Moscow's monumental shopping center GUM: At Communist's department store
Moscow is a mystery for every foreigner. But Russias capital is a very good place to enjoy something special. We traveled Moscow for a few days and explored the great unknown among the world cities.
A foreign country not only with a foreign language, but also with a foreign script. The largest in the world, repeatedly attacked but never defeated. Proud and stubborn to this day, indomitable even if all the other large western states continue to criticize. Russia is different, as is its capital Moscow. You must have seen that. Read part 1 of the story here, part 2 is here, the 3 part here
It is one of the most visited places in the Russian capital. However, hardly any citizen can afford anything in what is probably the most exclusive department store in the giant empire. Right next to the Kremlin and Red Square, the epitome of communism, the Moscow department store GUM has stood for exactly 125 years - and is more popular than ever before in its history. On December 2, 1893, it was opened to the people as a bazaar.
The State Universal Department Store - better known as Gum - is an amazing sight at the front of Red Square. A sculpture for the power of capitalism - in the middle of the former communist nowhere.
The palace of emptiness
In Soviet times, there were long queues here, because it was a little bit possible to catch something from the extremely scarce range of consumer goods. Today, there is a cultivated emptiness in there. One posh boutique follows another. All of the grest nemes from the weste are here - Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Rolex, Adidas.
But no single Muscovite strays here anymore. Most tourists, too, only glance at the price tags - which, by the way, give information in dollars - and move on, impressed. Small crowds are waiting only before the mobile ice cream vendors, who have been able to defend their traditional sales spots.
The complicated name GUM stands for "Gosudarstvennyi Universalnyi Magazin," which is almost unpronounceable for non-Russians. The GUM department store is until today the largest in the former Soviet Union and an architectural gem. The three-story building, 90 meters wide and 250 meters long, located on Red Square across from the Kremlin, was built in 1890 in the Russian style. Originally a trading house, it was converted into a state department store in 1921. A early work of the communists, no joke.
Capitalist took over again
Today, after the capitalists took over again, most of the stores under the arcades are empty. But the beautiful department store with its nostalgic flair attracts German and other foreign companies and investors, so that there is no need to fear for its continued existence. It seems they don't need consumers, because all oft the stores are more like store windows to another world.
Today, the most expensive goods in the country can be found here. Foreign luxury boutiques line up with stalls selling exquisite caviar for several thousand euros. Only a few stores even offer goods that Muscovites can afford on an average income of 68,000 rubles (about 900 euros) a month. If you want to relieve yourself in the historic toilet with its decorated door handles, you have to pay 150 rubles (about 2 euros).
Expensive historic rest rooms
The shopping center, opened during the tsarist rule, was temporarily closed and converted under the Soviets. In 1953, after the death of dictator Josef Stalin, it was renovated and for decades represented an exception to the economy of scarcity. Today, the main owner of the former State Department Store GUM is the Russian fashion company Bosco di Ciliegi, whose owner Mikhail Kuznirovich is said to have good connections with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
The special flair of the former socialist temple of consumption is mainly due to the magnificent interior design: Ornate little bridges and walkways connect three corridors that extend over several floors. With a total area of 75,000 square meters, the GUM is as large as about eleven soccer fields side by side. As tourists stroll through the aisles, they glimpse several Russian eras at once: from the tsarist era to Soviet kitsch to modern architecture.
Consumers hell
The management of GUM sees no competition in the consumer hell variety of the capital. In winter, therefore, salespeople dressed as Father Frost boost Christmas and New Year's Eve business. In summer, the department store attracts visitors with countless varieties of Plombir, the milk ice cream that has been popular with the people since Soviet times. The iconic department store attracts 16 million visitors a year, but 95 percent of them come just to take a shy look around the magnificent building. But the Muscovites are incredibly proud of this strange palace of absurdity.
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High on my travel list, Moscow is! Amazing that GUM has survived the transition to capitalism...