The Four Seasons Hotel Moscow is a modern

luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

in Manezhnaya Square in the

Tverskoy District Tverskoy District ( rus, Тверско́й райо́н, p=tvʲɪrˈskoj, a=Ru-Тверской.ogg) is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: The district extends from Kitai-gorod north ...

, central

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It opened on October 30, 2014, with a facade that replicates the historic Hotel Moskva (russian: Гости́ница «Москва́»), which previously stood on the same location. It is located near

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

, and in close proximity to the old

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. It was operated by

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is an international luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.Da ...

from its opening until 2022, when the chain ceased managing the hotel due to economic sanctions resulting from the

Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. The hotel continues to use the name, though it is no longer part of the international chain.

History

The Hotel Moskva was constructed from 1932 until 1938, opening as a hotel in December 1935. Designed by

Alexey Shchusev Alexey Victorovich Shchusev (academic spelling), german: Schtschussew, french: Chtchoussev, pl, Szchusiew. (russian: Алексе́й Ви́кторович Щу́сев; – 24 May 1949) was a Russian and Soviet architect who was successf ...

, it was built to be one of Moscow's finest hotels and was lavishly detailed with works of art and mosaics by some of the finest artists of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The original hotel was notable for its use of two different designs for the wings off the central structure. The most popular (possibly

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

) explanation is that Shchusev submitted to

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

a single drawing of the façade, with one half showing one design and the other half a different design for the wings of the building. However, Stalin put his signature exactly in the middle of the drawing, likely not observing the two choices. Afraid of informing Stalin that he had failed to select a design, the decision was made to simply construct one wing of each on either side of the building. One included large windows and a more ornate façade, while the other maintained smaller windows and the simpler details of the rest of the hotel's façade. The lobby of the original hotel contained an entrance to the

Moscow Metro The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first unde ...

Okhotny Ryad station. The label of

Stolichnaya vodka Stolichnaya (russian: Столичная) is a vodka made of wheat and rye grain. It is a well-known Soviet brand. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union the ownership of Stolichnaya has been disputed between the Russian state-owned compan ...

features a line drawing of the old hotel. The hotel was expanded to fill the block with a 6-story wing facing Revolution Square, in 1977, for the 60th Anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

Anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

weapons were installed atop the hotel during the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...

. The original Hotel Moskva was demolished in 2004 and replaced with a modern reproduction, with underground parking and other features which were not available in the 1930s. The northeastern portion of the complex, facing Revolution Square, was built on the site of the demolished 1977 wing. Housing offices and the shopping center, Fashion Season, it opened in 2012. The hotel, on the site of the 1935 building, replicates the iconic facade, following Shchusev's exterior plans as accurately as possible. It opened on October 25, 2014 as the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow. As of 2016 Russian businessman

Alexey Khotin Alexey Yurievich Khotin (russian: Алексей Юрьевич Хотин, be, Аляксей Хоцін) is a Russian businessman of Belarusian origin, considered one of the richest men in Russia: Forbes magazine lists him to be the 95th in it ...

owned the hotel.

Four Seasons Hotels Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is an international luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.D ...

ceased managing the hotel in 2022, due to economic sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the hotel continues to use their name, although it is no longer associated with the chain.

Gallery

Image:Александровский сад, вид на гостиницу "Москва".jpg, Four Seasons Hotel Moscow Image:Manegetorget.jpg, Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, with Manezhnaya Square in foreground Image:MP9 Manege Place Moscow Russia.jpg, Four Seasons Hotel Moscow under construction facing Manezhnaya Square, 2008 Image:Moscow hotel renovation 2007.jpg, Construction of the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, 2007 Image:Okhotny Ryad Street from East.jpg, Okhotny Ryad Street, with Fashion Season mall on the left and the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow in the distance. Image:Manege4.jpg, Hotel Moskva just before demolition, with a huge neon sign on top advertising Baltika Beer Image:Old Hotel Moskva demolished.jpg, After demolition Image:RIAN archive 887721 Defense of Moscow.jpg, Anti-aircraft gunners on the roof of the Hotel Moskva during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

during the

. Image:Stamp of USSR 1074.jpg, Soviet stamp showing the Hotel Moskva File:Four Seasons hotel Moscow.jpg, Facade of the Four Seasons hotel in the winter

References

External links

Official website
{{Four Seasons Hotels Hotels in Moscow Defunct hotels in Russia Hotels built in the Soviet Union Demolished buildings and structures in Moscow Hotels established in 1935 Hotels established in 2014 Hotel buildings completed in 2014 1935 establishments in the Soviet Union Tverskoy District Stalinist architecture

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links