, there was "Construction-560", which was transformed in 1952 into the Directorate of the ITL of the Special District (the so-called "Stroylag"), whose contingent was engaged in the construction of a university skyscraper. The construction was supervised by General Komarovsky, head of the Main Directorate of Industrial Construction Camps. The number of prisoners in Stroylag reached 14,290 people. Almost all of them were imprisoned under "everyday" articles, they were afraid to bring "political" ones to Moscow. A zone with watchtowers and barbed wire was built a few kilometers from the “object”, near the village of Ramenki, in the area of ​​​​the current Michurinsky Prospekt.
10. When the construction of the high-rise building was nearing completion, it was decided "to bring the places of residence and work of prisoners as close as possible." The new camp site was equipped right on the 24th and 25th floors of the tower under construction. Such a decision made it possible to save money on protection as well: there is no need for either watchtowers or barbed wire - there is still nowhere to go. 11. As it turned out, the guards underestimated their sponsored contingent. A craftsman was found among the prisoners, who in the summer of 1952 built a kind of hang glider from plywood and wire and ... Rumor interprets further events in different ways. According to one version, he managed to fly to the other side of the Moscow River and safely escaped. According to another, the guards shot him in the air. There is a variant with a happy ending to this story: allegedly, the “flyer” was already seized on the ground by the Chekists, but when Stalin became aware of his act, he personally ordered the brave inventor to be released ... It is even possible that there were two winged fugitives. At least, that's what a civilian high-rise builder claimed, who himself saw two people gliding from the tower on makeshift wings. According to him, one of them was shot down, and the second flew away towards Luzhniki. 12. Another unusual story is connected with the unique “high-altitude camp zone”. This incident was even considered then an attempt to assassinate the leader of the peoples. One fine day, vigilant guards, checking the territory of Stalin's "near dacha" in Kuntsevo, suddenly found a rifle bullet on the path. Who was shooting? When? The uproar was serious. They conducted a ballistic examination and found out that the ill-fated bullet had arrived ... from a university under construction. In the course of further investigation, the picture of what happened became clear. At the next change of guard guarding the prisoners, one of the escorts, handing over his post, pulled the trigger of his rifle, in the barrel of which there was a live cartridge. A shot rang out. According to the law of meanness, the weapon turned out to be directed towards a government facility located in the distance, and the bullet nevertheless "reached out" to Stalin's dacha.
13. The main building of Moscow State University immediately broke many records. The height of the 36-storey skyscraper reaches 236 meters. It took 40 thousand tons of steel for the steel frame of the building. And the construction of walls and parapets took almost 175 million bricks. The spire is about 50 meters high, and the star that crowns it weighs 12 tons. On one of the side towers there is a champion clock - the largest in Moscow. The dials are made of stainless steel and have a diameter of 9 meters. The clock hands are also very impressive. The minute hand, for example, is twice as long as the minute hand of the Kremlin chimes and has a length of 4.1 meters and weighs 39 kilograms.
14. View from the building of Moscow State University, 1952
15. Private sector in the vicinity of the construction site.

17. Local residents were subject to resettlement. 18. Before the grand opening of the "Temple of Science" on September 1, 1953, Stalin did not live for several months. Had he lived a little longer, and Moscow State University would have become instead of “the name of M.V. Lomonosov" - "named after I.V. Stalin." Plans for such a renaming took place. The change of Vasilyevich to Vissarionovich was going to be timed to coincide with the commissioning of a new corps on the Lenin Hills. And in the winter of 1953, the letters for the new name of the university were already prepared, which were supposed to be installed above the cornice of the main entrance to the high-rise building. But Stalin died, and the project remained unfulfilled.
19. There are many myths about the main building of Moscow State University. So, there is a version that in front of the meeting room of the Academic Council (the office of the rector) on the 9th floor there are four columns of solid jasper, which supposedly survived the demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which is a myth, since there were no jasper columns in the destroyed temple.
20. Sometimes a rumor is mentioned that materials from the destroyed Reichstag were used in the decoration of the interiors of the building, in particular rare pink marble. In fact, either white or red marble is found in the GZ. However, the fact is known that the building of the Faculty of Chemistry is equipped with captured German fume hoods, which indirectly confirms the use of materials of German origin in construction.
21. Outwardly, it seems that the spire, as well as the star crowning it and the ears of corn, are covered with gold, but this is not so. The spire, star and ears of corn are not covered with gold - under the influence of wind and precipitation, the gilding will quickly become unusable. The spire, star and spikes are lined with yellow glass plates, the inner side of the glass plates is covered with aluminum. Currently, some of the glass parts have collapsed and crumbled, if you look through binoculars, you can see that holes are gaping in various places.

The main building of Moscow State University is one of the seven Stalin skyscrapers. But the idea to transfer the Soviet skyscraper to the students did not come up immediately: initially, they wanted to place a hotel and apartments in a high-rise building on the Lenin Hills. In 1948, Joseph Stalin signed a decree on the construction of a new building for Moscow University. The author of the project was initially the architect Boris Iofan, thanks to whom the House on the Embankment and the Baumanskaya metro station appeared in Moscow. He designed the building in the form of a giant pedestal: according to the architect's idea, a monument to Mikhail Lomonosov was to be located at the top.

A few months later, Stalin removed Iofan from work on the university building. The newly created design team was headed by the architect Lev Rudnev. The project was finalized, deciding to complete the building with a spire with a five-pointed star. The architects tried to emphasize the Soviet character of the building: a spire, a star and ears of corn, sculptures of workers with hammers and collective farmers with sickles. However, the new dominant of the Lenin Mountains still came out looking like a skyscraper Manhattan Municipal Building in New York.

All Moscow skyscrapers were laid on the day of the 800th anniversary of Moscow - September 7, 1947. During construction, students could see what conditions they would live in: the first Soviet showrooms worked at the construction site. The stages of construction were reported in an original way: on holidays, a star was lit at the highest point of the erected building. First on the sixth floor, then on the 12th, 20th and 26th. On September 1, 1953, students came to study in the new building. The Village visited Moscow State University at the beginning of the next academic year and found out how people work and live here.

Location: Leninsky mountains, 1

Years of construction: 1949–1953

Architects: Boris Iofan, Lev Rudnev band

Ekaterina Lapteva

Researcher at the Museum of Geography, Moscow State University

About myself

It can be said that I was practically born at the university - my parents worked at the scientific station of Moscow State University for the study of avalanches in the Khibiny. For five years we lived on the Kola Peninsula, and then we left for Moscow. Here they received a cooperative apartment in one of the two university buildings in Konkovo, where I still live. She herself studied at Moscow State University, graduated from the Faculty of Geography with a degree in Cartography. Previously, the university could be reached in half an hour, now the journey takes longer - you have to change three buses and the metro. But this is such a familiar path that I can walk it with my eyes closed.

I have been working in the Earth Science Museum since 1991. I came here as a cartographer: I made museum maps, designed large stands, and I was also good at leading excursions. So for almost 20 years every day I have been telling something to schoolchildren and students.

About work

According to the government decree of 1948, which was signed by Stalin, the creation of a museum was envisaged in the Main building. For two years, almost 700 scientists, academicians, professors have created and designed this amazing place. Only three faculties study in the Main Building: Geology, Mechanics and Mathematics, and Geography, while the museum occupies the top seven floors. Most of the time I work on the 24th, 25th or 32nd floor - sometimes we almost touch the clouds, it's that high.

I always come to work with joy, I feel very comfortable here. Students come to us almost every day to study: they study the collection of soil monoliths, geological samples, herbariums, maps. Here even the furniture is adapted for group classes. Schoolchildren also come to us. The topics of excursions are very different: the nature of the continents, oceans, plants, soils. The museum is made on the principle of hyperlinks: one theme seems to pass into another, opening up and deepening. But without an organized group, you can get to us only during the science festival Nauka + 0.

My work is the design of expositions, the preparation of exhibitions and the conduct of excursions. But no day is like another - materials, faculties and guests are so different. On my lunch break, I prefer to go to the student canteen in sector B or to the dietary one. But sometimes there is simply no time to get out, so we drink tea with colleagues. Sometimes I buy home the famous university pies. There are other shops here, if necessary, I use a pharmacy and a household.

About the place

I have to walk around the building a lot, I know where the most beautiful and most comfortable places are. I love the audiences of the Faculty of Geography, the halls of the library. In the reading room on the sixth floor, for example, lamps with green shades, like in Leninka, are still working. In the assembly hall on the second floor, I like the mosaic in the Roman style of the artist Pavel Korin, who participated in the design of the most beautiful metro stations. At the entrance to the building from the side of the Palace of Culture there are sculptures of young men and women. One young man holds a book in his hands, and only this summer I read what is written on the cover. I thought that he was holding a physics textbook, but it turned out that “Lenin” was written there. By the way, there are a lot of symbols of Soviet power here. These are tiny stars on door handles where almost no one sees them. The bas-reliefs depict workers and students. There are also a lot of symmetries and symbols of natural sciences. These are physical and chemical devices, crystals of minerals, globes. Steel coats of arms adorn the building on four sides, behind one of which is the nest of our famous falcon.

Everything large that is in this building was brought in during construction. On the 20th floor in the museum there is a stuffed elk, I think it was brought here through the windows. Although there are freight elevators. By the way, there are about 60 elevators in the building, and when they were replaced with new ones in the early 2000s, for almost two years we had to climb part of the floors on foot. And nothing, no one complained. We still did tours, although it takes almost an hour to get to the top.

Peregrine falcons were brought here more than ten years ago, but in the end one pair remained, which brought out three chicks this year. The family really likes it here, despite the laser shows and street racers. Sometimes a falcon flies past us. In general, a lot of birds fly through the Main Building of Moscow State University - here is the green zone of Moscow, they sometimes sit down to rest on our balcony.

Everything large that is in this building was brought in during construction. On the 20th floor in the museum there is a stuffed elk, I think it was brought here through the windows

Sergey Slobodov

Deputy Director of the Museum of Geosciences

About myself

In 1995 I entered the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University. In 2000, he became a certified zoologist, then defended his PhD thesis. My interests in zoology are jellyfish and polyps. I was engaged in them as a student and a graduate student. I came to the museum as a research assistant, but for seven years now I have been engaged in purely administrative affairs - the whole current life of the museum is closed on the deputy.

I work on the 26th floor. I use the canteen every day. There are at least five of them in the Main Building. There are professorial and student, regular and dietary ones. My friends from the Faculty of Biology and I try to have lunch together regularly - we get together and communicate.

The Main Building has almost everything: laundries, canteens, and shops. It is quite possible to live here without going out for more than one week. I sometimes use clothes repair. Not as much as I would like, I visit the pool - you can come at seven in the morning and swim before work.

About the place

Above our museum is only a spire. The museum is located at a high altitude, and several features are associated with this. The first difficulty is just getting here. Moscow University even has a special vertical transport service that manages the entire elevator business. When people come to the Main Building, they immediately face the question of how to get to one or another floor. It is necessary not to get lost, since all the elevators are distributed along the routes. There are only two elevators leading to us.

The next feature is complex engineering communications. And they are also handled by a separate service. I can say that almost everything here is authentic. Of course, the fire alarm, for example, is modern, but the old red dispatcher call buttons are still preserved. In general, engineering communications are made quite interesting. It is a pity that the centralized dust removal system does not work, although there are still ports in the walls for connecting to vacuum hoses. The general temperature maintenance system in the building does not work either. Although I do not know exactly how it was arranged, special devices can still be seen in some offices.

Engineering communications occupy large spaces. Both above us and below us there are whole technical floors. Of the other inaccessible premises - the basement under the building. The most stupid rumor is that freezers are laid in the foundation to freeze the soil. In fact, the premises there were equipped in case of emergencies. In the 1950s, a whole life support system was set up, though I don't know if it can work now.

The interiors are also authentic. We try to protect them. For example, under my feet is the parquet of 1953. All this is pleasing to the eye: no matter what mood you come to work in, it always calms and balances.

All this is pleasing to the eye: no matter what mood you come to work in, it always calms and balances

Marina Kuznetsova

Deputy Director for Production of the MSU Food Plant

About work

I got here a very long time ago. At first she was a technologist and deputy head of the sixth canteen, then she became the head of the eighth canteen, then she became responsible for the entire food plant. It is arranged very interestingly: these are 13 canteens and 12 buffets, which are located in different educational buildings. There are separate canteens for the teaching staff.

In general, we have the same range of dishes. Only the dietary canteen is a little different - there is always boiled meat, poultry, broths and soups in the diet. But in general, we are creative people and do not work strictly according to the collection of recipes. Each production manager contributes. We often have days of national cuisines.

I live far from Moscow State University and get to work by car. My work day is irregular. If there is some kind of event, then we can start at six in the morning. By the way, we also cook mead on Student's Day. It's a whole story. We take as a basis a recipe with different herbs, which Victor Antonovich Sadovnichy brought to us from Germany at one time. We start preparing it for two or three months.

The plant has a website where we tell students about the news - that they have come up with a new cake or other dishes. The initiative group of Moscow State University regularly meets with our director. Therefore, all issues, including dissatisfaction, are resolved in working order.

About the place

University is a whole life. I spend here every day from morning until late at night. I have not worked in other food factories, but I know that once you get into the university, it is very difficult to leave here. And I'm not the only one saying this. My favorite place here is the eighth dining room near the sports ground. Also the Botanical Garden. At the time of flowering lilacs or peonies, you just can’t take your eyes off.

I have not worked in other food factories, but I know that once you get into the university, it is very difficult to leave here

How is life here

Konstantin Romanenko

PhD student, Faculty of Soil Science, Moscow State University

About myself

The first time I got to Moscow State University was in the eighth grade on an open day. I don't remember the details very well, but I do remember being impressed: the marble, the oak paneling, the large rooms. Even then, I outlined my goal to my parents. I wanted to enter the chemistry department, but I did not go there. As a result, he entered soil science.

For the first two years I studied at the Main Building once or twice a week. And then I was here only for some administrative needs, not so often. After graduating from the specialty, I decided to go to graduate school, but I entered only the third time. All this time I have worked and still work at least two jobs: now I am also an engineer in the interdepartmental laboratory of electron microscopy at the Faculty of Biology.

About the place

Graduate students are usually accommodated in the hostel of the Main building of Moscow State University. In general, the Main Building is 80% residential and only 20% educational and scientific. And therefore, when all sorts of bastards who love street racing start ringing tires at two in the morning, it infuriates everyone terribly. Of course, we call the police, but that doesn't help.

There are two people living in the graduate student's room. These are such "coffins" 3.3 meters in height and an area of ​​eight square meters. There is a table, two chairs, a bed, a secretary, a built-in wardrobe. The two-room block has a shower room and a toilet.

The worst thing is the size of the room. There are cockroaches, but not so many. There is fungus in the bathroom on the ceilings. There is also a specific smell of the Main Building. It is a mixture of the smell of burnt wiring and rotten plywood. We no longer feel it, although everyone else does. I try to keep all the clothes in the closet - so it is not very soaked, but a slight fleur still remains.

Periodically, the rooms are checked by the head of the section. Looks to see if there are crumbs on the floor, if the dishes are washed, if the garbage is thrown out. If there are systematic comments, then a note is written to the faculty. They scold you there.

All this compensates for the cost: accommodation costs 3 thousand rubles a year. But there is a condition: graduate students must attend classes. At the same time, they have time to work: the scholarship is 7 thousand rubles, and many are employed as engineers or laboratory assistants at Moscow State University or other institutions, and are engaged in tutoring.

It is indeed possible to live in the Main Building without going outside if outside sources of funding are found. There is a dining room, laundry, sweets stalls, a swimming pool, a hairdresser. If Auchan were also opened on the territory, it would be very convenient. Although bread, milk, fruits can be bought in local stores.

My favorite place in Moscow State University is the Orangery building. I work in it and it takes me 15 minutes to get from home to work. Exit, go down, go through the courtyard and a little along the street.

How many pigeons live on the roof of Moscow State University, where the university can accommodate the population of the city of Ittoqqortoormiut and a dozen more facts about the country's highest university in numbers.

240 meters- the highest point of Moscow State University. The Bahrain World Trade Center and the Main Tower skyscraper in Frankfurt am Main have the same mark.

4 floors- this was supposed to be the maximum height of Moscow State University in the opinion of the City Committee of the CPSU, which considered the idea of ​​​​building a skyscraper unrealistic.

33rd floor- the last one, which MSU students can get to, although there are 35 floors in the building. Only employees and students of the Department of Optics and Spectroscopy have the right to access the last floor.

0 pigeons lives on the roof of the main building.

1 peregrine falcon lives on the roof of the main building and feeds on pigeons, which can ruin the facade.

3 - such is the number of storeys of the "emgeushnoy" star.

12 tons weighs a star on a spire, which is equivalent to the weight of a tank, a tractor, or the largest elephant weighed by a man.

Photo: Nickolas Titkov

9 meters is the diameter of the clock installed on the main building of Moscow State University. Once they were the largest in the world, but now they “lag” at the end of the ten and share a place with the clock of the railway station in the Swiss town of Aarau.

800 meters- Moscow State University was “transferred” at such a distance from the cliff of the Lenin Hills at the stage of project development. The chief architect Boris Iofan saw the university building right on the steep Lenin Hills, for which he paid the price - he lost his post for excessively risky plans.

3,000 Komsomol-Stakhanovites erected a building, according to official information.

14,290 prisoners erected a building, according to unofficial information. The number of "convicts" involved in the construction exceeds the population of the Republic of Nauru and the state of Tuvalu.

1 person from among the prisoners, according to legend, he was able to escape from the construction site, having made a hang glider from a piece of plywood and wire and gliding from the skyscraper under construction to the other side of the Moscow River.

1 attempt Stalin was attacked by an absurd coincidence right from the Moscow State University building under construction: when changing the guard, the guard guarding the prisoners accidentally fired from his rifle, and the bullet miraculously flew to the territory of the leader’s dacha.

175,000,000 bricks was used to build the building.

Photo: Sergey Norin

640 people accommodates the Palace of Culture of Moscow State University. It could completely accommodate the population of the village of Anoshkino near Voronezh, or all the inhabitants of the Greenlandic city of Illokkortoormiut.

By September 1, 1953, on the day of the grand opening of the new building of Moscow State University, on the main sign instead of the name of M.V. Lomonosov was to appear the name of I.V. Stalin. This was prevented by the death of the leader in March of the same year, after which it was decided to leave everything as before.

9th place occupies Moscow State University in the list of the tallest buildings in Moscow, being the oldest of them. Prior to the appearance of Triumph Palace in 2005, the main building led the "high-altitude" rating, but over the next 10 years, it lost its positions.

37 years the main building of the university was listed as the tallest building in Europe, until in the 90s it was "surpassed" by the Frankfurt giants - Messeturm and Commerzbank Tower.

about 0.5 meters the thickness of the steel doors in the basement of the main building, which used to belong to the headquarters of the Civil Defense.

10 floors buildings should survive in the event of a direct nuclear strike, according to the mathematical modeling carried out.

11 km railroad tracks were laid to the construction site of a new building for the rapid delivery of goods.

4 columns made of solid jasper, which adorned the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior, were installed on the 9th floor of the university by order of Beria.

Photo: english

Alexander Yarovoy

The main building of Moscow State University (Moscow State University) named after M.V. Lomonosov on Sparrow Hills is a town in a big city, with its shops, museums, student hostels, canteens, a clinic, a hairdresser and a huge library. It is in this building that the largest educational institution in Russia is located.

Since the middle of the 20th century, the main building of Moscow State University has been included in the list of Stalinist skyscrapers. The height of the building of Moscow State University. Lomonosov with a spire is about 240 meters and includes 34 floors in the central building. It truly has colossal dimensions that impress with their majestic forms. Construction of the building began in 1949 and lasted 4 years. During the work, the project has changed many architects. The first of them was B.M. Iofan, who was almost immediately removed from his post due to disagreements with party workers. Further, such masters of architecture as Chernyshev, Rudnev, Khryakov, Nanosov were engaged in the planning of the structure. Sculptural decoration of the facades of the building of Moscow State University. Lomonosov was led by V.I. Mukhina.

Statue of Lomonosov.

Initially, instead of a spire, they planned to install a statue of Lomonosov following the example of the building of the Palace of Soviets, and the figure of the scientist was supposed to have a height of about 40 meters. Such a project was rejected, as it would give the structure the appearance of a huge pedestal for a small figure, in which hardly anyone from below would recognize an outstanding personality. As a result, the top of the building was crowned with a 58-meter-high spire with golden ears of corn and a star. Subsequently, the statue of Lomonosov was placed opposite the main entrance to Moscow State University building.

Spire on the building of Moscow State University. Lomonosov.

When you look at the spire, it seems that it is made of real gold, but it is not. Gold is a “soft” metal; under the influence of wind and precipitation, it would quickly become unusable, and the cost of such a building decoration would be quite high. In fact, the spire, spikes and star are made of yellow glass in the form of small plates.

From the third to the eighth floor of the building is occupied by the Faculty of Geology. The Faculty of Mathematics is located from the 12th to the 16th floors, and the Faculty of Geography is located from the 17th to the 22nd. Rectors are located on the 9th and 10th floors. Further, 24 and 31 are reserved for the Museum of Geosciences, from here there is an elevator to the upper floors. The 30th, 31st and 34th floors have a technical purpose, the 32nd is a round meeting room, and the 33rd is a domed gallery. It is on the 34th floor that the entrance to the spire is located. No one knows what is inside the spire, but some historians believe that in Stalin's time there were rooms in the spire that belonged to the KGB and were used for outdoor surveillance, and that Stalin's dacha seemed to be clearly visible from there.

How was the construction of the main building of Moscow State University. Lomonosov.

Build the main building of the Moscow State University. Lomonosov Komsomol members were supposed to, but few people know that the work was carried out by prisoners who had construction specialties, and there were more than 14 thousand of them. As a rule, these were people convicted under everyday articles: they were afraid to bring political prisoners. In the village of Ramenki, land was allocated, where barracks were hastily built and guard towers were placed around the perimeter of the camp. Prisoners were taken to the construction site under escort by trucks, and in the end they were settled on the 24th and 25th floors in order to save on transportation costs. In parallel with the construction of the building, work was carried out to improve the area around the main building of Moscow State University. Lomonosov. Parks and agrobotanical gardens were laid out. 20 experimental ponds were dug, in which the fish farm subsequently raised fish. Two sports halls and 11 sanitary facilities were also built. Solemn rally on the opening of the main building of Moscow State University (MGU) named after M.V. Lomonosov took place on September 1, 1953, and the temple of science opened its doors to students.