Video: Communal apartments in GUM: who lived in apartments on Red Square
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
"Let's meet at the fountain in GUM" is a phrase that is well known to more than one generation of Muscovites. Today, the country's central department store is a place for great shopping and entertainment, but at the beginning of the 20th century, this building was also home to 22 families. Today it’s hard to believe, but in the process of nationalization, the upper floors of the shopping center were transferred to communal ownership. Ordinary citizens were settled in rooms with a view of the Kremlin.
It was not easy to live in GUM: there were no equipped toilets and bathrooms in the apartments, and a shared kitchen was not organized either. In short, life in the very center of the capital was not much different from the very mediocre conditions throughout the country. Although those who were lucky enough to "grab" an apartment on Red Square did not lose heart: instead of comfortable conditions, they received "bonuses" in the form of a constantly working fountain, concerts of the orchestra and film screenings, the entrance to which was free for them. The rich cultural program more than compensated for all the disadvantages and inconveniences.
Of course, those living in GUM had to follow certain rules. So, during the solemn parades, residents were forbidden to approach the windows, and when visiting guests, they had to report to the commandant's office in order to obtain special permission.
Otherwise, life in the GUM apartments proceeded as usual, shops, a hairdresser's and a printing house, foreign language courses and a thrift store, where, according to rumors, were selling confiscated from "enemies of the people" were working on the first floor.
Apartments in GUM existed until 1953, after which it was decided to resume trading on all floors of the department store, and families living there were accommodated in other houses. Today GUM is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the capital. From our photo review you will learn about more 24 most interesting places in Moscow worth visiting with the whole family.
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