The Udarnik Cinema: the dark past and the bright future
Nikolai Vasiliev
This residential complex designed between 1929 and 1931 by Boris and Dmitry Iofans included 2,000 apartments, and every facility imaginable - a club, tennis courts, kindergarten, canteen, post office, bank and a modern cinema complete with a retractable roof. This night-time tour of one of Soviet Moscow’s most famous cinemas describes the history of the buildings which housed the Council of People’s Commissars and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union - romantically named ‘The House on the Embankment’ by one of its tenants, the writer Yuri Trifonov. Now transformed into a contemporary art museum, the dramatic history of the cinema is presented in Grisha Bruskin’s exhibition, organized by ArtChronika.
This tour is sponsored by the cultural foundation ArtChronika.
Availability is limited. Please register in advance by calling +7 (495) 6450520.
Meeting point: Garage temporary Pavilion, 9 Krymsky Val.
Nikolai Vasiliev is an architectural historian and photographer. He has a Ph.D. in art history and graduated from the Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry. He has written numerous articles and books on architecture of the 1920s and 1930s and, as a guide, has developed over 15 tours on the architecture of the 20th century. He is a member of DOCOMOMO (The International Working Party for the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement).
