What? You came to Moscow, saw only Red Square and the Kremlin, and never laid eyes on the Seven Sisters? Then you really ought to come back.

No, not those kind of “seven sisters.” They are not seven Russian beauties; judging by their age, they are more like grand old Soviet ladies. The Seven Sisters refers to seven highly representative high-rise tower buildings constructed in the 1950s.

After World War II, Stalin wanted to remake Moscow into a socialist New Rome. Looking around, compared with other great world capitals—especially America’s New York—Moscow had hardly any skyscrapers worth mentioning. So with a stroke of the pen, seven sites were selected for Soviet-style skyscrapers.

From Sparrow Hills, you can spot several of the Seven Sisters on the Moscow skyline

Blending European Baroque and medieval Gothic styles with the construction technology of 1930s American skyscrapers, Soviet engineers created a distinctive Stalinist architectural style. These buildings are characterized by tiered massing that emphasizes the upward thrust of the central tower. Gothic spires crown the tops, while lower side wings of varying heights spread out around them, making the whole structure look a bit like a birthday cake from afar.

From Sparrow Hills, you can spot several of the Seven Sisters on the Moscow skyline

The foundation stones for every one of these towers were laid on September 7, 1947, during Moscow’s 800th anniversary celebrations, and construction took 4 to 5 years. Despite the twists and turns of history, seventy years later the Seven Sisters have fulfilled their builders’ original ambition: they have become permanent landmarks of Moscow, drawing travelers in and making them stop to stare. After touring the metro, I spent another day visiting these palaces above ground. Come take a look with me.

No.1 Hotel Ukraina

  • Height: 206 meters
  • Construction: 1953-1957
  • Architects: Movinov, Oltarzhevsky

Hotel Ukraina is the second-tallest of the Seven Sisters (I put it first simply because I think these photos came out the best). When it was completed in 1957, it was the tallest hotel in the world, a title it held until Atlanta’s Westin Peachtree Plaza opened in 1976. The hotel stands quietly along the Moscow River, with the Russian White House—the seat of the federal government and the prime minister’s office—directly across the water. It was named Hotel Ukraina to commemorate the symbolic 300th anniversary of the alliance between Russia and Ukraine.

The building has a U-shaped layout. The 34-story central tower is entirely occupied by the hotel. The two 11-story side wings are ordinary residential buildings with a total of 510 apartments. Reportedly, Khrushchev ordered part of the original hotel plan converted into housing to help address Moscow’s housing shortage—a move that oddly feels quite in line with today’s luxury hotels paired with residential apartments.

The main tower’s 73-meter spire soars into the sky, and the five-pointed star at the top is one of the signature features shared by the Seven Sisters. Most of the exterior is clad in ceramic, while the entrance and lower levels are decorated with marble and limestone. Atop the building’s eight corner turrets are sheaves of wheat and floral ornaments. Because Ukraine was once considered the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, buildings associated with Ukrainian names made heavy use of wheat motifs.

The hotel also has a very unusual fire-safety system: in the event of a fire, chutes on the outside of the building open up so guests can slide to safety.

The hotel’s interior decoration and design are exceptionally lavish. Beyond the physical property itself, the hotel also houses more than 1,200 works by some of the best-known Russian painters of the first half of the 20th century. Staying at Hotel Ukraina means not just sleeping inside Soviet history, but also checking into a neoclassical art museum.

Azerbaijani billionaire Nisanov bought Hotel Ukraina in 2005 for £59 million, renovated it, and partnered with Radisson to rename it the Radisson Royal Hotel. In 2019, the property was moved into one of Radisson’s upscale collections. Now, at the age of 63, she goes by a new name: the Radisson Collection Hotel, Moscow.

The purple evening glow over the Moscow River is as gentle as you are.

No.2 Moscow State University

  • Height: 240 meters
  • Construction: 1947-1953
  • Architect: Lev Rudnev

Sorry, I overexposed this one.

Perched atop Sparrow Hills, the main building of Moscow State University is the tallest of the Seven Sisters, and until 1990 it was also the tallest building in Europe before being surpassed by Frankfurt’s Messeturm. Even today, Moscow State University remains the tallest university building in the world. Construction of the 36-story main building was enormously expensive, costing more than $200 million, and even the stone was sourced entirely from the Alpine region.

Looks like the students here are pretty wealthy too.

In front of the main building is a rectangular public garden and plaza. In summer, the trees are lush and the flowers are in full bloom, with visitors and students mingling together as they pass through.
At the far end of the park, the Sparrow Hills observation platform offers a sweeping view of the entire Moscow skyline.

The 1.6-square-kilometer campus feels like an enormous palace. The combined length of the corridors in its four wings totals 33 kilometers, so one full circuit is nearly half a marathon. Walking through it, you cannot help but wonder whether this is what the inside of Hogwarts might feel like. The university contains more than 5,000 rooms—more than half as many as the Forbidden City. The five-pointed star atop the main spire is 9 meters tall and weighs 12 tons, and inside it are a small room and an observation deck. The two 18-story side towers feature giant clocks and thermometers, respectively.

The exterior is decorated with bronze sculptures, reliefs, and mosaic patterns in a variety of forms.

In front of the main building stand statues of famous Russian scholars. The figure positioned directly before the main tower, facing the library, is Mikhail Lomonosov, the founder of the university.
Moscow State University also has deep historical ties with China. The most famous episode came on November 1, 1957, in the university’s grand auditorium, when Mao Zedong told Chinese students studying there, “The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours.”

No.3 House on Kudrinskaya Square

  • Height: 160 meters
  • Construction: 1950-1954
  • Architects: Posokhin, Mndoyants

The House of the Actors is also known as the Kudrinskaya Square Building, named for its location on Kudrinskaya Square. So why is it also called the House of the Actors? This magnificent 22-story apartment building was originally designed for the Soviet Union’s social elite and political insiders. At the time, the 452 apartments were home only to the wealthy and powerful, including aeronautical engineers, cosmonauts, surgeons, and chess masters. The building’s exterior is decorated with elegant sculptures and distinctly Soviet motifs such as five-pointed stars and wheat sheaves.

The airplane decoration on the wall by the main entrance hints at the past identities of some of its residents.

The two wooden doors downstairs are ornate and imposing. Sitting in the square and watching the occasional resident push one open—usually stooped elderly Russian women—I couldn’t help but wonder whose widow or daughter of some Soviet notable I might be looking at.

Although it was once home to the social elite, the building fell into disrepair after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In recent years, some stylish restaurants and shops have begun moving back into the ground floor, much like the restored historic buildings now reopening in Shanghai, in hopes of bringing new life to the property. On the other side of the building is a small garden with a fountain, once a place where the elite would gather after meals to chat. Perhaps more than a few new ideas about the Soviet Union were born there.

One interesting story about Kudrinskaya Square is that the building’s spire was once packed with communications equipment by the KGB to monitor the nearby U.S. Embassy.

No.4 House of Artists

  • Height: 176 meters
  • Construction period: 1947-1952
  • Architect: Dmitry Chechulin

The 32-story House of Artists, also known as the House of Toilers, stands on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. Its architect, Chechulin, was also the chief planner for the city of Moscow. The building is not especially tall, but its gradually tapering structure gives it a strong sense of visual layering. Because it was designed the earliest, its exterior lacks the more elaborate ornamentation seen on some of the others. Viewed from a bridge over the Moskva River, the building looks striking and majestic. The hexagonal side wings also make the overall composition appear especially broad and graceful.

The House of Artists was once home to many distinguished figures from Soviet culture, theater, and film. The famed ballerina Galina Ulanova once lived here, and her apartment is now a museum. (During my time in Moscow, I never managed to get close enough to properly visit this “sister,” leaving only this beautiful silhouette admired from afar.)

No.5 Hotel Leningradskaya

  • Height: 134 meters
  • Construction period: 1947-1952
  • Architect: Dmitry Chechulin

At just 136 meters, Hotel Leningradskaya is undoubtedly the baby of the Seven Sisters. Without side wings or a podium structure, it also appears rather solitary. The hotel sits on Komsomolskaya Square, Moscow’s busiest rail hub, where streams of passengers flow through the area’s three train stations. In the distance, you can even catch sight of another of the sisters. The building is exquisitely decorated: the facade combines white marble panels with red glazed tiles, while the reliefs by the entrance feature geometric designs that resemble the gateway to a medieval castle.

At the time, Hotel Leningradskaya was heavily criticized for being too luxurious. Some said that the investment used to build this 354-room hotel could have built an ordinary hotel three times the size.

The interior is equally opulent, with unusually rare Old Russian-style patterns. The finely traced gold detailing is delicate and intricate.

The lobby ceiling is a gilded bronze vault, with black marble columns supporting the entire space. The massive multi-tier crystal chandelier in the center is about as tall as a full story.

Although the city of Leningrad long ago reverted to its original name, St. Petersburg, the hotel still preserves that piece of history. In 2008, Hilton acquired the original hotel. After renovation, it is now known as the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya.

No.6 Red Gate Building

  • Height: 138 meters
  • Construction period: 1947-1953
  • Architect: Alexey Dushkin

About a 10-minute walk southeast from the Hilton hotel brings you to the Red Gate Building. Located on Lermontov Square, the site was originally the birthplace of the great Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov. The 24-story main tower once housed the Soviet Ministry of Heavy Industry. In the Soviet era, heavy industry held supreme importance, and the directives issued from this skyscraper once influenced the entire global socialist bloc. The 15-story side wings were residential apartments. Judging by how casually passersby can now enter and leave, it is no longer an exclusive address for the powerful and well-connected.

The heavy wooden doors and the Lada sedan parked in the small park below also evoke that period of intense Soviet industrial production.

Around the building, you can often spot decorative elements related to the great poet Lermontov.

No.7 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building

  • Height: 172 meters
  • Construction period: 1948-1953
  • Architects: Vladimir Gelfreikh, Mikhail Minkus

Located on Smolenskaya Square, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building still serves as the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Its facade is made of stone articulated by a series of vertical piers; reportedly, the design drew inspiration from Gothic architecture in New York, and it does look a bit like something out of Gotham City in Batman. When the building was completed, Stalin felt it lacked Russian architectural elements and decided to add a steel spire on top. Because the steel spire could not support the weight of a five-pointed star, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building became the only one of the Seven Sisters without a star at the top.

Whether because of the building materials or a lack of maintenance, the facade is covered in weathered marks. Compared with the other sisters, it feels more like an old woman worn down by time and hardship. Still, it seems the government has recently begun restoration work, and the upper portion has already been repainted a fresh creamy white. Perhaps in a few years, this old woman will once again become a grande dame on Arbat Street.

Tip: A One-Day Tour of Moscow’s Seven Sisters

The seven buildings are scattered across different corners of Moscow. If you start from the Hilton Leningradskaya and finish at the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building, the full route is close to 28 kilometers and takes about 6 hours on foot, passing by many of Moscow’s classic sights along the way.
Those with the stamina and interest can give it a try, but taking transportation is obviously the better option.

If you’re short on time, the three most recommended Sisters to focus on are the Hotel Ukraina, Moscow State University, and the Kudrinskaya Square Building.

The best viewpoint for Hotel Ukraina is by the bridge along Kutuzovsky Prospekt, Moscow State University offers sweeping views from Sparrow Hills, and you can admire the Kudrinskaya Square Building from the Bolshoy Krasnokholmsky Bridge over the Moscow River.

Series: The Glorious Years of the Tsars and the Soviet Union