History of GUM
The Upper Trading Rows were opened on December 2, 1893. It was an exceptional project for Moscow and for Russia - at that time it was the largest passage in Europe.
Passages - covered shopping streets- they came up with the idea to build at the beginning of the 19th century in Paris after the Napoleonic wars, under the impression of the covered bazaars of the Arab East (the oldest of them, Passage du Caire, was built in 1799). But these were just covered shopping streets; they began to gather in department stores only in the second half of the century. The closest analogue of GUM is the Victor Emmanuel Gallery in Milan (1877), but our Moscow passage is one and a half times larger, and in the Milan passage they do not sell on the upper floors - there are no famous Gum bridges.
The Upper Trading Rows were deliberately made as a symbol of New Moscow. They were built on the traditional place of the Moscow marketplace, there were endless shops, "half-shops", "quarter-shops", and although the rows faced the Red Square with the proud classicist facade of Osip Bove, inside it vividly resembled the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul or Damascus.
After the reforms of Alexander II, Moscow was the place of the proud Russian merchants, who bizarrely combined at that moment devout conservatism in the spirit of “autocracy, Orthodoxy, nationality” with openness to technical progress and new ideas of capitalism. New Rows was supposed to become the most fashionable and technically advanced European department store, but in the "Russian style".
In February 1889, a competition was held for the design of the Rows, which was won by Alexander Pomerantsev, Roman Klein, who took second place, then built the Middle Trading Rows. Now it seems fantastic, but 4 years later - after the demolition of the old rows, after archaeological excavations, the finds from which were transferred to Historical Museum— Rows were open. Fully finished, with the glass skies of Vladimir Shukhov, with its own power plant, artesian well, with wholesale trade in the basement, with telegraph offices, banks, restaurants, hairdressers, exhibition halls, ateliers - the only thing that does not have its own doors.
According to the original design of Alexander Pomerantsev, the Upper Trading Rows consisted of 16 large separate buildings with glazed streets between them. It was a whole city, an ideal city of Russian commercial capitalism: silk and brocade fabrics of the Sapozhnikov brothers (6 Grand Prix at World exhibitions), watches by Mikhail Kalashnikov (Leo Tolstoy and Pyotr Tchaikovsky bought Patek Philippe from him), the Abrikosov confectionery (suppliers of the imperial court with the right to print the state coat of arms on their boxes), Brocard perfumery (also a supplier of the imperial court. And also the official supplier of the Spanish royal court ) and so on. However, goods were much cheaper on the upper floors of the lines, and a huge two-story basement was used for wholesale trade (it was lit through glass lanterns in the floor).
In 1917, trade was closed, goods were requisitioned, the People's Commissariat of Food of Alexander Dmitrievich Tsyurupa settled here, who carried out the policy of "food dictatorship" from here. In Ryady there was a warehouse requisitioned by food detachments and a canteen for Soviet employees.
In 1922, Vladimir Lenin decided that the policy of "war communism" would not allow the communists to stay in power, and announced the NEP - the "New Economic Policy". But first he decided to try it in the Upper Trading Rows and on December 1, 1921 he signed the "Regulations on the State Department Store (GUM)". We do not feel a special taste in this word, it has become familiar to us, and yet it is one of the few words that survived in the Russian language of the 20s, something like the Red Army, Rabkrin, Consumer Cooperatives. All of them died as useless - except GUM. GUM advertising, posters by Vladimir Mayakovsky and Alexander Rodchenko, covered all of Moscow - GUM became a symbol of the NEP.
Stalin closed GUM in 1930, ministries and departments moved in here, the first line was completely closed to entry, Beria's office was located here. Some kind of trade continued, Torgsin functioned at the fountain and commission shop on the sale of the property of enemies of the people, went to Nikolskaya grocery store, but in general GUM ceased to exist.
Stalin twice - in 1935 and in 1947 - was going to demolish the GUM, government decrees were issued twice, but his hands did not reach. He died March 5, 1953. Above his coffin, his successor Georgy Malenkov proclaimed that Comrade Stalin bequeathed us to keep peace between peoples, put forward the idea of a long-term coexistence of the two systems and a reduction in international tension. The military budget was halved, intensive development began Agriculture and light industry - everything that later became known as Nikita Khrushchev's New Deal. But first they decided to try at GUM - it was reconstructed and opened to the public on December 24, 1953. On December 23, Lavrenty Beria was shot, the newspapers reported this on the same day. GUM has become a symbol of the thaw.
GUM has a unique destiny - it opened when Russia turned towards people, normal city life, even happiness. Fashion in GUM, a showroom, records in GUM, ice cream in GUM - all this has become Moscow's symbols. And it all disappeared when we turned in the other direction.
GUM today
Today, GUM lives the way it was once conceived - an ideal trading city Moscow, as if having lived 120 years of his life without losses and disasters. Since 2007, the fountain in the center of GUM has again delighted visitors - a legendary building, captured both in official chronicles of the 20th century and in millions of private photographs (today the sound of a camera shutter sounds here about once every three seconds).
The legendary cinema hall, which went down in the history of Russian cinema, has been restored. A unique illumination project has been implemented on the outer facade. Since 2006, the GUM Skating Rink has been opened on Red Square, which immediately gained fame as the brightest ice rink in the capital. We revived the traditions of winter festivities on Red Square, which Moscow was famous for in the 19th century, but we also took the bright and happy that was in the 20th.
Gastronome No. 1, which was once created by Anastas Mikoyan as a practical supplement to his "Book of Tasty and Healthy Food", is working again in GUM. The design, the clothes of the sellers, and even the presence in the assortment of some classic goods of the Soviet era (for example, Three Elephants tea) Gastronome No. 1 takes us back to the 1950s and 60s, although this, of course, is a game. In essence, this is a store that can satisfy the gastronomic whims of today's most demanding consumer.
Cafe "Festivalnoe" and Canteen No. 57 are made in the same Soviet style. The cafe is named after the Festival of Youth and Students, which took place in Moscow in 1957 and gathered 34,000 people from 131 countries of the world. This event is reminded by drawings, slogans in several languages, placed on the walls.
Dining room No. 57 is a classic self-service line, the idea of which Mikoyan spied on in America in 1936, and was able to implement only in the thaw era. True, the food is different: now there is good Russian and European cuisine, and not a "hamburger", as Mikoyan called it, that is, not a "Mikoyan cutlet", as the Soviet people called it.
GUM is not just a store where you can buy almost everything. This is a whole shopping district, in which there is a pharmacy, a bank branch, and a flower shop ... This is an architectural monument. This is a comfortable recreation area with restaurants and cafes. It is an art gallery and venue for cultural events. It's an integral part Russian history. It is a symbol of Moscow and it is the closest place to the Kremlin where you can feel like you are in Europe.
Text: Grigory Revzin
23 architectural projects competed in the competition. Of course, there was only one winner. It was Alexander Pomerantsev, professor of architecture at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. It was he who was entrusted with the construction of the main building of that era. After the grand opening of the Main Department Store of the country, the building gained popularity and. About how it all began, how it continued and how things are at GUM now - read in our material.
At the origins
Red Square acquired its sacred gloss only in the Soviet years, when mass graves, the Mausoleum and classic blue spruces appeared here. The original purpose of the country's main square is commercial. In the Middle Ages it was called Torg. Here, every year, a palm bazaar unfolded, which received visitors a week before Easter. People bought culinary and handicraft products. Over time, the bazaars turned into trading rows and shops - merchants preferred to engage in trade despite the changeable weather in the capital. Historically, three quarters were formed on Red Square: the Upper Rows (), the Middle Rows near St. Basil's Cathedral and the Lower Rows, which no longer exist.
Today, raising his head, is still breathtaking from the majesty of the design. The width of each of the three spans is 12-15 meters. The arched glass structures weigh 819 tons each and contain 20,000 sheets of glass.
The current GUM at the end of the 19th century was one of the most technically equipped shopping arcades in Europe. Customers moved along the bridges and enjoyed the benefits of electricity.
How everything was arranged
Only the best sold their goods here: the Abrikosovs, Morozovs, Brocard, Einem, Tsindel, Prokhorovs. There were about 1000-1200 shops at the disposal of visitors. The store of Zhirardovsky manufactories enjoyed particular success, where the rich did not spare money for dowry sets of 15 thousand rubles apiece.
On the first and second levels there were commercial areas, and on the third floor there were offices. It was necessary to arrange a special underground street, which housed its own power plant. It was here that the first Moscow price tags appeared. Until the early 1890s, merchants preferred not to set fixed prices for goods.
After the October Revolution, old Russia hastily packed its bags and took expensive names into exile: the Martyanych restaurant opened in Paris in the Montmartre region, and another clone of the establishment appeared in the 1920s in Chinese Harbin.
In the first revolutionary years, the People's Commissariat of Food was located in the malls themselves, which carried out a massive seizure of products from the peasants. The "golden age" of the future GUM returned only in the era of NEP.
Life after the People's Commissariat
In the luxurious premises of the Upper Trading Rows, they no longer traded: employees of the People's Commissariat of Food pumped grain out of the village and saved large proletarian centers from starvation. Gradually, the Bolsheviks realized that war communism would only dump the ruined economy of the country into the abyss. In March 1921, they embarked on a new economic policy, and Moscow began to revive.
The renovated GUM was one of the first to open its doors. First of all, the new store took up rebranding. Mayakovsky and Rodchenko were involved in this case. The former style, which gravitated towards modernity, was replaced by huge posters with loud slogans.
Next ups and downs
By the end of the twenties, the NEP policy, which gave new strength to the Soviet economy, was finally curtailed. Stalin set a course for collectivization, industrialization and building socialism in a single country. The new society, where typical uniformity reigned, did not need the GUM with its bewitching shop windows and avant-garde experiments. In the 1930s, state institutions moved into GUM - first the departments of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee that moved from the Kremlin, then the NKVD.
In the mid-thirties, the monument of the neo-Russian style was generally planned to be wiped off the face of the earth, turning it into the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry. No matter how paradoxical this phrase may sound, many of the old buildings of the capital were saved by the war. The Bolsheviks simply did not have enough resources and time to cut through wide avenues with stately houses along the entire perimeter of the Garden Ring. Pomerantsev's creation remained in its place. On May 9, 1945, Yuri Levitan transmitted a message from GUM about the unconditional surrender of Germany.
It is interesting that from the 1920s until 1953 there were living quarters on the third floor of GUM. As part of the housing issue, 460 square meters were allocated here for a hostel for 22 families. The modest rooms had no running water and no separate kitchens. We had to cook on kerosene stoves, and carry water from public toilets.
new bloom
Moscow finally blossomed only after Stalin's death. Anastas Mikoyan got excited about the idea to once again turn GUM into an exemplary store on the model of European and American ones. In December 1953, the updated GUM appeared before the townspeople the day after the execution of Lavrenty Beria. “This is Moscow's response to Macy's, Gimbels, Sears, Roebuck and Company, Woolworth and A&P put together. The department store was declared by the Soviet press to be the largest and best in the USSR,” wrote Time magazine, presenting a prettier Moscow to American readers. Then GUM housed 11 departments, from ready-made dresses to stationery. True, the entrance to the store from the side of Red Square was still closed.
Soviet citizens got acquainted with fashionable novelties in a special showroom for 350 people, the entrance to which cost 50 kopecks of the 1961 model.
In 1959, graceful French women walked along the corridors of GUM, who came to Moscow for the first show of the Dior house. In the era of stagnation, GUM had own workshop for the production of legendary ice cream in waffle cups, white and chocolate. A popular grocery store worked on the ground floor.
GUM today
In 1990, the store was corporatized, and in 1992 it was privatized. Despite the fact that GUM ceased to be state-owned, it retained its name. Today, on the site of a sample of post-Soviet trade, a modern shopping and entertainment complex has been formed, which has preserved its original appearance and rich history. Now the legendary cinema hall, which has gone down in the history of Russian cinema, is operating. As night falls, the architectural elements are accentuated by the radiance of a thousand electric light bulbs. GUM today is not just a mall, but a whole art space. Since 2006, a tradition has been established to open the GUM skating rink every year. This year the ice arena will open its doors on November 29.
An echo of one of the milestones in the history of GUM is Gastronome No. 1. The theme store attracts both residents of the capital and sophisticated tourists. The deli takes us back to the 1950s and 60s. In the same era, GUM visitors are returned to the Festivalnoye cafe and the catering of the Khrushchev thaw era, Canteen No. 57. Since 2007, the fountain in the center of GUM has once again delighted visitors.
Now GUM is leased by Bosco di Ciliegi until 2059. retail company specializes in the sale of luxury goods. Bosco di Ciliegi owns more than 100 mono-brand stores both in Moscow, including GUM, and in other large Russian cities.
According to the materials of the Moscow historian Pavel Gnilorybov
Archival documents confirm that already in the 17th century, almost all retail and wholesale Moscow. Crowded with people and wagons, the old Upper Trading Rows had a decent view only from the side of the square. And only from a distance. From to stretched a two-story building, reminiscent of the current architecture: two central turrets, eight columns, large rectangular windows on the first floor, semicircular windows on the second. This structure blocked the view of the swarm of small, unkempt wooden shops.
These benches burned several times a year. Especially often the fires were in winter because of the stoves, which were heated by clerks and merchants. But, ironically, the largest Moscow fire in 1812 bypassed the malls.
In 1815, according to the project of Osip Bove, a new building of the Upper Trading Rows was built. This building was divided among private owners, and they could not be persuaded even for a major overhaul. Not only was there no electricity and because of the threat of fire it was impossible to use candles, but also the building was collapsing before our eyes. Once a layer of plaster fell on the buyers, and another time the lady, trying on a velvet dress, fell through the rotten floor, broke her leg and was taken to the hospital right in the unpaid renovation - the owner was afraid to remind her of this.
At the end of the 19th century, the authorities announced a competition for a new building for the Upper Trading Rows. Many wanted to perpetuate the glory of their talent, so the most eminent architects of that time took part in the competition.
The design of the building in the pseudo-Russian style by A.N. Pomerantseva, V.G. Shukhov and A.F. Loleita. But the most difficult was ahead: Moscow merchants did not want to stop trade during construction. Even the erection of temporary commercial premises. Therefore, the authorities had to take extreme measures - to lock up the old shops and put guards in front of them.
As a result, in 1890-1893, a new building of the Upper Trading Rows was built on Red Square. It caused genuine admiration! Three spacious passages (commercial or business buildings, where shops or offices are placed in tiers on the sides of a wide passage with a glazed coating) finished with Finnish granite and marble, own power plant, artesian well for local water supply, underground Railway for the transport of goods. But most of all, the roof was surprising - completely transparent, which let in sunlight during the day, and at night allowed you to admire the moon. It took 60,000 glasses to create this miracle.
True, claims were sometimes made against the architectural style of GUM, they say the building only pretends to be primordially Russian, but in fact it is a European passage dressed up in an inappropriate Russian costume.
The giant three-story building of the Upper Trading Rows housed more than 1,000 stores. Now the trading area was divided not into shops, but into salons, decorated with mirrors and furniture. To attract customers, a bank branch, an engraving and jewelry workshop, a hairdresser's, a dentist's office, and a post office were opened in the Upper Trading Rows. That is, GUM became the prototype of modern shopping and entertainment centers, since it was possible to combine a shopping trip with a visit to a performance or an exhibition.
The first price tags in Moscow appeared here. If earlier the seller himself announced the price to the buyer, and it was possible to bargain with him, now the cost of goods has become fixed. The first domestic book of complaints and suggestions appeared here.
After nationalization, shops were evicted from the building of the Upper Trading Rows, and officials took their place. The building was dilapidated, electricity and heating were not supplied, and the power plant in the basement was flooded with water.
GUM owes its new name and revival to Vladimir Lenin. In 1921, he ordered the opening of the country's main store here. And V. Mayakovsky did advertising for him.
Whatever the stomach, body or mind requires,
Everything is provided by GUM.
For a long time, shops had to coexist with government agencies. And in 1934-1936, GUM was planned to be demolished for the construction of the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry in its place. But the plan was not destined to be fulfilled.
The second time they wanted to demolish GUM in order to erect a monument in honor of the victory in the Great Patriotic War on Red Square. It was also proposed to close the building with stands or a wall, to rebuild its facade, but GUM again survived. By the way, it was from this building on May 9, 1945 that Levitan transmitted the long-awaited message about the surrender of Germany and the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War.
Guide to Architectural StylesFew people know that at the beginning of the 20th century, 22 families settled in GUM. Communal apartments were arranged on the upper floors of the building, and ordinary citizens settled in these rooms overlooking the city.
Living conditions in GUM were spartan: there were no toilets and bathrooms in the apartments, and a common kitchen was not organized either. But there were "bonuses" in the form of a constantly working fountain, free orchestra concerts and film screenings.
In 1952-1953, the GUM was restored, and the residents were quartered in other houses. Then trade resumed. The former chief administrator of GUM, Serafima Pavlovna Khrunova, said that people still continued to live in the mezzanines of the second and third floors of the third line, and GUM was already working with might and main.
The historic showroom has now been restored. Cultural events are still held, and Canteen No. 57 plunges visitors into the Soviet past with dishes prepared according to the canons of a book about tasty and healthy food.
An equally interesting place is the recreated toilet from the time of Alexander III, where you can not only use the relevant services, but also take a shower, brush your teeth, shave, change the baby and just admire the magnificent interiors.
In 2007, the fountain was restored in GUM. It immediately became a popular meeting place. By the way, initially it was round, and only in 1985 received an octagonal base. In 1992, the over-gate icon of the Mother of God, which appeared above the entrance from the side in 1893, was restored. AT Soviet time it was smeared over, and found during the restoration.
But the most famous innovation is the illumination of the outer facade of the building. This is exactly how GUM, flooded with millions of lights, is known to residents and guests of Moscow.
And although now shopping complex is not state-owned, the name GUM is used along with "Upper Trading Rows". But more and more often the store is called the main department store of the country. And in August 2012 shopping center achieved recognition of the abbreviation "GUM" trademark, and now, perhaps, only one store will bear this name - on Red Square.
They say that...... clerks often made fun of customers. For example, they caught mice, put them in a box and wrapped them in bright paper with bows. They put this “gift” in the way of buyers and watched how a respectable gentleman or lady with a thievish look raised a rodent. And sometimes they froze a small coin to the floor and laughed at the attempts of a passerby to chip it off.
... in 1972, official M. Suslov was going to close GUM. Victoria Brezhneva, ordering a fur coat in the atelier of the store, learned about this threat. The next day, the question of liquidation was removed.
...in Soviet times, GUM had 30,000 items of goods. Not surprisingly, he drew huge lines, the participants of which were jokingly called "humanists". True, there was also a “200th section”, where you could get anything you wanted without a queue. But only members of the government and top party members had access there. And sometimes foreigners were taken there to show how good it is to live in the USSR.
GUM in photographs of different years:
The Main Department Store (GUM, until 1953 - Upper Trading Rows) is a large shopping complex in the center of Moscow and one of the largest in Europe. It occupies a whole block, the main facade overlooks Red Square. It is an architectural monument of federal significance. In 2008, the GUM building turns 115 years old.
More in the 15th century self-made trading shops were set up in disorder on Red Square. At the beginning 19th century Emperor Alexander I ordered to ennoble this motley market. According to the project of the architect Osip Bove, the facade was built in the Empire style, imitating the palaces of the Roman Empire. This is how the first building of the Upper Trading Rows appeared.
However, this building served only as a screen, hiding the cramped labyrinths of the market. Half a century later, it was decided to rebuild it on the initiative of the Moscow merchants. Among the 23 works put up for the architectural competition, the most daring project won. Its authors were architect Alexander Pomerantsev and engineer Vladimir Shukhov, who later created the famous radio tower on Shabolovka Street in Moscow.
Three spacious passages "in European style" made of glass and metal, enclosed in traditional "Old Russian" walls, became an architectural phenomenon for Russia at that time. Massive construction has begun in 1890 and ended three years later. The building was located in the quarter between Red Square and Vetoshny
driving along the radius. According to the documents of that time, the length of the facade facing Red Square was 116 sazhens (sazhen - 2.13 meters), and the length of the façade facing Vetoshny passage was 122 sazhens.
Along three wide passages (passages) Pomerantsev placed shops on two floors, total number which reached a thousand. The passages were covered with glass arched roofs, which required metal structures weighing 50,000 pounds (833 tons). In the external decoration of the building, granite, marble and Radom sandstone were used to reproduce numerous ancient Russian decorative forms. The grand opening of the Upper Trading Rows with the participation of the Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna took place December 14 (O.S. 2), 1893.
The new trading rows made the glory of the Russian merchants. The malls even then rightfully claimed the principle of universality and offered customers an exemplary infrastructure: the services of porters, barbers, bankers and postmen.
After the October Revolution, subordinate organizations settled in the historical interiors of the malls. Until the early 1950s, GUM remained a government agency.
date of second birth trading house consider 1953 In August of that year, the Soviet government decided to reconstruct the building of the Trade Rows. Production and labor forces from all over the USSR were sent to the shock construction site. In record time, already in November 1953, the first and largest trade center in Soviet Russia, the State Department Store - GUM, opened here. The store has become a collection of the most scarce goods and a symbol of the capital of the USSR along with the Kremlin, Lenin's mausoleum and VDNKh.
In the early 1990s, economic realities changed in the country. Along with them, the trade policy of GUM also changed. The predominant part of the area on a lease basis was occupied by independent shops. Today, shoppers are offered an exhaustive list of products, from personalized designer clothes and jewelry to daily household items. GUM lost its centralization, but retained the principle of universality. GUM (now called the Main Department Store) is a whole shopping district, which has a pharmacy, a bank branch, and a flower shop. This is a comfortable recreation area with restaurants and cafes, an art gallery and a venue for cultural events. The internal space of GUM is being improved. The legendary Demonstration Hall, which went down in the history of Russian cinema, has been restored. It is planned to hold cultural events and social gatherings in its original interiors. The GUM poster includes art expositions and bright presentations. A unique illumination project has been implemented on the outer facade: the architectural elements of the building are underlined by lines of electric light bulbs. The project of the updated design involves the reorganization of the passages in the style of the palazzo: a spectacular lighting system, a mosaic floor, living plants.
It doesn’t matter whether a citizen of the USSR lived in Kaliningrad or Kamchatka, he knew for sure that there were three main attractions in the capital: Red Square, VDNKh and GUM. We tell about the history and miracles of the latter.
Top rows
The history of GUM began before the appearance of this name and even the construction of the building. Trading rows near the Kremlin appeared under Alexei Mikhailovich. A hundred years later, Catherine the Great came up with the idea to build a real shopping center on this site. But the implementation of the plan stalled. Things got off the ground only after the Moscow fire of 1812, the building designed by Osip Bove was built three years later. It was called the Upper Trading Rows, the shops were divided among the owners.
In the sixties of the nineteenth century, that is, after about 50 years, the condition of the building seriously deteriorated. It was so dilapidated that the city authorities decided to modernize it. A modern reader will probably assume that the mayor was simply solving his own commercial interests. However, there were indeed problems. For example, a case was recorded when the floor fell under the customer. In 1869, for the first time, the issue of demolishing the malls was raised, but in the end, the city authorities limited themselves to reconstruction. The upper rows solemnly reopened on December 2, 1893. This date is considered the official birthday of GUM.
Technically, it became one of the most advanced shopping centers in Europe, not to mention Russia, the premises were electrified, and the most famous merchants and enterprises kept shops here. However, GUM became a legend already in the Soviet era.
Soviet period
According to the chronicles of the GUM of the times of the USSR, one can study the history of our country. It all started with the fact that in the wake of the nationalization of enterprises, trade in Moscow began to decline sharply. This also applies to the upper rows. Then the Bolsheviks completely expropriated stores with the remnants of goods. Soviet institutions moved into the premises, including the People's Commissariat for Food, headed by Alexander Tsyurupa. It was here, in the former kingdom of bourgeois abundance, that the headquarters of “war communism” was located and food detachments were led from here. There were even communal apartments on the third and fourth floors. They were resettled only in 1959.
The first bureaucratic period did not last long. In March 1921, the NEP began, and on December 1, Lenin signed the "Regulations on the State Department Store (GUM)". Actually, this is the second most important date in his chronology. The “chief marketers” of the USSR, Mayakovsky and Rodchenko, seriously worked on the image of the Upper Rows. To give the store a more socialist look, many signs of the past were covered with constructivist posters.
Perhaps this flirting with the avant-garde, incomprehensible to Stalin, led to the fact that immediately after the collapse of the NEP, GUM was also closed. It was inhabited by the structures of the Central Executive Committee, which were evicted from the Kremlin, the printing house of the Council of People's Commissars, and then some units of the NKVD. At the same time, the exit to Red Square was closed.
Then they decided to demolish GUM altogether: first for the ambitious project of building the Narkomtyazhprom building, and then for the expansion of Red Square itself. But the store is lucky. There were simply no funds for all this, plans were postponed, and soon the Great Patriotic War and was not up to it. By the way, it was in the GUM premises that the radio station was located, from where Levitan read the message about the victory over Germany on May 9, 1945. Then they decided to demolish GUM again, but again it turned out to be very expensive.
Everyone owes the return of the store to the building to Anastas Mikoyan. In 1953, immediately after Stalin's death, he set about to present to the whole world an exemplary showcase of socialism. The best craftsmen and artists of the capital were involved in the work, they spared no expense, and they launched trade without waiting for the end of the reconstruction. Officially, GUM was opened on December 24, that is, literally the day after the execution of Beria. Soviet citizens read both of these pieces of news in the same newspaper issue.
Legend
During the Khrushchev thaw and the era of stagnation, GUM visitors seemed to find themselves in another world. It was not just a matter of unprecedented diversity. 30 thousand items of goods were sold in 12 departments of the store. Citizens were offered a different from other Soviet outlets format. In the early years, not just sellers worked in the halls, but quite official sales assistants who could prompt and help with the choice. Even the shop windows were designed spectacularly.
The technical equipment was also modern. GUM stood apart in the USSR trade system thanks to the latest equipment and smart logistics. In addition to the four above-ground floors, warehouses and refrigerators worked underground, moved between them on carts, and forty elevators delivered goods to the top. Even the curtains were raised at the push of a button.
The store had its own workshop for the production of branded ice cream, which all Moscow children dreamed of. Plus, a snack bar, a savings bank, a post office and an engraving workshop immediately began working inside the shopping center. The fashion atelier has become a separate pride of GUM. They not only sewed clothes to order. For 50 kopecks, you could get into the hall where fashion models demonstrated the delights of Soviet fashion. There were also offered magazines with patterns of the models shown. They announced the beginning of the shows with the help of the speakerphone. You can see how it looked in one of the scenes of the film "The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia."
External showiness would hardly have deserved the people's love if it had not been supported by the presence of a deficit. GUM was not just supplied in the first category. He had unique opportunities for Soviet trade. Experienced merchandisers worked in the state, who went on business trips abroad several times a year to purchase goods. On sale one could find dresses and perfumes from France, shoes from Italy, toys from Germany, a wide range of products from the countries of the socialist camp. There was also a domestic shortage like fur coats.
Already in the first years of work, all this led to a stir. According to official statistics, in 1954, 0.6 million suits and coats, 2.6 million pairs of shoes, 12 million linear meters of fabric, 160,000 bicycles, 130,000 televisions and radios were sold through the GUM departments. The Ministry of Internal Affairs even reported to Mikoyan that neither metal railings nor window panes could withstand the influx of buyers. In the era of stagnation, despite the fact that goods for sale were increasingly “thrown away” rather than imported regularly, the buying fever did not subside. GUM remained one of the few places in the USSR where, in open sale you could find something foreign or acutely scarce.
A trip to Moscow for a Soviet person was incomplete without a stop at GUM. At the same time, they did not choose much. Leather gloves are for sale - they took them, there is an opportunity to buy ten pairs of imported tights - excellent, French perfumes - generally wonderful. They even took completely unnecessary things to resell or donate.
200th section
A story about GUM would be incomplete without mentioning the so-called 200th section, although the vast majority of Soviet buyers were not even aware of its existence. The fact is that closed distributors almost always worked in the USSR, where the elite could get goods at “communist” prices. GUM acquired a similar one in 1954, when a special order table was created by the Council of Ministers. It was located in the 200th section, from which it got its unofficial name.
In fact, it was an ordinary store, which was originally conceived to serve foreign delegations. But very soon they attached to it and senior management USSR. That is, only members of the Politburo, their wives and children had access to it. To the number regular customers could also include some members of the Central Committee and senior military leaders. They could escort anyone, but their personal presence was strictly obligatory. Each such special buyer was accompanied by a saleswoman who helped the guest to choose goods.
They traded there, in principle, the same as in GUM. However, if in an ordinary store the goods were released into the hall, and they quickly disappeared in the seething stream of Muscovites and guests of the capital, then in the 200th section they lay quietly, waiting for a rare guest to appear within its walls. The existence of some kind of deficit there was not felt at all.
The rest of the citizens could get into the 200th section only with a one-time pass. And it could only be obtained through the apparatus of the Central Committee. He was generous very, very rarely. For example, cosmonauts received such permission after their flight into space, some of the central television announcers especially noted by the Politburo, scientists and writers favored by the authorities. But it was about a one-time admission to this paradise of socialism. The second time, few managed to get through the thick curtain, overcome the watchmen and the police post.
End of an era
Another turn in the life of GUM occurred with the beginning of perestroika. The disease of empty shelves also affected the main showcase of Soviet trade. The deficit was still "thrown away", but this happened less and less. They dreamed not only of foreign things, but even of a once ordinary product like ballpoint pens. This affected even the 200th section, albeit to a lesser extent. There were not only passes, but also directions for the purchase of specific and especially popular items.
A little later, GUM touched on another trend of the era. In 1990 he became joint stock company and, together with many Soviet enterprises, went to conquer the harsh waters market relations. At the same time, two more significant events took place: the famous 200th section was closed and access to Red Square was restored. The history of the Soviet legend ended there.
Less than a year later, the USSR was gone. And the shopping center on the site of the Upper Rows still exists today, it is still called GUM, although it has nothing to do with the state. And they still sell branded ice cream.
Nostalgic Max Usachev
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