 | State Universal Store: Encyclopedia II - State Universal Store - Moscow GUM
State Universal Store - Moscow GUM
Taking up nearly the entirety of the eastern side of Red Square, the Upper Trading Rows were built between 1890 and 1893 by Alexander Pomerantsev. The building features an interesting combination of elements of Russian medieval architecture and a steel framework and glass roof, a similar style to the great Victorian train stations of London. It was built to replace the previous trading rows that burnt down in 1825. Nearby, also facing Red Square, is a similar building, formerly known as the Middle Trading Rows. By the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the building contained some 1,200 stores.
After the Revolution the GUM was nationalised and continued to work as a department store until Josef Stalin turned it into office space in 1928 for the committee in charge of his first Five Year Plan. After the suicide of Stalin's wife Nadezhda in 1932, the GUM was used to display her body.
After reopening as a department store in 1953, the GUM became one of the few stores in the Soviet Union that was not plagued by shortages of consumer goods, and the queues to purchase anything were long, often extending all across Red Square.
At the end of the Soviet era, GUM was partially -- and then fully -- privatized, and passed through a number of owners. It ended up in the hands of the supermarket chain Perekryostok. In May 2005, a 50.25% interest was sold to Bosco di Ciliegi, a Russian luxury-goods distributor and boutique operator.
It is still open today, and is a popular tourist destination for those visiting Moscow. Many of the stores feature high-fashion brand names familiar in the west; locals refer to these as the "exhibitions of prices", the joke being that no one could afford to actually buy any of the items on display. As of 2005, there were approximately 150 stores.
There is a similar historic department store rivalling GUM by its size, elegance and opulent architecture. It is called Central Universal Store (Tsentralnyi Universalnyi Magazin, abbreviated as TsUM) and sprawls just east of the Bolshoi Theatre.
Other related archives1825, 1890, 1893, 1928, 1932, 1953, 2005, Belarus, Bolshoi Theatre, Buildings and structures in Moscow, Five Year Plan, Josef Stalin, Kitai-gorod, London, Moscow, Nadezhda, Red Square, Russian Federation, Russian Revolution of 1917, Shopping malls in Russia, Soviet, Soviet Union, Victorian, brand names, committee, consumer, department store, glass, medieval, nationalised, office, queues, steel, stores, suicide, tourist, train stations
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Moscow GUM", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
