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GUM in Moscow, located in the heart of the city center, stands as witness to three different eras of Russian history, from the tsardom and the USSR to present-day Russia. GUM is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvenny Universalny Magazin (State Department Store). The shopping center was formerly known as the Upper Trade Rows but was renamed by decree of Lenin in 1921. GUM in Moscow is one of the largest shopping centers in all of Europe and Russia.

Moscow has long been Russia’s center for trade and finance. In times past, merchants from all across the nation would congregate in the capital to trade a wide range of goods in a frenzied yet calibrated fashion. The 1812 Fire of Moscow, believed to have been deliberately set by the Muscovites during the war with Napoleon, destroyed most of Moscow, including its shopping malls. The Upper Trade Rows, the forerunners of GUM Department Store which were located next to the Kremlin, were hastily erected by decree of Alexander I shortly after the fire.

The proud merchant class of Russia was ambitious, striving to keep pace with progress and open to the new innovations of capitalism. Eastern bazaars inspired Russians and Europeans to build covered shopping streets, which developed into department stores in the second half of the 19th century. The Moscow Department Store was built in this manner at the expense of the Merchants’ Guild of Moscow and opened in early December 1893 on the site of the former Upper Trade Rows.

Alexander Pomerantsev was the architect of GUM, and Vladimir Shukhov the engineer. At the time of construction, this commercial building was the largest in all of Europe and was the pride of Russian salesmen and merchants, offering the finest shopping in Moscow. GUM itself harmoniously blended with the Russian architecture near the Kremlin on Red Square, Moscow’s symbol of innovation and of a revitalized capital in burgeoning Russia.

GUM has been rebuilt and restored numerous times since its original construction. In 1921, in the heat of the period of New Economic Policy (NEP), sales rapidly increased at GUM, which became a proud symbol of its time. However, from 1930 to 1953 GUM was not used for its intended purpose, and instead the Moscow department store was occupied by various ministries, government departments and printing houses. It was only in 1953, during the Khrushchev Thaw, that GUM was restored to its historical purpose and its doors again opened to customers.

Today at GUM Moscow, brands from around the world are displayed in storefronts, and a wide array of high-end clothing, shoes, perfumes, jewelry, underwear, children’s goods and home supplies can be purchased here. It is a full-fledged shopping district that includes not only glamorous salons and shops, but also cafes, restaurants, bank branches and cinemas which attract more than 30 thousand visitors each day. In addition, GUM is a cultural center where art exhibitions, fashion shows and dynamic expositions are regularly held.

It should be noted that a short walk from GUM is TSUM, Moscow’s main Soviet-era department store that is often confused by visitors with GUM. Both shopping malls, while having developed through a unique history, are considered iconic landmarks in Moscow.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GUM (Russian: ГУМ, pronounced [ˈɡum], an abbreviation of Russian: Главный универсальный магазин, romanized: Glavnyy universalnyy magazin, lit. ‘Main Universal Store‘) is the main department store in many cities of the former Soviet Union, known as State Department Store (Russian: Государственный универсальный магазин, romanized: Gosudarstvennyy universalnyy magazin) during the Soviet era (until 1991). Similarly named stores operated in some Soviet republics and in post-Soviet states.

The most famous GUM is the large store facing Red Square in the Kitai-gorod area – itself traditionally a mall of Moscow. Originally, and today again, the building functions as a shopping mall. During most of the Soviet period it was essentially a department store as there was one vendor: the Soviet State. Before the 1920s the location was known as the Upper Trading Rows (Russian: Верхние торговые ряды, romanized: Verkhniye Torgovyye Ryady).

As of 2021, GUM carries over 100 different brands,^[1] and has cafes and restaurants^[2] inside the mall.

Moscow GUM[edit]

Design and structure[edit]

With the façade extending for 242 m (794 ft) along the eastern side of Red Square, the Upper Trading Rows were built between 1890 and 1893 by Alexander Pomerantsev (responsible for architecture) and Vladimir Shukhov (responsible for engineering). The trapezoidal building features a combination of elements of Russian medieval architecture and a steel framework and glass roof, a similar style to the great 19th-century railway stations of London. William Craft Brumfield described the GUM building as «a tribute both to Shukhov’s design and to the technical proficiency of Russian architecture toward the end of the 19th century».^[3]

The glass-roofed design made the building unique at the time of construction. The roof, the diameter of which is 14 m (46 ft), looks light, but it is a firm construction made of more than 50,000 metal pods (about 743 t (819 short tons)), capable of supporting snowfall accumulation. Illumination is provided by huge arched skylights of iron and glass, each weighing some 740 t (820 short tons) and containing in excess of 20,000 panes of glass. The facade is divided into several horizontal tiers, lined with red Finnish granite, Tarusa marble, and limestone. Each arcade is on three levels, linked by walkways of reinforced concrete.

History[edit]

Catherine II of Russia commissioned Giacomo Quarenghi, a Neoclassical architect from Italy, to design a huge trade area along the east side of Red Square. However, that building was lost to the 1812 Fire of Moscow and replaced by trading rows designed by Joseph Bove. In turn, the current structure opened in 1894, replacing Bove’s.^[4]

By the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the building contained some 1,200 stores. After the Revolution, GUM was nationalized. During the NEP period (1921–28), however, GUM as a State Department Store operated as a model retail enterprise for consumers throughout Russia regardless of class, gender, and ethnicity. GUM’s stores were used to further Bolshevik goals of rebuilding private enterprise along socialist lines and «democratizing consumption for workers and peasants nationwide». In the end, GUM’s efforts to build communism through consumerism were unsuccessful and arguably «only succeeded in alienating consumers from state stores and instituting a culture of complaint and entitlement».^[5]

GUM continued to be used as a department store until Joseph Stalin converted it into office space in 1928 for the committee in charge of his first Five Year Plan.^[4] After the suicide of Stalin’s wife Nadezhda in 1932, the GUM was used briefly to display her body.^[6]

After reopening as a department store in 1953, GUM became one of the few stores in the Soviet Union that did not have shortages of consumer goods, and the queues of shoppers were long, often extending entirely across Red Square.^[7]

Several times during the 1960s and 1970s, the Second Secretary of the Communist Party Mikhail Suslov, who hated having a department store facing Lenin’s Mausoleum, tried to convert GUM into an exhibition hall and museum showcasing the achievements of the Soviet Union and Communism, without the knowledge of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. Each time, however, Brezhnev was tipped off and put a stop to such plans.^[8]

At the end of the Soviet era, GUM was partially, then fully, privatized, and it had a number of owners before it ended up being owned by the supermarket company Perekrestok. In May 2005, a 50.25% interest was sold to Bosco di Ciliegi, a Russian luxury goods distributor and boutique operator. As a private shopping mall, it was renamed in such a fashion that it could maintain its old acronym. The first word Gosudarstvennyi («state») has been replaced with Glavnyi («main»), so that GUM is now an abbreviation for «Main Universal Store».

See also[edit]

• TsUM, another large Moscow department store.
• Passage, a department store in St. Petersburg.

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Brumfield, William Craft, (1991) The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford, ISBN 0-520-06929-3
• English, Elizabeth Cooper (2000). «Arkhitektura i mnimosti»: The origins of Soviet avant-garde rationalist architecture in the Russian mystical-philosophical and mathematical intellectual tradition», a dissertation in architecture, University of Pennsylvania
• Hilton, Marjorie L. (2004). «Retailing the Revolution: The State Department Store (GUM) and Soviet Society in the 1920s». Journal of Social History, (Oxford University Press) 37 (4): 939–964; 1127. ISSN 0022-4529
• Rainer Graefe, Jos Tomlow: «Vladimir G. Suchov 1853–1939. Die Kunst der sparsamen Konstruktion.» 192 S., Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 1990, ISBN 3-421-02984-9

External links[edit]

• GUM official website
• GUM at Structurae
• Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov
• The Roof of GUM

Coordinates: 55°45′17″N 37°37′17″E / 55.75472°N 37.62139°E

Gum Department Store Moscow

GUM has been many things during Moscow’s history. Before the revolution of 1917, it contained 1200 stores of various fashions and trinkets. Stalin converted this magnificent building into offices in 1928, and in 1932 it became a somber display for the body of Stalin’s second wife.

It did not reopen as a department store until 1953, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it passed through numerous private owners. In 2005 it was bought by a supermarket chain, and since then, it has been one of Moscow’s main tourist attractions.

There is a similar historic department store in Moscow that rivals GUM in size, elegance, and opulent architecture. It is the Central Universal Store (Tsentralniy Universalniy Magazin, abbreviated as TsUM) that sprawls just east of the Bolshoi Theater.

GUM has a unique destiny. It was opened when Russia turned towards people,
common city life and even happiness. Fashion in GUM, demonstration hall, disks &
records in GUM, GUM ice cream are the symbols of Moscow. And it all varnished when the country reversed.

«GUM is not just a store where you can buy almost everything.
It is a shopping block where there is a pharmacy, bank branch, and flower shop …
It is a monument of architecture. It is a comfortable lounge area with restaurants and cafes.
It is an art gallery and venue for cultural events. It is an integral part of Russian history.
It is a symbol of Moscow and it is the closest place to the Kremlin, where you can feel yourself in Europe.»

GUM is a famous department store located in the very heart of Moscow, Russia. This mall have gone through many historical periods and have seen Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and modern Russia. For more than 100 years it has been serving people from all over the world. When was GUM built? What to do in GUM? What shops can you find there? Why GUM Moscow ice cream is so famous? Let’s find out answers to these questions and discover 10 facts about GUM.

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10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT GUM MOSCOW

1. GUM is located on Red Square in Moscow

Red Square is the most popular tourist destination in Moscow and in Russia (explore our list of 15 places you need to see on the Red Square). It’s hard to imagine a better location for a department store than right opposite the Kremlin. Such an amazing spot for this mall was a problem a couple of times in the past though. In Soviet period, there were talks of replacing GUM with a high-scraper, the Pantheon or other building but luckily they never came true.

2. Pronounced in Russian as Glávnyj Universáľnyj Magazín⁠

As many of you know, Russia uses the Cyrillic alphabet, so actually in Russian GUM is written as ГУМ – Главный Универсальный Магазин. This literally means Main Universal Store. In Soviet union, the same abbreviation was used but it meant State Department Store. In Russian, both words start with the same letter: Glavniy and Gosudarstvenniy. Even now lots of people still call it by its former name.

3. The first building was constructed in the 18th century and was lost during the war with Napoleon⁠

This area (which is called Kitai-Gorod and can be translated as China Town) historically was always a place for trading. Years has passed, city has grown, but people were very much used to coming here for shopping. So in the 18th century, Catherine II hired Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi to design a huge trade centre on the Red Square. During the war with Napoleon, this first building was lost in 1812 Fire of Moscow. Joseph Bove, who was working on restoring Moscow city centre after this fire, created design of the new trading rows on the same place. But it still wasn’t the building we can see now.

4. The current building was opened to the public in 1893⁠

The current GUM Moscow building replaced Bove’s structure and was opened to the public in 1893. It was a very modern design: elongated shop galleries were bridged with innovative metal-and-glass vaults, designed by Vladimir Shukhov. Even more than hundred years later, the interior of GUM and its construction look very impressive.

5. GUM Moscow is built in Russian Revival style

Also known as Pseudo-Russian style or Neo-Russian style, Russian Revival style was a very popular trend in architecture in the 19th century. It is an eclectic mix of pre-Petrine Russian architecture and elements of Byzantine style. State Historical Museum located next to GUM was built slightly earlier in the same style, so these two landmarks create an amazing ensemble together.

6. In the 1950s, queues of shoppers were extending entirely across Red Square⁠

Due to shortage of consumer goods in the Soviet Union, GUM was one of few places where people were able to get produce. Stock was extremely limited but locals had no choice, the country was slowly recovering after the World War II. In the 1950s, it was usual to see queues of shoppers extending across the Red Square and spending days to get inside.

7. Over 100 world-famous brands are presented in GUM⁠ Moscow

In post-Soviet era, GUM became a spot for luxury shopping. You can find the most expensive and exclusive brands here including Cartier, Gucci, Luis Vuittton, Burberry, Chanel, Hermes, Bulgari, Prada and others. There is also a soviet-style grocery shop, food court, cafes, restaurants and even a historical toilet.

8. Famous ice-cream is sold in GUM⁠

GUM Moscow ice cream is one of the most famous snack/dessert of locals and tourists. This is a traditional Soviet ice cream made from old recipe. There are several options, but the traditional is vanilla ice cream scoop in a scone. It may sound simple but you can only judge after trying it because it’s DELICIOUS. It’s sold from a small stall on the ground floor. It’s also reasonably cheap.

9. GUM fountain is a well-known meeting place⁠

GUM is a beautiful building with amazing interior design and one of the most beloved spots inside is the fountain plaza. The fountain is amazing and people love taking pictures with it. There is also a couple of stalls located around where you can buy Soviet-style soft drinks (GUM really tries to preserve the Soviet heritage). Great views to GUM fountain also open from upper levels and from the food court. The fountain is a well-known meeting place for locals and tourists as it can be seen from almost everywhere inside the department store.

10. GUM has a rival historic department store called TsUM

There is a similar historic department store TsUM that rivals GUM in size, elegance, and opulent architecture. TsUM is located near the Bolshoi Theatre (around 5 minutes walk from GUM). TsUM is the largest fashion department store in Eastern Europe with seven levels. Even though TsUM is located in old building (1908), its interiors were refurbished multiple times, so it has feeling of a modern mall. Like GUM, TsUM sells luxury goods, but there are corners not a separate boutiques inside.

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More information about GUM can be found on its official website. Available in English, Russian and Chinese.

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